KWB KOMPETENZZENTRUM WASSER BERLIN GEMEINNUTZIGE GMBH

Their core work

KWB is Berlin's applied water research centre, focused on turning wastewater into a source of energy, nutrients, and recovered materials. They develop and demonstrate technologies for resource recovery from sewage — including phosphorus, cellulose, bioplastics, and energy — and work on making urban water systems circular and climate-resilient. Their work bridges lab-scale innovation and full-scale industrial deployment, with strong emphasis on demonstration projects that prove technologies work at real wastewater treatment plants. They also address emerging contaminant challenges such as PFAS removal and zero-pollution strategies for water systems.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early H2020 period (2015–2018), KWB focused heavily on physical resource recovery from wastewater — extracting phosphorus, cellulose, bioplastics, and energy from sewage treatment plants, with an emphasis on large-scale demonstration and technology scale-up. From 2019 onward, their work shifted toward broader circular economy frameworks, digital water management, climate adaptation, and tackling persistent chemical pollutants like PFAS. This evolution shows a move from "what can we extract from wastewater?" to "how do we redesign entire water systems for a circular, climate-resilient, pollution-free future?"

KWB is moving from hardware-focused recovery demonstrations toward integrated digital and policy-oriented approaches to urban water circularity, making them increasingly relevant for projects that combine technology deployment with governance and environmental regulation.

How they like to work

KWB operates primarily as an active research partner (8 of 10 projects), but has proven coordination capability, leading both POWERSTEP and DWC. With 206 unique consortium partners across 27 countries, they are a well-connected hub in the European water research landscape rather than a closed-circle operator. Their consistent participation in large Innovation Action consortia (7 of 10 projects are IAs) signals they are sought after for their ability to deliver applied, demonstration-scale research rather than purely academic contributions.

KWB has built an extensive pan-European network of 206 unique partners across 27 countries, reflecting deep integration into the EU water research community. Their network spans utilities, municipalities, technology providers, and research institutes across virtually all EU member states.

What sets them apart

KWB occupies a distinctive niche as a non-profit applied research centre embedded in Berlin's water utility ecosystem, giving them direct access to real-world wastewater infrastructure for testing and demonstration. Unlike universities that focus on fundamental research, KWB specialises in scaling technologies from pilot to full-scale operation at actual treatment plants. Their combination of water engineering, digital tools, and circular economy expertise makes them an ideal partner for projects that need to prove a technology works in practice, not just in the lab.

Highlights from their portfolio

• POWERSTEP
  Coordinated by KWB, this was an ambitious demonstration of energy-positive sewage treatment — proving that wastewater plants can generate more energy than they consume.
• PROMISCES
  Their largest single grant (EUR 1,003,000 via IMPETUS, but PROMISCES at EUR 972,500 represents a strategic pivot into PFAS and persistent pollutants — a rapidly growing regulatory priority in the EU.
• DWC
  Coordinated by KWB, Digital-Water.city represents their expansion from physical resource recovery into digital transformation of urban water systems.