The WATERVERSE project releaseD of its first Policy Brief, titled “Driving a Water-Smart EU with Interoperable and AI-Enabled Water Data Ecosystems.” This foundational document details the challenges facing the European water sector and outlines key recommendations for leveraging data ecosystems to enhance resilience, efficiency, and sustainability.

WATERVERSE, a collaborative project involving 17 partners across 10 EU countries, aims to develop a Water Data Management Ecosystem (WDME). The goal is to make water data accessible, affordable, secure, FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable), and easy to use, thereby lowering entry barriers to data spaces and unlocking the value of water data.

The policy brief highlights the transformative potential of WDMEs in addressing critical issues like climate change impacts, resource management, and regulatory compliance. It emphasizes the need for digitalization and breaking down data silos within the sector.

Key recommendations outlined in the brief include:

  1. Promoting Co-Creation: Facilitating Multi-Stakeholder Forums (MSFs) to align technological innovation with local and regional needs.
  2. Fostering AI & Data Tech Adoption: Leveraging advanced technologies like the WDME for the entire data management lifecycle.
  3. Fostering a FAIR & Transparent Sector: Generating FAIR and linked data to improve accessibility, interoperability, and collaboration.
  4. Leveraging Smart Data Models: Utilizing standards like FIWARE Smart Data Models for semantic interoperability.
  5. Strengthening Data Quality & Accessibility: Applying FAIR and MELODA dimensions to optimize data use and exchange.
  6. Improving Real-Time Data Processing: Implementing advanced models for faster, quality-driven data handling.

The brief details how Waterverse supports key European directives (e.g., Bathing Water, UWWTD, Drinking Water, Floods) and aligns with the upcoming Water Resilience Strategy by enabling data-driven decision-making across the water value chain. The full Policy Brief is available for download at this link.