AGUAS MUNICIPALIZADAS DE ALICANTE, EMPRESA MIXTA

Their core work

AMAEM is a mixed public-private water utility responsible for managing urban water supply and distribution infrastructure in Alicante, Spain. In EU research projects, they function as an operational end-user and living lab host — providing real water networks, infrastructure data, and citizen-facing services as testbeds for smart water technologies. Their contribution to consortia is grounded in practice: access to live operational systems, consumption data, and the governance challenges of a mid-sized Mediterranean coastal city. They bring the practitioner perspective that bridges research outputs to deployable solutions in real urban water systems.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

AMAEM entered H2020 through NAIADES with a technology-adoption angle — applying AI, deep learning, and IoT to monitor consumer behavior and digitize urban water operations. Their second project, B-WaterSmart, shifted emphasis away from pure technology toward systemic water management: governance frameworks, living labs, water reuse, resource recovery, and circular economy business models. The trajectory is clear: from instrumenting the network to rethinking what the network does with water and how communities relate to it. This reflects a maturing engagement with smart water research, moving from data collection to policy-relevant and circular-economy applications.

AMAEM is moving toward water reuse, circular economy integration, and governance-level digital transformation — making them a strong fit for future projects at the intersection of water policy, climate adaptation, and smart city infrastructure in coastal Mediterranean contexts.

How they like to work

AMAEM participates exclusively as a consortium partner — never as coordinator — which is consistent with their role as a practitioner end-user rather than a research-driving entity. Both projects involved large consortia (55 unique partners across 13 countries for just 2 projects), suggesting they are comfortable operating within complex, multi-partner environments. They bring operational credibility and real-world testing capacity rather than scientific leadership, making them a reliable and low-overhead partner for Innovation Actions seeking demonstration sites.

AMAEM has connected with 55 unique partners across 13 countries through only 2 projects — a notably wide network for such limited participation, reflecting the large consortium sizes typical of EU Innovation Actions in the water sector. Their connections span Southern and Northern Europe, consistent with projects targeting coastal and urban water challenges at a continental scale.

What sets them apart

AMAEM occupies a rare position as a real operating water utility — not a research institute or consultancy — embedded in EU research consortia as a living demonstration environment. For project coordinators, this means access to actual infrastructure, operational data, and end-user governance processes in a Mediterranean coastal city, which is precisely the context needed to validate water reuse and smart network technologies under real conditions. Their mixed public-private ownership also gives them credibility with both municipal authorities and commercial technology providers.

Highlights from their portfolio

• B-WaterSmart
  The larger and more recent of their two projects (EUR 425,250 EC funding, running to 2024), it extended AMAEM's scope into circular water economy, water reuse, and governance — their most strategically significant EU engagement to date.
• NAIADES
  Their debut EU project established AMAEM as an AI and IoT testbed for urban water digitization, introducing machine learning and consumer behavior monitoring to their operational context.