Interview S. Seshan - Enter the WaterVerse: EU collaboration to unlock water data sharing

“The WATERVERSE project, funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme, aims to develop a Water Data Management Ecosystem (WDME). One of the ambitions is to make water sector data management practices and resources more accessible, affordable, secure, fair and easy to use. WATERVERSE connects 17 partners across 10 European countries, including research organisations, water service companies and technology providers. KWR Water Research Institute, a member of NWP, is among the project partners.
This three-year project will be demonstrated across six countries, including Cyprus, Spain, Germany, Finland, the UK and the Netherlands.
Interoperability is key – One of the core aims of the EU project is to ensure interoperability of data. Historically, this has proven a challenge, with different stakeholders protecting multiple legacy systems, often fuelled by cybersecurity concerns. “We want to prepare data in a standardised and interoperable way where we can ensure it is ready to be used for certain advanced applications using artificial intelligence,” said Siddharth Seshan, Scientific Researcher at KWR Water Research Institute. “We can enhance the decision making for end-users. There is already a lot of answers available in the data – we need to find a way to connect the dots already with links.””

(Citation: Interview S. Seshan – Enter the WaterVerse: EU collaboration to unlock water data sharing – www.netherlandswaterpartnership.com (2023)17 January)