According to Wikipedia “A circular economy (often referred to simply as “circularity”) is an economic system aimed at eliminating waste and the continual use of resources. Circular systems employ reuse, sharing, repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing, and recycling to create a closed-loop system, minimizing the use of resource inputs and the creation of waste, pollution, and carbon emissions. The circular economy aims to keep products, equipment, and infrastructure in use for longer, thus improving the productivity of these resources. All “waste” should become “food” for another process: either a by-product or recovered resource for another industrial process or as regenerative resources for nature (e.g., compost). This regenerative approach is in contrast to the traditional linear economy, which has a “take, make, dispose” model of production.”

Achieving a more circular economy for the water sector requires ‘water-smartness’ and ‘systemic innovation’. These two concepts are currently often asked for, but not yet achieved on a broad scale. With regard to ‘water-smartness’ this is because, although some definitions of a ‘water-smart society and economy’ have been proposed, there are no harmonized/established approaches on how to assess the ‘water-smartness’ status or gain of a measure, system, or society.

‘Systemic innovation’ is a challenging concept, as it holds a strong societal component, often neglected in traditional technology-driven attempts to innovate in the water sector. According to Water Europe and UNESCO2, societal innovation needs to consider four dimensions: technological solutions (including new concepts and digital solutions), capacity development, governance structures, and multi-stakeholder co-creation of solutions.

The challenges raised by the concepts of ‘water-smartness’ and ‘systemic innovation’ have been a key motivation for B-WaterSmart to aim at i) closing the gap regarding the applicability of the ‘water-smartness’ concept as a driver for systemic innovation in the water sector towards a more circular economy, and ii) enabling real systemic innovation in challenged but ambitious cities and regions across Europe, with equal emphasis on all four innovation dimensions.

Another key driver for the project is the ambition to find an adequate balance between leading-edge solutions for specific and globally relevant challenges, on the one hand, and the transferability potential of solutions on the other hand. Hence, the selection of case studies for B-WaterSmart focussed on coastal areas: they are at the forefront of climate change adaptation efforts, and many are undergoing rapid development with growing and conflicting demands on the natural resources, which are under substantial stress.

Rapid development may also offer windows of opportunities for significant systemic changes. As about 40% of the EU population lives in coastal regions, the project results will have a high level of relevance, transferability, and replication potential. Hence, B-WaterSmart deliberately builds on six Living Labs in European coastal cities and regions but does not limit its scope to topics that are specific to coastal regions only. With this approach, we ensure that the common denominator ‘coastal situation’ facilitates exchange and mutual learning across the LLs, whilst ensuring transferability and replicability of its key outcomes, for non-coastal areas in Europe and beyond.