SEMINAR ON DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES AND PRESENTATION OF RESULTS AND UPCOMING CALL FOR THE PERTE FOR WATER CYCLE DIGITALIZATION

• The seminar served as a meeting point for various entities with expertise in different digital technologies to analyze future challenges and the potential of applying digitalization to the sector.
• The Deputy Director General of MITECO shared the results of the first call for the PERTE for the digitalization of the urban water cycle and provided recommendations for the upcoming call.

On October 17th, a seminar titled “Digital Technologies Applied to the Water Sector and the PERTE as a Financing Opportunity” took place in Barcelona. The event was organized by the CWP in collaboration with AGBAR and was held at the CREA space in the city of water, both in-person and online, with a total of around one hundred attendees. The goal was to share perspectives from various entities that work on and develop solutions at the water-digitalization nexus, providing an overview of the challenges and potential of these technologies for the future, considering the current and upcoming challenges faced by the water sector.

The event featured participation from Laia Garriga from Eurecat, who discussed the challenges and opportunities of AI applied to the water sector; Josep Miquel Sánchez from Boonder, who highlighted the potential of telecontrol and remote management technologies; Ana Casas from AGBAR, who presented and explained the functionalities of DINAPSIS; and María Torrecilla from LACROIX, who gave a presentation on the role and importance of cybersecurity in water infrastructures. The seminar concluded with an intervention by Francisco Javier Sánchez, Deputy Director General of MITECO, who presented the results and conclusions of the first round of funding for the PERTE on digitalization of the urban water cycle.

Key takeaways from the seminar included the importance of having a prior strategy when digitalizing any element or infrastructure and the need to emphasize security and efficiency aspects. MITECO’s conclusions regarding the PERTE highlighted the necessity for small and medium-sized municipalities to also actively participate through projects and to give greater weight to the consideration of environmental criteria for water bodies within the projects presented.