The European Innovation Partnership on Water (EIP Water)hosted its second annual conference last week in Barcelona, attracting more than 400 attendees from all around Europe. In accordance with its title ‘Connecting Innovation Demand and Supply’, the conference provided a platform for discussions on connecting water innovation demand and supply, shaping the European water innovation policy and finding new opportunities for collaboration in the water sector.
Tomas Michel, WssTP President was among the high-level speakers participating in the conference. Tomas delivered a keynote speech, addressing the innovation demand from the side of the water industry. Tomas gave an overview of the new Junker Commission’s priorities, focusing on 4 priorities which are directly linked to water and innovation. He also emphasized the role of the water industry saying: ‘WATER INDUSTRY holds also a CENTRAL POSITION allowing EUROPE to cope with both COMPETITION (from outside), but also to seize the huge OPPORTUNITY offered by one of the most stringent environmental regulations in the world, acting as a driver for more innovation in Water.’ In addition to this, he pointed out that there is need for a “real EU water market” and that the water sector needs to follow a new model instead of the old ‘conventional’ one. Several highly-interactive sessions and panel discussions followed, keeping the participants engaged and allowing them to share their insights and views.
In the context of the conference, the CDP water program‘s Global Water Report 2014 was also launched. The report analyses the business understanding of water risk at the world’s largest corporations. WssTP together with various other organisations also participated at the Conference Exhibition. WssTP had the opportunity to meet and discuss with many water stakeholders who showed a strong interest in WssTP’s activities and publications. The 6th EIP Water Task Force meeting also took place as a side event before the 2nd EIP Water Conference and a series of other open and closed back to back meetings were held on 4 and 6 November 2014.
Do not miss your opportunity to download all the presentations of the conference.
