A virtual solution for sharing water treatment innovations

Academics and businesses involved in water treatment technology have the opportunity to foster partnerships through a new online platform. Developed by the groundbreaking EU-funded FP4BATIW project, the platform acts as a marketplace for technology offers and requests, and specifically covers the Mediterranean region. Indeed four Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPCs) – Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and Tunisia – are involved in the project.

Experts accessing the platform can find new technologies and ideas; connect with potential R&D and commercial partners; and discover innovative solutions to water treatment issues. The platform is a major accomplishment of the FP4BATIW (Fostering Partnerships for the Implementation of Best Available Technologies for Water Treatment & Management in the Mediterranean) project, which aims to promote water treatment technologies in the Mediterranean region by bringing key experts together.

Technologies used in treating water for drinking purposes include separation using physical processes such as settling and filtration, along with chemical processes such as disinfection and coagulation. Water treatment is hugely important in ensuring the welfare of the general population; waterborne diseases kill hundreds of thousands of people every year, the vast majority of whom live in developing countries.

A key concept of FP4BATIW, which is due for completion in June 2016, is that fostering cross-border cooperation will help to reduce the water treatment R&D gap between developed and developing Mediterranean countries. These countries, after all, often face the same sort of challenges relating to climate and water scarcity. Water treatment pilot plant demonstrations are being promoted with MPC participation, while special emphasis is being placed on developing innovative business models that focus on generating water saving and multi-use solutions.

The project has also worked to achieve cross-disciplinary cooperation. Consortium members for example recently attended the first Euro-Mediterranean projects dialogue in Barcelona, held from 21 to 22 January 2015. This event aimed to establish a common dialogue among a number of current EU-funded projects in the Mediterranean that focus on water, energy and food.

Common issues such as the management of data, regulation and the efficient use of resources were discussed, along with the need for more sustainable EU-MPC cooperation. It was also felt that further efforts are needed in order to better communicate the benefits of on-going activities in the region, such as identifying the potential for job creation. FP4BATIW project team members identified several opportunities for future cooperation with other projects in the region.

The project also recently launched a competition to find innovative business ideas focused on issues such as water management, water treatment and water saving. The goal of the competition is to both raise the profile of FP4BATIW and to inspire SMEs, individual researchers and entrepreneurs from Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and Tunisia to come up with innovative business plans.

The competition, which is open until 20 March 2015, will reward the three best business ideas with an invitation to the final FP4BATIW conference, where they will have the chance to present their concept to an influential and informed audience.