The Energy in Water (EnW) project kick off meeting was recently hosted in Leeuwarden, Netherlands during which the partners came together to discuss the planned project activities and their ambitions for the next 2 years. This meeting was hosted as an official side event of EIP Water which attracted over 500 attendees, with a dedicated private networking lunch with 200 attendees including EnW. The project partners used this opportunity to showcase the project to other clusters and SMEs in a range of countries, sowing the seeds for future collaborations nationally and internationally.

The consortium agreed the need to develop and sustain active as opposed to passive SME engagement. The project partners used this initial meeting to agree decisive steps to involve SMEs from the onset of EnW to ensure the activities and tools developed by it were fit for purpose and had the desired impact. EnW also hosted local policy maker Eric Vos from the Province of Frysland (above, front center) who highlighted the importance of directly involving local authorities and/or municipalities to assist in the identification of regional challenges and opportunities to support SMEs. "It was great to see so much excitment (and energy) around the project and we think the next year is going to be really exciting with a couple of big deliverables and opportunities to set the EU agenda on energy and water." Dr Michael Green, EnW project coordinator (bottom, furthest right).