Vision, Purpose and Innovation Strategy

 

Vision

Foster a sustainable end-to-end water-management service at Aqualia, by advancing groundbreaking solutions that reduce the environmental impact as far as possible and deliver the best possible service to people. Develop and make use of state-of-the-art smart-management tools in order to achieve environmentally friendly outcomes that contribute towards achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), go over and above legal requirements and anticipate future standards.

Our Purpose: Innovation for taking care of the planet

The water sector is dealing with stricter legal requirements on the immediate horizon, with the approval of the revised the European Union Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (5 November 2024) (the European Purification Directive), new European Union Regulation 2020/741 for water reuse and its transposition into Spanish Royal Decree 1085/2024 (22 October), and Directive (EU) 2020/2184 on the quality of water intended for human consumption (the Drinking Water Directive), which came into force on 12 January 2023.

In view of these stringent regulations, innovation is a must if we are to ensure that facilities and services within the end-to-end water cycle are sustainable. In order to fulfil the new requirements and rise to the climate, technological, digital and social challenges, Aqualia's open innovation is an essential component involving all the organisation's staff members and external stakeholders.

At Aqualia, we have long acknowledged the importance of innovation in addressing the main challenges of our time and we have internalised this throughout the organisation. Our Innovation and Technology Department (ITD) works—in collaboration with others both inside and outside the company—to spot opportunities, develop innovative solutions, and implement and transfer knowledge.

The transfer of knowledge from Aqualia’s R&D&I to production is an essential part of our sustainability strategy. For this purpose, the Innovation and Technology Department works alongside the production and engineering teams in adapting infrastructure and implementing alternative solutions for water abstraction and resource recovery, as well as to ensure eco-efficiency and smart water management throughout the water-cycle.

R&D&I strategy: innovation and cooperation to meet our challenges

Our R&D+I strategy focuses on identifying opportunities and developing and implementing solutions to rise to the environmental, social, technological and legislative challenges associated with end-to-end water cycle management. Internal and external collaboration is key to the effective transfer of knowledge that drives innovation at Aqualia and its contribution to sustainable development.

This vision is built around two pillars that are deployed throughout the integrated water cycle: eco-efficiency and sustainability.

   ECO-EFFICIENCY

Following the principles of the circular economy with efficient management of natural resources and the recovery of raw materials. Goals:

  • Developing advanced technologies that optimise the use of renewable resources.
  • Avoiding the generation of waste in the company's processes and services.
  • Searching for solutions that enable growth in all water markets in accordance with eco-efficiency requirements.

   SUSTAINABILITY

Minimising energy consumption, avoiding pollution in a just social environment and protecting the climate and nature. Goals:

  • Development of cutting-edge technologies that promote the sustainability of the company whilst protecting the environment and biodiversity.
  • Improved energy efficiency in the company's solutions and services.
  • Revaluation of by-products from the end-to-end water cycle.

Using European Union policies as a roadmap, we are working on developing solutions within six focus areas: 

  • Sustainable water treatment: These nature-based solutions offer low-cost options with excellent performance in line with European Union regulations on treatment of urban wastewater.
  • Alternative resources: re-use, drinking-water purification and sustainable desalination: Faced with the problem of water stress, drinking-water purification and re-use of wastewater solutions adapted to the size of the population and the water quality required by regulations.
  • Sustainability and energy efficiency: Harnessing wastewater as a source of energy and seeking out other renewable sources, such as transformation of organic matter into bioenergy (biomethane and hydrogen) in WWTPs.
  • Circular economy, eco and biofactories: Solutions for the use of waste and the transformation of WWTP into eco and bio-factories that minimise consumption of energy and reagents, avoid the production of waste and generate new products.
  • Digital developments: Advanced technology to improve management of the water cycle: Internet of Things, interconnection of multiple sensors, data analysis and AI. This combination enables early detection of problems, rapid response and process optimisation.
  • Industrial water: Industrial activity must be increasingly sustainable: we provide solutions so that our industrial clients can adapt the use of water in their processes and optimise the treatment of their effluents.

As a result, Aqualia's innovation work streams are underpinned by the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations, with special emphasis on affordable and high-quality water and sanitation services (SDG 6), an optimised energy balance (SDG 7) and responsible production and consumption (SDG 12) without affecting the climate (SDG 13).

 

Innovation Implementation

7P Methodology: 

In order to manage work and optimise results, the activities of the Innovation and Technology department are structured into work stages, which provide dynamic feedback.

  1. Planning (Management system): Based on ISO 56001 standard, the following key R&D components are established: objectives, indicators and procedures.
  2. Thinking (Creativity and generation of ideas): The creation of ideas is supported by external and internal sources of knowledge, analysing and selecting the priorities that are most aligned with client and production needs.
  3. Proposals (Select, prioritise and present): Depending on the needs and priorities, the opportunities to be developed into proposals are determined, as well as the best collaborators and partners, in cooperation with Aqualia's production areas.
  4. Projects (Organise, implement and justify): In order to ensure success with the planned resources and in a timely manner, work teams and deliverables are managed in response to contractual requirements, involving our partners in the development of technologies and the implementation of demonstration sites.
  5. Products (Define, develop, optimise and transfer): In order to adapt the result to the market and optimise its return, interested parties are involved from the beginning in the technological transfer of development.
  6. Property (Description, protection, patents and maintenance): In order to maximise the potential of the results provided, the knowledge generated and intellectual property are protected.
  7. Promotion (Brands, market identification and access channels): In order to facilitate their identification, products are differentiated with attractive names, and external support is sought to define and quantify the market and introduce solutions.