Imagine if every pipe, meter, and pump in your city's water network could talk to each other and flag problems before they happen. That's what NAIADES built — an AI brain that sits on top of existing water infrastructure, watches consumption patterns in real time, spots leaks and equipment failures early, and even nudges consumers to save water through a phone app. Think of it like a smart thermostat, but for an entire city's water system. They tested it in three real cities — Braila in Romania, Carouge in Switzerland, and Alicante in Spain.
Water utilities and building managers across Europe lose significant revenue to undetected leaks, reactive maintenance, and poor visibility into consumption patterns. Most water infrastructure relies on outdated monitoring that catches problems only after they cause damage or complaints. Cities need a way to make their existing water networks smarter without ripping out and replacing hardware.
NAIADES built a complete AI-powered water management ecosystem including real-time IoT monitoring, deep learning models for anomaly detection, digital twins of water infrastructure, and a consumer-facing app for water conservation. The platform was deployed and tested in 3 cities (Braila, Carouge, Alicante), producing 76 deliverables including detailed demo reports from each pilot site.
If you are a water utility dealing with aging infrastructure and non-revenue water losses — this project developed an AI-driven platform that monitors water networks in real time, detects equipment failures before they escalate, and provides operational intelligence for smarter maintenance scheduling. It was validated across 3 pilot cities with different water challenges.
If you are a building manager dealing with water quality complaints or unexplained consumption spikes — this project developed IoT-based monitoring that tracks water quality and usage across residential buildings, offices, hospitals, and malls. The system creates digital twins of your water sub-systems and flags anomalies automatically.
If you are a water technology company looking to add AI analytics on top of your hardware — this project built a complete ecosystem combining sensor data collection, deep learning models, and consumer-facing apps. With 8 industry partners and 6 SMEs in the consortium, the platform was designed for integration with existing commercial water monitoring equipment.
The project data does not include specific per-unit or licensing costs. As an Innovation Action with 19 partners, the platform was built for real-world deployment, so commercial pricing models likely exist with the industry partners. Contact the consortium for pricing details.
NAIADES was validated in 3 heterogeneous pilot sites — Braila, Carouge, and Alicante — each with different water challenges, climates, and infrastructure types. This cross-country validation across 10 countries suggests the platform was designed for transferability, not just single-site use.
The consortium includes 8 industry partners and 6 SMEs alongside 8 research organizations. IP is typically shared among consortium members under the Horizon 2020 grant agreement. Licensing would need to be negotiated with the relevant technology owners in the consortium.
The project was funded under the SC5-11-2018 topic focused on digital water management. It addressed water quality monitoring in public buildings including hospitals and malls, which are subject to strict EU drinking water directive requirements. Regulatory alignment was built into the demonstration phase.
The project ran from June 2019 to November 2022. Based on available project data, the 3 city demonstrations were completed within this period. Deployment timelines for new sites would depend on existing sensor infrastructure and data integration requirements.
NAIADES was designed to work with diverse big data sources and water monitoring systems already deployed across Europe. The platform collects data from multiple sensor types and sub-systems in buildings, suggesting it was built for integration rather than replacement of existing infrastructure.
The project officially closed in November 2022. However, with 8 industry partners including 6 SMEs, some consortium members may offer commercial support and continued development. The project website at naiades-project.eu may have current contact information.
The NAIADES consortium is unusually well-balanced for commercialization: 19 partners across 10 countries with a 42% industry ratio — meaning nearly half the team comes from the business side, not academia. There are 8 industry partners and 6 SMEs alongside 8 research organizations and 1 university. This spread across Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Ireland, Netherlands, Romania, and Slovenia gives the technology exposure to vastly different water infrastructure realities. The coordinator is CERTH (Greece), a major applied research center known for technology transfer. For a buyer, this means the platform was stress-tested across diverse regulatory and infrastructure environments, with commercial partners already embedded in the development process.
The coordinator is CERTH (National Centre for Research and Technological Development) in Greece. Use the CORDIS contact form or search for NAIADES project leads at CERTH.
Want an introduction to the NAIADES team? SciTransfer can connect you with the right consortium partner for your water management challenge.
