World’s cities are expanding. Some 70% of people will live in urban areas by 2050. This growth brings with itself one big challenge: water. New water infrastructures went historically hand in hand with urban development. However, in the past, changes happened often because cities needed to react to crises and immediate needs – not as a result of real planning. Urban water planners were unable to take into account short-term and long-term, deeply uncertain and ambiguous factors affecting urban development and water demand.

These factors, together with increasingly uncertain climate conditions, have increased the need for a more holistic and intelligent decision-making framework for managing water infrastructures in the cities of the future. The Water-Futures project, funded by an ERC Synergy Grant, aims to develop a framework for the allocation and development decisions about water infrastructure systems.  The goal is that these systems become more socially equitable, economically efficient and environmentally resilient, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations Agenda 2030.

The results of the “Water-Futures” project will provide the theoretical and practical basis to enable various stakeholders, policy makers and administrators of these systems to make socially acceptable and fair decisions, which will balance short-term decisions. taken algorithmically in real time, together with long-term decisions concerning the transition and planning of new infrastructure for the evolution of urban water distribution systems. In addition, the new scientific results will be applied to three exemplary studies presenting different types of systems: a mature and relatively stable system in the Netherlands, a mature and rapidly growing system in Cyprus and a relatively recent supply system in Mexico with high growth and specific challenges. , which contain limited resources, intermittent supply and significant water loss due to leaks.

The project team, including Professor Marios Polycarpou (University of Cyprus), Professor Barbara Hammer (Bielefeld University), Professor Phoebe Koundouri (Athens University of Economics and Business) and Professor Dragan Savić  (KWR Water Research Institute/University of Exeter), brings together knowledge from different disciplines. To design the next generation of smart urban drinking water systems, this interdisciplinary research team will look at methodologies from water science, systems and control theory, economics, and decision science as well as machine learning.

 Official website 

Researchers and host institutions:

Marios Polycarpou University of Cyprus Cyprus	Barbara Hammer Bielefeld University Germany	Phoebe Koundouri, Athens University of Economics and Business Greece	Dragan Savić KWR Water Research Institute (KWR) Netherlands

Grant agreement ID: 951424

Partnership: Athens University of Economics and Business – Research Center, AUEB-RC – GREECE

Public press for Water Futures:

• https://www.waterworld.com/water-utility-management/smart-water-utility/press-release/14232921/europe-funds-11m-for-research-on-smarter-water-systems
• https://smartwww.in/six-year-european-research-project-to-design-next-gen-urban-drinking-water-systems/
• https://smartwatermagazine.com/news/cordis/european-eu10-million-research-project-design-smarter-urban-water-systems
• https://h2oglobalnews.com/european-e10m-research-project-to-design-smarter-urban-water-systems/

Press Release: http://www.unsdsn.gr/to-professor-phoebe-koundouri-athens-university-of

ERC announcement:

– ERC announces 34 new Synergy Grants | ERC: European Research Council (europa.eu)

– https://erc.europa.eu/news-events/magazine/erc-2020-synergy-grants-examples

Το άρθρο ERC | Water Futures: Designing the Next Generation of Urban Drinking Water Systems εμφανίστηκε πρώτα στο Ae4ria.

Project summary:

Today, an estimated 60-70% of soils in the EU are (severely) degraded due to unsustainable land use practices and pollution. The SOILCRATES consortium includes 21 partners from across the quadruple helix that fully acknowledge the importance of healthy soils and wish to work together on the tasks defined by the EU Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’. The ambition of SOILCRATES is to create four sustainable and dynamic Living Labs (LLs), to monitor soil health and biodiversity beyond the state-of-the-art, to enhance soil structure and health, and to increase soil literacy in society. During the project lifetime, four LLs based in the Netherlands, France, Ireland, and Spain, will be improving and monitoring the soil structure, soil life, and crop-growing conditions of mineral soils. In these LLs, stakeholders will work with the experimental sites (ESs) land managers to foster innovations and practices suited for the local context. Through co-creation and co-learning, the LLs will increase their knowledge of soils and the underlying soil processes. Special attention would be given to exploring crop diversity and vegetative cover, the application of organic soil amendments and irrigation techniques, and combining these practices at the farm level. By using various educational tools, SOILCRATES will make this knowledge available to the wider public and use it further to inform science, practices, and policy briefs to reduce pressures on soils. By the end of the project, four regional LLs would be fully sustainable and operational. The initial partnership would be enlarged with 40 sub-grantees – ESs and lighthouses (LHs) testing and demonstrating good practices developed through the project (EUR 1,600,000 budget allocated for FSTP). Collaboration will also be established with other LLs, sister projects, JRC, and EUSO. Proposed solutions are expected to spark further regional innovation, uptake of practices and monitoring solutions, and increase the impact of the project.

 Duration: 48 months – Start date 1 October 2024 – End date 30 September 2028

Το άρθρο HORIZON EU | SOILCRATES: SOil Innovation Labs: Co-Regenerating And Transforming European Soils εμφανίστηκε πρώτα στο Ae4ria.

FoodCoP is an innovative venture to enhance interregional collaboration among Startup Villages to ignite the transformation of food systems. At the heart of this initiative lies the challenge of aligning diverse stakeholder interests and catalyzing sustainable growth through the principles of the circular bioeconomy. The project aims to deliver three main impacts: establishing a robust collaborative framework, fostering sustainable food system transformations, and enhancing knowledge and awareness of circular bioeconomy solutions among rural innovators. Methodologically, FoodCoP unfolds in 3 phases. First, it lays the groundwork by establishing a conceptual framework and stakeholder engagement, drawing insights from best practices to shape a collaborative agenda and design pilot projects. The subsequent phase transitions into developing a transformative Community of Practice (CoP), emphasizing resource optimization, collective learning, and implementing co-creation methodologies to bolster innovation. The final phase focuses on sustainability and resilience, highlighting the role of FoodCoP ambassadors and leveraging dissemination and communication activities to share successes and insights. FoodCoP comprises a diverse network of stakeholders, including Startup Villages, regional networks, clusters, SMEs, research centers, and knowledge and innovation communities. Standing uniquely positioned to drive this initiative. With its comprehensive approach, FoodCoP aims to revolutionize the food industry’s innovation landscape and ensure its impacts resonate well beyond the project’s lifetime. The collaboration brings together a wealth of expertise and resources, promising to create a sustainable and inclusive ecosystem that supports the transformation of food systems through circular bioeconomy principles. FoodCoP will redefine the parameters of interregional collaboration, making a significant contribution towards a sustainable, resilient, and innovative food industry.

Partnership: Athena – Research & Innovation Information Technologies, ATHENA RC – GREECE

Το άρθρο HORIZON EU | FoodCoP: Fuelling Startup Villages with Circular Bioeconomy Strategies εμφανίστηκε πρώτα στο Ae4ria.

Agroforestry – a land use management system in which trees or shrubs are grown around or among crops or pastureland – has varied benefits, including increased biodiversity and reduced erosion. The combination of agriculture and forestry in the Mediterranean is deeply rooted in a culture of tradition and niche production but fails nowadays to structure its knowledge to achieve an integrated system of good practices for the sustainability of production, the protection of the biodiversity of distinct ecosystems, the transfer of innovation and the increase in profitability for the territories/actors involved. Therefore, LIVINGAGRO will tackle these issues using an Open Innovation approach, based on the setting-up of two Living Laboratories making possible the co-creation of the economic and social values and the interactions between supply and demand, eliminating geographical and cultural barriers. A specific focus will be on olive multifunctional system (Living Laboratory 1) and grazed woodlands (Living Laboratory 2). Olive cultivation is representative of many Mediterranean rural areas, and traditionally olive orchards were and are often still managed as agroforestry systems, in combination with cereals, fodder legumes and/or pasture. Grazed woodlands are major agroforestry systems in the Mediterranean that highly contribute to sustaining Mediterranean local economies supplying both vegetal and animal products.

Athena – Research & Innovation Information Technologies, ATHENA RC – GREECE, will participate and work on a pre-competitive analysis as well as the preparation of e-learning modules for business startup creation, plus face-to-face educational presentations of that material in Lebanon and Jordan through a subcontract from the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania (MAICh)

Το άρθρο ENI CBC Med Project | LIVINGAGRO: Cross Border Living laboratories for Agroforestry εμφανίστηκε πρώτα στο Ae4ria.

Partnership: Partnership: Athena – Research & Innovation Information Technologies, ATHENA RC – GREECE

Principal Investigator (PI) on behalf of SDU/ATHENA RC is Prof. Chrysi Laspidou

Team Members:

Prof. Phoebe Koundouri     Dr. Alexandra Ioannou

Το άρθρο Horizon EU | BIONEXT: The Biodiversity Nexus: Transformative Change For Sustainability εμφανίστηκε πρώτα στο Ae4ria.

An international network of researchers is working with policymakers and the business sector to better understand how the water-energy-food Nexus fosters policy coherence in the domains of water, energy and food, supporting the transition towards a circular and low-carbon economy in Europe. Focus is on job creation, enhancing wellbeing and care for the environment. The Nexus concept is tested at different scales (i.e. local, regional, national, European), while the international dimension is explored through the involvement of international proposers. More Nexus-compliant practices are foreseen through a knowledge sharing hub at European level and beyond. Public-private initiatives pave the path for Nexus compliant practices, building on network members’ advice. NEXUSNET will deliver examples of nexus compliant decision making, and recommendations to best achieve them, to come-up with an overview of Good Nexus Practices in Europe (policy coherence, Nexus-compliant practices and more coherent nexus evaluations). Transdisciplinary approaches are adopted to test Nexus compliant practices with the involvement of relevant stakeholders, while interaction and engagement with current and finished Nexus-related projects will be pursued. Academic Nexus knowledge will be translated into practical and applicable knowledge for the private sector or policy makers. A series of intense knowledge transfer and dissemination actions are planned to ensure that the network will have a significant impact in Europe and beyond.

Learn more here.

Prof Chrysi Laspidou: Action Chair.

Το άρθρο COST ACTION | NEXUSNET: Network On Water-Energy-Food Nexus For A Low-Carbon Economy In Europe And Beyond εμφανίστηκε πρώτα στο Ae4ria.

“Water for Tomorrow” is a program of the Athenian Brewery that promotes Sustainable Development in practice through the emergence of solutions for the proper management of water resources in Greece. The first action of the Program focuses on the Region of Thessaly where a number of factors cause a severe problem of water scarcity, significantly affecting at all levels, but mainly the issue of agricultural production which is particularly intense in the region. To address the problem and move to a new sustainable water management model, Athenian Brewery will work with state and civil society representatives, scientists, researchers and producers to jointly develop solutions that answer its question. sustainable management of water resources.

The scientific responsibility and documentation of the Program “Water for Tomorrow” has the professor of the Athens University of Economics and Business Ms. Phoebe Kountouri, which is supported by a large group of researchers. The scientific team specializes in sustainable development and environmental economics, natural resources and energy. As part of her research work, she has developed and implemented documented, innovative, interdisciplinary anthropocentric systems for sustainable interaction between nature, society and the economy. During the implementation of the “Water for Tomorrow” Program, the scientific team will apply the integrated methodology for the Innovative Systems Transformation (Systems Innovation Approach), aiming at the active involvement of the productive and institutional partners in all stages of the design of the solutions will lead to a sustainable model of water resources management in Thessaly.

Start: 2021

Meet the team: here

Read the Initial Report on Water Resources Management and the situation of the Water District of Thessaly (Project: Water For Tomorrow|  Athenian Brewery) here

Read more: www.nerogiatoavrio.gr

Το άρθρο Water for Tomorrow- Athenian Brewery εμφανίστηκε πρώτα στο Ae4ria.

Workshops and events organised by Water Scarcity:

26/10/2020: Water Academy in Greece (online)

15/09/2020: InnoWise Challenge Lab: Finding innovative solutions for water scarcity in Southern Europe (online)

30/06-01/07: “Body of Knowledge” Workshop on Water Scarcity in Southern – 3rd Online Workshop

Το άρθρο EIT Climate-KIC | Cross-KIC Water Scarcity Activities εμφανίστηκε πρώτα στο Ae4ria.

DESIRA (Digitisation: Economic and Social Impacts in Rural Areas) is a Horizon 2020 project (2019-2023) coordinated by the University of Pisa which involves 25 partner organisations (research institutes, NGOs and SMEs) in a multi-actor and inter-disciplinary Consortium.

DESIRA will develop the concept of Socio-Cyber-Physical Systems to advance understanding of the impact of digitisation in rural areas, linking analysis directly to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. The Consortium will work in an integrated manner to achieve the following project-specific objectives:

• fill the socio-economic knowledge gaps on digitalisation in agriculture, forestry and rural areas
• assess the past and current socio-economic impact of digitalisation in relation to SDGs
• improve the capacity of communities to reflect on future risks and opportunities of digitalisation
• improve the capacity of rural communities to reap the opportunities offered by digitisation and to improve resilience to related associated risks
• promote online and offline interaction and learning among a wide range of stakeholders
• increase the uptake of societal concerns in ICT-related policy and innovation, and to align digitalisation scenarios with societal needs and expectations

The project approaches all activities considering digitalisation as a process of social transformation driven by digital technologies. It acknowledges the transformative nature of digitalisation and the impacts it can have in shaping the way rural communities and actors learn, work, travel, interact, etc., acting as a ‘game changer’ for rural territories and sectors.

Official website

Grant agreement ID: 818194

Partnership: Athena – Research & Innovation Information Technologies, ATHENA RC – GREECE

Principal Investigator is Prof. Koundouri Members of the team are: Dr. Ebun Akinsete, Maria Lentoudi, Angelos Plataniotis

Το άρθρο Horizon 2020 | DESIRA: Digitisation Economic and Social Impacts in Rural Areas εμφανίστηκε πρώτα στο Ae4ria.

The project is part of the PRIMA (Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area) Programme supported by the European Union and involves several partners of excellence: Politecnico di Milano, Athens University of Economics and Business, Yezreel Valley College, University of Haifa, Agrimatic Farms, RWTH Aachen University and Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.

The main objective of AWESOME is developing a decision-analytic platform based on a multi-level, integrated WEF model to better understand multi-sectoral WEF tradeoffs and to capitalize on potential synergies, also exploring the interdependencies and feedbacks across ahierarchy of spatial scales, from the macroeconomic development of the Mediterranean region and national scale to regional planning at the river basin scale, down to the single farm. The platform will allow simulating the impacts of alternative WEF planning portfolios composed of regional policies, river-basin strategic planning options, and innovative technological solutions demonstrated at the local scale, to generate shared economic, environmental, and societal benefits.

OBJECTIVES

• A better understanding of trade-offs, synergies, and nested interdependencies across the WEF Nexus components at different spatial scales, from the whole Mediterranean region, through the river basins scale, to the farm scale
• A better characterization of opportunities and constraints to the implementation and successful uptake of multi-sectoral WEF portfolios aimed at improving agricultural and environmental sustainability, explicitly accounting for local stakeholders and global events/policies;
• Improved WEF portfolios aimed at increasing the resilience of the agricultural sector supported by a deep engagement with relevant stakeholders including farmers, local business representatives, public authorities, NGOs, policymakers, and citizens;
• Maximise the project’s impact by fostering the dissemination of knowledge and promoting dialogue, learning, and understanding between sectors, policymakers and stakeholders as well by supporting the acceleration and exploitation of project innovations throughout the Mediterannean region via partner agencies such as EIT Climate-KIC

Official website

Principal Investigator (PI) is Prof. Koundouri and members of the team are: Prof. Athanasios Yannacopoulos, Dr. George Papagiannis , Lydia Stergiopoulou , Dr. Ebun Akinsete

Workshops and events organized 

10/09/2020: AWESOME H2020 PRIMA Meeting

22/05/2020: Kick-off meeting H2020 PRIMA AWESOME project

Press Release available at http://www.unsdsn.gr/awesome-project-officially-started

For more information contact:

Prof. Phoebe Koundouri 

Το άρθρο PRIMA | AWESOME: Managing Water, Ecosystems and Food Across Sectors and Scales in the South Mediterranean εμφανίστηκε πρώτα στο Ae4ria.