The 2016 edition of Water Innovation Europe conference “Water-Smart!: European solutions for a smart water society”

The 2016 edition of Water Innovation Europe conference was held in Brussels on June 21-23rd 2016. The annual stakeholder conference was revolved around the topic “Water-Smart!: European solutions for a smart water society”. WssTP has organised a SIRA (Strategic Innovation Research Agenda) 2030 workshop , as part of the pre-conference of WIE2016, where the draft of the SIRA was presented and discussed with the participants . Seventeen working groups have organized their meetings in the context of WIE2016. The WG meetings was open to anyone interested in learning more about a Working Group and becoming part of it.
 The second day in the presence of the Commissioner Carlos Moedas, the vision document has been presented. The document was produced by the WssTP technology platform with the input of its members and key stakeholders. The vision outlines what the future water-smart society will look like towards 2030, based on emerging technologies and societal trends which are expected to lead to a paradigm shift on how we deal with finite resources on our planet.
 After the presentation of the WssTP vision the Commissioner Carlos Moedas has given its key note. He has presented its priorities in the sector: − “open innovation, open science, opens to the world” and has explained their contribution to water in a smart society.
 He has mentioned also that in the frame of “open innovation” they are exploring the possibility of creating a new Water Demo Financial Facility under InnovFin, a tool to finance highly innovative demonstration projects in the water sector to be linked to a wider Water Investment Platform. Such a platform could build on existing financial instruments, particularly the European Fund for Strategic Investments.

Conference website