Concept

H2O & Sustainability Innovation HUB is an innovation ACCELERATOR for the WATER SECTOR, SUSTAINABILITY and CIRCULAR ECONOMY, involving STARTUPS, Universities, Research Centers, Institutions and reference Companies/Organizations in an integrated ecosystem of collaboration that embraces a BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT component and a SCIENTIFIC/ACADEMIC component

H2O & Sustainability Innovation HUB is a platform for Business Development that allows the opportunity for partners in the ecosystem to offer their services and solutions to potential clients.

H2O & Sustainability Innovation HUB fosters the acceleration of Scientific/Academic Innovation by launching a yearly CALL FOR PROJECTS to reference national and international UNIVERSITIES, RESEARCH CENTERS and STARTUPS to develop innovative projects in strategic areas in the Water Sector, Sustainability and Circular Economy with high potential for implementation and to foster problem solving and addressing needs of organizations and the population.

Target Audience:

(1) Startups in different development stages;

(2) Researchers , PhD and PhD students;

(3) Master and Undergraduate students and professors

Scope

Current environmental trends are leading to an increase in water scarcity for food production, human consumption, and industrial purposes, amongst other uses.
Climate changes have a direct impact on the water cycle. Such changes are creating extreme weather in many regions and increasing the frequency of extreme hydrologic events (heat waves, heavy rains, long periods of drought, floods).
Water supply and the wastewater management are key topics in the Water Sector and demand for innovative solutions.
Deficient waste management has a direct impact on air, water and soil pollution.
Through close collaboration with leading universities and research centers, is possible to develop innovation to improve overall sustainability.

Call for Projects

Objectives

To position Portugal as an international reference in innovation and technology in key development sectors;

To foster a Scientific and Technology HUB in Portugal for the Water Sector, Sustainability and Circular Economy;

To leverage National Sustainability Plans and attract Direct Investment aimed at developing projects in the following areas:
- Water, sustainability and circular economy
- Climate change
- Sustainable tourism

Foster the knowledge economy, contributing to the diversification of the economy in areas such as Digital Transformation, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Science, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality;

Development of STARTUPS and attraction of new technology-based companies namely in the areas of the water, renewable energies, sustainable tourism and circular economy;

Enhance the attraction of talent/qualified human resources to the Scientific and Techological HUBs to be developed;

Search for solutions for the Hospitality and Tourism sectors regarding the optimisation of water consumption and new ways of water re-utilisation, as well as reducing the effects of seasonality;

To set up a bottom-up knowledge and technology transfer process in cooperation with leading universities, research centers and reference institutions and organizations/ companies;

To promote wiser attitudes towards the water use and reduce water loss in the water supply and distribution systems (urban, industrial and agriculture);

To improve the efficiency of wastewater management and treatment systems and decrease the effects of water scarcity during dry seasons;

To attract direct investment, focusing on innovation in sustainability and circular economy entrepreneurship, internationalization, IoT and Digital Transformation;

H2O & SUSTAINABILITY GLOBAL SUMMIT 2023

International Summit

At the end of this first edition, there will occur the H2O & SUSTAINABILITY GLOBAL SUMMIT 2023, in Algarve, Portugal, from the 18th to the 21st of October 2023.

The objective of the WATER & SUSTAINABILITY SUMMIT 2023 is to promote innovation with presentations focused on Technology, Digital Transformation, Data Science, innovative Devices, etc. applied to Water sector, Sustainability and Circular Economy and by bringing together Organizations, STARTUPS and Researchers to develop networking and business opportunities.

There is also a place for a fair event for the presentation of products, services and solutions related with the Water Sector, Sustainability and Circular Economy.