What’s the Conversation?

• How are key takeaways from COP26 shaping net zero targets? What can we expect from a refocused water sector?
• What business, technology, investment, regulatory and community engagement frameworks are needed to scale green projects? What is the best way to engage the private sector and secure ESG funding?
• How are utilities working with key players along the value chain to establish a thriving innovation ecosystem? What partnership models have proven successful?
• Are skills gaps across the water supply chain obstructing innovation? What strategies are needed to develop and nurture talent?

Speaker:
Harry Sachinis, CEO, EYDAP, GREECE

• How has drought affected North America over the past ten years and what are the projected trajectories by geographic region?
• How can drought mitigation strategies and technology help the water sector build climate resilience while meeting water quality standards? What case studies are available?
• What is the role of regulators? How can water reuse policy bring down barriers to effective drought resilience in North America and globally?

Speaker:
Art Umble, SVP & Director Stantec Institute for Water Technology & Policy, STANTEC, USA

• How is long-term resiliency being approached by utilities and tech providers? What role does community awareness play, and what technologies and business models show the greatest potential for driving climate adaptation and mitigation?
• How widespread are water transport practices and what is their role in building drought resilience? What challenges do utilities face when moving water across regions and how can digital tools help overcome them?
• How are water reuse and desalination technologies paving the way for a climate resilient future?
• Flagship transport, reuse and desalination projects don’t come cheap, how can we close the gap between long-term drought risk and short-term finances?

Speakers:
Emma Goddard, Head of Environment, SOUTH EAST WATER, UK
Art Umble, SVP & Director Stantec Institute for Water Technology & Policy, STANTEC, USA
Marco Achilea, Head of Water Business, ABB, ITALY

Delegates attending the physical event in London will take a brief networking coffee break.

• What are the objectives of the National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency? How does it aim to address and streamline bottlenecks in South Africa’s water system?
• What tech-driven projects are in the pipeline for the decade ahead, and what economic and sustainability outcomes can we expect to see?

• One of the main commercial waterways in South America, the Paraná River, has reached its lowest level in nearly 80 years due to a prolonged drought in Brazil. As climate extremes prevail in the region, what strategies are South American utilities implementing to address them? How can technology support climate adaptation?
• What can South American utilities do now to decarbonise their supply chains and prevent climate emergencies from spinning out of control? How do regional players approach and drive technological transformation and net zero efforts?
• How can South American utilities collaborate effectively with the global innovation ecosystem to source, implement and maintain climate-smart technology and processes? What are the challenges and opportunities governing these partnerships?

Speakers:
Maria Eugenia Little, Chief of International Relations, AYSA, ARGENTINA
Pericles Socrates Weber, COO, IGUÁ SANEAMENTO, BRAZIL
Jorge Meza, ADVISOR TO DIRECTOR GENERAL CONAGUA, MEXICO

• How will solar water dome technology enable Saudi Arabia’s new desalination plant to produce fresh water efficiently, economically and sustainably?
• What results can we anticipate and how will they drive innovation in the wider Middle East region and globally?

Speaker:
Maree Lang, Managing Director, GREATER WESTERN WATER, AUSTRALIA

• Heavy rainfall, snow and ice are causing extreme flooding in many parts of the world, how are utilities addressing the increased water flow to avoid systems being overwhelmed?
• How can technology help water companies forecast increased water flow and maximise the capacity of existing infrastructure to build hydraulic resilience in cities?
• How can the water sector utilise nature to build urban drainage systems? What is the anticipated impact on capacity building and network management? What does the ultimate smart city look like?

Session Chair:
Terry Fuller, CEO, CIWEM, UK

Speaker:
Andrea Aliscioni, COO, MM SPA, ITALY

Delegates attending the physical event in London will take a lunch networking break. Our online delegation will enter the Airmeet social lounge – grab a seat at a hosted table or choose to be matched 1-1 using the speed networking tool. The platform re-creates the experience of informal networking that you get at a live event and the opportunity to bump into old colleagues and make new valuable business connections.

Two utilities pitch their innovation strategies to a panel of start-ups, who are keen to provide feedback, explore the internal decision-making process, and dig into the pain points that are currently front and center.

• How are regulators dividing funds and attention between short- and long-term priorities?
• What role do policymakers play in promoting digital transformation and decarbonisation across the water supply chain? How can regulation provide both a stepping stone and a barrier to innovation?
• How can regulators ensure that utilities are accounting for the cultural, environmental and social values of water in its cost? Do policymakers have a role to play in how the true value of water is communicated to consumers?
• With unemployment and poverty rates rising, how are regulators ensuring the affordability of water for the general public?

Speakers:
Harry Armstrong, Director, Regulatory Policy, OFWAT, UK
Tone Madsen, Head of Water Division, DANISH COMPETITION & CONSUMER AUTHORITY, DENMARK

Delegates attending the physical event in London will take a brief networking coffee break.

Each roundtable discussion group is hosted by an industry expert on a specific theme offering you a valuable opportunity to network, brainstorm solutions and discuss ideas. Come prepared for lively discussion and diverse debate!

• What lies beyond the cloud? How can edge computing and AI help utilities create more tightly linked water and wastewater systems? What are the barriers to mass adoption and how can we break them down?
• What emerging pollutants are presenting a threat to global drinking water quality and how can technology help detect and quantify contaminants in drinking water automatically and in real time?
• How can technology providers and utilities work together to develop complete solutions that are sustainable, affordable and allow for better integration? How can business model innovation drive technology transformation?

Session Chair:
Dragan Savic, CEO, KWR, NETHERLANDS

Speaker:
Maurizia Brunetti, Technical Director, GRUPPO HERA, ITALY
Garry Tabor, Director of Smart Water Solutions EMEA, BADGER METER, UK

• With population growth, urbanisation and climate change increasing the complexity of risk management in the water sector, how does this impact technology adoption?
• Failure and fault are inseparable in most organisations, so how can leaders disrupt the blame game and create a culture of psychological safety in which the rewards of learning from failure can be fully realised? What is the anticipated impact on technology innovation and adoption, economic efficiency and sustainability?
• How can we strengthen trust and collaboration between vendors and utilities to create an environment where failure is embraced and learning is celebrated?

Session Chair:
Mar Batista Seguí, Head of Programmes, BRITISH WATER, UK

Speakers:
Kieran Brocklebank, Head of Innovation, UNITED UTILITIES, UK
Ganga Shreedhar, Professor Behavioural Sciences, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS (LSE), UK

The final two hours of the summit will be devoted for dedicated networking time, allowing our physical audience to connect with future partners without the worry of missing out on any of the action on stage.

• How are emissions monitored across the water supply chain, and are utilities aligning on methodology and reporting? How can we improve the scientific quantification of carbon emissions in the water sector?
• How are utilities moving beyond pilots to scale innovative technologies, improve energy efficiency and achieve carbon neutrality?
• Where are the opportunities for utilities to gain inspiration from and collaborate with other sectors?
• How can we quantify the cost of inaction? What is the economic case for mainstreaming new technologies and driving environmental stewardship?

Session Chair:
Paul Horton, CEO, FUTURE WATER ASSOCIATION, UK

Speakers:
Bob Stear, Chief Engineer, SEVERN TRENT, UK
Alice Guehennec, Group Chief Digital & Information Officer, SAUR, FRANCE
Frank Rogalla, Director of Innovation & Technology, AQUALIA, SPAIN

• How do privatised and publicly managed utilities compare in their economic efficiency and sustainability?
• What are the objectives for selling municipal assets and how are Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) impacting water management across the world?
• What is the ESG impact of privatisation? What is its potential in accelerating net zero efforts?

Delegates attending the physical event in London will take a brief networking coffee break.

• How are utilities employing technology to reduce leakage network-wide and domestically?
• What systems show the greatest potential in leak forecasting and reduction? How is AI supporting the analysis and utilisation of information? How scalable and economically viable are predictive technologies?
• What results can we see from smart meter rollouts and how are they feeding into long-term leak reduction strategies?
• What partnership models have proven most successful in forecasting and reducing leaks across the water supply chain?

Speakers:
Matthew Hawkridge, CTO, OVARRO, UK
Victoria Edwards, CEO, FIDO, UK

• What is the value of data and how can it be leveraged to best attain ambitious goals set out by regulators and utilities themselves? What are the opportunities for open data systems in the global water sector?
• What are the barriers to adoption? Are there cultural challenges to advancing data interoperability?
• Is it naive to think that open data systems can flourish in a privatised sector? How can competitive challenges fostered by regulatory performance incentives be overcome?
• What business models and standards for collecting and presenting data promise success? Where does the responsibility lie to accelerate the open data movement?

• What are the most pressing challenges facing utilities in Asia? What is the role of technology in driving innovation, and how can the adoption of digital tools be accelerated?
• As one of the regions worst affected by climate change, how is Asia’s water sector responding? How are utilities approaching water resource planning and management to build resilience?
• How can we improve the availability of finance for Asia’s water sector, and particularly emerging economies? How can strategic investment support water resilience, sanitation and access?
• How are Asian utilities collaborating with the global innovation ecosystem? How can we improve alignment with technology providers to better tailor solutions to local markets?

Speakers:
Lara Olsen, CEO, SOUTH EAST WATER, AUSTRALIA
Tracey Slatter, Managing Director, BARWON WATER, AUSTRALIA

• What are the objectives of China’s ‘Sponge Cities’ wastewater treatment and green infrastructure framework?
• How are sponge cities building climate resilience? What results can we already see?
• What is the impact on the water supply chain? How are sponge cities driving technology innovation?

Speaker:
Kongjian Yu, Founding Dean & Changjiang Chair Professor, PEKING UNIVERSITY, CHINA

Delegates attending the physical event in London will take a lunch networking break. Our online delegation will have the opportunity to join virtual roundtable discussion groups. Each group is hosted by an industry expert on a specific theme offering you a valuable opportunity to network, brainstorm solutions and discuss ideas. Come prepared for lively discussion and diverse debate!

Significant investment is needed to support our economic transition towards a healthier water system with more efficient withdrawals and more resilient infrastructure.

• What are the latest investment trends in the global water sector and what type of investors are we seeing for the different phases of innovation-scale up?
• How is funding prioritised between scaling carbon neutral and zero liquid discharge (ZLD) technology, and improving existing systems? What regional differences exist?
• Moving from pilots to mass adoption, what emerging finance models promise to disrupt how innovation is funded and implemented? What is the anticipated impact on the sustainability of operations?

Session Chair:
Piers Clark, Chairman, ISLE UTILITIES, UK

Speakers:
Reinhard Huebner, CEO, SKION WATER, GERMANY
Fabian Seunier, Group Head of Venturing, ALIAXIS, BELGIUM

• How can AI, satellite and sensor technology help utilities leverage existing networks for optimised wastewater management?
• How can a data-driven approach support the forecasting and detection of overflow events in real time to reduce raw sewage discharge?
• Have these systems reached maturity and what is the cost/benefit impact? How can utilities justify the investment?
• What integration challenges do utilities face when combining different systems, and how can we improve collaboration between vendors and utilities to overcome them?

Session Chair:
David Rose, Partner, THALES WATER ADVISORS, USA

Speakers:
Jan Goossens, CEO, AQUAFIN, BELGIUM
George Haywood, Technical Director & Subject Matter Expert, OVARRO, UK

Delegates attending the physical event in London will take a brief networking coffee break.

• What does a no-waste water sector look like?
• How are utilities recovering biomethane and hydrogen from biosolids, and how are they collaborating with the energy and gas sector to create a fully circular business model?
• What developments are we seeing in nutrient recovery? How can we identify the right markets for these resources?
• Where does the responsibility lie for driving innovation? Who are the stakeholders along the supply chain?

Session Chair:
Ulla Sparre, Interim CEO, WATER VALLEY DENMARK, DENMARK

Speaker:
Karsten Lumbye, Chief Innovation Officer, AARHUS VAND, DENMARK

• As water becomes increasingly scarce, how will priorities change for utilities? What do we anticipate the water sector of the future to look like?
• What will the world’s perception of the value of water be? How will utilities reflect the cultural, environmental and social values of water in their business models?
• How will wastewater be utilised to generate revenue, and how will it impact the economic viability of utilities and affordability of water for the general public?
• How will the water sector’s culture shift? How will new innovations and ideas be developed, trialed, and scaled?

Session Chair:
Sarah Hendry, Chair, THE UK WATER PARTNERSHIP, UK

Speakers:
Angela MacOscar, Head of Innovation, NORTHUMBRIAN WATER, UK
Colby Manwaring, CEO, INNOVYZE, USA