Savonia Article: Kuopio Water Cluster Hosts Collaborative Water Smart Connect Partner Meeting
This work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
Water related issues are increasingly in the spotlight. The goal of Water Smart Connect -project is to find innovative and multidisciplinary solutions to challenges in water intensive industries with international partners. The project connects regional capabilities and needs with those from international regions by engaging ecosystem stakeholders, including companies, research organizations, public authorities, and society.
Water Smart Connect is the first Horizon Europe project coordinated by Savonia University of Applied Sciences, with partners from leading European environmental technology organizations and clusters from Denmark, France, the Netherlands, and Spain.
In early September, the Kuopio Water Cluster (KWC) hosted a partners meeting for the clusters involved in the project. KWC is pleased to collaborate with Water Alliance from the Netherlands, Catalan Water Partnership (CWP) and ZINNAE from Spain, Clean from Denmark, and Aqua Nova from France.
During the visit, we explored Savonia’s WaterLAB and WaterLOOP and WaterPILOTS, which provide concrete support in developing companies ideas from lab to industrial scale. The Savonia DigiCenter also showcased robotic dogs Bob and Alice. Additionally, we visited greenhouse used in the ReNutriWater project and toured the Luke Maaninka research infrastructure, which includes a Lysimetric field (16 test plots suitable for ground and surface water monitoring) and the SIMU climate chamber (used to study the effects of snowmelt dynamics and winter rainfall on nutrient leaching).
Two company members of the Kuopio Water Cluster, 3D Talo and BioBros, also had the opportunity to pitch their companies.
Visitors enjoyed the exceptionally warm September weather in Kuopio and the beautiful scenery from Puijo Tower.
We had an incredibly productive three-day session with lots of discussions and ideation for future project ideas. These days inspired us to further work together to solve current and future water-related challenges. We also developed concrete ideas how to combine the expertise of different clusters, research organizations and companies from different countries and how they can contribute from unique perspectives.
Read more about Kuopio Water Cluster:
Writers:
Tiina Haatainen, Senior Specialist
Mariia Hämäläinen, RDI Specialist