Aquademica Foundation uses an open source approach, in order to create, socialize and globally disseminate solutions for building local circular economies. Aqua Circular On-line Conference 2020 promoted the innovative solutions for all the interested stakeholders in Western Romania, but also from neighboring regions of Hungary and Serbia. The main purpose of the conference was to organize the frame for matching demand and supply in the circular water sector, with the aim to improve the competitiveness of local stakeholders within the regional water market.

The conference was an innovative mixture of circular water project presentations and debates, with the aim of creating business opportunities in regional markets and building strong partnerships among regional water operators, decision makers and technicians from regional utilities, local industry and agriculture, local start-ups, regional universities and R&D centers, technology providers, local and central administrations.

The full conference agenda can be found below, including the materials (in PDF format, in English and Romanian) that the lectors have used for their presentations, as well as a short bio for each lector. 

• [EN] Decentralised solutions in the context of circular economy
  [RO] Soluții descentralizate în contextul economiei circulare
  Shilp Verma – IWMI (International Water Management Institute)
• [EN] Romania’s views regarding circular economy applied to water sector, in the spirit of Agenda 2030
  [RO] Perspectivele României privind economia circulară aplicată în domeniul apei, în spiritul Agendei 2030
  László Borbély – State Councelor & Head of the Department for Sustainable Development of the Romanian Government, Romania
  
• [EN] Circular economy in the Belgian Water Sector
  [RO] Economia circulară în sectorul apei din Belgia
  Francis Meerburg – Aquafin NV, Belgium
  
• [EN] Circular economy in Water sector in view of Water Europe
  [RO] Economia circulară în sectorul apei, în viziunea Water Europe
  Durk Krol – Water Europe, Belgium
  
• [EN] Mangroves and the Circular Economy: where water meets water and what that implies
  [RO] Mangrovele și economia circulară: ce se întâmplă atunci când apa întâlnește apă și ce implică acest lucru *
  Katharine N. Farrell – Universidad de Rosario (Profesora Asociada de Carerra), Columbia
  
• [EN] Advances in applying circular economy concepts *
  [RO] Progrese în aplicarea conceptelor de economie circulară*
  Milan Veselinov – Industrial Ecology CEO – CIREKOV D.O.O., Serbia
  
• [EN] The strategy of developing the circular economy in the vision of the European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform
  [RO] Strategia dezvoltării economiei circulare în viziunea Platformei Părților Interesate ale Economiei Circulare Europene *
  Doris Cadar – Director | Department for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development, IRCEM, Romania
  
• [EN] Circular Economy & Water in The Netherlands – best practices
  [RO] Economia circulară și managementul apelor în Olanda – bune practici
  Anca Turtoi – Holland Circular Hotspot, The Netherlands
  
• [EN] SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in wastewater – international efforts *
  [RO] Supravegherea SARS-CoV-2 în apa uzată – eforturi internaționale *
  Thomas Wintgens – University of Aachen, Germany
• [EN] Sustainability, innovation and internationalization support services for the companies
  [RO] Servicii de suport pentru IMM-uri – Sustenabilitate, inovare și internaționalizare
  Raluca Cibu – The Agency for Regional Development West, Romania
  
• [EN] NEXTGEN Water project presentation
  [RO] Prezentarea proiectului NEXTGEN
  Jos Frijns – NextGen Water, KWR Water Research Institute, The Netherlands
  
• [EN] NEXTGEN Demo Case AQUATIM Romania
  [RO] NEXTGEN Studiu de caz AQUATIM România
  Mihai Grozavescu – Aquatim SA, Romania
  
• [EN] NEXTGEN Demo Case Switzerland Altenrhein
  [RO] NEXTGEN Studiu de caz Altenrhein Elveția
  Anders Nättorp – Switzerland
  
• [EN] BIOREGIO – Regional Circular economy models and best available technologies for biological streams
  [RO] BIOREGIO – Modele regionale de economie circulară și cele mai bune tehnologii disponibile pentru fluxuri organice
   Mihaela Frincu – ICECHIM (National Research and Development Institute for Chemistry and Petrochemistry), Romania
  
• [EN] VOLATILE Project presentation
  [RO] Prezentarea proiectului VOLATILE
  Thomas Dietrich – Tecnalia, Spain
• [EN] Development of a Volatile Fatty Acids Platform
  [RO] Realizarea unei platforme pe bază de acizi grași volatili 
  Filip Velghe – OWS, Belgium
• [EN] Circular economy applied to wastewater management
  [RO] Circular economy applied to wastewater management *
  Carmen Teodosiu – Gheorghe Asachi University of Iasi, Romania
  
• [EN] Reuse of water and nutrients in hydroponic systems
  [RO] Valorificarea apei uzate și a nutrienților în cadrul sistemelor hidroponice
  Marius Mohr – Fraunhofer Institute, Germany
  
• [EN] Water reuse in industry
  [RO] Reutilizarea apei în industrie
  Xavier Martinez Lladó – Director | UT Water, Air and Soil, EURECAT, Spain
• [EN] NanoTermo – Patented technology for the circular economy. Increasing the efficiency and reducing the operating costs of existing and new, small and medium treatment plants 
  [RO] NanoTermo – Tehnologie brevetată pentru creșterea eficienței și reducerea costurilor de operare ale stațiilor de epurare existente și noi, mici și mijlocii
  Constantin Damian – Director | KEMATRONIC SRL, Romania
• [EN] Nature-based filtering material for inovative water treatment within circular economy context (Poster)
  Anamaria Baciu, Florin Bucatariu, Claudia Delcioiu, Aniela Pop,
  Marius Zaharia, Marcela Mihai, Florica Manea – Politehnica University of Timisoara
  
• [EN] Electrochemical sensors for a circular water: contributions to assess emerging pollutants-based water quality (Poster)
  Sorina Ilies (born Motoc), Anamaria Baciu, Aniela Pop, Florica Manea – Politehnica University of Timisoara
• [EN] Teachsus Project and the water management education (Poster)
  Anca Draghici – Politehnica University of Timisoara
  

              * presentation not available

Aqua Circular On-line Conference 2020 was organized for the water sector by the Aquademica Foundation (co-founded by AQUATIM, the largest water utility company in Western Romania, and Münchner Stadtentwässerung, the public wastewater management company of Munich), with support from different teams of  European Projects (INTERREG, HORIZON 2020 etc). The recording of most of the presentations mentioned above can be found on the Aquademica YouTube channel.

Aquademica Foundation wishes to express its gratitude to all the people involved in making this event successful: partners, lectors, translators, contributors, sponsors and attendees.

We’re already looking forward to our next conference! 

Take care, stay healthy and see you there!

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