On the 7th November, Ana Kumlien attended the event Our Future Water in Berlin. Here we present some highlights of the event and the connections and insights we brought back home.
The event led by Robert C. Brears, Simone Ballard, Nalco Dolman and Joana Bacallo and had various EU leaders in industry and innovative scientific institutions interested to address water security goals. A full coverage of the event can be found here. Some of the talks which brought insights for the Dwr Uisce projects are highlighted below.
Building climate resilient cities
Nanco Dolman spoke on the ‘CATCH project: Applying the Water Sensitive City framework for climate adaptation in the North Sea Region’. As in Dwr Uisce, the CATCH project also promotes demonstrations sites or pilots which aims accelerate the redesign of urban management by promoting adoption of emerging research.
Underground pipes of the future
Dipl.- Ing. Christoph Bennerscheidt spoke on ‘ Implementation of the Sponge-City-Principle using a Soil-Pipe-System’. We had very good conversations with Christoph about Life-Cycle Assessment and re-use of materials by the pipping industry.
Dr. Thomas Track presenting on behalf of DECHEMA.
Perspectives in industrial water management
Dr. Thomas Track spoke on ‘Perspectives in industrial water management’. Thomas (right picture beside) comprehensive presentation covered aspects of the “Science Industry dialogue”, and also discussed how to manage physical, regulatory and strategic risks in the future due to climate change events.
Connecting global water and sanitation providers
Dr. Bastian Piltz spoke on ‘International Collaboration for the Future of Water — a consultancy approach’. Bastian explained how Isle Utilties brings technology to life through Online Tools, Technology Approval Group and Consultancy. They help to accelerate water innovation globally.
Comparisons of water prices across Europe
Friederike Lauruschkus spoke on the ‘Comparison of European Water Prices’. We were very interested in the points made by Friederike about what prices in UK and Wales, which is very relevant for the work we are developing within Bangor University.
The rise of blue-green cities
Robert C. Brears spoke on ‘Blue and Green Cities: The role of blue-green infrastructure in managing urban water resources’.
Connecting with industry is vital for academic research
In addition to the talks and connections above, we also made good contacts with GFA consultancy, Amane Advisors, The European Junior Water Programme and ESMT Berlin (see some of the links below). Understanding what the water sector needs, and where industry is heading too, is of prime importance for our project and helps us to maximize the impact of the environmental, business and engineer research. We thank the organizers for the good networking event in Berlin! And we hope to be in touch in the future. More pictures of the event and companies we connected with are shown below!
