The National Laboratory of Civil Engineering (LNEC), from Portugal, has partnered with two
world-leading organizations - Cranfield University (UCRAN), from the United Kingdom, and Sorbonne Business School (IAE de Paris), from France - to design, develop and implement the Lisbon International Centre for Water (LIS-Water).
Located in Lisbon, LIS-Water intends to be a not-for-profit Centre of Excellence focused on public policies, regulation and management on water services and related water resources. It will respond to the challenges deriving from water being one of the top world priorities, recognised by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recently approved by the United Nations.
LIS-Water aims at boosting leading edge research and innovation (R&I), with a multidisciplinary and integrated approach, with high impact not only in Portugal, Europe and in the Portuguese speaking countries, but also worldwide. LIS-Water intends to innovate in new approaches, processes, business models, governance models, services, products and technologies in the water sector. To this end, it will employ and engage researchers, academics and all stakeholders in co-producing research and in transferring the results into policy decisions, the creation of better professional skills and organizational best practices, the dynamization of industry and the informed engagement of society.
It is well-known that water is one of the main priorities of Humankind, and public policies, regulation and management of water services and associated water resources still reveal serious shortcomings and challenges that need to be overcome. Water is an exceptional case of a coming together of technology and governance aspects – and as such need a Centre of Excellence that can bring researchers focused on each of these two broad aspects together in a coherent and well-structured manner. There is an increasing pressure to implement sustainable water governance practices on a global scale to ensure water security and access to safe drinking water. All countries are expected to meet the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, adopted under the United Nations umbrella, including SDG6 - Clean water and sanitation for all. Water is also a cross-cutting issue, essential to achieve all the other SDGs. A number of international and national policy documents place similar obligations and commitments, implying high investments in appropriate water services and water resources. LIS-Water can provide an important contribution to fill the gaps internally and abroad, by boosting the R&I performance of Portugal and the EU in general, and by providing a new and more integrated approach to water services and related water resources.
LIS-Water’s main promoter (LNEC) and the two other founding members (UCRAN and IAE de Paris) are internationally well recognised scientific organisations, with many decades of experience, that bring complementary competences to LIS-Water. Additionally, an impressive number of about 60 very diverse supporting organisations that represent the water sector have already joined LIS-Water, paving the way for the establishment of the LIS-Water ecosystem.
The main objective of the first phase (one-year) of the LIS-Water project was to develop an extensive, detailed and robust Business Plan for the setting-up and operation of the Centre of Excellence in the second phase.
