EIP started new call water innovation

The European Innovation Partnership on Water (EIP) started on the fifth of November with a new call for action groups working on water innovation. The call was opened this week during the second annual EIP Water conference in Barcelona and will close the 31st of January 2015. 

Action Groups consist of multi-stakeholders and their task is to develop, test, scale up, disseminate and stimulate the uptake of innovations by the market and society for major water-related challenges. More information can be found in the Guideline for Application. At the moment there are 25 action groups with multiple stakeholders.

Annual conference
In Barcelona gathered 400 participants from all over Europe. The second EIP meeting attracted less visitors than last years first annual meeting in Brussels where 500 water experts turned up. During the programme different speakers addressed innovation issues from different perspectives, according to their work field. Marianne Wenning, Director of Quality of Life, Water & Air at the European Commission, kicked off in Barcelona.

Wenning was followed by many others like Carmen Vela, State Secretary for Innovation in Spain, Tomas Michel, Chairman WssTP, Wim van Vierssen, CEO KWR Watercycle Research Institute, Monica Scatasta, Head of division Water and Waste Management at the European Investment Bank and Cate Lamb, Head of water CDP. All the presentations can be found on slideshare.