Developing knowledge together and putting it into practice

Climate change and increasing levels of undesirable substances are just two of the enormous challenges facing the water world. Challenges that require new solutions which transcend sectors because the interaction between the hydrological water system and human use is always located where different domains meet. In both programmes, innovation is not an end in itself but an increasing necessity in a changing world. And innovation is teamwork.

2025 was a busy and fruitful year for both programmes, with exciting results as well as interesting meetings and discussions. You can read about them in, in particular, the Waterwijs Magazine and the 2025 WiCE annual review. We provide you with just an impression here.

Waterwijs week: meetings as the first step on the road to successful implementation

The Waterwijs Week took place in June, with three sunny and intensive days for three meetings: Practice meets Waterwise, Policy meets Waterwise and Science meets Waterwise, representing the three main lenses through which Waterwise views the world. Science is an important source of input for Waterwijs research. But Waterwijs knowledge will have an impact only if people work actively on translating and transferring research findings into the practice of drinking water utilities, and developing and underpinning policy. During these days, the Waterkwartier was animated by valuable discussions and new insights into each other’s work and interests: a crucial starting point for the successful development and application of new knowledge for practice and policy.

2025 Waterwijs Practice Award

A highlight during Practice meets Waterwijs was the presentation of the two Waterwijs Practice Awards for solutions that really make a difference in the world of drinking water. The expert jury’s prize went to the software platform Gondwana for the optimisation of drinking water distribution systems. Gondwana is like a Swiss army knife for drinking water utilities: broadly applicable but always tailored to individual practices.

The public award was for Aqua Ludens, the serious game developed under the WiCE umbrella for collaboration in the water chain. The game is designed to support dialogue about the water transition between water partners and other sectors. In Aqua Ludens, participants put themselves in the shoes of different stakeholders and they are challenged to make decisions that affect the entire water system. In this way, players come to understand each other’s interests and experience the need to establish objectives in the water transition together.

Aqua Ludens, winner of the expert jury prize

Aqua Ludens, the serious game that won the Waterwijs Practical Award’s public prize

It is useful to point out here that KWR has also released a series of fact sheets about the water transition.

Underpinning policy with relevant fact sheets

During Policy meets Waterwijs, policymakers took us behind the scenes to look at developments relating to European and national policy, and KWR highlighted some of the results of Research for Policy in the Waterwijs programme. Here, researchers clearly identify what we already know and they present their results in understandable and appealing language in a range of fact sheets. The Association of Water Utilities in the Netherlands draws on this accessible knowledge during its lobby work on behalf of the sector at the Dutch and European levels. An important element here is that the scientific information in the fact sheets is based on independent research. KWR provides the facts. Vewin then adopts positions and publishes on the basis of those facts. KWR fact sheets have now been published relating to areas such as emerging substances, pesticides and nitrate.

Transforming knowledge impact

During Science meets Waterwijs (with English as the common language), participants explored how to work across sectoral and disciplinary boundaries to make impactful solutions possible. If we want to keep up with the pace of climate change, we need to move beyond pilot projects and introduce innovations to standard practice. Which roles are needed for this and which role fits whom? It became clear that knowledge brokers have become increasingly important. These are people who link research to practice and policy, and help to translate complex science into feasible strategies. Those connectors are vital to transform knowledge into impact.

WiCE: towards a circular economy while retaining value(s)

The developments in 2025 made it abundantly clear how necessary it is to establish a sustainable and resilient society that can cope with the realities of climate change, scarce resources and increasing water stress. That provides the Netherlands and Europe with a unique opportunity to take the lead in the transformation to a circular economy based on preserving value(s). Against this background, we continued to work in the WiCE programme once again in 2025 on a broad spectrum of transition agendas relating to water: water availability, climate, energy supply and the circular economy. With fifteen projects, this was a year with unprecedentedly high levels of activity. The growing interest in WiCE demonstrates the relevance of the programme and the collaboration between drinking water utilities and partners. In 2025, WiCE launched research including future roles of drinking water utilities relating to heating networks, and deep adaptation for the water sector, in which action perspectives were provided for rapid and long-term changes in society and environment.