EDIA-EMPRESA DE DESENVOLVIMENTO E INFRA-ESTRUTURAS DO ALQUEVA SA

Their core work

EDIA is the public-capital company responsible for managing the Alqueva multi-purpose water infrastructure system in southern Portugal's Alentejo region — one of Europe's largest artificial reservoirs. Their core business is water transmission, irrigation network management, and agricultural development across the Alqueva system. In H2020 projects, they contribute as a real-world testing ground and end-user for technologies in water leak detection, smart farming, and freshwater ecosystem restoration, bringing operational infrastructure and agricultural land management expertise to European consortia.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

EDIA's H2020 trajectory shows a clear shift from hardware-focused infrastructure monitoring toward broader environmental and digital themes. Their early participation (WADI, 2016) centered on practical engineering — airborne optical sensors for detecting leaks in water transmission pipes. By 2018-2021, they moved into digital agriculture ecosystems (SmartAgriHubs) and then nature-based solutions for ecosystem restoration (MERLIN), reflecting a growing emphasis on sustainability and Green Deal alignment alongside their core water management operations.

EDIA is moving from pure infrastructure operator toward a sustainability-oriented organization that integrates nature-based solutions and digital tools into large-scale water and land management.

How they like to work

EDIA participates exclusively as a partner, never as coordinator — consistent with their role as an infrastructure operator and demonstration site rather than a research leader. With 174 unique partners across 26 countries from just 3 projects, they join large Innovation Action consortia (all projects are IA-funded), suggesting they are valued as real-world testbed providers. Working with them likely means access to large-scale water and agricultural infrastructure for piloting and validating technologies.

Despite only 3 projects, EDIA has connected with 174 partners across 26 countries, entirely through large-scale Innovation Action consortia. Their network is broad and pan-European, driven by the size of the consortia they join rather than by repeated bilateral partnerships.

What sets them apart

EDIA manages one of Europe's largest multi-purpose water reservoir and irrigation systems, making them a rare type of H2020 participant: an actual infrastructure operator with thousands of hectares of irrigated agricultural land available for real-world testing. For any consortium needing a large-scale water, irrigation, or agricultural demonstration site in a Mediterranean climate, EDIA offers something most partners cannot — operational infrastructure at scale. Their location in Portugal's semi-arid Alentejo region also makes them especially relevant for climate adaptation and water scarcity research.

Highlights from their portfolio

• WADI
  Largest EC contribution (EUR 146,940) and most technically specific — applied airborne multi-spectral and IR imaging for water pipeline leak detection, directly matching EDIA's core infrastructure operations.
• MERLIN
  Most recent and longest-running project (2021-2026), signaling EDIA's strategic pivot toward nature-based solutions and European Green Deal priorities.
• SmartAgriHubs
  Connected EDIA to Europe's digital agriculture innovation hub network, bridging their traditional water infrastructure expertise with smart farming technologies.