Summer school on water security
Water is often taken for granted - as an essential element to life and a universal right, it is an absolute precondition to sustainable development. Yet at the same time, more than two billion people worldwide lack access to clean drinking water. We also experience an increase in floods as well as droughts, further exacerbated by climate change. We need to ensure that the topic gets the attention that it deserves. It’s a global imperative to find solutions.
That’s why, in collaboration with Falling Walls, we introduced a summer school, that took place from 27-30 September 2023 in Hannover, Germany. The 4-day intensive programme on Global Solutions for Water Security brought together 40 innovators and Science Engagers from 21 countries fostering knowledge sharing, idea exchange, and collaborative project development to promote ideas on how to address increasing water scarcity and water-related dangers worldwide.
On the final day of the summer school, the seven teams presented their approaches to the public in 5-minute pitches. The audience then had the opportunity to vote for the most promising project:
Smart Water Lab: transform cities into blue-green cities through individual consulting/test results
Planning for Planet: integrated and future-proof neighborhood planning with all available tool
Water Watchdogs: breaking the wall to water monitoring accessibility
AquaPure: city-wide water treatment to reduce microplastics contamination in drinking water and soil
AqUs Fund: interactive platform to map prospective areas affected by water scarcity, marketplace for donations for wetlands
H2OSure: insurance for water systems and water-borne diseases to treat global poor
NextGen Water: hydrotech to filter water for farmers to increase yield
The winner team “NextGen Water” had the opportunity to present the project to a distinguished scientific community at the Falling Walls Science Summit 2023 in Berlin.
The technology on which the project idea is based was developed by CLEWATEC (Clean Water Technology Lab). The Foundation provided financial support for this Helmholtz Innovation Lab's research following the summit.
As a global platform for scientific exchange, the annual Science Summit serves as a catalyst for innovation, fostering interdisciplinary dialogue, and promoting breakthrough thinking. And this also became clear during the Summer School: When working on globally relevant topics, finding the right partners is where the magic start happens. Connecting between different people and cultures is essential to bring ideas forward and find ways to pursue them sustainably. In Hannover, partnerships for further cooperation were concluded.
Read the full summer school report
More information on the summer school
© Bergwaldprojekt e. V.
“The Summer School was our first focus project and turned out to be a real success. I look forward to the Hannover Re Foundation's continued collaboration with Falling Walls as I am convinced that innovation is the key to solving future global challenges and giving something back to future generations.”
Silke Sehm, Chair of the Board of Trustees for Sustainability, Hannover Re Foundation, and Member of the Hannover Re Executive Board
Photo credits: © Falling Walls Foundation
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