VIVAQUA SCRL

Their core work

VIVAQUA is the public water utility responsible for producing and distributing drinking water across the Brussels Capital Region and surrounding municipalities in Belgium, serving over one million customers. In EU research projects, they function as an operational end-user partner — contributing live water supply infrastructure, real-world network data, and field-testing environments that technology developers cannot replicate in a lab. Their participation in H2020 projects centered on deploying smart metering technology across their distribution network and evaluating sensor-based threat detection systems for protecting water supply from contamination and physical disruption. For consortium partners, VIVAQUA represents direct access to an operational large-scale urban water network with the mandate and capacity to pilot, test, and validate new water technology.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

VIVAQUA entered H2020 participation through the lens of digital infrastructure modernization — their first project (SMART.MET, 2017) was about deploying smart metering across a public utility network, a classic efficiency-and-data play. By their second project (aqua3S, 2019), the focus had shifted decisively toward security: threat detection, sensor integration, early warning systems, and recovery planning. This is not a random pivot — it reflects a broader sector trend where water utilities, having begun digitizing their networks, then confronted the security vulnerabilities that connectivity introduces. The trajectory suggests VIVAQUA is moving from passive infrastructure operator toward an active participant in water resilience and critical infrastructure protection.

VIVAQUA is moving toward critical infrastructure protection, making them a relevant partner for any consortium working on water security, sensor-based monitoring, or digital resilience of urban utility networks.

How they like to work

VIVAQUA has participated exclusively as a consortium partner — never as coordinator — across both projects, indicating they join consortia to contribute operational infrastructure and end-user validation rather than to lead research agendas. With 35 unique partners across just 2 projects, they have operated inside large, multi-partner consortia (roughly 17–18 partners per project), which is typical for Innovation Actions and Pre-Commercial Procurement projects with broad stakeholder requirements. This suggests VIVAQUA is comfortable in complex, multi-party settings and brings value as a legitimate operational pilot site rather than as a research-generating institution.

VIVAQUA has built a network of 35 unique consortium partners across 12 countries through just two projects, reflecting the broad, multi-national consortia typical of EU security and digital infrastructure projects. No repeated-partner pattern is visible from this dataset, suggesting they bring geographic and sectoral diversity to any collaboration rather than anchoring a fixed research circle.

What sets them apart

VIVAQUA offers something most research or technology partners cannot: a real, large-scale urban water distribution network serving over a million people, available as a live pilot and validation environment. As a public utility with regulatory accountability and direct operational control, they bring credibility and real-world constraints that push technology development beyond proof-of-concept. For any consortium building around smart water infrastructure, security, or urban digital resilience, VIVAQUA is the kind of end-user partner that funding agencies reward — they make the "who will actually use this?" question answerable.

Highlights from their portfolio

• aqua3S
  The larger and more technically ambitious of the two projects, aqua3S integrated sensor networks, detection technologies, early warning systems, and citizen feedback into a unified water safety framework — placing VIVAQUA at the intersection of digital, security, and public utility domains.
• SMART.MET
  A Pre-Commercial Procurement project (PCP), SMART.MET positioned VIVAQUA not just as a technology pilot site but as a public authority co-designing and procuring smart metering solutions — a rare and high-leverage role for a water utility in EU research.