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Within the context of the new approach towards research and innovation in the European Union and in line with the Europe 2020 strategy (COM (2010) 2020) and its flagship initiative on the Innovation Union (COM (2010) 546final), European Innovation Partnerships (including EIP-Water, one out of five partnerships) have the following features: they are challenge oriented, develop activities in the whole innovation cycle and are designed to
simplify and streamline already existing tools and initiatives. SPADIS is a good example of those features, from our viewpoint.
SPADIS, as one of the first 9 (out of 64) applications ranked as excellent, follows the principles of the EIP-Water and therefore contributes to strengthen research and innovation efforts of its partners. It is meant to develop pilot and demonstration projects, should contribute to anticipate any necessary regulation on innovative instruments to tackle water scarcity and droughts, and aims at generating conditions for relevant innovation outputs to reach the market in a straightforward way.
✪ WHAT
SPADIS will develop the following economic innovative policy instruments to manage drought risk:
> A smart-pricing scheme for urban water in order to finance increased water security, enhancing the reliability of sufficient water supply during drought periods.
> An innovative drought insurance system for irrigated agriculture to stabilize agricultural income in order to increase the resilience of rural livelihoods and to reduce current incentives to use the already over-exploited groundwater sources as buffer stocks in dry periods.
✪ WHY
To induce individual decisions regarding water use in order to contribute to the collective goals of reducing vulnerability to scarcity and increasing resilience to drought risk.
✪ PRIORITY AREAS of EIP Water
SPADIS EIP-Water Action Group contributes to two Priority Areas of the Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) of the EIP-Water.
On the one hand, to the Priority Area 4 (Flood and Drought Risk Management), and specifically to its Initial Action 3, dealing with integrated risk assessment and management approaches, ranging from planning to implementation of new insurance policies, combining physical, economic, insurance emergency management and social factors, and based on resilience and social vulnerability as well as ensuring social acceptability.
On the other, to Priority Area 6 (Water Governance, as a cross-cutting priority) and its Initial Action 3, on water pricing policies based on innovative approaches.
✪ HOW
This will be done through the development of a Decision Support System (DSS) including three elements: an information system, a management framework (based on hydro-economic modelling), and a risk assessment model. This DSS, though, should also contribute to assess closely linked issues such as the two-way link implied in the water-energy nexus (i.e. energy inputs for water service provision and availability of water to provide energy services), food security (both in its intra-EU and global dimensions), and climate change adaptation.
✪ POLICY CONTEXT
✪ PARTNERS
The core group of partners reflects the balance required in meaningful innovation: end-users, practitioners, other stakeholders, research and academic bodies (with interdisciplinary expertise), a technology platform, and the competent public authority. Yet,
the initial group will be enlarged as part of the next steps of SPADIS’ activity. There are
three axes that SPADISwill follow to expand its activity and market
opportunities: economic analysis (including hydro-economic
modelling), the Mediterranean region (on geographical grounds), and water scarcity and drought (on
water policy grounds). This
implies that SPADIS is expected to grow,
following an internationalization
strategy, through inviting (or accepting
expressions of
interest, blossoming these days) of new partners from northern Mediterranean countries (such as France, Italy, Greece, etc.), hydro-economic modelling expert groups, and EU partners beyond the Mediterranean either working on innovative solutions to tackle water scarcity (i.e. from the UK) or with high-level expertise on EU Freshwater Policy or economic
and financial instruments. In the longer term, once consolidated, SPADIS may explore links with relevant partners in southern Mediterranean countries (Northern Africa), Latin America, and other countries with severe water scarcity situations: Australia, Israel, western States of the USA, etc.
>TheinnovationcycleMAGRAMA [Spanish DG Water] provides data and critical insights and ensures policy relevance. IMDEA Agua · IST-UL · UAH · UCO · UPO · IIAMA-UPVLC · ECOLOGIC · ACTeon · SEVEN · ISCTE-IUL: are currently active partners in the European Research Area (ERA), with on going projects under the 7th FP on RTDI. This places them in a unique position to join EU-wide research consortia under Horizon 2020, with some applications already underway. AERNA (RTD association) develops and applies natural resource economics, fosters liaisons with researchers outside SPADIS and the transferability of the AG’s outcomes. PTEA (technology platform) could develop strategies and analyse research and innovation bottlenecks and opportunities. AGROSEGURO is key in the development of drought insurance schemes with expertise on the know-how of the insurance market. VALORIZA Agua and AEDyR bring in their expertise on technical and financial issues regarding desalination and water reuse, and Aguas de Valencia its expertise as a water utility. FENACORE and AEAS in turn provide information about current practice in irrigation agriculture and urban water supply and sanitation.
✪ INNOVATION potential & MARKET opportunities
> Increase the supply of available non-conventional water resources; avoided due to its high relative cost.
> To share information among water stakeholders, to develop a common information source for a common understanding of water management problems and opportunities (innovating in governance)
> Outcomes of improving water pricing and use water insurance systems to mitigate the impact of droughts over water dependent economic activities and increase water resilience
> Know-how in insuring natural disasters and extreme events: new insurance schemes to mitigate drought damages.
> SPADIS should be able to contribute to analyse in advance the expected impact of a certain incentive mechanism for water saving
> Recommendations and methods to build of a System of Environmental-Economic Accounting for Water (SEEA-W)
> Horizon 2020 research programme: According to the Work Programme 2014 – 2015 on the societal challenge #5: Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency, and Raw Materials (version December, 10th, 2013), this should provide some opportunities for
SPADIS.
The actions supported under this call are expected to contribute to several policy objectives including those set out for water in the Europe 2020 Resource-efficient Europe Roadmap (COM (2011) 571 final). Specifically, the call on Water Innovation: Boosting its value for Europe, may explicitly address issues linked with innovation (i.e. WATER-2-2014/2015: Integrated approaches to water and climate change).
✪ How to become a new member
The EIP-Water establishes a very simple procedure to become a partner:
(1) Formal expression of interest to become a SPADIS partner;
(2) Approval by all current SPADIS members;
(3) Communication to the EIP-Water Secretariat;
(4) Registration of the new partner in the Market Place (http://www.eip-water.eu/)
✪ What’s expected from you
> SPADIS is a non-funded initiative. According to the EIP-Water, Action Groups (AGs) are expected to provide their own resources to implement their activities but no financial contribution to the group or its activities is required at all as a binding requirement for membership.
> You can visit the Market Place for further information on why to become a member of and Action Group: http://www.eip-water.eu/get-involved/why-get-involved
Contactdetails
> Carlos Mario Gómez [A.G leader], [email protected]
> Gonzalo Delacámara, [email protected]
> Estefanía Ibáñez, [email protected]
