At the European Union-India WaterTech event, on the 29th and 30th January 2024 key new innovative technologies, to tackle the urgent water challenges in India, were presented. These results are from the joint research projects launched in 2018. They are a clear demonstration of the effective EU-India collaborative efforts in this critical area. The technologies are now set for further deployment and market uptake.
Globally, 2.1 billion people lack access to safe water, a crisis amplified by 160 million people relying on surface water laden with pollutants. India, home to 18% of the world's population has only 4% of its water resources.
Through Horizon 2020, the EU Research and innovation programme and India’s Department of Science and Technology and Department of Biotechnology a total of up to € 40 million (Rs 367 crore) was invested in seven projects, selected from the 2018 EU-India Joint Call on research and innovation for Water. In total, 130 entities from across the EU and India, including leading research institutes and organisations, small and medium enterprises and startups, were part of seven projects. The challenge was to come up with new technologies and business models for improving the quality of drinking water, wastewater management, rainwater harvesting and real-time monitoring systems. The seven projects have collectively established more than 60 technologies, of which at least 15 are ready for market uptake and another 15 for deployment.
The event was hosted at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, attended by almost 300 stakeholders on water management, both form Europe and India, including researchers, innovators, businesses, entrepreneurs, investors, experts, and governmental representatives.
Seven Projects and New Technologies
- The INDIA-H2O project has achieved breakthrough in water technology by designing low-cost, high-recovery solution for extracting potable water from saline groundwater, the project’s nature-inspired water treatment solution powered by renewable energy.
- LOTUS has developed an innovative carbon nanotube technology to offer real-time monitoring of water supplies, helping to prevent deadly outbreaks of waterborne disease.
- PANI WATER has developed and deployed a range of new technologies capable of making wastewater safe for use in agriculture.
- PAVITR has successfully developed and deployed cost-effective and sustainable solutions to ensure the provision of safe water across India, such as an automated electro-chlorination unit.
- PAVITRA GANGA has several technologies in the pipeline, notably the low energy technologies treating wastewater under very challenging conditions and provides effluents suitable for unrestricted irrigation, after disinfection or a technology treating organics from sewage using the IPC filtration, which are combined with other organic solid waste streams in a digestor to produce biogas (green energy). Together with industrial partners these technologies will be developed to full-scale installations.
- Saraswati 2.0 has established ten pilot sites across India, focusing on decentralized wastewater treatment, resource/energy recovery, and real-time monitoring in rural and urban areas.
- SPRING has developed a cost-effective wastewater treatment technology to remove pollution from stagnant and flowing water sources in India.
These projects collectively represent impactful advancements in water technology, addressing critical challenges, and providing innovative solutions with broad applications across India. While some of these innovations are already in pilot stage and/or deployed, several of them require further efforts for market deployment. Both the EU and India are committed to support the market uptake phase, which is in line with the recently launched EU-India Trade and Technology Council.
The Presentations of all the Projects can be found below (see Attachments)!
Details on the 7 Co-Funded Projects
Background
Horizon Europe
Following on from the Horizon 2020, cooperation on research and innovation with India continues through the EU’s research and innovation framework Programme Horizon Europe (2021-2027) . Calls for proposals are open to participation of non-EU-third countries. Many topics in Horizon Europe are open for cooperation with India and certain topics target or encourage the participation of Indian entities (see the Guide on the Complementary Funding mechanism).
EU-Trade and Technology Council (TTC)
In April 2022, President Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to set up the EU-Trade and Technology Council as a key coordination platform to address key trade, trusted technology and security challenges, to promote a human-centric approach to the digital transformation, and to deepen their bilateral relationship in these fields. The TTC was established in February 2023, including a Working Group on Green and Clean Energy Technologies in support of the EUs and India’s ambitious goals of achieving net zero emissions by 2050 and 2070, respectively. It is recognised that achieving these targets and objectives will require significant investments in new clean technologies, as well as increased research and innovation efforts. To this end, the Working Group will focus on three key areas to start with: (1) waste treatment; 2) recycling of batteries for Electrical Vehicles and 3) Standards to ensure interoperability. With respect to wastewater treatment, it was agreed at the first Ministerial meeting in May 2023, to focus firstly on the market uptake of the ongoing seven joint projects on wastewater. This does not exclude further cooperation on R&I on water, in particular to address marine plastic litter.
More information
International cooperation with India in research and innovation (europa.eu)