The Consortium

Aqualia is the water management company owned by the citizen services group FCC (51%) and the Australian ethical fund IFM Investors (49%). With close to 45 million people served, it ranks as Europe’s fourth largest private water company in population (Global Water Intelligence, December 2022), and reported €1.323 billion in revenue in 2022.

Aqualia also ranks among the world´s top ten and is active in 18 countries: in Europe (Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Italy, Portugal, Romania and Spain), the Middle East and North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) as well as Latin America (Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru). After finishing 2nd in 2022, Aqualia has been nominated in May 2023 the water company of the year by Global Water Intelligence (GWI). Aqualia assumes its responsibility to society and the environment by developing an R&D strategy that focuses on achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), towards water services with adequate and affordable quality (SDG 6). Other SDGs that drive innovation activity at Aqualia are improving its energy balance (SDG 7) and decreasing its carbon footprint (SDG 13) through sustainable production and consumption (SDG 12). Aqualia supports European policies in the transition to a zero-carbon footprint in a circular economy, developing new smart management tools and sustainable services by participating in more than 10 projects each in the European programmes LIFE and H2020. The company has measured its carbon footprint since 2014 with the Spanish Office of Climate Change (OECC), and received in 2022 the stamp “reduced” from the Ministry of Ecological Transition (MITERD) for the results of its efforts to lower its emissions in the previous years.
Severn Trent Water (STW) is one of the largest of the 10 regulated water and sewage companies in England and Wales, supplying water to about 8 million people and treating wastewater from about 9 million people in the East and West Midlands and the mid-Wales regions of the UK. Within REWAISE, STW is leading the Atlantic Hub, aiming to implement large demonstrations across sites in the UK and Spain, in addition to their work regarding leakage minimisation, pumping optimisation, and the recovery of minerals.

VA SYD is a public agency that provides environmental services in southwestern Sweden, by supplying drinking water to more than half a million customers, managing storm water, treating wastewater and dealing with household waste in a responsible manner. Within REWAISE, VA SYD leads the development of technology to generate alternative resources, reuse of water, and nutrients recovery. VA SYD coordinates the implementation of large-scale demonstrations of the technologies developed within REWAISE within the Skane Region around Malmoe.

AQUANET is one of Poland’s leading water supply and sewerage entities, operating in the city of Poznan with a population of more than half a million people. Guided by the principles of corporate social responsibility, the Company’s activities are driven by care for the natural environment in offering drinking water supply and wastewater treatment services both in Poland and abroad. Within REWAISE, Aquanet implements a circular smart water economy in the areas where it operates. It will focus its efforts on nutrient management, with struvite and phosphorus recovery from sludge by crystallisation technologies, upscaling these technologies in the Poznan area.

The European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) is an international federation of benchmarked Living Labs in Europe and worldwide. The network currently has over 150+ active members with Living Labs worldwide and it is present in five continents in addition to Europe. ENOLL provides co-creation, user engagement, test and experimentation facilities targeting innovation in many different domains such as energy, healthcare, agri-food, etc., for small and medium-sized international companies, the public sector, organisations and citizens. Within REWAISE, ENOLL will develop the Living Labs Methodology, its evaluation, and optimisation. ENOLL also manages the Ethics and Gender dimension, and evaluates the social return on investment (SROI).

Hidrotec is a subsidiary of Aqualia and provides essential services in occupational risk prevention, quality systems, marketing, IT and communication; the development and commercialisation of all types of mechanisms and patents, related to the treatment and purification of water and resource recovery; and managing Customer Service and Call Centres. Within REWAISE, Hidrotec leads the development of software tools and smart management systems to enhance the efficiency of sustainable water services.

City of Malmö, which is situated in one of Sweden’s fastest growing metropolitan regions, home to over 700,000 people, aspires to be sustainable: socially, economically, and environmentally. This is achieved by progressive eco-friendly development projects and multi – stakeholder social initiatives to promote health and well-being among a relatively young population, with an average age of around 35.


POLYMEM is a French SME that develops and manufactures equipment based on membrane filtration, with their own pilot and industrial hollow fibre spinning lines. To promote R&D projects, the entity has laboratory facilities to conduct evaluation tests. With more than 300 reference installations worldwide, Polymem is internationally recognised for its ability to develop innovative products, and for the quality of its series production of membranes and modules for micro- and ultra-filtration. Within REWAISE, Polymem will evaluate its new hydrophilic PVDF membrane for RO treatment as well as assist in desalination pre-treatment and water reuse.

Resourseas is a spin-off company from the University of Palermo. It builds on the experience of the Chemical Process and Plant design research group in all aspects of the end-to-end cycle: desalination, salt production, brine management with recovery of valuable material, and generation of electricity from salinity gradients. The company offers technologies and services that enable the integration of these industrial sectors in the spirit of the circular economy. Within REWAISE, Resourseas will test at pilot scale the extraction of sea-salt and magnesium from seawater desalination brines, researching new applications for the magnesium recovered.

BlueTech Research is a leading consultancy specialised in providing water technology market intelligence. It works with innovative start-up companies, venture capital investors and leading water technology companies. As experts in market intelligence, with Technology Research Analysts and an Environmental Technology Assessment Group, within REWAISE BlueTech Research will develop business models and alternative sources of funding, boosting business growth and market uptake for the new technologies and solutions adopted.

AQUAPORIN A/S is a global water technology company located in Denmark focussed on solving water-related challenges by providing innovative water technologies to households and industries on a global scale. It is dedicated to water purification through the use of industrial biotechnological techniques and thinking, with its AQUAPORIN Inside® technology, capable of separating and purifying water from all other compounds. Within REWAISE, Aquaporin is developing a new generation of high performance NF and RO membranes, carrying out bench scale tests in a well-controlled environment, then upscaling this development to reduce energy needs for water desalination, and enhance value extractions from desalination streams.

Water, Environment and Business for Development (WE&B) is a consulting company focussed on the economic and social aspects of the water and environmental sectors. WE&B implements water and environmental solutions, innovative business practices and builds capacity to assist communities, companies, and public authorities to sustainably develop. Within REWAISE, WE&B leads the management of social and community engagement, user interaction for social and economic impact, and the promotion of market uptake and citizen satisfaction. This will add to their main role of defining and implementing stakeholder engagement strategies, such as the Responsible Research and Innovation Approach, RRI.

Environmental Monitoring Solutions Ltd (EMS) is a SME providing products and services to help businesses meet and maintain environmental compliance. EMS has a specialist Smart Wastewater division which provides autonomous systems for the water industry to reduce flooding and move towards zero pollution. Within REWAISE, EMS is demonstrating their IWANs technology in optimising hydraulic capacities in wastewater networks, and pumping needs.

Solar Water Plc is an innovative SME bringing carbon neutral and sustainable technology for sea water desalination to industrial scale.  The company’s technology envisages sea water being drawn inland through glass-enclosed aqueducts to giant domes where it is recovered through evaporation, based on the natural hydrological cycle processes of condensation and precipitation. Within REWAISE, Solar Water in collaboration with its third party Cranfield University is developing the Solar Dome to reduce energy needs for water desalination and brine preconditioning to obtain value compounds from desalination streams.

Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas (IETU) is a research institute acting under the Ministry of the Environment in Poland. The research and services offered by IETU focus on environmental challenges posed by industrialised and urbanised areas in the context of circular economy, resource efficiency, adaptation to climate change and mitigation of its effects. Within REWAISE, IETU will carry out Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) in order to support market uptake for specific technologies.

University of Valencia (UV) is a research-oriented university in all scientific fields and teaching advanced levels of education. UV participates in REWAISE through its CALAGUA Research Group, which has twenty years’ experience in studying the whole range of biological, physical and chemical processes involved in WWTPs, and applying and transferring results to the industrial sector. Within REWAISE, UV leads the Scientific and Technical coordination, in addition to specific tasks in designing and developing Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors for sewer mining, and biomethane recovery design and implementation.

Technical University of Ostrava (TUOS), is a polytechnic university in the Czech Republic with a long tradition in high-quality engineering education and research. With its Institute for clean technologies for the mining and utilisation of raw materials for energy use (VSB), it participates in REWAISE through its unique experience in the area of extraction and utilisation of energy resources and further exploitation of the geological environment.

University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (UNIZ) is a leading educational and R&D institution in the fields of engineering of Croatia. UNIZ participates in REWAISE through its Laboratory for Renewable Energy Systems (LARES), which has been involved with the state-of-the art R&D in the domain of energy and resources management in complex systems. UNIZ will focus on the information flow organisation for the platform for economics-based coordination of entities in the water cycle.

Fundación Centro Tecnológico de Investigación Multisectorial (CETIM) is a Spanish private non-profit Technology Centre, with the mission to promote research, technological development and innovation in different economic sectors and activities. The Centre supports applied collaborative R&D within the areas of Eco Bio Technologies, Advanced Materials and Digital Systems. Within REWAISE, CETIM focusses on biopolymers, and lithium recovery from wastewater and brines, in addition to their role of defining KPIs, and monitoring project impact and partner progress in achieving work package objectives.

Coventry University (CU) was founded as an industrial university and is currently developing research through close collaboration with companies. CU participates in REWAISE through The Function Materials Group that brings expertise to the research of electrochemistry, sonochemistry, surface modification, metallisation processes, and patterning of materials. This group will focus its research on the recovery of ammonia and generation of hydrogen. Also associated with the project is The Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) that drives innovative, transdisciplinary research on the understanding and development of resilient food and water systems internationally. CAWR leads the development of new Governance strategies for water smart communities.

Lund University (LU) was founded in 1666 and is ranked among the world’s top 100 universities. The University has 40 000 students based in Lund, Helsingborg and Malmö and it is one of the most popular study places in Sweden. LU participates in REWAISE through the Membrane Group in the Department of Chemical Engineering. The Membrane Group in the Department of Chemical Engineering has more than 40 years’ working experience with different membranes, membrane modules and membrane processes. The key infrastructure of the Membrane Group is MemLab – The Industrial membrane process research and development centre – with a wide range of suitable membrane equipment for both fundamental and applied research.  The focus of MemLab is the development of new membrane applications in biorefineries, water and wastewater treatment, biotechnology and food as well as the optimization of existing applications on bench-scale and pilot scale.

Poznan University of Technology (PUT) is one of the leading technical universities in Poland. PUT takes an active part in scientific exchange and international projects and cooperates with many companies and research institutions. PUT’s technological development is accompanied by the greatest respect for human beings, protection of the natural environment and sustainable economic development. Within REWAISE, PUT is contributing to the development of struvite recovery, and the later implementation in a large scale production process in Poznan.

PKF Attest innCome provides consulting services to all types of entities in the global management of public incentives related to R&D&I activities. innCome supports numerous research and innovation projects creating technological and commercial synergies in strategic sectors such as Energy, Environment, Transport, Health, Nanotechnology, Advanced Manufacturing and ICT. Within REWAISE, InnCome is collaborating closely with Aqualia throughout the entire project, coordinating and supporting communication and dissemination tasks, as well as administrative and budgetary management. Its expertise will guide members of the consortium to leverage and increase public funding.

University of Palermo is one of the largest universities in Italy with about 2,000 lecturers and 50,000 students. It participates in REWAISE through The Conceptual Design of Chemical Processes group at the Department of Engineering. It has a strong track record in the fields of water technology, non-conventional energy sources, electrochemical processes, and brines valorisation, focussing on experimental analysis, process modelling and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), and prototyping activities.

Organics is a company that designs, builds, installs and commissions high quality pollution control systems for a range of differing waste streams. Organics offers a thermal ammonia stripping technology and has constructed several hundred systems for the production, capture and use of methane from natural sources.

Within REWAISE, Organics will provide their expertise for thermal stripping and ammonia recovery from wastewater, to recover energy and offset the use of fossil fuels.