WIDEST project (Water Innovation through Dissemination Exploitation of Smart Technologies) is a Coordination and Support Action (CSA) funded by the EU research and innovation Programme Horizon 2020. WIDEST envisions a thriving and interconnected Information and Communication Technology (ICT) network for the whole Water Community. WIDEST’s main objective is to promote the dissemination and exploitation of the results of European Union funded activities in this area, along with all the relevant advances achieved in the sector.
ICTs have played a pivotal role in the lives of industrial, rural and urban water systems. Water is a critical resource for life, and for our economy. However, the aquatic environment faces many critical challenges; climate change, water scarcity, pollution and ecosystem degradation, population growth, increasing energy costs, water quality and the design and management of water infrastructure are some of the complex issues which are changing the sector. Due to the presently ineffective nature of water management systems worldwide, experts believe that technology and smart water technologies are the only real way to enable the huge reductions to the present capital and operational running costs. A smart water system is one in which technology manages the allocation, distribution and management of water resources, where advanced water treatment is present, where demand-side efficiency is enabled and where products improve water efficiency, energy efficiency and food production. Several barriers appear for the implementation of smart technologies such as: the fragmentation of the sector, slow adoption of new technologies, absence of SME development and no holistic vision being set out for the sector. To overcome this, WIDEST defines 5 objectives:
- O1 Run an ICT for Water Observatory (IWO) consisting of literature search and reviews of relevant academic references, projects initiatives, industrial publications, etc. where latest scientific & innovation advances could be reported.
- O2 Establish Common Dissemination Frameworks to support stakeholders identify and orient them to opportunities for applying new technologies, promote collaboration and sharing, and articulate values and best practices.
- O3 Organise events, including conferences, workshops, and special sessions to encourage interaction between stakeholders and the public, host panel discussions on central issues for the roadmap, provide opportunities for interviews, and finally, sharing all the media and conclusions obtained with the community.
- O4 Produce 3 topical roadmaps and 1 overall roadmap: “Semantic Interoperability and Ontologies”, “Smart City Connection”, “Smart Water Grids” and “Overall” roadmap.
- O5 Produce a Portfolio that will contain effective ICT for Water technologies of varying readiness over its broad value chain, and propose the methodology to build, update and execute this portfolio.
