(All times are in CET)

How Can Corporate Water Stewardship Partnerships Benefit Society?

09:00-12:30

Founders Business Seminar: The Paradoxes of Water-Value versus Price including the SIWA prize award ceremony

14:00-17:30

Africa Focus: Cooperation and Hydro-Diplomacy – Successful Approaches to Optimize Transboundary Water Management

14:00-17:30

As a neutral, not-for-profit, solution-oriented, world-leading water policy and management research institute, SIWI helps businesses understand and address water-related risks and challenges to their operations and reputation globally, and in specific regions where they operate. After identifying opportunities in current challenges, SIWI formulates strategies for businesses, mapping current activities and suggesting concrete measures to improve existing water use.  SIWI offers analytic and managerial competence to plan and execute projects, or support existing ones, focusing on operational efficiency, contextualization and minimization of water risk and improving sustainable resource management. SIWI offers its unique expertise in producing comprehensive solutions to address water challenges and create opportunities.

Examples of products that SIWI offers its business clients:

Strategic Research: SIWI produces strategic assessment research focussing on water use in relation to a specific industry, region or operation, mapping areas of interest and future challenges to create greater understanding for the competing demands for water and the ways in which industry interplays with others in a water basin setting.

Comprehensive status reports including the following content:

1. Baseline assessment. Baseline assessments comprehensively describe the current status in terms of how does an industry positions itself within competition over water resources.
2. GAP analysis. SIWI analyses current practices to improve sustainable water use and what can be done better.
3. Opportunity assessment. Forward-looking analysis focussing on concrete benefits to be achieved by strategic investments and other progressive actions in the industries water managing functions.

Operational analysis: SIWI develops strategic option assessment plans to reduce unsustainable, on- site, water resources use established for each operation entity. Based on information gathered at a specific project area, such options would ensure efficiency of processes and elaborate cost-reduction or return on investment. Such plans include option assessments for:

• Water saving, quality and reuse: areas of direct water use which can be reduced, replaced or abandoned to save water, improve quality of waste-water and where can water reuse be effective.
• Operation efficiency: Operational schemes/appliances/equipment maintenance, adjustment or altering to address both direct and indirect water usage use – and energy consumption in extension.
• Technology choices: New technology that could be invested in to cater for the above.

Capacity Building and Management Support: This includes a number of options connected to support the management to reach its targets, capitalise on its opportunities, and ensure the sustainability of its improvements. These include:

1. Policy compliance support
2. Capacity Building and human resource development
3. Knowledge management
4. Sustainable water management project development and implementation support