Allwaters consortium wins EIT WATER call

The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) has chosen Allwaters as the winning consortium to lead EIT Water on the 11^th of November in Budapest.  Independent experts reviewed proposals from five consortia. Allwaters is an international consortium anchored at Aarhus University, aligned with Water Valley Denmark, and supported by the Grundfos Foundation.

According to the EIT website, five consortia submitted their proposals. These applications were assessed by a panel of independent external experts. The EIT Governing Board invited the applicants who reached the threshold of 70/100 for hearings. These hearings led to the selection of the winning consortium. One of the other participants was the Onewater consortium, a collaboration of 80 partners from 20 countries. The names of the other consortia are not publicly available.

Allwaters consists of 50 partners from 24 countries, including leading industry partners, universities, research organisations, ports, non-governmental organisations, SMEs, among others. In a fact sheet all the countries and partners are mentioned. Allwaters coordinator Michelle Williams from Aarhus University said: “We are truly honoured to lead EIT Water and to help shape Europe’s response to one of its most pressing challenges. Safeguarding water requires innovation, collaboration, and commitment. Together with the EIT and our partners across Europe, we look forward to developing solutions that make our water systems more resilient, circular, and sustainable for generations to come.” 

Headquartered in Denmark

With Denmark as the host country, EIT Water will have its European headquarters in the House of Water in the upcoming Water Village in Aarhus. This is seen as a recognition of Denmark’s global leadership in water technology and sustainable solutions. EIT Water will establish eight local offices, known as Co-Loca­tion Centres (CLCs) providing access to its services and the EIT’s Europe-wide network for innovators, students, and entrepreneurs. The CLCs will be located in Leeds (UK), Berlin (Germany), Antwerp (Belgium), Vienna (Austria), Sibenik (Croatia), Malaga (Spain) and Varna (Bulgaria).

Launch of KIC in 2026

The Knowledge and Innovation Community on water will focus on water scarcity, drought, and floods, marine and freshwater ecosystem degradation and the circular and sustainable blue economy. EIT Water will be launched in 2026 and is expected to become fully operational in 2027. EIT Water will be an open partnership, allowing all stakeholders in the water sector to take part and benefit from its activities over its 15-year EIT-supported duration. The partnership is also expected to attract investment from other public and private sources to generate additional revenue, with the aim of ultimately achieving long-term financial sustainability.  

Public and private funding

For the launch of the Knowledge and Innovation Community in 2026, five million euros will be available. After that, annual subsidies ranging from 20 and 35 million euros are expected. However, all subsidies are performance-based and depend on the funding decisions of the EIT Governing Board. Historically, KICs receive around 500 to 700 million euros over their 15-year life cycle. A significant part of this budget comes from public and private funding sources. The actual EIT budget after 2027 depends on the next EU Multiannual Financial Framework, said EIT Director Martin Kern earlier to Water News Europe.

Financial independence

Kern added that the number of start-ups that receive support is not fixed. “To date, our KICs have helped more than 10,000 start-ups and hundreds of thousands of innovators. All calls are public and comply with Horizon Europe guidelines. The goal is for the partnership to meet the Financial Sustainability Mechanism after 15 years. This is a funding model used by the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) to ensure the financial independence and long-term sustainability of Knowledge and Innovation Communities.”