Water Oriented Living Labs
BACKGROUND/HISTORY AND CONTEXT OF THE WORKSHOP
Thanks to the development of action research network and Europe-wide federative organisations of living labs, today, European living labs play a leveraging role for the uptake of Responsible and Participatory Research and Innovation actions, whilst promoting synergistic implementation of Horizon 2020, Smart Specialisation, and Cohesion Policy. In the context of its overall Vision 2030 and SIRA (Strategic Innovation and Research Agenda) targets for the water- smart society, the European Water Platform Water Europe has defined living lab as one of the key innovation measures to develop longer-term investment plans for experimental RDI programmes addressing water innovation barriers.
Water Oriented Living Labs are real-life, water oriented and demo-type and platform-type environments with a cross-sector nexus approach, which have the involvement and commitment of multi-stakeholders (including water authorities) and a certain continuity (good chance to continue to their existence), and provide a “field lab” to develop, test, and validate a combination of solutions as defined in the Water Europe SIRA, which include technologies, their integration as well as combination with new business models and innovative policies based on the value of water.
MAIN AIM / OBJECTIVE
To explore synergies, collaborative and financial tools to support LLs to address water related challenges through the development of innovative solutions both from the policy&governance and technology perspective with a systemic approach.
EXPECTED OUTCOMES
Full understanding of the water challenges in diverse categories of LLs Development of a draft roadmap for the development of innovative solutions both from the policy&governance and technology perspective with a systemic approach.
BRIEF OUTLINE / METHODOLOGY
A blend of:
- Frontal workshop to introduce the core issue of the workshop, the state of the art of This will include a summary of the findings from the Water Europe Atlas of EU WoLLs.
- Interactive workshop to design possible proposals, support networking and systemic innovation solutions relating to the workshop
The workshop is based on three facilitation groups of about 10-20 people each for the three main domains of the WoLLs (Industry, Urban, Rural) that are more suitable for analysis and knowledge creation.
Schedule: 90-minute time-slot
Session 1. 0-15 min: Plenary, introduction of Water Oriented Living Labs (WoLLs) and presentation of the Water Europe Atlas of WoLLs (facilitator Andrea Rubini)
Session 2. 15-45 min: Emerging Water challenges in the Urban, Rural and Industrial LLs followed by discussion, three parallel sessions:
· Industry LLs, facilitator Geoff Townsend
· Urban LLs, facilitator Alexis De Kerchove
· Rural LLs facilitator Jochen Froebric
Session 3. 45-75 min: How to develop governance and business models in WoLLs to address water innovation barriers, three parallel sessions:
· Industry LLs, facilitator Geoff Townsend
· Urban LLs, facilitator Alexis De Kerchove
· Rural LLs facilitator Jochen Froebric
Session 4. 75-90 min Plenary: final discussion and wrap up of the workshop (facilitator Dirk Van der Stede)
Materials available to the participants:
- Water Europe Atlas of Water Oriented Living Labs (WoLLs)
- Water Europe Vision “The Value of Water”
ORGANISATION
Water Europe Technology and Innovation (The European Platform for Water)
Water Europe is the recognized voice and promotor of water-related RTD and innovation in Europe. We strive to increase coordination and collaboration, to enhance the performance of the water service providers, water users, and technology providers, in a sustainable and inclusive way, and to contribute to solving water-related societal challenges. Water Europe saw the light as WssTP, initiated by the European Commission (EC) in 2004, as the European Technology Platform (ETP) for water. This ETP status was renewed by the EC in 2013 in line with its ETP2020 strategy. In 2007, Water Europe was transformed into a member-based multi-stakeholder platform under Belgian law. Since then, the membership and activities of the organisation have continuously grown and evolved in line with its ambition to represent the whole value-chain of water and achieve a European Water-Smart Society.
Workshop Facilitators
Geoff Townsend
Water Europe Vision Leader Water Smart Industry, NALCO/ECOLAB
Geoff Townsend
Water Europe Vision Leader Water Smart Industry, NALCO/ECOLABDr Geoff Townsend engages in the strategic direction of Ecolab’s water and energy related innovation with an emphasis on enabling their customers to meet the challenges associated with water scarcity and water quality constraints. He has a PhD in Environmental Chemistry from the University of Cambridge. Geoff is actively engaged in a variety of Ecolab’s sustainability initiatives particularly in the area of water stewardship, context-based targeting and the water-energy-food nexus. He participated in the ISO Standard Committee for Water Footprinting (ISO 14046) and from its inception has been engaging with the Alliance for Water Stewardship. Geoff is the leader of Water Europe’s Cluster Theme ‘Water Smart Industry.
Alexis De Kerchove
Water Europe, Vision Co-Leader Water Smart City, Xylem Inc.
Alexis De Kerchove
Water Europe, Vision Co-Leader Water Smart City, Xylem Inc.Alexis joined Xylem in 2011, where he had multiple management roles in Engineering, Strategy and Marketing. With a pure-play background in the water sector, he is an expert in water and wastewater management, with special interest in the digital transformation of the water sector and sustainable management of water resources. As part of his role, Alexis builds and executes Xylem business growth strategy in the water utility market in Europe and is a though leader managing Xylem governmental relations among EU institutions. Prior to this, Alexis worked at Degrémont (Suez) as Senior Process Engineer for the development of alternative water resources (i.e. wastewater reuse and seawater desalination). Alexis has a master in business administration from ESADE (Barcelona, Spain) and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Yale University (New Haven, CT, USA).
Jochen Froebrich
Water Europe, Vision Leader Water Smart Rural, Wageningen Environmental Research
Jochen Froebrich
Water Europe, Vision Leader Water Smart Rural, Wageningen Environmental ResearchDr. Jochen Froebrich is senior researcher at Wageningen Environmental Research. He graduated at the Leipniz University Hannover, Germany. Over more than two decades he had worked on solutions for key water challenges, such as water scarcity and drought and to reach a stronger link between land and water management, especially in Africa, Asia and in the Mediterranean area. His wide expertise in the area of land and water management allowed him to establish various interdisciplinary research teams, to coordinate successfully a variety of EU research projects and to execute transdisciplinary research. Today, his particular interest is related to co-innovations and public private partnerships, as e.g. for the establishment of innovation cooperatives in South Africa. For the network Water Europe, Dr. Froebrich is head of the cluster Water Smart Rural Areas. He is also member of the Steering group for the Dutch Food Security Alliance and involved together with the InnoFactory of Royal Eijkelkamp B.V. in the development of living lab approaches within and outside Europe.
Dirk Van der Stede
Water Europe, Board Member, VITO/Vlakwa
Dirk Van der Stede
Water Europe, Board Member, VITO/VlakwaDirk Van der Stede is a senior advisor with more than 30 years work experience in water related projects. He initiates – coordinates – facilitates initiatives with focus to come to a robust water systems, such as in Flanders/Belgium, assisting Flanders Knowledge Center Water (Vlakwa) - an independent division within VITO. VITO is a leading European independent research and technology organization in the areas of cleantech and sustainable development, elaborating solutions for the large societal challenges of today. After finishing his studies and before coming to VITO/Vlakwa in 2010 he worked for different world leading innovative companies and became Managing Director of HEMMIS (1990) and MOSTforWATER (2006). These companies provided consultancy and high-tech software for environmental applications. including model-based software solutions for water-related processes, such as wastewater treatment, river water quality, drinking water quality, and water re-use. Dirk Van der Stede, who obtained his Industrial Engineer degree electricity/option microelectronics (1975) at KIH Ostend (Belgium), is also - Director Water Europe (former WssTP) Director - OECD Water Governance Initiative member - Clean Ganga Europe Desk Manager - Board member of a large number a socio-economic organisations.
Andrea Rubini
Water Europe, Director of Operations
Andrea Rubini
Water Europe, Director of OperationsAndrea Rubini holds a MSc in Water Resources Engineering and has more than 30 years of international experience in the water and energy sector, in climate change related impacts in urban and industrial areas, and ecosystems. He spent the last 20 years in the multi-level European lobbying context in Brussels where he gained an outstanding knowledge of the EU R&I policies and funding programs. He worked for the Italian system of the Chambers of Commerce as R&I advisor, for the Lombardy Region Presidency Delegation to the EU and the DG REGIO as policy advisor. His previous experience with the UNDP, the ILO and as lecturer of well-known Universities in EU, Asia and Africa complete his profile. Andrea works at Water Europe in Brussels as Director of Operations and is in charge of the Market and Collaboration Programs with a strong focus on the Water-oriented Living Labs, which are a key tool for the implementation of Water Europe’s Water Vision “The Value of Water. Water Europe is the recognized voice and promotor of water-related R&I in Europe and gathers more than 200 members. Andrea is co-editor of the Atlas of the Water Oriented Living Labs (WoLLs) published in 2019 by Water Europe, that identifies and categorises by country and the use-context (i.e. agricultural, urban, industrial, and ecosystem) 105 WoLLs across Europe, following and applying the rationale of Water Europe Water Vision and its Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda.