Water Innovation Day recognizes the best R&D projects to tackle the drought

• The winning project was LIFE INDESAL, which innovates in the desalination process to make it more efficient and valorize part of the waste.
• The other finalist projects were SHERLOCK in second place, and WATER-MINING, LIFE RECYCLO and Study of the water cycle in livestock farms with a triple tie for third place

Photo 1: Participants in the R+D elevator pitch

The Catalan Water Partnership celebrated the VI edition of the Water Innovation Day last February 14 at the TencoCampus in Mataró, with an attendance of 135 people.

The central part of the event was the presentation of R&D projects and innovative solutions in elevator pitch format to promote the transfer of knowledge around the most relevant technological and R&D innovations for the sustainable use of water in Catalonia. The projects and solutions presented had to be related to the drought, a theme that has marked the last editions and the activity of the entity in recent months, due to the intensity and duration of this episode in Catalonia that has led to declare a state of emergency in a significant part of the internal basins.

Photo 2: President of the Catalan Water Partnership, Jordi Cros, opening the event

Different entities associated with the cluster took part in the day, as well as technological and research centers, universities and companies specialized in the water sector. The R+D projects that were presented were:

• Vecoli, presented by Montserrat Batlle from ADASA, which consists of AI for the monitoring of E.coli in the meat sector.
• WATER-MINING, presented by Rosa Rafecas de SORIGUÉ, which explores the recovery of nutrients from wastewater
• DigiReg. Digital technologies for irrigation management, presented by Jaume Casadesús of IRTA, a demonstration project of digital technologies for data-based irrigation management
• PROMISCES, presented by María José Muñoz from Consorci Besòs Tordera, a project to promote reuse
• Implementation of continuous sensors for geosmine prediction, presented by Carmen Espinosa from Aigües de Vic
• LIFE-RECYCLO, presented by Sara Rodriguez from ICRA, project on treatment and reuse in laundries
• LIFE-INDESAL, presented by Olga Ferrer from ACCIONA, an innovation project for desalination
• ReWat, presented by Xavier Torret from BGEO, in which it is intended to advance in the field of urban networks of regenerated water
• Study of the water cycle in livestock farms, presented by Lidia Paredes of the BETA Technology Center
• SHERLOCK, presented by David Abert from LEQUIA – University of Girona, a management tool for drinking water treatment
• Mataró Reuse Platform, presented by Eric Santos from CETAQUA, which studies the technical and economic feasibility of regenerating treated water at the Mataró WWTP
• ASSET-WATER, presented by Marc Teixidó of the IDAEA-CSIC, which evaluates and improves the operation of SUDs in Barcelona
• QaiFIL, presented by Humbert Salvadó from the University of Barcelona, ​​a project on intelligent automated quantification of filamentous bacteria in WWTPs
• SMARTH2OTEL, presented by Ainhoa ​​Gaudes from LEITAT, a project on efficient water management in the tourism sector
• AquaSPICE, presented by Andrea Naves from Eurecat, which aims to promote circularity in the industry

The R&D projects presented opted for recognition as the best R&D project, in a vote by those attending the event. The winner was ACCIONA’s INDESAL project, followed by Lequia’s SHERLOCK project – University of Girona in second place. Finally, there was a triple tie for third place with the WATER-MINING projects from SORIGUÉ, LIFE RECYCLO from ICRA and Study of the water cycle in livestock farms from the BETA Technology Centre.

Photo 3: winner and finalists of the R+D elevator pitch awards.

With regard to innovative solutions, which are those tools or technologies that are already on the market, the intervention was counted on:

• SENSSAL SYSTEM, a system to optimize water consumption points, presented by José Emilio Parra from SENSSAL
• IOT SMART WATER METERING, an intelligent monitoring solution, presented by Carlos Serrano from AONCHIP
• AVSIS, a platform for the efficient management of the water cycle, presented by Adrià Salvans d’Aigües de Vic S.L
• Assessment of the physical risks associated with climate change in water management and assets, presented by Albert Nardi from Amphos21
• Application of HYK technology in water reuse in the petrochemical and pharmaceutical sector, presented by Andriy Kharuk from Hydrokemos

The CWP works to improve the competitiveness of its associated entities and, at the same time, to deal with the state of water emergency that Catalonia is experiencing. This was emphasized at the beginning of the day by Jordi Cros, president of the Catalan Water Partnership who wanted to emphasize that “technology and innovation allow us to face the drought with more guarantees and strength”. Also the director of the entity, Xavier Amores, highlighted the ninety days that the CWP has held or participated in over the last year, many of them related to the drought and which have had more than 4,000 attendees, and present the projects of the Ministry of Industry and Tourism’s call for AEIs and ACCIÓ’s IRCs, also emphasizing those related to the drought.

Photos 4 and 5: Xavier Amores, director of the CWP, presenting the AEI projects of the Ministry of Industry and Tourism and the IRCs projects of ACCIÓ

To close the day, Franc Ponti, professor at EADA Business School and speaker of TEDx Speaker Talks, gave a presentation in which he paid tribute to Enid Blyton, talking about Generate, Dare, Be Wrong, Transgress, Connect, Imagine, and Evaluate: The 7 secrets of creativity, available to all organizations and all economic environments, including water.

Photo 6: Franc Ponti, professor at EADA Business School and TEDx Speaker Talks speaker, giving the presentation “The 7 secrets of creativity”

The event was marked by the sector’s concern for the pluviometric drought state that Catalonia is experiencing and highlighted the interest and effort of the entities that work for the sustainable use of water to continue looking for solutions and projects to face this episode and the ones to come.