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Research and innovation

Water

Water research and innovation, funding opportunities, collaboration, projects and results, scientific publications and databases, events and news

Why the EU supports water research and innovation

Water is a critical environmental resource, the basis for all life. It needs to be managed well, allocated fairly between ecosystems and all water users now, and conserved for future generations.

It is strongly linked to global socioeconomic development, ranging from basic water safety, through water quality and sanitation, to food supply and generation of renewable energy.

Population increase and urbanisation, changing diets, climate variability and change are all putting pressure on world water resources. This makes it important to address these challenges in a systemic way, understand their scale, the various interconnections and trade-offs, and strengthen partnerships between public and private actors and international collaboration. Research and innovation plays a crucial role for this.

It is also key to helping citizens, societies, and water consuming sectors adopt innovative solutions to optimise their water use, reduce its pollution and to recycle it in a safe way to people and ecosystems.

EU water research and innovation activities cover a wide range of issues

  • water quantity and availability
  • water quality and pollution
  • aquatic ecosystems protection and restoration
  • water management and governance, including circular use of water

Funding opportunities

Horizon Europe

On this page you can find more information, the work programme and a link to related calls

LIFE programme

Co-financing for research supporting the transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy

Projects and results

Horizon Magazine

Latest news, interviews and features about thought-provoking science and innovative research projects funded by the EU

Horizon Results Platform

Platform where framework programme participants present their results for you to search, contact their owners, and form partnerships

Horizon 2020 dashboard

Access to real-time programme data with the ability to filter by country, region, theme and more

Collaboration and jobs

JPI water

Joint Programming Initiative aiming to achieve sustainable water systems for a sustainable economy in Europe and beyond

Scientific publications, tools and databases

Scientific publications

Scientific research publications on water research published by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC)

OpenAIRE

You can access all scientific publications from Horizon 2020 via OpenAIRE

EU Open Data Portal

Single point of access to open data produced by the EU institutions - all data free to use for commercial and non-commercial purposes

Latest

Events

UN water conference web image
  • Conferences and summits

UN 2023 Water Conference

  • Wednesday 22 March 2023, 09:00 - Friday 24 March 2023, 18:00 (CET)
  • Online only