Development of the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for the Water4All Partnership
Horizon Europe, the new European Research and Innovation framework programme, has been officially launched on 2 February 2021 by the European Commission and the Presidency of the EU Council. With the opening of work programmes coming soon, the co-design of the candidate Partnership on Water security under Horizon Europe, Water4All, is going on.
The networks in charge of developing this Partnership (Water JPI, Water Europe, EurEau, EurAqua, European Water Association, Aqua Publica Europea, WaterCampus Leeuwarden, together with the EC) issued a first draft version of its Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) in early December 2020. It was submitted to the consultation of national representatives as well as to an open online survey until the 18th January. Altogether, more than 100 reactions and contributions have been collected, from Member States, networks, research organisations, private companies, associations, and also from individuals concerned with water issues – mostly researchers. The feedback was overall supportive of the proposal.
Based on the received comments, a second draft version of the SRIA has been issued in early February, and presented to Member States representatives on the 11th February. The partners will further improve the draft in the coming weeks, to release the first final agenda by May. The Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda shall describe the themes and topics that the partners consider important to address in order to enable water security for all on the long term. It will constitute the strategic backbone of Water4All and guide all activities carried out during its lifetime: annual Implementation Plans will derive from this agenda. The first Implementation Plan is due with the submission of Water4All’s formal application to Horizon Europe, expected during Summer 2021.
