DURATION: 01.12.2020 to 31.05.2024
BUDGET: 271,100.00€/17,432,120.00€
FUNDING: H2020 Building a water-smart economy and society, Innovation Action
ABOUT B-WATERSMART
B-WaterSmart is a four year H2020 Innovation Action project funded by Building a water-smart economy and society topic. B-WaterSmart will accelerate the transformation to water-smart economies and societies in coastal Europe and beyond. The project will apply a large-scale systemic innovation approach to select, connect and demonstrate a tailored suite of technology, management and smart data solutions for multiple users and sectors, and create new business models based on circular economy and water-smartness.
B-WaterSmart brings together six cities and regions as living labs with high ambitions to address water-related challenges and opportunities – Alicante (ES), Bodø (NO), Flanders (BE), Lisbon (PT), East Frisia (DE), Venice (IT) – selected for complementarity of scale, users, sectors and challenges, and for opportunities of mutual learning, replication and upscaling through a network of followers already mobilised. It will built each case around the actual problem-owner (water utility, municipality), a research partner, innovative solution providers and market-uptake partners (6 are SMEs), complemented by partners with specific crosscutting expertise (social sciences and humanities, IT, business development, water sector outreach).
B-WaterSmart will apply a participatory approach for co-creation and implementation of solutions through local Communities of Practice and a joint innovation alliance of problem owners, and develop recommendations for suitable governance models, regulation and policy instruments. We will deliver a novel framework to assess gains in water-smartness and sustainability at different scales. The project cases will demonstrate in real systems, at multiple scales, a range of promising technologies for water reuse/nutrient recovery, and smart data applications for more efficient, safe allocation and use of resources (water, energy, nutrients). For the apps, the project will build on FIWARE technology to enable interoperability and exchange across sectors, which is key for systemic change. All cases have defined criteria and target values to achieve by the project end and by 2040, and can build on synergies with other funding.
OUR ROLE IN THE PROJECT
UWMH participates in B-WaterSmart project in various tasks while leading the work on smart water data and applications which is related to interoperability and transferability of solutions, development, deployment, and demonstration of a series of water-smart applications to the case studies. Research activities are focused on three Living Labs: Flanders, Bodø and East Frisia, where systemic innovation in water smartness will take place and where the team will deploy and use the UWOT model and the Nessie system. UWOT is extended as part of the Responsible Reuse Framework (RRF) and the Regional Demand-Supply Matching GIS Tool, acting as the urban water cycle simulation engine for both – to explore alternative scenarios for reuse in terms of changing scales, climatic conditions and legal/environmental requirements. We also work developing knowledge in the area of data formatting, data exchange and data visualization through smart dashboards. The dashboards will also be connected to the water-smartness assessment framework which is a core output of the overall project. Finally, the team builds on past experience in the area of Circular Economy (e.g. NextGen project), and leads the implementation and maintenance of an advanced marketplace environment, the B-WaterSmart Knowledge Portal.
