Società Metropolitana Acque Torino S.p.A.

Their core work

SMAT is the public water utility serving the Turin metropolitan area in Italy, managing the full water cycle from supply through treatment and distribution. In H2020 projects, they contribute real-world water infrastructure as a testing ground — from wastewater treatment plants generating biogas for fuel cells (DEMOSOFC) to advanced water purification tackling emerging contaminants (AQUAlity). They bring operational scale and domain knowledge in water management to research consortia, serving as the end-user validation partner that bridges laboratory research and industrial deployment.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

SMAT's early H2020 participation (2015-2019) centered on their core water infrastructure: recovering energy from wastewater biogas and managing biocontamination in closed water systems. From 2017 onward, their focus shifted toward advanced water quality — specifically contaminants of emerging concern, nanofiltration, and hybrid treatment materials. Their most recent project (CALLISTO, 2021) marks a clear pivot into digital technologies like deep learning, UAVs, and AI-driven environmental monitoring, suggesting they are modernizing their operations with data-driven approaches.

SMAT is transitioning from a traditional water utility toward integrating AI, remote sensing, and digital tools into water and environmental management — making them increasingly relevant for smart water and digital twin projects.

How they like to work

SMAT participates exclusively as a consortium partner, never as coordinator, which is consistent with their role as an infrastructure provider and end-user rather than a research leader. Across just 4 projects they have worked with 47 unique partners in 15 countries, indicating they integrate easily into diverse, large consortia. Their value proposition to any consortium is clear: they bring a full-scale operational water utility where research outputs can be tested and validated under real conditions.

With 47 unique consortium partners across 15 countries from only 4 projects, SMAT has built a remarkably broad European network relative to their project count. Their collaborations span energy, space, environment, and digital sectors, giving them connections well beyond the water industry.

What sets them apart

SMAT is not a research lab or technology company — they are a large-scale water utility that operates real infrastructure serving a major European city. This makes them a rare and valuable consortium partner: they offer genuine operational environments where water treatment, energy recovery, and environmental monitoring technologies can be demonstrated at scale. Few organizations can provide both the technical water expertise and the physical infrastructure for full-scale validation in a single package.

Highlights from their portfolio

• DEMOSOFC
  Largest single EC contribution (EUR 665K) — demonstrated solid oxide fuel cells powered by biogas from SMAT's own wastewater treatment plant, a compelling circular economy use case.
• AQUAlity
  MSCA training network tackling contaminants of emerging concern in drinking water — positions SMAT at the forefront of next-generation water safety challenges.
• CALLISTO
  Most recent project (2021-2023) combining Copernicus satellite data with AI and UAVs — signals SMAT's strategic move into digitalized environmental management.