MEDWAYCAP kick off Meeting , 16th and 17th of December 2021 in Thessaloniki.

The Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH) hosted, as coordinator, the launching event of a significant European project involving partner organizations from Italy, Egypt, Malta, Tunisia, Palestine and Jordan, and many relevant stakeholders at national level.

 “The Mediterranean pathway for innovation capitalisation towards an urban-rural integrated development of non-conventional water resources” - MEDWAYCAP, was presented, thus activities and objectives debated during the Kick-off meeting that took place on 16^th and 17^th of December 2021 in Thessaloniki.

MEDWAYCAP project is fully aligned with European Green Deal and other EU policies on water management, climate change and circular economy and, endorsed by the Union for Mediterranean (UfM), will strongly contribute to the UfM Water Agenda.

Thanks to the cooperation between high level institutional and technical bodies at Mediterranean level, the project aims to facilitate the general access and promotion of best practices for continuous improvement of treated wastewater reuse as a non-conventional water resource (NCWR) at domestic and agricultural level.

With a budget of 1.11 mil. Euro, funded 90% by the European Programme ENI CBC Med (Cross-Border Cooperation ENI "Mediterranean Sea Basin”), MEDWAYCAP contributes to the wider open debate on local water shortage mitigation and Mediterranean environmental challenges by means of multisectoral and transnational alliances.

To reach the goal, partners are called in 24 months to tailor tools and innovative methodologies, as the Innovation Camp, identifying and engaging the “challenge owners”, powerful stakeholders able to merge visions toward a common strategy, including economic related aspects. At the same time, in order to support this process and the transfer of know-how, at technical level the project will provide a “ready-to-use package” on water management, climate change and circular economy, using a novel combination of advanced techniques and state of the art tools. An ambitious project presented on December 16^th by Dr. Konstantinos Plakas, project coordinator, after the greetings from representatives of CPERI/CERTH, ENI CBC MED - Joint Technical Secretariat, ENI - Eastern Mediterranean Branch Office, Union for Mediterranean, Region of Central Macedonia, Municipality of Thermi, Municipality of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki Water Supply & Sewerage Co. S.A. and Thessaloniki Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

This was followed by four (4) round table discussions on project key topics such as, the first day, technical tools based on best practices for improving wastewater recovery and reuse, approaches and methodologies to support the upscaling and mainstreaming phase, and the second day the debate focused on governance and policy solutions and upscaling of best practices along with the required economic tools and Instruments.

Thanks to the variety of experience and background and expertise with respect to the above topics, the active participation of the Associated partners in the Round Table discussions made a significant contribution to the project.

The event closed with the 1^st Steering Committee meeting where its role and tasks, the procedural rules to be followed as well as the next steps for the implementation of the project have been defined.;