The Catalan Water Partnership celebrates the General Assembly with a hundred companies after reaching 130 partners
Last June 30, the General Assembly of the Catalan Water Partnership took place in Barcelona. The event was opened by Jordi Cros, president of the Catalan Water Partnership, who emphasized that thanks to all the efforts of those involved, the cluster has become a reference in the sector reaching 130 associates with continued growth in recent years.
Then the main results of the EcoSTP 2023 Congress held in Girona between June 26 and 29 were presented by Ignasi Rodriguez-Roda co-chair of the congress and who highlighted the great success of attendees at the fair, more than 530 from more than 50 countries, and the presentation of more than 180 innovative technologies. He wanted to highlight the great trends in water research from a scientific perspective.
Next, Eduardo Ayesa, executive president of the Ceit-BRTA Technology Center and researcher of the Water and Health Division, told us about the main projects carried out in the water innovation ecosystem of the Basque Country and which allowed compare the priorities between Catalonia and the Basque Country.
Afterwards, Xavier Amores, director of the CWP gave a brief summary of the activities carried out throughout the year 2022 and the beginning of 2023. It should be noted that this year we worked on the effects of the drought, the international reactivation, support in order to obtain financing with EU funds and adaptation to changes in the competitiveness of the sector. We note that during the first six months of 2023, almost the same volume of conferences has been carried out as throughout 2022 due to the great drought we are currently experiencing and which has forced a dissemination and work effort with intensive sectors in water consumption such as industry and tourism. If in 2022 the CWP had participated in 32 projects, in 2023 there are already 20 in progress, and 16 more proposals have been presented, between the projects in progress and the proposals there are more than 70 partners involved. Finally, the new corporate image of the CWP was presented together with the new website, which can be consulted through the following link: www.cwp.cat
After the coffee break, the new members attending the event also had a space where they could present themselves to the rest of the participants in the event: Accysa, Aventec, Baco, Boonder, Circular Carbon, Derypol, Diverse, Flux Engineers, Irta, Italsan, Jumo, Optral, Protecnia, Sedal, Senssal and Taigua. This was followed by a networking activity where different groups were created to discuss what actions could be taken in the CWP to help deal with the drought and what new actions the CWP could take to help improve the competitiveness of companies and participants.
Finally, Lucia Gusmaroli from the CWP gave the welcome and the introduction to the presentation of the HYDROUSA project and a workshop on nature-based solutions for water management. Then Oscar Pardo, from Aeris Tecnologías Ambientales, contextualized solutions inspired by nature for the management of water resources and Gianluigi Buttiglieri, from the Water Research Institute, focused on the assessment of emerging pollutants, all two focused on the Hydrousa project. Victoria Salvadó, from the University of Girona, explained the Life BiodapH2O project. Albert Herrero, from Engisic, showed subsurface filters: the application of natural systems in the purification of waste water. Sergio Martínez-Campos, from the UVic-UCC BETA Technology Center presented the LEMNA project: Valorization of livestock excrement through treatment with aquatic plants and finally Ainhoa Gaudes de Leitat presented the renaturalization of cities and water: cases of success of the Urban Green Up and Grow Green projects.
