ABWASSERVERBAND BRAUNSCHWEIG

Their core work

Abwasserverband Braunschweig is a German public wastewater utility serving the Braunschweig region, responsible for collecting, treating, and managing municipal and industrial wastewater. Within H2020, they contribute real-world operational infrastructure and data for testing circular water economy concepts — including water reuse in agriculture, energy recovery from wastewater, and materials recycling. Their value lies in being an actual wastewater operator that can host large-scale demonstrations and validate research under real conditions, rather than just in a lab setting.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their earliest project (ANSWER, 2015) focused on risk assessment — specifically antibiotic resistance in wastewater reuse — a fundamentally safety-oriented research question. By 2018-2021, their participation shifted toward implementation and circularity: NextGen targeted large-scale demonstration of energy recovery and materials recycling, while SuWaNu Europe focused on practical knowledge transfer for agricultural reuse. The trajectory moves clearly from understanding risks to deploying circular water solutions at scale.

Moving from safety research toward operational deployment of circular economy water solutions, making them increasingly relevant as a demonstration and validation partner.

How they like to work

AV-BS operates exclusively as a participant or third party — never as coordinator — which is typical for a public utility contributing infrastructure rather than leading research. With 68 unique partners across 20 countries from just 3 projects, they join large, well-funded consortia where their role is to provide real operational sites and data. They are a reliable infrastructure host rather than a research driver, making them easy to integrate into ambitious demonstration projects.

Despite only 3 projects, AV-BS has built a broad network of 68 partners across 20 countries, reflecting the large consortium sizes typical of Innovation Actions and CSAs in the water sector. Their network spans most of Europe without a strong geographic bias beyond the water-sector community.

What sets them apart

As a real operating wastewater utility — not a research institute or consultancy — AV-BS offers something most consortium partners cannot: actual large-scale wastewater infrastructure where technologies can be tested under genuine operating conditions. For anyone building a water-sector project that needs a German demonstration site with agricultural reuse connections, they are a proven and experienced choice. Their combination of public-body reliability and hands-on operational knowledge makes them a low-risk partner for validation-stage projects.

Highlights from their portfolio

• NextGen
  Largest funding (EUR 285,000) and most thematically rich project — covering circular water systems, energy recovery, materials recycling, and business model development at demonstration scale.
• SuWaNu Europe
  A targeted knowledge-transfer network focused specifically on safe wastewater reuse in European agriculture, signaling AV-BS's practical involvement in the water-agriculture nexus.