The REMEDIATE ETN comprises 10 beneficiaries (from 5 EU Member States – the UK, Ireland, Germany, Denmark, and Italy) and 15 partner organisations. The beneficiaries and partner organisations are committed to the provision of innovative research and training for more cost effective and sustainable remediation of contaminated land. It is a multidisciplinary collaboration between internationally renowned research teams (from both the academic and non-academic sectors) each with complementary expertise in a wide range of site investigation and risk assessment technologies. 14 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) will be recruited into the network and will participate in a structured and integrated research and training programme that will provide them with a highly specific blend of personalised technical and transferable skills. Each research project is designed to benefit the contaminated land sector through development of techniques and tools across a range of disciplines relating to site investigation and risk assessment, to provide better informed solutions for remediation. The unique provision of joint supervision (from both the academic and non-academic sectors) and non-academic mentoring will significantly enhance the fellows’ career prospects within the contaminated land sector. The REMEDIATE ETN will strengthen and enhance existing collaborations between the participating beneficiaries and partner organisations resulting in a cohesive and dynamic network. The output will be a new generation of highly mobile, creative and innovative entrepreneurs with the skills sets necessary to address the technical, economic and social challenges facing the contaminated land sector in Europe, both now and in the future.

Water critical infrastructures (CIs) are essential for human society, life and health and they can be endangered by physical/cyber threats with severe societal consequences. To address this, STOP-IT assembles a team of major Water Utilities, industrial technology developers, high tech SMEs and top EU R&D providers. It organizes communities of practice for water systems protection to identify current and future risk landscapes and to co-develop an all-hazards risk management framework for the physical and cyber protection of water CIs. Prevention, Detection, Response and Mitigation of relevant risks at strategic, tactical and operational levels of planning will be taken into account to generate modular solutions (technologies, tools and guidelines) and an integrated software platform. STOP-IT solutions are based on: a) mature technologies improved via their combination and embedment (incl. public warning systems, smart locks) and b) novel technologies whose TRL will be increased (incl. cyber threat incident services, secure wireless sensor communications modules, context-aware anomaly detection technologies; fault-tolerant control strategies for SCADA integrated sensors, high-volume real-time sensor data protection via blockchain schemes; authorization engines; irregular human detection using new computer vision methods and WiFi and efficient water contamination detection algorithms). STOP-IT solutions are demonstrated through a front-runner/follower approach where 4 advanced utilities, Aigües de Barcelona (ES), Berliner Wasserbetriebe (DE), MEKOROT (IL) and Oslo VAV (NO) are twinned with 4 less advanced, but ambitious ones, to stimulate mutual learning, transfer and uptake. Building on this solid basis STOP-IT delivers high impact through the creation of hands-on training, best practice guidelines, support for certification and standardization as well as by fostering market opportunities, also leveraging the EU water technology platform's multi-stakeholder network.

To accelerate the transition to a circular economy, the European Commission (EC) promoted alternative water resources in the Horizon 2020 Framework. To increase water use efficiency and reuse, the call CE-SC5-04-2019 funded five different projects (B-WaterSmart, WIDER UPTAKE, REWAISE, ULTIMATE and WATER-MINING). These five projects run from 2020 to 2025, with a total budget of 84 M€, and EU contribution of 71.5 M€, and share the objectives of identifying alternative water sources, reducing water consumption, increasing use efficiency, recovering valuable materials from water, producing carbon-free water cycles, and increase resilience to climate change. To leverage the resources from EC wisely, the five coordinators decided to share common knowledge, promoting synergies and avoiding reinventing the wheel. This resulted in the creation of a cluster called CIRSEAU, to connect 143 partners in more than 20 countries, reaching almost all members stated of the European Union (EU), in addition to countries like India or Ghana outside the EU. Building on the alliance formed to foster cross-promotion, communication alignment, and impactful outreach for the five projects funded under the EU research call on building a water-smart economy and society (CE-SC5-04-2019). To reach the outcomes of this CSA, additional experts and partners have been asked to complement experience and competence of CIRSEAU. This consortium brings together 10 partners from 6 countries (BE, DE, ES, GR, NL and NO) to provide multidisciplinary expertise and trans-nationality required to foster cross-promotion, communication alignment, and allow impactful outreach to public authorities, policy makers, and standardization bodies. The main objective of the CSA is to build a collaborative ecosystem that generates strong synergies among the Circular Water Economy Community formed across EU projects, and to expand the CIRSEAU cluster to enhance market uptake, collaboration and knowledge sharing.