STOWA (Acronym for Foundation for Applied Water Research) is the knowledge centre of the regional water managers (mostly the Dutch Water Authorities) in the Netherlands.
Its mission is to develop, collect, distribute and implement applied knowledge, which the water managers need in order to adequately carry out the tasks that their work supports. This expertise can cover applied technical, scientific, administrative-legal or social science fields.
BRIGAID (Acronym for BRIdging the GAp for Innovations in climate Disaster resilience) is a European H2020 project, where 24 partners from 15 different countries in Europe cooperate. Lead partner is TU Delft. Climate disasters such as floods, droughts and extreme weather are expected to cause ever higher damages in the coming decades due to climate change. BRIGAID’s objective is to accelerate the development of practical innovations for disaster resilience, thus bridging the gap between innovators and end-users such as water managers.
BRIGAID has developed a methodology to guide innovations in an effective way through their development. This methodology, a Test and Implementation Framework (TIF) covers technical aspects, societal acceptance aspects and impact assessment. End-users, water managers, as well as innovators, can use this TIF as a tool to assess the development status of a proposed innovation and to identify the aspects where further attention or improvements will still be required.
In the workshop two practical water management innovation cases have been assessed with the TIF-tool.
- Scan of drought of levees using satellite imagery
- Digital platform for extreme weather data
A user community of thirty participants from Water Boards, Provinces, Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, Universities, Research Institutes and SME’s were actively engaged during an inspiring afternoon.