Water Smart Connect

Today’s urgent challenges are inherently complex and systemic and will not be solved by individual actors or territories in isolation.

To foster enabling innovation ecosystems across the EU, a systemic approach that is inclusive and collaborative is required.

Diverse actors from separate regions ensure an equitable diffusion of benefits and maximise the value of innovation for all.

This project aligns with EIE’s aims to create more connected, inclusive and efficient innovation ecosystems that support the scaling of companies and spur innovation to address important challenges in a responsible way. Previous projects and collaboration (i.e.

WST, S3P) are used as the foundation for this further development.Proposal topicsThe project will focus on digitalisation within water-heavy sectors as an enabler to create a water smart society.ConceptThe project will take a threefold approach to driving cross-regional innovation with the water-smart focus area.

These are:1) Prioritisation of key innovation areasRegionally, the project will generate a base of qualitative and quantitative data on existing capacities, gained from partners' experience and knowledge, and through engagement of quadruple-helix stakeholders.

This process will drive the identification of innovation priority areas regionally.2) Cross-regional actionsThrough cross-regional workshops, key innovation areas and gaps will be identified with a focus on formulating cross-regional action plans that generate a pipeline of specific ideas / concepts for future projects.

The workshops will analyse gaps in the competences of each of the regions to foster cross-regional collaboration. 3) Idea generation and partner matchingBased on the cross-regional workshops, the partners will select / match key innovation ideas and stakeholders through workshops, webinars, and digital co-creation.

The focus will be to develop a pipeline of concepts for future collaboration ( E.g. EUREKA, Water4All, Horizon Europe)