FUNDACION NUEVA CULTURA DEL AGUA

Their core work

Fundación Nueva Cultura del Agua (FNCA) is a Spanish advocacy and research foundation dedicated to transforming how water is managed, governed, and valued in society. Rooted in the "New Water Culture" movement that emerged in Spain in the 1990s, they bring a policy reform and participatory governance perspective to water management — challenging infrastructure-heavy approaches in favor of demand management, ecological flows, and citizen participation. In EU research projects, they contribute expertise on water governance frameworks, institutional change, and the social dimensions of water policy. Their work sits at the intersection of environmental science, public policy, and civil society engagement.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first H2020 project (from 2017), FNCA engaged with the digital-technology side of water management — specifically smart metering adoption in public utilities, a concrete and infrastructure-facing topic. By 2019, their focus shifted clearly toward governance, institutional change, and the political economy of water — broader, more policy-oriented questions about how societies make decisions about water. This trajectory suggests FNCA is moving away from technology implementation toward the upstream question of governance conditions that make or block sustainable water transitions.

FNCA is clearly moving toward water governance research and policy advocacy — making them a relevant partner for projects dealing with institutional reform, water law, participatory management, or the social acceptance dimensions of water innovation.

How they like to work

FNCA has participated in both projects as a non-coordinating partner, suggesting they are comfortable operating as a specialist contributor within larger consortia rather than leading projects themselves. Despite only two projects, they have engaged with 21 distinct partners across 9 countries — a notably broad network for their size, suggesting they are sought out as a specific voice (civil society, policy advocacy, water culture) rather than a generalist partner. They bring a perspective that few technical research groups can provide: institutional and social legitimacy in water reform debates.

FNCA has built connections with 21 consortium partners across 9 countries through just two projects — a high ratio suggesting their networks are diverse and geographically spread across Europe. Their participation in both a digital-sector PCP and a Marie Skłodowska-Curie ITN indicates they can engage across different EU funding instruments and research communities.

What sets them apart

FNCA is one of the few EU-funded research actors that explicitly bridges water science and social/political advocacy — their identity as the "New Water Culture" foundation gives them credibility with civil society, regulators, and academic governance researchers that a pure technical institute cannot easily replicate. For consortium builders needing a partner who can connect water technology projects to policy uptake, public acceptance, or regulatory context, FNCA fills a role that is otherwise hard to find. Their Spanish base also makes them valuable for projects requiring Southern European water management perspectives, where water scarcity, irrigation politics, and river basin governance are especially contested.

Highlights from their portfolio

• NEWAVE
  The largest project by funding (EUR 250,905) and the most strategically aligned with FNCA's core identity — a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network focused on next-generation water governance, running until 2024.
• SMART.MET
  A Pre-Commercial Procurement project on smart water metering — an unusual funding instrument that placed FNCA at the intersection of public utility procurement and digital water innovation.