WATER SMART CONNECT

Innovating Connected Water Ecosystems

Project information

Programme and call: Horizon Europe, HORIZON-EIE-2023-CONNECT-01

Start date: 1st June 2024

Duration: 12 months

Granting authority: European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency – EISMEA

Project coordinator: Savonia University of Applied Sciences (Finland)

https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/policy/communities-and-networks/s3-community-of-practice/partnership_industrial_mod_water_smart_en

Project partners

SAVONIA-UAS University of Applied Sciences (Finland), CLEAN – The Danish Water & Environment Cluster (Denmark), Aquanova – Le pole EAU de La Loire au Rhin (France), Water Alliance (The Netherlands), ZINNAE – Cluster for the efficient use of water (Spain), Catalan Water Partnership (Spain)

Co-Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Objectives

The Water Smart Connect project (WSC) is committed to creating more connected, inclusive, and efficient water innovation ecosystems. The project aims to support the growth of companies and encourage innovation to address critical water challenges. By identifying Water Priorities and gaps, the project collaborates with partners on R&I projects that offer future funding opportunities. Through these efforts, WSC advances the future of water technology.

Action Plan

We will take a three fold approach to “unpick” regional strategies within the water-smart focus area, by:
1. Identifying Transformative Activities through generating a base of evidence from strategies, reports interviews, workshops and wider region engagement.

2. Developing Cross Regional Actions through comparing regional priorities, strengths and weaknesses and bringing key regional stakeholders together in cross-regional Entrepreneurial Discovery Workshops and wider matchmaking.

3. Setting-up the long-term join actions plan for implementation of the prioritized actions and highlighting the different and roles for relevant stakeholders.

Results

• A validated and adjusted version of the S3-Innovation Model

• A mapping and analysis of regional/cross regional capacities and potentials for circular

transformation including 7 regional SWOT analyses

• At least 7 cross-regional TAs (technical, market and/or industrial) identified in each sector with promising areas of European interest

• 1 joint cross-regional actions plan

• A set of recommendations and success criteria for implementation

• Infrastructures for increased interconnection are established on virtual platforms