Water innovation in Europe: INAPRO joins the discussion
Tuesday February 16, 2016
INAPRO took part in a two day intense discussion on innovation in the water sector during the European Innovation Partnership on Water annual conference which took place in Leeuwarden on the 9th and 10th February. The EIP on Water is one of the five European Union’s innovation partnerships aiming at gathering expertise and resources in order to find innovative solutions to global challenges.
On the first day, INAPRO attended the annual meeting of the EIP Water Action Group on Water & Irrigated Agriculture Resilient Europe (WIRE). The aim of the action group is to promote the customisation of existing innovations to respond to the agricultural sector’s needs and help it to adapt to the climate change impacts and water scarcity. The Action Group’s priorities focus on efficient water reuse, energy saving in irrigation and integrated agricultural water management. As new member, INAPRO intends to contribute to the activities and discussion of the Action Group concerning smart water management, resource efficiency and nutrient reuse. Moreover, INAPRO will open the doors of its European demonstration sites in Murcia (ES) and in Waren (DE), currently under construction, to all WIRE members interested in visiting them.
Water is a crucial theme of the new Circular Economy Package and WIRE will give its contribution to the upcoming European Commission’s guidelines on water reuse. Moreover, as the issue of water scarcity is becoming a dramatic problem for the agricultural sector across the EU, WIRE intents to strengthen the cooperation with the EIP on Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability.
During the EIP Water Conference, high level speakers discussed and exchanged on several crucial issues such as how to improve financing for innovation, how the public sector can be an important driver for innovation both through public funding and policy-making and how to bring innovative ideas on the market and transform them into commercial successes.
The European Commission reiterated the importance of the water sector for the EU and announced its intention of assessing different options to ensure better financing for innovation. Moreover, the Commission encouraged the public to explore all the possibilities offered by the EU funds, from Horizon 2020 to the European Funds for Regional Development and the new European Fund for Strategic Investment.
