THE CWP CELEBRATES THE VII STRATEGIC IMMERSION IN A CONTEXT OF WATER EMERGENCY

09 Feb THE CWP CELEBRATES THE VII STRATEGIC IMMERSION IN A CONTEXT OF WATER EMERGENCY

• On December 1st, the VII CWP Strategic Immersion took place at the Gallery Hotel in Barcelona and was attended by a hundred people.
• The main speakers of the event were Professor Anton Costas, President of the Economic and Social Council of Spain and Dr. Jaime Gómez-Hernández, Professor of the UPV.

The VII CWP Strategic Immersion took place at the Hotel Gallery in Barcelona on December 1st. The event was mainly marked by the context of the water emergency that Catalonia is experiencing and was one of the main topics throughout the session.

The event was opened by the president of CWP, Jordi Cros, who highlighted the growth in members reaching 120 associates, 30 projects and equipment, as well as the consolidation as an international reference cluster. Then, Oriol Alcoba, General Director of Industry of the Government of Catalonia, also made a speech in which he mentioned the opportunity for action of the sector in the situation of water scarcity that we are facing today and how the CWP is one of the clusters that are leading innovation and internationalization in Catalonia.

Jordi Cros, president of CWP, making the welcome speech at the beginning of the event.

Xavier Amores, director of the entity, then gave a brief presentation of the achievements of the Catalan Water Partnership in 2022, explaining the importance of measuring the impact of clusters and how the CWP has helped the water sector to be more competitive in 2022: 18 projects underway, 3.5M of subsidized expenditure, 2.4M of aid and 54 partners who have participated. It has cooperated with 36 European clusters in R&D and internationalization to connect water-intensive sectors and 25 partners have participated as speakers in various conferences aimed at water-intensive industrial sectors. In addition, EU cascade funding has enabled 11 SMEs to participate in European projects with €211,520 in non-refundable funds and to resume internationalization in several countries this year.

After a brief background on the water cluster, it was time for the speaker Anton Costas. He is the President of the Economic and Social Council of Spain and has been Professor of Economic Policy at the University of Barcelona. In that case, he spoke to us about: “A new era: approach to the governance of economic regulation in a scenario of radical uncertainty”.

                                                     Anton Costas, President of the Social and Economic Council of Spain, making the presentation

Both before the start of the event and after the lecture, a space was set up for coffee and networking, one of the most awaited moments of the events. In this way, the associates were able to exchange ideas about Dr. Anton Costas’ talk and current affairs or even build new synergies.

Once the break was over, the round table on “Water and climate change in the context of the water emergency” began. It was moderated by Sònia Guri, R&D manager of Carburos Metálicos and was attended by Carles Ibañez (Eurecat), Jordi Bruno (Amphos 21), Marta Lacruz (Anthesis Lavola), Montserrat Termes (UB) and Xavier Bernat (Aigües de Barcelona). The conclusion drawn was that we are facing a challenge that, depending on how it is tackled, will mark a turning point in the economic, social and, above all, environmental context.

Members of the round table, from left to right: Sònica Guri (Carburos Metálicos), Xavier Bernat (Aguas de Barcelona), Montserrat Termes (University of Barcelona), Marta Lacruz (Anthesis Lavola) and Jordi Burno (Amphos21).

Before the end of the event, the closing speech was given under the title “Groundwater and its role in water security”. This was made by Jaime Gómez-Hernández, Professor of Hydraulic Engineering at the School of Civil Engineering of the Polytechnic University of Valencia. He is also head of the Hydrogeology Group of the Institute of Water Engineering and Environment. Through the interesting presentation, it was possible to understand the relevance of groundwater and as the speaker himself concluded: “they are the waters that allow rivers to flow when it does not rain in summer”.

Jaime Gómez-Hernández, professor at the UPV, giving his lecture.

Jordi Aguilera, vice president of CWP, was in charge of closing the VII CWP Strategic Immersion, highlighting that this 2023 we will be 15 years old, an important milestone for the cluster and all the companies and entities that participate in it.