The main goal of Pillar C is to support knowledge transfer and the uptake of research outcomes and innovative approaches in the water sector. To achieve this ambitious goal, the activities aim at acceleration of the dialogue between science and policy communities, in order to ensure that research and innovation actions are responding to policy needs, but also to reinforce the connections with the economic sectors for a more effective implementation of innovative solutions at local and regional scales. In this context, specific activities will be dedicated to further develop the skills of wide range of involved actors, as well as to provide a framework for data and information sharing.
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Structure & objectives
Pillar C is structured in 4 tasks:
- Task C1: Strengthening the science-policy-governance interface
- Task C.2: Accelerating the uptake of R&I results by the economic sectors
- Task C.3: Fostering capacity development of all actors
- Task C.4: Developing open science & open access to projects outputs and connected observatories and research infrastructures
The activities developed within different tasks will contribute to the achievement of following Pillar objectives:
- Supporting systemic knowledge transfer to relevant policies via activities of Knowledge Hubs and policy assessment working groups
- Fostering systemic innovation transfer to economic sectors by bringing together the solution providers and problem owners
- Developing new approaches for accelerating the uptake of projects outputs by the economic sectors for more effective implementation at all scales
- Being a driver of transformation by increased capacity building of various actors by implementing PhD schemes, mobility programs and vocational training activities
- Supporting Open Science & Open Access to projects outputs and connected observatories and research infrastructures
- Supporting interoperability between existing Open Data portals for sharing and reusing data across data sources.
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Outputs & impacts
The main expected outputs and impacts of Pillar C are:
- The identification of research and innovation needs in support of implementing selected water policies and legislations, together with the “translation” of research outcomes into applicable policy recommendations
- A more effective development of innovative start-ups and SMEs in the water sector, including a quicker access to the market
- The improvement of capacities and skills of actors in the water community
- The development of a solid framework for data and information sharing, including the provision of dedicated tools
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Medium & short term impacts of activities
In medium/short terms, the activities developed by Pillar C will lead to:
- To facilitate dialogue across the key policy actors to identify both technical and governance needs for the implementation of water related strategies and regulations in short term, and present them scientific evidence to achieve their goals in medium and long terms; (C1).
- A better understanding of the landscape of the already existing programs, facilities, financial instruments and incubators for innovations in the water sector and of the needs of (pre) start-ups in developing their company. This will be the starting point for supporting the creation of successful start-ups and for the development of an incubator strategy; (C2).
- To design, implement and proliferate PhD schemes with an emphasis on triple helix, multidisciplinary and cross-sectorial collaborations across interested partners that are in line with the Water4All SRIA priorities; (C3).
- To understand the current landscape of vocational training activities related to water management within and beyond Europe and develop strategies to expand their impact via mobilization activities, while conceiving the need for a systematic transformation of all actors to tackle the complex nature of water management challenges; (C3).
- To promote exchange with EU and National actors to foster the cooperation in the development of observation data and services for broadening implementation; (C4).
- To develop a Data Management Plan, including measures for integrating data produced by the funded research projects, aimed at the promotion of open access to data and of the use of the FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable data) principles; (C4).
- To identify the best approaches for the development of a data platform and relative tools, with regards to latest evolutions in FAIR data sharing; (C4).
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Public Deliverables
The Entrepreneurship and Business development training program with focus on inspiration, education and incubation;
The incubator strategy, aimed to support early stage start-ups and European projects spin-offs, to increase their abilities to bring their technology faster to the market;
The guidance document on data management in the context of Open Science (Data Management Plan)
A data Platform Pilot and related tools, that will integrate existing databases and data collected from R&I projects funded by Water4All.
A report on the design and best practices of PhD schemes, vocational education and training programmes implemented by Water4All partners.
A thematic gap analysis report to identify the challenges on selected policy areas and guidelines to implement the emerging and available solutions.
An online platform to foster mobility of water professionals by matchmaking across the problem owners and solution providers
Synthetic science-policy outputs (policy briefs, concept notes, state-of-the-art reports, etc.) by the Knowledge Hub