EU provides €50m for water research projects

The EU has approved 11 new projects for research funding to promote innovative solutions for water-related challenges. The projects involve 179 partners from research organisations and private companies (including more than 70 SMEs), across 19 European countries.

European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, said: “Water is probably our most precious resource and managing it is one of our greatest challenges. These projects will help find innovative solutions to some of today’s most pressing problems, such as maintaining water quality and tackling water scarcity.”

The projects include biotechnology to treat heavy metal pollution in waste water, new ‘Aquaponic’ systems combining aquaculture and hydroponics in agricultural production, and smarter management of water distribution networks.

The €50m in funding comes from the 2013 Environment call of the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme. This brings total funding for water-related projects under FP7 (2007 to 2013) to over €1bn.

Securing safe and plentiful water supplies will remain a key objective under Horizon 2020. The projects, as well as future research under Horizon 2020, will contribute to the aims of the European Innovation Partnership on Water (EIP-Water). Launched in May 2013, EIP-Water brings together the public and private sector as well as civil society to help speed up innovation.

Under the first Horizon 2020 calls, around €67m of funding is provided for research under the ‘Water innovation’ focus area. In addition, the efficient use of water will be addressed through other actions, such as the proposed contractual public private partnership entitled Sustainable Process Industry.