Water JPI-Water Challenges for a Changing World

The Joint Programming Initiative Water Challenges for a Changing World was created with the aim of pooling efforts, mobilizing resources and strengthening European leadership and competitiveness in water research and innovation. Portugal is one of the partners in this initiative, which also has the participation of the European Commission. In 2014 the ERA-NET WaterWorks 2014-2019 in Support of the Water JPI was created, in which Portugal is one of the partners.

The Water JPI is an intergovernmental initiative aiming to promote the development of water systems on the basis of a sustainable economy. However, achieving these goals requires a transnational and multidisciplinary vision to address the economic, ecological, technological and societal challenges facing Europe.

Objectives and Domains of Research and Innovation

The Water JPI is focused on the area of freshwater and hydrology, and seeks to address a key challenge: Achieving sustainable water systems for a sustainable economy in Europe and the world. This major goal is divided into five major research areas-challenges:

1. maintaining the sustainability of ecosystems;

2. Development of drinking water systems for citizens' consumption;

3. Promoting competitiveness in the water industry;

4. Implementation of a smart and "bio-based" Water Economy;

5. Close the water cycle, seeking to resolve its critical points.

Action Plan

The activities developed by this initiative include the European mapping of research and innovation in Water, the definition of a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda whose implementation aims to promote the alignment of national programs in a common programmatic orientation and the development of joint activities, with two transnational Calls for projects already planned.
This European initiative is committed to promoting a systematic, active and critical involvement of policy-making agents in the area of water and stakeholders belonging to the business and industrial community.