Motivation

The IMDEA-Water, a project of scientific excellence and technological impact, has driven the Community of Madrid towards an excellent situation to consolidate its position as a national and international reference within the integrated water management field.

The creation of this Institute, with the participation companies of the sector, with more than one hundred in our region, will strengthen the competitiveness and potential technological innovation of the CM within Spain and will position it at the head of this strategic sector with such a great economic repercussion.

A multidisciplinary area like this not only has to be innovative but also has to invigorate other sectors such as materials, supplies and ICT, among others. Undoubtedly, the Institute has to direct efforts towards the creation of technology and the revitalization of this sector and other activities of related sectors.

Cross-discipline approach

Within the research environment of the Community of Madrid, there are research groups belonging to different public organisms from several areas of knowledge that base their research on water resources quality and waste water treatment and management. In addition to the aforementioned five groups, there is also TRAGUA (Water Treatment and Reuse), formed by around 200 researchers, mainly doctors.

The main scientific areas from which this research is approached are: Contamination, Protection Technologies, Ecotoxicoloty, Biotechnology, Hydrology, Hydrogeology, Agriculture, Chemical Engineering, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles and Ecology.

This Institute must incorporate all the groups from the centres dedicated to water R&D in the Community of Madrid, the laboratories of the Laboratory Network of the Madri+d System with equipments ready to be used and companies.

Goals

• This 3D management model will be used for managing the research, the innovation, the development, the constant market orientation and the public service of the organization.
• The integrated development of the platform of knowledge, on both the human and technological levels, and the 3D management model.
• To create a team humanly, technically and commercially coordinated in all the actions and projects.
• To create an international reference of research, innovation and market business management, especially designed for water technologies.
• To know how to properly manage the research, innovation and service projects portfolio in a way that the requirements of short investment return periods do not sacrifice the long-and-medium term growth of the Institute both through R&D projects or other public service-orientated non-profitable activities.

Parallelly, the necessary activities to get practical benefits from the results of the scientific-technical actions will be carried out. These activities will be distributed into four main groups: display, transference, diffusion and training.