EMPRESA METROPOLITANA DE ABASTECIMIENTO Y SANEAMIENTO DE AGUAS DE SEVILLA SA

Their core work

EMASESA is the metropolitan water supply and sanitation utility for the Seville urban area in Spain, managing the full urban water cycle — from drinking water distribution to wastewater collection and treatment — at city scale. In H2020, they participated as an end-user and implementation partner, contributing real operational infrastructure, city-level data assets, and procurement channels to research consortia. Their participation in both a big data incubator and a circular urban materials project reflects a utility actively testing how digital tools and circular economy principles can be embedded into large-scale urban operations. For consortia, they bring what few partners can offer: direct access to a functioning metropolitan infrastructure system with genuine procurement authority and established relationships with municipal governance.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

EMASESA's H2020 entry point (2018, EDI) was squarely in digital innovation — big data, open data, and support for SME incubation through cascade funding — suggesting the utility was exploring how data tools could modernise urban service delivery. By 2019, their focus shifted decisively toward circular economy and urban resource management (CityLoops), with keywords such as construction and demolition waste, soil, organic waste, procurement, and participatory planning replacing the earlier digital vocabulary. The trajectory suggests a utility that used its first EU project to build digital literacy and then applied that capability toward its more pressing operational challenge: transforming how cities handle the physical material flows that water and sanitation systems are deeply embedded in.

EMASESA is moving toward circular economy implementation in urban infrastructure, with procurement reform and citizen engagement as its practical levers — making them a relevant partner for future projects on sustainable cities, waste-to-resource, or urban water-material nexus topics.

How they like to work

EMASESA has participated exclusively as a consortium partner across both projects, never taking a coordinating role — consistent with a utility that contributes operational context and infrastructure access rather than leading research agendas. With 47 unique partners across 14 countries from just two projects, they have operated within large, internationally diverse consortia, which is typical for Innovation Actions with city-level pilots. This profile suggests they are a reliable implementation site and end-user voice, but prospective partners should not expect them to drive project management or scientific direction.

Despite only two H2020 projects, EMASESA has connected with 47 unique partners spanning 14 countries, reflecting participation in large pan-European consortia. Their network is concentrated in the urban sustainability and circular economy space, with no apparent regional bias beyond their Spanish base.

What sets them apart

EMASESA's distinctiveness lies in its role as an operating metropolitan utility rather than a research body or consultancy — they bring real procurement authority, operational data at city scale, and an established relationship with Seville's municipal governance structures. Very few H2020 participants can offer a direct implementation site inside a major Spanish city's water and sanitation system. For consortium builders targeting urban circular economy or smart city pilots, EMASESA provides the kind of end-user legitimacy and real-world deployment context that makes Innovation Actions credible to reviewers and impactful in practice.

Highlights from their portfolio

• CityLoops
  The largest of EMASESA's two projects (EUR 118,484) and the most strategically aligned with their core business, directly embedding a major water utility into a European effort to close urban loops for construction waste, soil, and organic material.
• EDI
  Demonstrates EMASESA's willingness to engage with digital innovation beyond their operational core, participating in a European Data Incubator that used cascade funding to support SMEs building on open and big data platforms.