NextGen final report

“NextGen successfully demonstrated circular water solutions encompassing a wide range of water-embedded resources, and revealed the conditions for transfer and upscale. The project has challenged embedded thinking and practices in the water sector by embracing
circular economy principles and technological innovation.
The circular economy (CE) is an emerging system that moves away from the traditional linear view of ‘make, use, and dispose’ to one that is restorative and regenerative to keep resources, such as water, at its highest value at all times. Water is essential to the CE due to its importance for human life, its use and value in numerous economic sectors, and because of the energy and material it contains. A radical redesign of water services to deliver a new generation of validated, progressive solutions to underpin the CE model is urgently required.
The main objectives of the EU H2020-project NextGen are to develop and demonstrate novel technological, business and governance solutions for water in the CE in ten high-profile, large-scale, demonstration cases across Europe, and to develop the necessary approaches, tools and partnerships, to transfer and upscale. The CE transition to be driven by NextGen encompasses a wide variety of water-embedded resources: water itself, energy and materials (e.g. nutrients).”

(Citation: Frijns, J.A.G. – NextGen final report – D7.6 (2023))