Three days to nurture demonstration activities of Water4All
On November 25, 26 and 27, BRGM hosted a seminar dedicated to Water-Oriented Living Labs (WOLLs) and involved partners in Banyuls-sur-Mer, France. This meeting marked an important milestone for the Water4All partnership.
What was at stake?
The meeting brought together WOLL coordinators to engage in structured exchanges, benefit from collective feedback, and reflect on the consolidation of their respective pathways. This seminar was also an opportunity for members to keep building the strategy of the demonstration activities for the continuation of the Partnership.
Holding this event in the Pyrénées-Orientales, a French department that has been experiencing severe water stress for several years, provided concrete and tangible grounding for the issues addressed over the course of the days. The Pyrénées-Orientales is also where BRGM is leading the launch of a local WOLL, whose members attended part of the seminar.
Program highlights
25 November was dedicated to the annual meeting of involved members of the Water4All partnership. The aim was to develop a shared roadmap of activities to strengthen the network of WOLLs.
26 November was dedicated to capacity building activities with the WOLLs. Around forty participants attended keynotes and workshops addressing major issues for Living Labs, such as the challenges of participatory approaches in water science, citizen and stakeholder engagement, defining a value proposition, financing models and the roadmap proposed by Water4All. c.
27 November was dedicated to networking activities and field visits. WOLL representatives had the opportunity to meet around twenty water stakeholders from the Pyrénées-Orientales (researchers, local authorities, and members of civil society). Progress made by each WOLL was presented during a poster session, providing an overview of concrete projects.
Progress made by each WOLL was presented during a poster session, providing an overview of concrete projects.
In the afternoon, a field visit in the Pyrénées-Orientales, led by local stakeholders, enabled participants to gain first-hand insight into water-related challenges, closely connected to local uses and needs.
What did we learn, and how to keep going?
The event first strengthened the ties among partners and the WOLLs to start materializing the WOLLs network. It also clarified the Pillar D strategy for strengthening the maturity and impact of the WOLLs. Keynotes provided overarching concepts that help structure reflection around the WOLLs, while the workshops and the posters enabled participants to obtain more concrete and precise answers to challenges shared by all WOLLs.
Intense peer-to-peer exchanges during the poster session displaying lessons learnt from about twenty Living Labs was clearly one of the main highlights of the event. Finally, the field visit exploring the water management issues of the local WOLL in creation helped participants understand the challenges of an area severely affected by climate change.
This seminar laid important foundations for the future. It will especially help Water4All partners better tailor the partnership’s activities to the needs of the WOLLs and pave the way for a growing network of WOLLs capable of ensuring a seamless pathway between water research, innovation and adoption by users and stakeholders of solutions to water challenges.
