STICHTING WETSUS, EUROPEAN CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR SUSTAINABLE WATER TECHNOLOGY

Their core work

Wetsus is a leading European research centre dedicated to sustainable water technology, based in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. They develop and demonstrate technologies for water treatment, desalination, resource recovery from wastewater, and energy storage linked to water processes (such as blue batteries using salt water). Beyond technology, they run significant doctoral training programmes that produce entrepreneurial scientists capable of turning water research into market-ready solutions. Their work spans the full chain from fundamental membrane and electrochemical research to large-scale circular economy demonstrations.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their early H2020 period (2016–2018), Wetsus focused on fundamental water technologies — electrodialysis for desalination, blue energy from salt water — alongside building their doctoral training capacity with the WaterSEED programme. From 2019 onward, the focus shifted decisively toward circular economy applications: recovering resources from wastewater (phosphorus, bio-polymers, critical raw materials), CO2 capture, and agrifood waste upcycling. The training programmes also evolved, with EMPOWER (2022) explicitly targeting clean water, clean energy, and resource recovery as integrated themes rather than treating them separately.

Wetsus is moving from pure water technology toward the water-energy-materials nexus, making them increasingly relevant for circular economy and industrial decarbonisation consortia.

How they like to work

Wetsus operates as both a project leader and a strong collaborative partner — they coordinated 3 of their 11 projects (all doctoral training programmes) while joining 7 others as participant in large demonstration and research consortia. With 195 unique partners across 29 countries, they maintain an exceptionally broad European network rather than relying on a small circle of repeat collaborators. This makes them a well-connected hub: partnering with Wetsus opens doors to a wide network of water technology researchers, industrial players, and training institutions across Europe.

Wetsus has collaborated with 195 unique partners across 29 countries, giving them one of the broader networks in the European water technology space. Their connections span universities, industrial partners, and SMEs across nearly all EU member states.

What sets them apart

Wetsus occupies a rare position as both a top-tier water technology research centre and a major trainer of entrepreneurial scientists — they don't just develop technology, they develop the people who commercialise it. Their combination of membrane/electrochemical expertise with circular economy applications means they can address the full water value chain from treatment to resource recovery to business model design. For consortium builders, their 195-partner network and dual capability in research and human capital development makes them a strong anchor partner for water-related proposals.

Highlights from their portfolio

• WaterSEED
  Their largest project (EUR 3.3M as coordinator), a flagship doctoral training programme producing entrepreneurial water technology researchers over 7 years.
• WATER-MINING
  Major circular economy demonstration project addressing urban wastewater reuse, desalination brine, and resource recovery at large scale — directly at the centre of Wetsus's evolving mission.
• EMPOWER
  Their most recent coordination role (2022), signalling strategic direction by integrating clean water, clean energy, and resource recovery into a single training programme.