The Hydro Nation Energy Innovation Programme launched on World Water Day (22 March 2023). It will be delivered by ETP, a partnership of 14 Scottish universities.
The new four-year programme funded by the Scottish Government will coordinate a wide range of academic expertise to support Scotland’s water industry to develop innovative new products and approaches to help drive down emissions. It aims to do this by:
- Facilitating pooling of academic knowledge and expertise to enable coordinated research activities with industry partners.
- Funding activities and projects that bring the different industry and academic communities together in events and forums to enable collaboration.
- Working with partners to support water industry businesses to bring innovative products to market more quickly.
- Integrating with the existing portfolio of ETP’s innovation programmes to accelerate knowledge exchange between academia and enterprises to stimulate innovation in the water sector.
Two Business Development Managers will be appointed to deliver the programme and will work closely with the Hydro Nation Chair to establish the needs of companies within the sector that can be supported by ETP, such as: identifying research strengths and areas for potential growth and opportunities for collaboration with industry.
The Business Development Managers, based at the University of Strathclyde and the University of Stirling, will also undertake visits to companies as part of the business development process and to explore new collaborative links with them.
Supporting the Hydro Nation strategy
The Hydro Nation Energy Innovation Programme was established to support the Scottish Government’s ambitions to make Scotland a ‘Hydro Nation’ where water resources are developed to bring the maximum benefit to the Scottish economy.
Speaking at an event in Edinburgh to mark World Water Day, Mairi McAllan MSP, Minister for Environment and Land Reform said:
“Today I am delighted to launch new innovation support for Scotland’s water sector. The Hydro Nation Energy Innovation Programme will drive new collaborations between industry and academia. It will harness key links between water and energy, and support Scotland’s water-sector businesses to develop innovative new products and processes needed to drive down harmful emissions and contribute to Scotland’s blue economy.
“On World Water Day, we must also recognise that over 2.2 billion people still do not have access to safe drinking water. This is devastating and completely unacceptable. It’s also why we must continue to deploy the potential of Scotland’s knowledge and innovation in a global context, as laid out in our Hydro Nation Strategy.”
More information:
ETP is a partnership of 14 Scottish universities, engaged in world-class energy research and innovation. It is the largest academic energy research partnership in Europe, promoting increased levels of collaboration between universities and industry to deliver unparalleled R&I capability across a range of energy technologies. More information about ETP can be found here: https://linktr.ee/etpscotland.
World Water Day, held each year on 22 March since 1993, celebrates water and raises awareness of the 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water. It is about taking action to tackle the global water crisis. A core focus of World Water Day is to support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6: access to water and sanitation for all by 2030.