Post on 02-Jun-2020
URBANWATER PUBLIC Grant Agreement: 318602
Project Title:
Intelligent Urban Water Management System
Project Acronym:
URBANWATER
Seventh Framework Programme
Collaborative Project
Grant Agreement Number 318602
Subject:
D8.5 – Dissemination Plan– WP8
Dissemination Level: PUBLIC
Lead beneficiary: ASC SOLUTIONS CATALONIA, S.L. (ASC)
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological
development and demonstration under grant agreement no. 318602.
This publication reflects only the author's views and the European Union is not liable for any use that may he made of the
information contained therein.
Revision Preparation date Period covered Project start date Project Duration
FINAL September 2014 Months 1 to 30 December 2012 30 Months
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History of Changes
Version Author, Institution Changes
1.0. – 1.7. ASC Structure and firsts drafts gathering
contributions from all the partners.
1.8. ASC Final version submitted
1.9. ASC Improvements on the final version
2.0 ASC Improvements on the final version according
to the reviewer’s advices. Including a
methodology to analyse the impact of the
dissemination strategy and KPIs.
2.1 ASC, Consortium Enhanced 2.0 version
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Abstract
As a part of the Seventh Framework Programme, funded by the European Commission, the UrbanWater project
(FP7-2012- 318602) includes an important component of essential knowledge dissemination. The main goals of
this activity are, on one hand, to spread the research developments and results to the interested audience and, on
the other hand, to lead and trigger a positive change in the society as a whole.
The dissemination strategy is based on answering a set of basic questions (why, what, to whom, how and when),
by which the message, the channel and the target audience are established. In order to create a specific message
to a particular target audience, the methodology used to develop the present dissemination plan has followed three
main levels of knowledge: the level of awareness (general public: low engagement), the level of understanding
(skilled public: medium engagement) and the level of action (end-users and policy makers: high engagement).
Finally, the methodology presented gives an account of the key importance of an adequate process of monitoring
– during the dissemination activity – and a process of evaluation, after the activity has finished. The evaluation, in
the case of the UrbanWater project dissemination, is done by using a set of indicators called Key Performance
Indicators (KPIs), which allow the success of a dissemination activity to be objectively assessed over time.
Regarding the target audience, the dissemination strategy presented for the UrbanWater case highlights four main
end-users: water utilities, water consumers, public authorities and ICT companies. Furthermore, the project
environment also includes other actors, who are also engaged in the project goals, such as the European
Commission, the scientific community and the general public. They all, together with the end-users, form the
stakeholders of the project. Each stakeholder will receive a specific message through a specific channel, although
often the boundaries between these are not strict and some messages and channels (such as the project website)
became transversal.
The dissemination activities of the UrbanWater project presented in this document are split into two groups: the
actions already undertaken in the first phase of the project (M1-M18) and actions planned for the next period (M19-
M30). The analysis and evaluation of the actions already performed allows for the assessment of their relative
success as well as for setting the priorities for future actions.
During the first phase of the project, the dissemination activities have focused on, on one hand, setting useful
platforms to disseminate the project to the general public (website, database, press releases) and, on the other
hand, introducing the project to different key stakeholders, e.g. the scientific and academic community and water
utilities. During the months that will follow the preparation of this document, the Consortium’s main challenge is to
clearly identify the end-users and costumers of the IUWSM and to set specific dissemination actions for them, as
well as to strengthen social networks and to enhance the website in order to keep in contact with the general public
and the EU citizens.
The document is structured as follows: introduction to a dissemination strategy, definition of the methodology,
application to the UrbanWater project case, definition and evaluation of the types of dissemination activities
undertaken and planned, and finally, an exhaustive Appendix is used as a supplement to list all the particular
dissemination activities and to show the dissemination materials.
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List of Acronyms
ASC ASC Solutions Catalonia, S.A.
ASEM WRR&DC Asia-Europe Meeting Water Resources Research & Development Centre
ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations
DoW Description of Work
EC European Commission
EC-GA European Commission – Grant Agreement
ERAD European Conference on Radar and Hydrology
EU European Union
GDP Gross Domestic Product
ICT Information & Communication Technology
IT Information Technology
IUWSM Intelligent Urban Water System Management
IWA International Water Association
IWMI International Water Management Institute
KPI Key Performance Indicators
MoU Memorandum of Understanding
M2M Machine-to-Machine
OECD Organization for the Economic Cooperation and Development
REA Research Executive Agency
RTD Research and Technological Development
SEO Search Engine Optimization
SRPP Success ratio of Paper Publications
UN United Nations
WP Work Package
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Table of Contents History of Changes ................................................................................................................................................ 3 Abstract .................................................................................................................................................................. 4 List of Acronyms ................................................................................................................................................... 5 List of Tables ......................................................................................................................................................... 7 List of Figures ........................................................................................................................................................ 7 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 8
1.1 Objectives of Deliverable 8.5 ..................................................................................................................... 8 2 Methodology Applied ................................................................................................................................... 9
2.1 Dissemination Strategy.............................................................................................................................. 9 2.2 Monitoring and Evaluation ....................................................................................................................... 10
2.2.1 Monitoring (during a dissemination activity) ..................................................................................... 10 2.2.2 Evaluation (after a dissemination activity)........................................................................................ 10
2.3 Intellectual Property ................................................................................................................................. 11 3 UrbanWater Dissemination Plan ............................................................................................................... 12
3.1 Project context ......................................................................................................................................... 12 3.2 Dissemination Strategy............................................................................................................................ 13 3.3 Dissemination and Exploitation ............................................................................................................... 20
4 Specific Dissemination Actions ................................................................................................................ 22 4.1 M1-M18 Actions ...................................................................................................................................... 22
4.1.1 Level of Awareness ......................................................................................................................... 22 4.1.2 Level of understanding .................................................................................................................... 28 4.1.3 Level of action ................................................................................................................................. 29
4.2 M19-M30 actions and beyond ................................................................................................................. 31 4.2.1 End-users targeted actions .............................................................................................................. 32 4.2.2 Social media .................................................................................................................................... 33 4.2.3 Stakeholders .................................................................................................................................... 34
4.3 Excel Monitoring ...................................................................................................................................... 34 5 References .................................................................................................................................................. 35 6 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................................ 36 7 Appendix ..................................................................................................................................................... 37
7.1 Appendix 1: Dissemination activities performed from M1 to M18 ............................................................ 38 7.2 Appendix 2: Dissemination activities planned for M19-M30 .................................................................... 43 7.3 Appendix 3: UrbanWater project brochure .............................................................................................. 45 7.4 Appendix 4: UrbanWater project banner ................................................................................................. 46 7.5 Appendix 5: UrbanWater official presentation ......................................................................................... 47 7.6 Appendix 6: UrbanWater press release ................................................................................................... 49 7.7 Appendix 7: UrbanWater social networks ................................................................................................ 50
7.7.1 Twitter: https://twitter.com/UrbanWaterFP7 ..................................................................................... 50 7.7.2 LinkedIn: .......................................................................................................................................... 50
7.8 Appendix 8: InBussiness article (The Oxford Times) ............................................................................... 51 7.9 Appendix 9: Orga Systems brochure for web dissemination ................................................................... 54 7.10 Appendix 10: Orga Systems press release ............................................................................................. 56 7.11 Appendix 11: Scientific poster to be presented at the ERAD (September 2014, Germany) .................... 57
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List of Tables
Table 1: Channels used to disseminate the UrbanWater project .......................................................................... 16
Table 2: Dissemination Strategy scheme for the UrbanWater project ................................................................... 17
Table 3: Strong points and target audiences of the UrbanWater partners............................................................. 19
Table 4. KPIs addressed to evaluate the website impact ...................................................................................... 24
Table 5: KPIs addressed to evaluate the dissemination materials impact ............................................................. 25
Table 6: FP7 projects participants of the ICT4WATER cluster .............................................................................. 26
Table 7: KPI addressed to evaluate the cluster video impact ................................................................................ 27
Table 8: KPI addressed to evaluate the database impact ..................................................................................... 28
Table 9: KPIs addressed to evaluate the project's LinkedIn profile impact ............................................................ 28
Table 10: KPIs addressed to evaluate the level of understanding activities impact .............................................. 29
Table 11: Target users’ needs covered by the IUWSM ......................................................................................... 30
Table 12: KPIs addressed to evaluate the level of action activities impact ............................................................ 31
List of Figures
Figure 1: Building different messages through different levels of knowledge ........................................................ 13
Figure 2: UrbanWater project stakeholders ........................................................................................................... 15
Figure 3: IPR Management and Exploitation ......................................................................................................... 20
Figure 4: View of the project website views between January 2013 and July 2014 .............................................. 24
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1 Introduction
1.1 Objectives of Deliverable 8.5
This document is included as an official Deliverable (D8.5) and presents the Dissemination Plan for the European
funding project, “UrbanWater: Intelligent Urban Water Management System”, which started in 01/12/2012 and has
a duration of 30 months. The main goal of the project is to provide an ICT system that enables better end-to-end
water management. The system will benefit consumers, water utilities, public authorities, the environment and the
general public.
The Dissemination Plan is the output of activities implemented within Task 8.4 – Dissemination activities of the
DoW, led by ASC, but contributed by all the consortium partners. The interrelated tasks including setting up the
project web page, preparing updated material to translate and promote project achievements and validation
conclusions all serve the realisation of the dissemination strategy targeting the relevant stakeholders identified in
Task 1.1 and other interested organisations and individuals.
The main objective of the present document is to lay the groundwork of the UrbanWater dissemination strategy,
describing the dissemination goals, the target groups, the dissemination channels and the individual approach for
each particular partner.
Furthermore, the dissemination actions of URBANWATER project are aimed at:
Spreading non-confidential information as well as ongoing results about the project to the widest audience
possible in order to improve the knowledge and extend the impact of the project on European scale;
Raising awareness and explaining the characteristics and the pros of the IUWSM to the potential end-users
and costumers.
Exploiting the results and increasing the competitiveness of the participating partners.
Assisting the SME participants in assimilating the results of the project.
The planned dissemination activities range from editing dissemination materials for dissemination channels-
newsletters, electronic bulletins, to mailing campaigns, publicity materials, leaflets, and posters. Moreover, articles
have been and will continue to be published in various scientific journals and to presented in different conferences
and congresses. Brochures and other similar materials will be distributed EU-wide, including associated countries.
The consortium will present the project in several national/regional/ international conferences.
This dissemination plan will be linked with a broader dissemination strategy for the programme of which this project
is a part (ICT4WATER: http://ict4water.eu/). It has been planned in conjunction with the project partners and
approved by the project management committee.
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2 Methodology Applied
2.1 Dissemination Strategy
The consortium is aware that proper planning of the dissemination strategy, whose actions cover the time during
and after the project, enables the project team and its collaborators to transmit more efficiently the key messages
of the project to the right audience. Hence the project team has carefully revisited which methodology to apply while
finalising the dissemination plan for UrbanWater. In line with the EC guidelines, the revised dissemination plan of
UrbanWater is constructed in a way which reflects all the key questions of a dissemination strategy:
Why: the purpose of dissemination
What will be disseminated: the message.
To whom: the audience.
How: the method.
When: the timing.
(Source: “Managing projects: Elaborating a Dissemination Plan”; European Commission, 2012)
Accordingly, the course of action for planning the dissemination strategy needs to start by defining why the
consortium intends to disseminate information about the project and looking for the answers to the key messages
that the project team wants to spread. As a first step, the main actors involved in the proper development,
communication and dissemination of the UrbanWater project need to be identified, as well as its beneficiaries,
founders and audience. All these groups configure the project stakeholders.
On this basis, the communication strategy adapts to different information recipients and channels, as each
stakeholder plays a different role within the project. We are able, then, to establish the following basic guidelines
for an effective dissemination plan:
1. Correct message to the appropriate audience: orienting what we want to communicate to a target public.
2. Correct message through the appropriate channel: how we explain the message is as important as the
message itself.
3. Two-way direction communication: it is crucial to analyse both the information we get but also the
information we receive from our target audience. In order to do that, it will be essential to apply some
indicators that shall make us aware of how the message is perceived by the public, in order to boost or adapt
the communication strategy.
But, how can we create a different message appropriate for each stakeholder?
According to previous work1 in the topic, which the consortium investigated, we can apply the following levels of
dissemination in order to build specific messages to a particular audience, selecting the proper channel:
1. Level of awareness: The level of awareness relates to an intuitive level of knowledge, which allows the
communicator to spread a message to a general, unskilled public, with a low level of engagement in the
project; the key goal in this case is to reach the widest audience possible with a simple and clear message.
1 Harmsworth, S., Turpin, S. & the TQEF National Co-ordination Team, Creating an Effective Dissemination Strategy, 2001.
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2. Level of understanding: The target audience involved at this level is a specialized one, who can easily
become direct beneficiaries from the project development and output. This audience may be interested in
specific parts of the project - so they have a medium level of engagement to the project - and that is why the
message has to be formulated to be more detailed and complete.
3. Level of action: The level of action involves those parts of the public who, through the detailed knowledge
of the project, can cause a direct impact on the society. They are people who presents a high level of
engagement in the project, as they can make decisions, like policy makers or companies that would use or
directly integrate the project output, like water utilities.
2.2 Monitoring and Evaluation
Once the dissemination strategy is set according the previously referred guidelines, it is also necessary to establish
a monitoring system - in order to supervise the accomplishment of each of the planned actions– and an evaluation
system; otherwise, the success of the dissemination strategy cannot be guaranteed if the message sender (i.e.,
the project team) does not know the effectiveness of the actions through a planned evaluation methodology.
2.2.1 Monitoring (during a dissemination activity)
The monitoring of the dissemination strategy is undertaken through the implementation of time milestones,
followed by short reviews that, eventually, will form the D8.10 Dissemination Report. By the end of the project
(M30), the final version of D8.10 will contain all the information about the activities performed during the 30
months of the project.
To set the milestones, an accurate planning of all the project communication actions and events have been
undertaken. It is also important to specify clearly which partner or partners are responsible for the
implementation and the quantity of resources needed (in terms of money, but also in terms of materials, people
and time). The resources devoted to the dissemination was declared in the financial statements of the partners
in the first reporting period and will also be detailed in the 2nd financial report at the end of the project.
2.2.2 Evaluation (after a dissemination activity)
The consortium agrees with the statement of the World Bank2 that a good evaluation planning permits:
Monitoring the process and taking corrective actions where possible
Learning from past mistakes and making future interventions more effective
Ensuring accountability of the resources dedicated to the initiative
Assessing the role of the project or process in contributing to a development project or social change
Gaining advocacy with decision makers
Refining and fine-tuning the process of implementation
Ensuring a positive process for the community and the stakeholders
Ensuring good management and accountability to donors and decision makers
Making continued funding possible
2 World Bank: DEVELOPMENTCOMMUNICATION SOURCEBOOK: Broadening the Boundaries of Communication; 2008.
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Improving research and evaluation methods and approaches
There are several methodologies used to assess the success of a communication strategy. In the case of
UrbanWater, it has been decided that some Key Performances Indicators (KPIs) will be used in order to evaluate
each dissemination action.
Here we present some examples of KPIs used to evaluate the dissemination of research projects:
Number of scientific papers submitted in specialized journals and magazines.
Success Ratio of Papers Publication (SRPP):
Number of mentions the project or its authors receive in other research papers from the same field
Number of posters presented in relevant scientific congresses.
Number of occasions the project partners attend relevant trades, fairs, exhibitions.
The previous indicators are being used in the case of UrbanWater; however, there is the need to go beyond the
classical approaches, as the project intends to reach a dissemination level outside the research and
scientific community, using new technologies and innovative channels as much as possible. These new channels
will guarantee the permanent contact between the project and its stakeholders, current end-users and potential
end-users. In section 3 the dissemination strategy for UrbanWater is described, and several concrete actions are
analysed following the methodology presented in section 2 of the document.
2.3 Intellectual Property
All the objectives in terms of communication and dissemination mentioned above, together with all the activities
that will lead to them, shall be ruled by Article II.30.3 of the EC-GA and according the Property Rules for FP7
projects3. Prior notice of any publication shall be given to the other Parties concerned at least 45 days before the
publication.
In order to respect the confidentiality of each partner’s background, the resulting foreground and the procedures of
the project itself, partners must always request approval from the other members before publishing. It is in
accordance with the rules of GA and CA that we assure once again, that confidential details will not be revealed to
any individual or organisation outside the Consortium. Finally, all public activities include a special
acknowledgement about this project’s funding by the EC. In all dissemination actions it is and will be mentioned
that the project is supported by the European Commission through the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and
the EU logo is also put in all publications such as leaflets, videos and brochures, articles and also on our website.
The Consortium partners have already decided, in the course of the project’s exploitation and IPR strategy
development, to keep the dissemination levels foreseen in the DoW for the different deliverables, as well as to
maintain the provisions of the Part C of the Grant Agreement.
3 European Commission, Guide to Intellectual Property Rules for FP7 projects, Version 3.
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3 UrbanWater Dissemination Plan
3.1 Project context
While creating the project dissemination plan the partners have investigated which dissemination strategy fits each
specific sector addressed by the project best. For that purpose, it is of utmost importance to set the project in the
appropriate context.
According to the report “Global Europe 2050” (EC, 2012), “by 2025 two-thirds of the world’s population are expected
to be living in water-stressed regions”. Water stress means that the water demand overcomes the water supply
during a certain period of time, due to various reasons: increase of consumption (led by population increase or by
GDP raise), lack of adequate infrastructures, poor quality of water supplied, strongly seasonal rainfall and river
flows, among others. Moreover, the climate change phenomenon will accentuate the problem of water stress,
causing extreme events, such as floods and droughts.
This rising pressure on water resources will occur mainly in developing countries, which currently have less facilities
to supply fresh water to their citizens. Additionally, they are also experiencing a demographic boom and, in cases
like India or China, are seeing their middle class boosted. Consequently, the number of people living in river basins
under severe water stress is projected to more than double between 2000 -2050, reaching 3.9 billion people.
As part of a key cluster of European projects whose goal is to face the above mentioned problems from different
angles, the UrbanWater Project (http://UrbanWater-ict.eu/) aims to give a response to the future water sector
challenges by improving the efficiency of water management, which is recognized as essential for overcoming the
growing exposure of European and other countries to increasing populations and climate change.
The spirit of UrbanWater and the rest of the cluster projects is also in line with the goals of the current EU Water
Framework Directive. The first solid step to a single European water management policy; its intention is to align
the interest of all the parties participating in the water sector - from consumers to water utilities, including policy
makers and consultancy institutions, among others – in order to achieve more rapidly and efficiently the global
objective of achieving cleaner water for the European citizens.
UrbanWater could be an important piece of this new policy, as it aims to provide an ICT system that enables better
end-to-end water management. The system will benefit consumers, water utilities, public authorities, the
environment and the general public in terms of:
• Providing consumers with comprehensive tools enabling them to use water more efficiently, thereby better
adapting overall consumption to the supply possibilities.
• Helping water utilities meet demand at the right price, according to its pattern of consumption.
• Fostering new partnerships between stakeholders so as to ensure the successful development of the system
and the evolution of the European Water Sector as a global leader
The end-to-end principle is an important specific asset that fits perfectly with the EU Directive’s goal of getting
the citizens involved more closely with the water cycle issues and increase societal awareness of future challenges
in the water sector. Furthermore, the end-to-end view provides the key information a company needs to make better
decisions that help in lowering costs and risks while increasing or recapturing revenue and enhancing customer
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satisfaction. Taking into consideration that the UrbanWater consortium includes ICT companies, research
organizations, consulting firms and water utilities, there are wide possibilities to promote the outcomes of the project
openly and interchangeably with energy and water management schemes. Thus, it will positively impact not only
water consumption, but the overall usage of natural resources throughout Europe.
3.2 Dissemination Strategy
Following the methodology chosen by the consortium and described in detail above in section 2, the UrbanWater
project dissemination plan base is set as follows:
a) Why: the purpose of dissemination
The nature of the collaborative Seventh Framework Programme projects and the European-funded research as
a whole is to go beyond the barriers of the project itself, having a certain impact on the society. So, at its core,
the purpose of the UrbanWater project dissemination, on the awareness level, is to raise awareness of the
interested EU organizations and citizens about basic issues relating to the project: the basic context, the main
goals of UrbanWater, the main solution it proposes and the impacts it potentially has on society and on the
environment. At the second level, the dissemination is considered as a key factor in order to inform the scientific
community about the technological advances that the UrbanWater aims to promote.
Finally, the purpose of the dissemination is oriented to the uses of the UrbanWater technology, that is, to ensure
that the end-users and the rest of the stakeholders acquire the adequate knowledge in order to foster the use of
the UrbanWater platform for its own benefit
• Explaining what UrbanWater is, its basic framework as a European Union funding project,
its main goals and its main outputs.
•Explaining how the project outputs can impact the society in day-to-day life.
Level of Awareness
•Explaining UrbanWater as a modular IT system, detailing its specifications at a medium or high
technical level.
Level of
Understanding
•Explaining UrbanWater as a modular IT system, concentrating the message on how, when and
why UrbanWater should be used.
• Underline the specific assets of UrbanWatertechnology and why it is innovative.
Level of Action
Figure 1: Building different messages through different levels of knowledge
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b) What will be disseminated: the message
As concluded in section 2, the message is determined by the audience to whom we address it. One way to
create specific messages could be taking into account the level of background knowledge that the recipients
need to understand, and also the knowledge they need in order to use the UrbanWater technology. Figure 1
explains the concrete actions for the three identified levels of action.
c) To whom: the audience
The audience of the UrbanWater dissemination strategy is basically formed by all the project stakeholders, as
shown in Figure 2.
In D1.2 User Requirements Survey - a public deliverable that can be found in the project website: http://UrbanWater-
ict.eu/library - four main user groups were targeted as potential end-users of the IUWSM platform: consumers,
water utilities, public authorities and software providers (ICT companies). This is, in fact, a good specific asset of
the UrbanWater to disseminate: its capability to offer different services to different targets through a unique
product. In “D1.3 -Business Opportunities”, these four groups are also analyzed in order to find how the
UrbanWater platform can benefit each of them:
Water utilities: They represent a key user but also the main customer of the IUWSM. They will be provided
by a unique rule-based decision support system that will allow them to undertake water availability
estimations, water demand predictions, leakage detection, meter data readings and analysis,
communication with the customers, adaptive pricing for full-cost recovery in water distribution (which,
according to the survey presented in D1.2, represents around a 40% of water supply costs) and to test
different options related to real-time charging and billing. On the other hand, UrbanWater follows open
standards, which makes the platform accessible and flexible. However, as most water utilities are worried
about security, to communicate that UrbanWater is also a secure and trustable platform is an important
message to take into account.
Water consumers: They will benefit from UrbanWater tool through a web tool that provides information on
actual consumption, real-time water charging and pricing, cost simulation with different rate options, game
results and information on detailed consumption4, and also enables feedback from customers. They will
also have access to two games that use real consumption data, by which the consumers will be able to:
a) Experience household water consumption and through the game learn how to lower the amount
of water spent, and
b) Run a water utility, find water resources, drill, build pumping stations, and lay down pipelines to
transport water to the consumers in the city.
IUWSM is focused mainly on domestic consumers, but there is a great scope to adapt new services to
commercial and industrial customers, by providing them with dynamic rates which smooth the demand
profiles.
4 This feature is only provided a small group of customers that are equipped with high resolution meters.
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Public authorities: Water authorities may also be users in particular cases, probably in fully public
environments, where a public authority, such a municipality, manages the upstream part of the system. We
could also envision a situation where a regulator would be granted access to some functionalities of the
IUWSM which provides them with access to useful real-time consumer data and water supply cost data.
Public authorities also seek to increase environmental awareness and to force a certain behavioural change
over the consumer habits, in order to save water resources; in these cases. UrbanWater can be a good
option because of its customer empowerment tools and educational gaming.
ICT companies: D1.2 survey concluded that most of the water sector is a market quite unexplored by
software companies, there remain few start-ups or younger companies. UrbanWater platform characteristics
- through its open interfaces, open policies and by providing the same rich datasets to any smart system
that needs access – can become a good opportunity for small ICT companies to innovate and support the
water industry. Moreover, an important specific message to disseminate is that UrbanWater is an open, end-
to-end platform that can be understood as a set of different tools working under open informatics standards,
easily accessible for ICT professionals that want to boost them.
The stakeholders shown in Figure 2 also cover the following players:
- UrbanWater Consortium: This group of stakeholders includes the partners of the project coordinated
by ASC. The Consortium consists of ICT companies, research organizations, water utilities and
authorities with complimentary capacities and all the know-how required to complete the tasks described
for WP8 (Project Coordination), as set in the DoW. The Consortium is the responsible for the
dissemination of the project developments, achievements and outputs.
SCIENTIFIC & ACADEMIC
INSTITUTIONS
PUBLIC AUTHORITIES
SUPRANATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
WATER UTILITIES AND
WATER CONSUMERS
GENERAL PUBLIC – EU CITIZENS
ICT COMPANIES
Figure 2: UrbanWater project stakeholders
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- ICT for Water Resources Management Cluster: This group relates to all the projects included in
ICT4Water cluster. Informing them about the developments and the public results of the project is key in
order to fulfil the cluster objective, that is, to increase interoperability between water information systems
at EU and national levels and efficiency of water resources management.
- European Commission: As the funding body of the project, the EC shall have direct knowledge of the
project status and achievements. In fact, the results of the project and its dissemination will be always
under the EC framework, as stated in subsection 2.3. This level also includes European funded
institutions such as REA.
- Scientific Community and Academic Institutions: This group includes researchers, scientists,
engineers, experts and specialists, professors, lecturers and PhD students interested in the
technological issues related to ICT solutions as well as in water management.
- Supranational Organizations: This group refers to those organizations outside of the EU that could be
interested in the project goals but that cannot apply policies directly, because they are not a
governmental organization. For instance: OECD, ASEAN, UN, IWA and IWMI, among others.
- General Public: This group includes the whole society, from the European citizens to other citizens
abroad who may have some interest in knowing about the UrbanWater platform or using it.
d) How: the method
The method refers to the channel and the instrument used to make the communication effective. The audience
is also classified according to the levels of knowledge:
Table 1: Channels used to disseminate the UrbanWater project
e) When: the timing
The timing spreads throughout the 30 months of the project duration, although the project dissemination should
go beyond the technical tasks deadline in order to disseminate the project results to the different stakeholders.
The Consortium has also completed a good number of dissemination activities during M1 – M18 upon the newly
defined methodology detailed above we have carefully set out the future action. Especially during M20-M30,
the dissemination activities will become more frequent as more project results will be available. During the pilot
developments, it will be of utmost importance to show the stakeholders the real outputs that the
UrbanWater platform can provide.
MEANS
Level of awareness Project website, project brochures, posters, oral presentations, newsletters, press releases,
social networks.
Level of
understanding
Technical meetings, workshops, scientific papers, project public deliverables, poster
presentations.
Level of action White papers, tool user manual, specific trainings, face to face interviews
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Once the basic questions (why, what, to whom, how and when) are answered, the Consortium shall be able to build
a dissemination strategy which involves all the key elements mentioned in the methodology. The following table
reviews schematically the mentioned strategy:
Table 2: Dissemination Strategy scheme for the UrbanWater project
LEVEL OF
AWARENESS
LEVEL OF
UNDERSTANDING
LEVEL OF
ACTION
TYPE OF
MESSAGE
In a context of quality fresh water
scarcity, it is of utmost importance
to manage the water resources as
efficiently as possible.
The URBANWATER project,
funded by the EC, developed a
software platform that will permit
water utilities to know, among
others things, the demand for
fresh water of a certain group of
households. This will permit to
better plan the supply of water in
advance and, consequently, to
reduce energy costs.
The URBANWATER also
presents benefits for the water
consumer. Through the
URBANWATER Customer On-
line Portal (COP), it will be
possible to know how much
water is consumed in a
household, with the objective of
modifying the pattern of
consumption in order to save
fresh water.
The URBANWATER project is
developing an innovative end-
to-end, ICT based platform for
the efficient, integrated
management of water
resources.
The URBANWATER system
will incorporate: advanced
metering solutions, real-time
communication of
supply&demand data, new
data management
technologies with real-time
predictive capability,
supply&demand forecasting,
demand pattern interpretation,
decision support systems,
adaptive pricing and user
empowerment solutions.
Messages focused on the
functionalities of the platform
and the modules:
Automated Billing System with
standards-based interfaces for
charging and billing in near
real-time
Enhanced tariff and product
configuration tools to, e.g.,
incentivize reduction of water
consumption- functionality to
automatically send
out consumption- and cost-
related notifications to end
customers in near real-time
Possibility of sharing data with
a Multi-meter gateway.
DISSEMINATION
GOALS
To raise the awareness of the
general public about the present
and future challenges that the
fresh water distribution presents
around the world and, in
particular, in Europe.
To raise the awareness about the
importance of URBANWATER
for an effective management and
supply of water resources as well
as consumer benefits.
To show how effective European
collaboration is when developing
innovative projects.
To attract the interest of the
research community and pave
the ground for future research;
To promote the standards and
practices used in the project
and to give advice and
recommendations about how
they are applied in
URBANWATER.
To efficiently promote the
benefits of URBANWATER
foreground to the industry and
end-users, so as to strengthen
its commercial potential and
widen business opportunities
for the Consortium members.
To stimulate the creation of
new partnerships and
synergies between European
water suppliers, hardware
metering providers and the
ICT industry.
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To inform about existing funding
programs of the European
Commission related to
innovation.
LANGUAGE
Neutral and simple. Meticulous, specific, precise. Specific but not scientific-
oriented. Synthetic and
practical.
AUDIENCE/
BENEFICIARIES
General public: EU citizens, basic
education institutions (schools,
high schools).
Scientific community, academic
institutions, research centres, IT
companies, eco-innovation
companies, water utilities and
water sector professionals.
End-users, policy makers
(European Commission,
member states, other
governments), IT companies
ACTIONS
Project website, project
brochures, posters, oral
presentations, newsletters, press
releases, social networks,
downloads of game.
Technical meetings, workshops,
scientific papers, project public
deliverables, project information
posted on ECOWeb.
White papers, tool user manual,
best practices in the use of
water, direct messaging to
utilities’ customers.
KPIs
Number of website visits
Number of new visits versus
returning visitors
Number of RT, FAVs and
mentions in Twitter
Number of articles published in
general mass media
Number of event participants
….
Number of scientific papers
submitted in specialized
journals and magazines.
Number of scientific papers
published in specialized
journals and magazines.
Success Ratio of Papers
Publication (SRPP)
Number of citations of the
project or URBANWATER
articles in other research
papers from the same field.
Number of posters presented
at relevant scientific
congresses.
Number of “action” events
attended
Number of end-user’s
established contacts
Number of UrbanWater
licenses finally sold
…
Finally, in pursuance to assure that the correct message goes to the appropriate target audience, all the
project partners use the specific assets and advantages they have as companies or technologic centres. These
particular strong points for each partner are stressed below:
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Table 3: Strong points and target audiences of the UrbanWater partners
URBANWATER
PARTNER STRONG POINTS TARGET AUDIENCE
ASC
Experience in managing FP7 projects
Experience in assisting European SMEs in the
fields of innovation and technological solutions
Wide range of ICT SMEs database
General public (as project
Coordinator)
Scientific and research community
(as a technological centre)
ICT companies (as a technological
centre)
SAGE
Worldwide dimension
European leader of Broadband Access
ICT companies related with the
development of smart technologies
and in-situ sensor solutions
Water utilities
HYDS Expertise in hydrometeorology measurement and
modelling solutions
Exclusive relationship with leading universities
Water utilities
Universities, technological centres
UNIZG-FER
Research background in system identification and
control via optimization technics
Research background in adaptive pricing
Experience in FP7 projects
Experience in applying water innovation systems in
the city of Zagreb
General public
Water consumers
Municipalities, public authorities
Scientific community
Universities and research centres
RED
Expertise in smart utility grid management
solutions
Significant portfolio of ICT companies and water
utilities
Water utilities
Software providers
ICT companies
Public authorities
ORGA
Huge expertise in the telecommunications market
International focus
Wide range of target customers and partners
Expertise in real-time and billing systems
Water utilities
ICT companies
Public authorities
Scientific community
SGI Research-based company
Expertise in games, simulations and virtual worlds
development
General public
Water consumers
Water utilities
AQUA
Water consultancy with a strong presence in
Portugal and Africa
Nearly 15 years of experience
Wide vision of the integrated water cycle
Expertise in urban water system’s analysis and
design
General public
Water consumers
Public authorities
Water utilities
TAVE
Water utility With Strong presence in the south of
Portugal
Wide vision of the integrated water cycle
General public
Water consumers
Public authorities
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3.3 Dissemination and Exploitation
The Exploitation Manager (AQUA) has been in charge of the exploitation related activities, including project
foreground, exploitation plan and IPR issues during the 1st period. The exploitation strategy has been planned in
accordance with the interests of the project participants, including background management, licenses, protection
of confidential information and enforcement of copyright that started to be approached from the very beginning of
the project.
The IPR Management and Exploitation planning activities followed two closely interrelated workflows: one more
directed to the market proposition of the UrbanWater product, which builds strongly on the combination of different
analysis performed in specific project tasks. The second workflow relates both to the internal consortium decision
making regarding the IP sharing and the actions to protect the generated IPR. The outcome of this later workflow
shall frame the latest versions of business planning.
Figure 3: IPR Management and Exploitation
The first workflow has been progressing with several tasks contributing with crucial information to the development
of the business planning. The European Water Market Analysis (D1.1) provides a first assessment base of the
relevant market for the UrbanWater product, with market sizing and key player’s identification. This analysis shall
be extended to other markets, both in geographical terms and in industry terms. For the later purpose, the New
Business Opportunities in the Water sector and Others (D1.3) shall prove a prime foundation. This document
already includes an Intermediate Action Plan.
The IPR planning of the project has developed, at the present stage, mostly in building a shared understanding
among the partners of how the project outcomes shall be leveraged. This workflow primarily encompassed the
collection of the partner’s position on several key topics, mostly related to IPR common foreground recognition and
apportionment, the possibilities for the IP protection and the implications for the dissemination planning and
associated activities.
•Preliminary Business PlanMarket analysis (D1.1)
Business opportunities (D1.3)
Cost-benefit analysis (D1.5)
• IPR and Exploitation Agreement
(in discussion)
IPR apportionement
IP protection
Dissemination planning
AQUALIA
3rd water utility in the world
Strong presence in Spain, North Africa and
Mexico, among others
Wide vision of the integrated water cycle
General public
Water consumers
Public authorities
IPR
Management
and
Exploitation
Plan
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Regarding the IP protection dispositions, according to the proposed terms of the agreement, the Consortium shall
be responsible for the Common Foreground. The Common Foreground shall mostly comprise open-source
software code. Each partner shall seek, therefore, the protection of its own foreground.
Hence, the exploitation strategy is being planned in accordance with the interests of the project participants,
including background management, licenses, protection of confidential information and enforcement of copyright
that started to be approached from the very beginning of the project. The project participants agree on identifying
trade secrets, protecting source code from disclosure and carry out patent searches considering also a future
exploitation of foreground.
A trade secret is a formula, practice, process, design, instrument, pattern, or compilation of information which is not
generally known or reasonably ascertainable, by which a business can obtain an economic advantage over
competitors or customers. There is no legal requirement to file a patent, it could be decided to keep an invention
secret but if it enters the public domain then one may lose his rights to it. The Consortium shall therefore keep
confidential any copies of the generated software code, whether in electronic or printed form. Moreover, the source
code also enjoys copyright protection as original work under the Directive 2009/24/EC on the legal protection of
computer programs and national legislation.
The present Dissemination Plan holds strongly in account with the limitations imposed by the IPR strategy and
Exploitation Planning, strictly respecting the dissemination levels currently defined and setting the targeted
dissemination actions that will trigger the awareness of the project results and pave the way for exploitation phase.
All the deliverables shall maintain the Dissemination levels foreseen in the DoW, except D1.3 that will be classified
as Private (PP- restricted to other project participants), instead of Public.
The intermediate exploitation planning included in D1.3 foresees the preliminary contact with water utilities, not only
to disseminate the project results, but also to foster early interest in the solutions that are envisaged to bring to
commercial phase. Particularly relevant is the Consortium’s objective of carrying additional trials that shall test the
UrbanWater solution in more diverse environments, as well as solve many problems of early technological
development that inevitably will emerge. Therefore, the dissemination actions envisaged at the “level of
understanding” shall integrate the referred purpose.
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4 Specific Dissemination Actions
The dissemination actions are organized into those which have been undertaken up until the time this updated
report was written (from M1 to M18) and those planned for the following months (M19 – M30). That way, we do not
only prepare the future final report of all the dissemination activities to be submitted at the end of the project, but
we also learn important lesson on how to focus and adapt the dissemination strategy for the months to come. To
undertake this evaluation, some KPIs will be used in each level of knowledge activities.
The undertaken activities have been summarized in Appendix 1, whereas the planned activities are detailed in
Appendix 2.
4.1 M1-M18 Actions
The main dissemination activities undertaken during the first stage of the project can be classified according to their
dissemination goals and the content of the message.
4.1.1 Level of Awareness
The dissemination goals of this type of activities were:
Introducing the project to all stakeholders.
Getting visibility and disseminate the project to the widest audience possible.
Raising the awareness of the general public about the present and future challenges that the fresh water
distribution presents around the world and, in particular, in Europe.
Raising the awareness about the importance of UrbanWater for an effective management and supply of
water resources as well as consumer benefits.
Showing how effective European collaboration is when developing innovative projects.
Informing about existing funding programs of the European Commission related to innovation.
Providing the Consortium with dissemination materials.
Apart from the activities detailed in Appendix 1, we describe below those activities that will have a special
importance as they cover the whole project duration. These actions – and specially the website – are basic
pillars of the dissemination strategy, as they continuously gather information from the project and show it to a
wide range of public targets.
4.1.1.1 The Website
4.1.1.1.1 Description:
A website specifically built for UrbanWater (http://UrbanWater-ict.eu/) has been developed during the first
three months of the Project (January 2013). European Commission was notified of this in the deliverable
D8.6 Project Webpage. The website is a valuable tool for communication among partners and helps
disseminate project results beyond the Consortium reaching a wider audience.
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In order to ensure efficient communication between members and non-members of the UrbanWater project,
the website is public and accessible to everyone. At the same time, a different web based tool has been
created during the project’s lifetime with the objective of being used only for private communications and
storage of files (BaseCamp). On the public site, all the general and non-confidential information is
presented, including the project objectives, the Consortium beneficiaries and public deliverables.
There is also a common strategy in the total duration of the Project: using the website as the main
source of dissemination. This means that whenever any partner in the Consortium talks about UrbanWater
or introduces UrbanWater to any third person, a referral to the website is included. The website also includes
direct access to the social media networks of the project (LinkedIn and Twitter).
The project partners have committed to using the logo of UrbanWater and adding the link in all the possible
professional communications, their newsletters, email communications, etc. including their own websites. In
this way, the Consortium ensures that all the information is distributed from one single source (not
revealing any confidential data) and generates better visibility of the website (increasing traffic and
leads).
The partners have already started to publish some information regarding their participation in the
UrbanWater project and its objectives in their websites, cooperating with the dissemination actions, focused
in this case on their customers and web visitors (which may be different according to their economic activity
or sector).
For the duration of the Project the website will be updated by ASC, with all the latest contributions from the
partners (publications, meetings, documents, etc.). This ensures that the website visitors are provided with
the latest non-disclosure information approved by the Consortium.
All partners have committed to report to the Coordinator about the actions performed: written articles,
exchanged links with other sites, fairs or congresses where UrbanWater was mentioned, meetings, etc. In
that sense, ASC adapts the received reports in order to collect and prepare them for the website, making
them public to other partners and the external public. Each company shall send a short description of the
event and sectors addressing UrbanWater’s role in it, pictures (if available) and information about the venue
and the location.
4.1.1.1.2 Evaluation
According to the project reviewers’ requirements, the free Google Analytics snippet was added to the
website period with the aim of having a higher engagement with the target audience. The tool automatically
tracks all visitors and organizes the data in straightforward reports that harness the collected data in a way
that improves the website’s performance and the dissemination of the project activities. All the information
is securely stored and managed by the coordinator, and will be updated in the final Dissemination Report
to see the progress in these 30 months. Figure 3 shows the analysis of visitors of the project website:
Between January 2013 and July 2014 the statistics of website visitors is the following:
4,358 visits in total.
An average of 230 visits per month.
11,977 page views.
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Bounce rate (percentage of single-page visits) of 54.20%.
3 pages view per visit.
The maximum visits per day was achieved on 11th March 2013, coinciding with online the
publication of the “Survey of needs and requirements of all professionals associated with the water
sector”
39.10% of the audience were navigating to the UrbanWater webpage through Google or other
searching engines.
The top 5 nationalities: 20% Spain, 10.26% UK, 8.4% Philippines, 7.11% Croatia and 6.36%
Germany.
Figure 4: View of the project website views between January 2013 and July 2014
Table 4. KPIs addressed to evaluate the website impact
KPI
Success
milestone
(M30)
Current
status Evaluation
Number of visits per
month
300 Average of
230
Correct level of visits, according to the current
updating rhythm. Maintain a minimum of 200
visits per month and try to achieve 300 per
month.
Number of new
visitors
5.000 2.867 Correct but insufficient level. To increase new
visitors by disseminating the website taking
opportunity of the meetings, congresses,
workshops and conferences to attend during the
following months.
Number of returning
visitors
2.500 1.491 Correct level but improvement is needed. To
increase returning visitors by updating more often
and offering interesting posts, related with
present news, challenging issues of the ICT and
water sector, curiosities and content not only
focused on the project development but on its
context.
% of visits coming
from Social Networks
10% 0,5% Inexistent link between Social Networks and the
website. Enhance this share by boosting the
project social networks existent.
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4.1.1.2 Launch of Dissemination Materials
4.1.1.2.1 Description
The following basic marketing materials have been created during the first months of the project:
A generic brochure
A commercial banner
A set of presentation slides
A generic press release
(Visual examples of the different dissemination materials are attached in the Appendix).
After the first project review, some of these materials were improved with the collaboration of all the project
partners. The new versions reflect the aim and the scope of the project, explaining the needs and the chosen
approach to address the actual challenges.
The documents in English are at the disposal of all the Consortium partners and, if required by the targeted
dissemination action, will be translated into different EU languages.
Moreover, a general project presentation has been prepared to be used for general dissemination events
of the project. This presentation has been created following the inputs of all the members involved. The
standardized PowerPoint presentation will be very useful in fairs, presenting it in a printed version, or
showing it by using a tablet PC, for example, when meeting individuals or companies interested in the
solution.
Finally, a generic project press release has been undertaken in order to cover the target media with some
basic information of the project and its goals.
4.1.1.2.2 Evaluation
The partners decided to use the below KPIs to evaluate the success of their dissemination actions:
Table 5: KPIs addressed to evaluate the dissemination materials impact
KPI Success milestone
(M30)
Current
status Evaluation
Number of brochures distributed until
the end of the project
500 0 Some partners have printed and
distributed its own brochures, but no
official, common project brochures has
been printed yet. The Consortium
Number of commercial banners used
until the end of the project
10 0 The banners should be used to cover
oral and congress presentations, as
well as congress stands.
Number of press releases executed
until the end of the project
10 3 The number will increase taking into
account the 3 pilot presentations.
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4.1.1.3 ICT4Water Cluster Video (D8.8 UrbanWater Video – M15)
As suggested by ASC during the ICT for water Annual cluster meeting held on 04/02/2014, the UrbanWater
members will work together with other project consortiums on the creation of a video promoting the new
solution, explaining the concept, its benefits and addressing a general audience. As mentioned in the
Description of Work, this deliverable will basically be a “promotional video” of the solution.
Once published, the video will be posted on YouTube, embedded into the project’s website, posted to the
social networks and made available to all members for distribution. The participant projects are the following:
Table 6: FP7 projects participants of the ICT4WATER cluster
FP7 Project Coordinator Main goal Website
DAIAD The Institute for
Management of
Information Systems
(GR)
To research and develop innovative low cost, inclusive
technologies for real-time, high granularity water
monitoring and knowledge extraction to incur behavioral
changes, water demand strategies and water pricing.
http://www.daiad.eu/
EFFINET Aqualogy Aqua
Ambiente Servicios
Integrales (ES)
To provide an integrated software platform to address
three main management problems in urban water system:
optimal operational control, real-time monitoring and
demand forecasting.
http://effinet.eu/
ICEWATER Siemens (DE) To develop infrastructure for smart metering and real-time
monitoring of water infrastructures, with the aim to lower
consumption during peak periods, to detect and localize
leakages in real-time and to optimize the water-energy
nexus.
http://www.icewater-
project.eu
ISS-EWATUS University of Silesia
(US)
To increase the awareness of water consumption via
social media platform (smartphones, tablets) to reduce
water consumption and will build a decision support
system to reduce leaks. Coupling with adaptive pricing
policy and reduction of peaks.
http://issewatus.eu
iWIDGET University of Exeter
(UK)
To make households better aware of their water
consumption patterns and help utilities and ICT industry
with the sharing of such information to improve their
demand forecasting capacities, while also contributing to
a sustainable partnership of ICT and water domain
stakeholders.
http://www.i-widget.eu
SMARTH2O The University of
Applied Sciences
and Arts of Southern
Switzerland (SUPSI)
To provide an ICT enabled platform to design, develop and
implement better water demand management in collecting
user behavioral data due to smart meters and an online
social participation application (social game). Awareness
campaigns and price signals are delivered through the
same app to inform the users on how to save water and
money.
http://www.smarth2o-
fp7.eu
WATERNOMICS National University
of Ireland Galway
(IR)
To develop the Waternomics Platform that integrates
water usage related information from meters, sensors,
data analysis (leak and fault detection), and hydro-
meteorological information to offer water information
platform and services to end-users.
http://waternomics.eu
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WatERP Barcelona Digital
Technology Centre
(ES)
To develop a web-based open management platform to
enable water supply distribution chains to be managed in
a coordinated and customized way, based on open
interfaces and standards. The aim is to improve
coordination among water management actors and to
foster behavioral change to reduce water and energy
consumption.
http://www.waterp-
fp7.eu/
WISDOM Centre Scientifique
et Technique du
Batiment (FR)
To increase user awareness, significant reduction of water
consumption, peak-period reduction of water and energy
distribution loads, improved resource efficiency and
business operations of water utilities due to ICT, and
contribute to the improvement of the environmental
performance of buildings.
http://www.wisdom-
project.eu/
The video will be a powerful way to explain the main benefits of UrbanWater, although creating a video and
uploading it on YouTube can support other goals already mentioned with actions like: generating more traffic
to the website, being viral when presenting the project to external organizations, contributing to the SEO
and web awareness (YouTube is a powerful platform), having more followers, fans or subscribers, or being
easily recognized (only a short HTML code is required to have the video posted in external websites) in a
well-known Water or ICT sector forum or site as an example of innovation.
Table 7: KPI addressed to evaluate the cluster video impact
KPI Success milestone
(M30) Current status Evaluation
Number of YouTube
visitors until the end of
the project
1,000 The video is
under
construction
The success milestone has been set
according to the current views of the
current views of similar videos, such as
FP7 TAXISAT, FP7 Help4mood and
FP7 VERITAS. The fact that the video
will be shared by different projects
multiplies the potential audience.
The relationship between UrbanWater and the rest of the cluster projects does not end with this
dissemination of the video. The Barcelona area projects (EFFINET, Water and UrbanWater) meet
regularly once a term, to share their common knowledge about ICT for water and the last results from each
of the projects, as well as to plan common dissemination and communication actions.
4.1.1.4 The database
4.1.1.4.1 Description
A target audience database was created by the coordinator of the Consortium with all the email addresses,
names and surnames of those who are freely subscribing to the news alert of the UrbanWater website
(subscriptions require the email verification to prove the identity of the visitor). This database is used as a
mailing list for all the future updates of the project, and will be managed confidentially. The first newsletters
will be sent after the project suspension period and will be issued regularly, once a month,
communicating all the news and updates of the website to the receivers. The final dissemination report will
include information about the messages sent via email to the subscribers and their impact.
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4.1.1.4.2 Evaluation
Table 8: KPI addressed to evaluate the database impact
KPI
Success
milestone
(M30)
Current
status Evaluation
# of users subscribed 150 56 Increase the number by generating a newsletter per
month in the following months.
# of newsletters sent 600 0 Increase the number by generating a newsletter per
month in the following months. 10 months pending x 56
users subscribed (at least) = 560 newsletters sent.
4.1.1.5 LinkedIn profile
4.1.1.5.1 Description
LinkedIn is a basic social network oriented to create synergies between professionals, organizations,
companies and projects. If used properly, it can become an informal but inspiring point for discussion and
exchanging ideas between the project stakeholders.
The target audience expected to visit the current LinkedIn UrbanWater page (http://goo.gl/ZdPB8o) are
professionals of the water sector, water utilities, water consumers, ICT professionals and users and
European project managers. Although the content of the discussions could be specialized sometimes (more
adaptive to the Level of Understanding), we consider LinkedIn as a non-specific and non-restricted
dissemination tool - consequently, more suitable to the Level of awareness dissemination goals.
4.1.1.5.2 Evaluation
Table 9: KPIs addressed to evaluate the project's LinkedIn profile impact
KPI
Success
milestone
(M30)
Current
status Evaluation
Number of members
joined
50 25 Medium-low level of membership. Increase the activity of
this social network by looking for synergies with similar
projects and raising interesting points of discussion.
Number of discussions
raised
12 2 Low level of participation. To relate project developments
with issues that could interest water and ICT professionals.
To raise almost 1 discussion per month.
4.1.2 Level of understanding
The dissemination goals of this type of activities are:
To attract the interest of the research community and pave the way for future research;
To promote the standards and practices used in the project and to give advice/recommendations about
how they are applied in UrbanWater.
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4.1.2.1 Description
The understanding actions have been focused on the attendance of different congresses and specialized
events related to the water sector and the ICT technologies. The Consortium partners have actively
participated in workshops and seminars and, in some cases, scientific papers have been submitted. Those
actions have contributed to present the project developments and the specificities of the IUWSM to a skilled
public, motivated to learn and use the project assets.
All the level of understanding activities undertaken are detailed and classified in Appendix 1.
4.1.2.2 Evaluation
Table 10: KPIs addressed to evaluate the level of understanding activities impact
KPI Success milestone
(M30)
Current
status Evaluation
Number of scientific
papers submitted
10 5 Almost 3 more scientific papers are to be
presented during the following months in
different international, water-related events,
so the Consortium expects to reach at least
10 papers submitted and approved until the
end of the project, according to the current
success ratio.
Number of scientific
papers approved
10 5
Success Ratio of
Papers Publication
(SRPP):
100% 100%
4.1.3 Level of action
The dissemination goals of these types of activities are:
To efficiently promote the benefits of the UrbanWater foreground to the industry and end-users, so as to
strengthen its commercial potential and widen business opportunities for the Consortium members.
To stimulate the creation of new partnerships and synergies between European and foreign water
suppliers, hardware metering providers and the ICT industry.
To serve as a barometer for the state of the market, analysing the feasibility of implementing and
developing the IUWSM.
4.1.3.1 Description
These activities are focused on analysing the future UrbanWater market (or markets) and the needs of the
end-users. They are actions really connected with the business strategy, introduced in D1.3 Business
Opportunities, so they need to be targeted and specific to be efficient. In the case of the IUWSM, the four
end-users described in section 3.2. are the main public for this dissemination, especially water utilities. As
we want to draw the attention of these four stakeholders to the characteristics and benefits of the
UrbanWater platform, it is important to be conscious of each user’s requirements and demands. Table 9
offers a synthetic view of the necessities of the four target users and how they are covered by the
UrbanWater platform.
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The frameworks to develop these activities are mainly meetings, workshops and specific events strongly
linked with the water market sector, in which the water utilities are the main actors. The channels of
dissemination in these cases are pretty informal: oral presentations, open discussions and dialogues usually
become the better ways to obtain direct and honest feedback from the potential end-users. The feedback is
usually followed by phone calls or e-mails.
During the first stage of the project the Consortium has had the opportunity to get in contact with a
considerable number of water utility representatives and other water sector professionals from Europe and
abroad. That has provided us with an appreciable knowledge of the supply side of the water market.
Moreover, the events performed and participated in have permitted the Consortium to receive valuable
feedback from the IUWSM potential users, which has given us the opportunity to adapt the platform
characteristics to their needs.
All the level of action activities undertaken are detailed and classified in Appendix 1.
Table 11: Target users’ needs covered by the IUWSM
Which are they needs
and what does they value?
What does
UrbanWater provide?
WATER
UTILITES
Better understanding of water supply and
water demand
Better knowledge of water cycle cost
structure
Better control of leakages
Better understanding of weather influence on
water demand and supply
Decision Support Tools to manage efficiently
the water cycle
Reducing costs of the water network
operations
Implementing automated water meter
measurement
Adaptive prices schemes in order to reduce
costs (dynamic tariffs)
Increase monitoring and safety control of
water networks from water supply to
distribution
Collecting, pooling and sharing data without the
need of data duplication (simplification of data
transfers within each of the phases of the urban
water cycle)
Encouraging further metering and more accurate
data collection and sharing, as well as fostering
the use of smart meters.
Complete measuring of water supplies
Predicting water shortages sufficiently in
advance to enable drought restrictions to have
an impact on water supplies
Water availability prediction using weather data
feeds combined with distribution network data
Fostering the use of smart meters
Its open structure (Open Data model) makes it
the ideal platform for many water shortage
measurement, modelling, reporting and service
systems to be developed and supplied.
Incorporate different databases and datasets to
provide a wide range of views into the network
management
Flow and pressure data storage capability
Adaptive price mechanism
CONSUMERS
Increase the knowledge of their consumption
pattern in order to reduce their water bill
Adapt their habits to a most sustainable
water consumption.
Easy access to their consumption data.
Wider and richer consumer experience through
easy data access.
Adaptive tariff mechanism.
Tools to promote water consumption patterns
(games, datasets)
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PUBLIC
AUTHORITIES
Increase environmental awareness
Promote consumer behavioral change
Adopt an efficient water management
Minimize the use of water resources
Comparative information on consumption
Knowledge of water supply costs
Availability on real-time consumer data
Customer empowerment tools and educational
gaming
A single data pool powering all smart systems.
Richer datasets, no data or hardware duplication
and interoperable third party system
Adaptive pricing can be used to present
information about the optimal time to consume
water from a cost perspective while providing
comparative information for using water at peak
times
Water demand, supply and availability data
ICT
COMPANIES
Follow standards to make the platform as
accessible as possible
Online and onsite training
Possibility to enter the water sector as
suppliers
Open Data interface universally accessible
End-to-end system
Opportunities to include external modules
created by small ICT companies (promoting
SMEs competitiveness)
4.1.3.2 Evaluation
Table 12: KPIs addressed to evaluate the level of action activities impact
KPI
Success
milestone
(M30)
Current
status Evaluation
Number of “action” events
attended
10 4 Two actions are already scheduled, and at least
one event per pilot should be organized in order
to show the result in situ to the stakeholders.
Number of end-user’s
established contacts
10 Unknown Many contacts have been made during the
different events the Consortium has attended, but
there is not a centralized database in order to
analyse and evaluate the contacts made. This is
a key task to undertake during the following
months.
4.2 M19-M30 actions and beyond
After analysing the actions and the achievements undertaken in terms of dissemination, the conclusion is that a
more targeted and oriented dissemination strategy shall be carried out during the following months. The main points
the Consortium detected as key to achieve the project objectives are the following:
BUILD UP TARGETED ACTIONS
TO END-USERS
STRENGHTENSOCIAL NETWORKS
AND WEBSITE VISIBILITY
REINFORCE RELATIONS WITH STAKEHOLDERS
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On this basis, the structure proposed for the dissemination strategy is set as follows.
4.2.1 End-users targeted actions
To attract new utilities to the services offered by the UrbanWater project is essential and links directly with the
Exploitation Plan. In terms of dissemination, the actions will be:
Inviting non-consortium utilities to the project events, especially those regarding the pilot’s
developments.
Press releases
Publications in specialized platforms (e.g.: iagua - http://www.iagua.es/)
Direct contacts
To reach the consumer, the very intensive collaboration with the utilities in the Consortium (TAVE and
AQUALIA) is essential. The water utilities have a solid portfolio of clients and they have years of experience in
dealing with consumer attitudes and needs. The promotion of the UrbanWater tool through the utilities will be
done by the following channels:
Information newsletters
Postal Service
Web banners
Link the cluster video to the utility website
Direct contacts
Some scheduled events already on the Consortium agenda and focused on strengthening relations with end-
users are:
- 8Th European Conference on Radar in Meteorology and Hydrology (September 2014, Germany):
HYDS will perform a presentation called “Water Management DSSs integrating radar and other data
sources”.
- IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition 2014 (September 2014, Lisbon): The International Water
Association (IWA) organises the IWA World Water Congress and Exhibition every two years. The
participants – which are expected to reach 5,000 - are high-profile companies and professionals of the
water sector from all around the world, as well as scientist and reputed members of the academia.
Partners Aqualogus, Orga Systems and University of Zagreb will attend the event and promote a dedicated
UrbanWater Business Forum discussion.
- European Utility Week 2014 (November 2014, Amsterdam): The biggest annual European smart utility
event will gather more than 350 exhibitors and more than 10.000 experts from the industry with hard- and
software vendors, IT service providers and representatives of more than 350 utilities. Orga Systems will
attend the event.
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4.2.2 Social media
With the rise of Social Media usage it has become indispensable to take advantage of tools to share content
through the strongest networks like Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. For this reason, especially for the content
under the “News & events” area in the website, there is a “Social Sharing Tool” that allows visitors to share
content that they may need to communicate via their own social media channels. These icons allow the visitor
to contribute to the dissemination updates of the UrbanWater project with their own social and professional
networks.
Regarding the project’s direct participation in Social Networks, it has been decided that LinkedIn and Twitter
are the most suitable networks in which to launch a project profile, according to the project goals and
orientations. The updates on these social networks will be directly related to the progress of the UrbanWater
project, its target audiences, and the foreseen dissemination activities.
The use of the Social Networks will hopefully help the consortium:
Increase the links and number of visitors to the UrbanWater site (it is a good SEO practice);
Increase the number of subscribers to the website;
Increase the rate of “shares” for every new content published on the website (trying to make the audience
as wide as possible);
Raise the visibility of the project towards other communities that may already be using these networks;
Contribute to the dissemination of Water / ICT / Innovation projects that may be related to UrbanWater
and coming from other entities or individuals who may later collaborate in the dissemination of
UrbanWater;
Raise the visibility of each partner involved in the project;
Support the European Commission’s visibility on Twitter and LinkedIn in EU financed projects
Those members who are already using LinkedIn or Twitter for their corporate communications will also be able
to help raise the visibility of the UrbanWater project, its progress and their own participation. The link between
the project website and the social networks will be strengthened in order to build a two-way platform (website
will generate social network followers, whereas social network followers of the UrbanWater project will certainly
access the website). Both the LinkedIn and the Twitter icons will be visible on the website. While all partners
will contribute to the content of the webpage and the social networks, the Coordinator will be playing the
role of the Community Manager for these two networks.
4.2.2.1 Twitter
The Twitter profile, already existent but with low activity, will mainly be used to disseminate project
developments, but also news and issues of the water and ICT sectors that link directly with UrbanWater
context, goals and output. It also could be a first step in contacting utilities and water consumers.
Table 13: KPI addressed to evaluate Twitter impact
KPI Success milestone Current status Evaluation
Number of
followers
150 42 Success milestone based on similar FP7
projects, such as EFFINET or iWidget.
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4.2.2.2 LinkedIn
The LinkedIn profile, already existent but with low activity, will mainly be used to raise discussions that could
interest professionals and companies of the water and ICT sectors. It could also be a first step in contacting
utilities and water consumers.
4.2.3 Stakeholders
The project will culminate in 3 pilot tests, to be held in the Consortium’s water utilities facilities. These will be
perfect occasions to show the project developments and outputs through one workshop or similar event. This
workshop will be used as a meeting point for water utilities representatives, as well as policy makers, water and
ICT sectors professionals and other interested stakeholders.
Apart from the pilot workshop, the constant relation with the stakeholders will be assured during the following
months through:
Regular cluster meetings (in the case of Barcelona projects – Effinet, Water and UrbanWater) held once
a term. The next meeting will be held in Barcelona, in occasion of the EFFINET Workshop (30th September
2014). The objective of the workshop will be presenting results of FP7-ICT projects for water management
to the scientific and industrial communities, including also other projects (if interested in joining it). A special
session covering standardization and interoperability will be organised by Water.
Submission of abstracts and participation to important international congresses, as IWA 2014.
Publication of papers showing methodologies and guidelines based on UrbanWater developments.
Constant feedback with the general public with social networks and the website.
4.3 Excel Monitoring
At the beginning of the project an informal document set in different tables and compiled in an MS Excel document
was sent to all the project members with the aim of compiling a list of groups to be contacted in case of an event,
a communication, etc. is needed to be announced. All partners are involved in this task during the whole duration
of the project.For the purpose of listing, monitoring and evaluating the disseminations actions, the following
template was agreed to use:
Nº
activity
Title Partner
responsible
Type of
activity
Dissemination
goal
Channel Start
date
End
date
Target
audience
Size of
audience
This Excel file has been updated with new fields requested by the EC and new information details needed to
address proper dissemination activities analysis and review (see Appendix 1 and 2). This template demands an
individual report of all the partners, providing information about their individual actions towards:
i. Attending fairs, workshops, seminars, conferences, etc. matching the project interests;
ii. Publishing in newspapers, general/specific media or channels, matching the project interests;
iii. Using their own corporate channels to disseminate the information (their company newsletters, blogs, social
media, etc.).
iv. Use of official dissemination materials.
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5 References
[1] European Commission: Global Europe 2050; 2012.
Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/research/social-sciences/pdf/global-europe-2050-report_en.pdf
[2] European Commission: Managing projects: Elaborating a Dissemination Plan; 2012.
Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/eahc/management/Fact_sheet_2010_06.html
[3] Harmsworth, S., Turpin, S., & the TQEF National Co-ordination Team: Creating an Effective
Dissemination Strategy; 2001.
Available at: http://www.innovations.ac.uk/btg/resources/publications/dissemination.pdf
[4] World Bank: DEVELOPMENTCOMMUNICATION SOURCEBOOK: Broadening the Boundaries of
Communication; 2008.
Available at: http://goo.gl/e5gybb
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6 Conclusions
An accurate Dissemination Plan is a key element to communicate the project results and values to the widest
audience possible, as well as to a specific target public. The UrbanWater project consortium - formed by
technological centres, SMEs, water utilities and ICT companies - is fully aware of that and is completely committed
to the dissemination activities of the project, according to the Property Rules for FP7 projects.
Throughout a detailed and exhaustive methodology, and with the support of previous work done (D1.2 User
Requirements and D1.3 Business Opportunities) the consortium has focused its attention on four main users who,
in conjunction with other important actors, become the project stakeholders. Different messages, spread through
different channels, have already been spread to the selected audience in the form of specific dissemination
activities. The dissemination activities have been categorised in two groups, depending on their timing: those
already undertaken and those planned. Those activities already undertaken between M1 and M18 have been
described, classified and evaluated in order to obtain high-value lessons to apply to those activities planned for the
future. The activities are also classified depending on their impact on the audience and, according to the
methodology, into level of awareness activities, level of understanding activities and level of action activities.
As a consequence of the evaluation done, the main conclusions are:
Level of awareness: Correct work is done, as the website and the social networks have been launched
and basic dissemination materials have been produced. However, a step forward should be undertaken
in order to intensify the activity of the internet media, strengthen the presence of the UrbanWater
project in the social networks and provide a more constant feedback to the audience. Regarding
the dissemination materials, they have to be widely used by all the consortium and increase their
distribution among the stakeholders. For these purposes, the Coordinator will have a more active role in
managing and monitoring the dissemination activities through the Excel Monitoring, as well as hosting the
website and the social networks and assuring that all the partners have the adequate dissemination
materials.
Level of understanding: Most of the dissemination activates undertaken are part of this level of
knowledge, as the majority of partners have participated actively in different conferences, workshops and
events related to the water sector and the ICT. Several scientific documents and papers have been
submitted and approved by important international congresses so, in that sense, the consortium has
reached a good level of dissemination targeted to the scientific community and the academia. These
activities should be continued and intensified according to the project development and the results
achieved. It is important to keep an accurate monitoring of these activities and to provide regular
feedback to the rest of the Consortium.
Level of action: Some partners have developed an intense task of contacting with water utilities and other
important actors of the water sector in order to obtain their feedback and to promote the project worldwide;
the related activities are gathered in the D1.3 Business Opportunities. However, these kinds of activities
should be intensified and targeted to specific companies and users who really show interest to the
UrbanWater platform. To do that it is important to keep a record of the end-users contacted to create a
useful database of potential customers, in line with the business strategy, it is also essential to take the
opportunity of the events which will follow the settlement of the three pilots to draw the attention of
potential users and customers.
URBANWATER PUBLIC Grant Agreement: 318602
7 Appendix
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7.1 Appendix 1: Dissemination activities performed from M1 to M18
Nº TitlePartner
responsibleType of activity Dissemination goal Channel Start date End date Target audience
Size of
audienceFeedback
1 Launch of UrbanWater website ASC Awareness
Raise the awareness of the general public about
the importance of UW for an effective
management and supply of warter resoucres as
well as consumer benefits
Internet 01/01/2013 - General public Worldwide -
2 E-world energy & water 2013 ORGA Understanding
Promote the standards and practises used in the
project: Explain the benefits of UrbanWater
technology to the ICT industry, with a focus on
charging and billing
Oral presentation 05/02/2013 07/02/2013 Multiple groups> 1000
people
Talks and discussions with visitors and exhibitors. Links to
UW homepage and EC ICT Programme for Water
Management, as well as UW Flyers were provided.
3 InBusiness article RED Awareness
Raise the awareness of the general public about
the importance of UW for an effective
management and supply of warter resoucres as
well as consumer benefits
General media 21/02/2013 21/02/2013 General public Europe
4 Launch of a generic brochure ASC Awareness
Raise the awareness of the general public about
the importance of UW for an effective
management and supply of warter resoucres as
well as consumer benefits
Other 15/03/2013 - General public500 - 1000
people
The project reviewer's ask for an enhanced version of the
brochure, so the final - accepted - version was launched on
March 2014. On M20 the current version needs to be
modified to include the new partner AQUALIA there.
5 Launch of a generic banner ASC Awareness
Raise the awareness of the general public about
the importance of UW for an effective
management and supply of warter resoucres as
well as consumer benefits
Other 15/03/2013 - General public< 1000
people-
6 FP7 ACROSS colloquium UNIZG-FER UnderstandingTo attract the interest of the research community
and pave the ground for future researchOral presentation 17/05/2013 17/05/2013
Scientific/Academic
community0-100
Questions were raised on how to treat different customer
profiles in adaptive pricing
7
Submission of the Master Thesis,
“Water demand prediction system for
urban area”, University of Zagreb
UNIZG-FER UnderstandingTo attract the interest of the research community
and pave the ground for future researchScientific document 01/06/2013 01/06/2013
Scientific/Academic
communityWorldwide
In this work, identification of water demand prediction
system based on historical water demand data was analyzed.
It was shown that meteorological data on a daily basis are
not relevant for describing water demand for the analyzed
system.
8Publications of the Project Press release
on CORDIS WIREASC Awareness
Raise the awareness of the general public about
the importance of UW for an effective
management and supply of warter resoucres as
well as consumer benefits
Internet 14/06/2013 14/06/2013 General public< 1000
people
9
Presentation of research performed
within the research projects of the FP7
ACROSS team on EUROCON 2013
UNIZG-FER Awareness
To raise the awareness about the importance of
UrbanWater for an effective management and
supply of water resources as well as consumer
benefits
Oral presentation 03/07/2013 03/07/2013Scientific/Academic
community0-100 None on the UrbanWater topic
10
Meeting of the participants in the
research programme "Advanced control
and estimation methods with
applications in energy and transport"
(Croatian Ministry of Science, Education
and Sports)
UNIZG-FER Awareness
To raise the awareness about the importance of
UrbanWater for an effective management and
supply of water resources as well as consumer
benefits
Oral presentation 12/07/2013 12/07/2013Scientific/Academic
community0-100 None on the UrbanWater topic
11 Launch of a generic press release ASC Awareness
Raise the awareness of the general public about
the importance of UW for an effective
management and supply of warter resoucres as
well as consumer benefits
Press release 29/07/2013 - General public< 1000
people-
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Nº TitlePartner
responsibleType of activity Dissemination goal Channel Start date End date Target audience
Size of
audienceFeedback
12 Southeast Asia Utility Business Platform ORGA Understanding
Promote the standards and practises used in the
project: Explain the benefits of UrbanWater
technology to the ICT industry, with a focus on
charging and billing
Oral presentation 28/08/2013 30/08/2013 Multiple groups100 - 500
people
Talks and discussions with visitors and exhibitors. Links to
UW homepage and EC ICT Programme for Water
Management, as well as UW Flyers were provided.
Feedback from a potential customer active in both Energy
and Water led to follow-up meetings (pre-sales), current
13 M2M Summit 2013 ORGA Understanding
Promote the standards and practises used in the
project: Explain the benefits of UrbanWater
technology to the ICT industry, with a focus on
charging and billing
Other 10/09/2013 10/09/2013 ICT Companies0 - 100
people
Orga Systems became a new member of the M2M alliance in
September 2013. In talks and discussions with visitors and
exhibitors interest was raised, but no concrete follow-up
actions resulted from that: http://goo.gl/iyj6h4
14 The Water Event 2013 -Birmingham RED UnderstandingExplain the benefits of UrbanWater technology to
the water sector.Other 10/09/2013 11/09/2013 Multiple groups
< 1000
people
The Water Event was a large UK conference and Expo
attended by companies in the water sector. Consortium
members attended this conference and asked questions at
the conference Q&A sessions as well as interviewed many of
15 Wasserwerke Paderborn GmbH ORGA Understanding
Promote the standards and practises used in the
project: Explain the benefits of UrbanWater
technology to the ICT industry, with a focus on
charging and billing
Oral presentation 13/10/2013 13/10/2013 Water utilities0 - 100
people
More detailed information exchange about current water
utility's practises and the UW approach.
161st ACROSS Workshop on Cooperative
Control MethodsUNIZG-FER Understanding
To attract the interest of the research community
and pave the ground for future researchPoster presentation 26/09/2013 26/09/2013
Scientific/Academic
community0-100
Discussed water demand prediction methodology with
researchers from the control systems domain
17
The International Water Association
(IWA) World Water Congress and
Exposition (WWCE) 2014
UNIZG-FER Understanding
To attract the interest of the research community
and pave the ground for future research & To
promote the standards and practices used in the
project and to give advice/recommendations about
Scientific document 30/09/2013 21/06/2014. Multiple groups >1000
The article on adaptive water demand prediction was
accepted for presentation on the conference and the camera-
ready paper was submitted
18
International Workshop
“Upgrading Life in Historical Towns
–Sustainable Energy”UNIZG-FER Awareness
To raise the awareness about the importance of
UrbanWater for an effective management and
supply of water resources as well as consumer
benefits -- presented in the context of information
technologies for smart cities
Oral presentation 03/10/2013 03/10/2013 Multiple groups 0-100 None regarding UrbanWater topics
19
Presentation of research performed
within the research projects of the FP7
ACROSS team on Electrical Drives and
Power Electronics Conference 2013
UNIZG-FER Awareness
To raise the awareness about the importance of
UrbanWater for an effective management and
supply of water resources as well as consumer
benefits
Oral presentation 04/10/2013 04/10/2013Scientific/Academic
community0-100 None on the UrbanWater topic
20 Wasserwerke Paderborn GmbH ORGA Understanding
Promote the standards and practises used in the
project: Explain the benefits of UrbanWater
technology to the ICT industry, with a focus on
charging and billing
Oral presentation 24/09/2013 24/09/2013 Water utilities0 - 100
people
Discussion with representative of the local water utility at
Paderborn, Germany. Follow-up meeting on 13. October
2013.
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Nº TitlePartner
responsibleType of activity Dissemination goal Channel Start date End date Target audience
Size of
audienceFeedback
21 Wasserwerke Paderborn GmbH ORGA Understanding
Promote the standards and practises used in the project:
Explain the benefits of UrbanWater technology to the ICT
industry, with a focus on charging and billing
Other 13/10/2013 13/10/2013 Water utilities0 - 100
people
More detailed information exchange about current water
utility's practises and the IUWSM approach. No follow-up
action resulted from that meeting.
22 European Utility Week 2013 ORGA Understanding
Promote the standards and practises used in the project:
Explain the benefits of UrbanWater technology to the ICT
industry, with a focus on charging and billing
Other 15/10/2013 17/10/2013 Water utilities0 - 100
people
ORGA showcased customer-oriented utility services from an
end customer perspective, including enabling dynamic
pricing for energy providers. UW was mentioned as an
example for employing this technology in a different
application domain. While his has been acknowledged by the
visitors no concrete follow-up action resulted from that
event.
See http://goo.gl/1xjSe1
23The Eighth International Conference on
China Urban Water DevelopmentRED Action
To efficiently promote the benefits of UrbanWater
foreground to the industry and end-users, so as to
strengthen its commercial potential and widen business
opportunities for the Consortium members.
Oral presentation 31/10/2013 31/10/2013 Water utilities500 - 1000
people
RED SKIES signed a MOU with the ASEM WRR&DC to jointly
research opportunities for the UrbanWater platform and its
technologies in China. One aspect of this partnership was a
high profile one week conference in China attended by all
organisations in the water sector in the region as well as
government agencies, not only from China but around the
world.
24 SpaceTech 2013 RED UnderstandingExplain the benefits of UrbanWater technology to the water
sector.Oral presentation 12/11/2013 13/11/2013 ICT Companies
100 - 500
people
At Space Tech 2013 Red Skies was asked to present the FP7
UrbanWater project. The Consortium took this opportunity
to meet with a number of organisations to identify business
opportunities for those organisations and more broadly for
the space sector using the UrbanWater platform.
25Presentation of new research projects of
UNIZG-FER on the Day of UNIZG-FERUNIZG-FER Awareness
To raise the awareness about the importance of UrbanWater
for an effective management and supply of water resources
as well as consumer benefits
Poster presentation 22/11/2013 22/11/2013 Multiple groups 100-500
Interest raised by the Croatian ICT company Koncar
Electronics and Informatics Inc. who intends to provide ICT
support for the water utilities business -- the project was
presented in brief to the R&D management of the company
and more in detail discussed the modules to be developed by
UNIZG-FER
26
International Conference on
“Research and Enterpreneurship
Partnership for Growth and
Internationalization of
SMEs in Danube Region”
UNIZG-FER Awareness
To raise the awareness about the importance of UrbanWater
for an effective management and supply of water resources
as well as consumer benefits -- presented in the context of
information technologies for smart cities
Oral presentation 28/11/2013 28/11/2013 Multiple groups 0-100
Several contacts were exchanged after the talk with SMEs
and research consultants with expressed interest in research
performed
27
SBWWI Leakage and Metering
Workshop and Conference - 3-4 Dec
2013
RED Understanding&Action
Understanding: To promote the standards and practices
used in the project and to give advice/recommendations
about how they are applied in UrbanWater. Action: To
efficiently promote the benefits of UrbanWater foreground
to the industry and end-users, so as to strengthen its
commercial potential and widen business opportunities for
the Consortium members.
Oral presentation 03/12/2013 04/12/2013 Water utilities100 - 500
people
Society of British Water and Wastewater Industries (SBWWI)
represents UK water utilities and the UrbanWater team were
represented at the workshop and conference on leakage and
metering in the UK. The Consortium presented on stage at
this event and then took part in the workshop to gather
feedback on how smart networks can meet current and
future needs for the organisations at the event.
28Water Distribution Systems Analysis
(WDSA) 2014 -- article preparationUNIZG-FER Understanding
To attract the interest of the research community and pave
the ground for future research & To promote the standards
and practices used in the project and to give
advice/recommendations about how they are applied in
UrbanWater.
Scientific document 14/12/2013 20/06/2014. Multiple groups 100-500
The article on adaptive pricing was accepted for presentation
on the conference and the camera-ready paper was
submitted
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Nº TitlePartner
responsibleType of activity Dissemination goal Channel Start date End date Target audience
Size of
audienceFeedback
29 Horizon 2020 Info day 2014 UNIZG-FER Awareness
To show how effective European collaboration is when
developing innovative projects & to inform about existing
funding programs of the European Commission related to
innovation
Oral presentation 15/01/2014 15/01/2014 Multiple groups 0-100
Questions from the audience were raised on different
aspects of preparing of the research proposal and the
experiences gained with UrbanWater proposal preparation
30 Mobile World Congress 2014 ORGA Understanding
Promote the standards and practises used in the project:
Explain the benefits of UrbanWater technology to the ICT
industry, with a focus on charging and billing
Other 24/02/2014 27/02/2014 ICT Companies0 - 100
people
Presenting ORGA's latest product for catalogue-driven
revenue managment at a booth, the project was mentioned
as an example domain for which that technology could be
applied. While his has been acknowledged by the visitors no
concrete follow-up action resulted from that event.
http://goo.gl/2JyICn
31Press Release "5th Urban Water
Meeting"ORGA Awareness
Raise the awareness of the general public about the
importance of UW for an effective management and supply
of warter resoucres as well as consumer benefits
Press release 18/03/2014 18/03/2014 General public Worldwide
http://www.orga-systems.com/media-center/press-
releases/details/article/fifth-status-meeting-of-the-
urbanwater-consortium-hosted-by-orga-systems/
32Water Research Centre (WRc) Urban
Water DayRED Action
To efficiently promote the benefits of UrbanWater
foreground to the industry and end-users, so as to
strengthen its commercial potential and widen business
opportunities for the Consortium members.
Oral presentation 19/03/2014 19/03/2014 Water utilities0 - 100
people
One of the consortium partners ran a one day event in
partnership with Wrc for UK water utilities to come together
and discuss openly their plans and strategies for future smart
water technologies. The timing was chosen to coincide with
period when UK water utilities are required to submit their
five year plans to regulators which means the subjects would
be sharp in everybodies minds and very current.
33 Sustainability Live 2014 - Birmingham RED Action
To efficiently promote the benefits of UrbanWater
foreground to the industry and end-users, so as to
strengthen its commercial potential and widen business
opportunities for the Consortium members.
Other 01/04/2014 03/04/2014 Multiple groups< 1000
people
Sustainability Live was a large UK conference and Expo
supported by UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) which brought
together delegations from China with organisations in the UK
to identify new business opportunities for each partner. The
team arranged through the UKTI to meet with a list of
delegates from China to explore new business opportunities
for UrbanWater
34Article in Customer Magazine
"DIALOGUE"ORGA Awareness
Raise the awareness of the general public about the
importance of UW for an effective management and supply
of warter resoucres as well as consumer benefits
General media 02/04/2014 02/04/2014 General public WorldwideIn DIALOGUE issue 01/2014, UrbanWater activities of Orga
Systems were outlined
35Water Research Centre (WRc)
innovation Day 2014RED Understanding&Action
Understanding: To promote the standards and practices
used in the project and to give advice/recommendations
about how they are applied in UrbanWater. Action: To
efficiently promote the benefits of UrbanWater foreground
to the industry and end-users, so as to strengthen its
commercial potential and widen business opportunities for
the Consortium members.
Other 30/04/2014 30/04/2014 Multiple groups100 - 500
people
RED SKIES was invited to run a stand at the WRc Open
Innovation Day. RED presented UrbanWater and gathered
information from utilities and other organisations about how
the platform could meet real needs at their organisations.
36
Submission of the scientific article
“Challenges and benefits of an open IT
architecture for urban water
management” on Water Distribution
System Analysis WDSA2014, July 2014,
Bari
ASC Understanding
To attract the interest of the research community and pave
the ground for future research, and to explain the main
achievements reached during the first phase of the project.
Scientific document 01/05/2014 01/05/2014Scientific/Academic
communityWorldwide Paper accepted
Deliverable 8.5 – Dissemination Plan
42
URBANWATER PUBLIC Grant Agreement: 318602
Nº TitlePartner
responsibleType of activity Dissemination goal Channel Start date End date Target audience
Size of
audienceFeedback
37
Submission of the scientific article
"Dynamic day-ahead water pricing
based on smart metering and demand
prediction" on Water Distribution
Systems Analysis 2014
UNIZG-FER Understanding&Action
Understanding: To attract the interest of the research community
and pave the ground for future research & To promote the
standards and practices used in the project and to give
advice/recommendations about how they are applied in
UrbanWater; Action: Point out the need for assessment of the cost
of the water distribution system operation with respect to water
delivered and timing of its delivery
Scientific document 01/05/2014 01/05/2014 Multiple groups 0-100
Performed discussion on the presented results: answered raised
questions on identifiying end-users responsiveness to prices as well
as on applicability of the adaptive pricing for testing purposes in the
current legal framework. The work was mentioned several times on
the plenary talk on the conference given next day (on 16/07/2014)
by prof. Dragan Savić in the context of the future of the water
distribution systems and the need for interdisciplinary approach and
ICT in water distribution systems
38
ASEM Seminar on Sustainable
Management of Water Resources in the
Context of Urbanisation
RED Action
To efficiently promote the benefits of UrbanWater foreground to
the industry and end-users, so as to strengthen its commercial
potential and widen business opportunities for the Consortium
members.
Oral presentation 22/05/2014 23/05/2014 Public sector500 - 1000
people
The event was attended by officials from across Europe and Asia, so
it became a good opportunity to explore further opportunities for
UrbanWater in China. Meetings were held with provincial and city
government as well as businesses and investment groups in China. A
lecture was also given at a university along with water researchers
from Oxford University and the UK’s Centre for Ecology and
Hydrology. The conference culminated with a historic signing of a
MoU between Red Skies and the Chinese technological company
Hunan Red Skies Science and Technology Limited.
39 TM Forum Management World 2014 ORGA Understanding
Promote the standards and practises used in the project: Explain
the benefits of UrbanWater technology to the ICT industry, with a
focus on charging and billing
Other 03/06/2014 05/06/2014 ICT Companies0 - 100
people
While this event primarily served to demonstrate ORGA's product
for catalogue-driven revenue managment, ORGA also informed
about research activities including UW by means of a dedicated
research brochure. There is no concrete feedback of visitors so far:
http://goo.gl/yCuV04
Deliverable 8.5 – Dissemination Plan
43
URBANWATER PUBLIC Grant Agreement: 318602
7.2 Appendix 2: Dissemination activities planned for M19-M30
Nº TitlePartner
responsible
Type of
activityDissemination goal Channel Start date End date Target audience
Size of
audience
1
Journal article on adaptive pricing, extended with
user responsiveness identification and addressing
uncertainty in demand -- possibly in Journal of
Hydroniformatics as a follow-up of WDSA 2014
UNIZG-FERUnderstandin
g&Action
Understanding: To attract the interest of the research community and pave
the ground for future research & To promote the standards and practices
used in the project and to give advice/recommendations about how they
are applied in UrbanWater; Action: Point out the need for assessment of the
cost of the water distribution system operation with respect to water
delivered and timing of its delivery; Show possibility of price-based
coordination of the entire water-use chain
Scientific
document2014 2015 Multiple groups >1000
2
Journal article on adaptive water demand
prediction, extended with prediction error
characterisation -- possibly in Journal of Water
Resources Planning and Management as a follow-
up of IWA WWCE 2014
UNIZG-FERUnderstandin
g
To attract the interest of the research community and pave the ground for
future research & To promote the standards and practices used in the
project and to give advice/recommendations about how they are applied in
UrbanWater
Scientific
document2014 2015 Multiple groups >1000
3 11th International Conference on Hydroinformatics HYDSUnderstandin
g
(i) Raise the awareness about the importance of UrbanWater for an effective
management and supply of water resources as well as consumer benefit, (ii)
show how effective European collaboration is when developing innovative
projects, (iii) efficiently promote the benefits of UrbanWater foreground to
the industry and end-users, so as to strengthen its commercial potential and
widen business opportunities for the Consortium members and (iv)
stimulate the creation of new partnerships and synergies between
European water suppliers, hardware metering providers and the ICT
industry
Congress
presentation17/08/2014 21/08/2014 Multiple groups
500 - 1000
people
4
Poster presentation at the European Conference
on Radar in Meteorology and Hydrology 2014
(Germany)
HYDSUnderstandin
g
To attract the interest of the research community and pave the ground for
future research
Congress
presentation01/09/2014 05/09/2014
Scientific/Academic
community
500 - 1000
people
5
Presentation of the scientific article "Adaptable
Urban Water Demand Prediction System" IWA
World WWCE 2014
UNIZG-FERUnderstandin
g
To attract the interest of the research community and pave the ground for
future research & To promote the standards and practices used in the
project and to give advice/recommendations about how they are applied in
UrbanWater
Oral
presentation 23/09/2014 23/09/2014 Multiple groups 100-500
6 IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition 2014 AQUA ActionBusiness Forum Session, aimed to divulge the solutions and advantages of
the Urbanwater concept to a selected audience
Congress
presentation25/09/2014 25/09/2014 Multiple groups < 1000 people
7 EFFINET FP7 - Workshop ASCUnderstandin
g&Action
Establish contacts and raise awareness of the UrbanWater project with the
different participants: water utilities, associations, national and
international research organizations and universities.
Oral
presentation 30/09/2014 30/09/2014 Multiple groups 0 - 100 people
Deliverable 8.5 – Dissemination Plan
44
URBANWATER PUBLIC Grant Agreement: 318602
8 M2M Summit 2014 ORGAUnderstandin
g
Promote the standards and practises used in the project: Explain the
benefits of UrbanWater technology to the ICT industry, with a focus on
charging and billing
Other 20/10/2014 21/10/2014 ICT Companies 0 - 100 people
9 European Utility Week 2014 ORGA Action
To efficiently promote the benefits of UrbanWater foreground to the
industry and end-users, so as to strengthen its commercial potential and
widen business opportunities for the Consortium members.
Other 04/11/2014 06/11/2014 Multiple groups 0 - 100 people
10 GSMA Mobile World Congress 2015 ORGAUnderstandin
g
Promote the standards and practises used in the project: Explain the
benefits of UrbanWater technology to the ICT industry, with a focus on
charging and billing
Other 02/03/2015 05/03/2015 ICT Companies 0 - 100 people
11EWRA (European Water Resources Association)
Congress 2015AQUA
Understandin
g
Explain the technological approach of the Urbanwater project to the Water
community, with a focus on the leakage management and detection
solutions
Congress
presentation24/06/2015 27/06/2015 Scientific community
100 - 500
people
12
Computing and Control for Water Industry 2015
(CCWI 2015) -- Articel on detailed indoor
consumption modelling
UNIZG-FERUnderstandin
g
To attract the interest of the research community and pave the ground for
future research & To promote the standards and practices used in the
project and to give advice/recommendations about how they are applied in
UrbanWater
Oral
presentation 02/09/2015 04/09/2015 Multiple groups 100-500
13Journal article on detailed indoor consumption
modellingUNIZG-FER
Understandin
g
To attract the interest of the research community and pave the ground for
future research & To promote the standards and practices used in the
project and to give advice/recommendations about how they are applied in
UrbanWater
Scientific
document2015 2016 Multiple groups >1000
14
Presentations of the functionality of the modules
for water demand prediction, adaptive pricing and
detailed indoor consumption modelling to water
utilities, and of the UrbanWater platform as a
whole
UNIZG-FER Action
To efficiently promote the benefits of UrbanWater foreground to the
industry and end-users, so as to strengthen its commercial potential and
widen business opportunities for the Consortium members.
Oral
presentation 2015 2015 Water utilities 0-100
URBANWATER PUBLIC Grant Agreement: 318602
7.3 Appendix 3: UrbanWater project brochure
URBANWATER PUBLIC Grant Agreement: 318602
7.4 Appendix 4: UrbanWater project banner
Deliverable 8.5 – Dissemination Plan
47
URBANWATER PUBLIC Grant Agreement: 318602
7.5 Appendix 5: UrbanWater official presentation
Deliverable 8.5 – Dissemination Plan
48
URBANWATER PUBLIC Grant Agreement: 318602
Deliverable 8.5 – Dissemination Plan
49
URBANWATER PUBLIC Grant Agreement: 318602
7.6 Appendix 6: UrbanWater press release
Deliverable 8.5 – Dissemination Plan
50
URBANWATER PUBLIC Grant Agreement: 318602
7.7 Appendix 7: UrbanWater social networks
7.7.1 Twitter: https://twitter.com/UrbanWaterFP7
7.7.2 LinkedIn:
Deliverable 8.5 – Dissemination Plan
51
URBANWATER PUBLIC Grant Agreement: 318602
7.8 Appendix 8: InBussiness article (The Oxford Times)
A press interview called Working with water, high-tech solutions for global problems was published by the on line
edition of the business magazine The Oxford Times last 21st February 2013, in where the URBANWATER partner
REDSKIES is interviewed by the newspaper editor to explain the aim of the project.
Deliverable 8.5 – Dissemination Plan
52
URBANWATER PUBLIC Grant Agreement: 318602
Deliverable 8.5 – Dissemination Plan
53
URBANWATER PUBLIC Grant Agreement: 318602
URBANWATER PUBLIC Grant Agreement: 318602
7.9 Appendix 9: Orga Systems brochure for web dissemination
Deliverable 8.5 – Dissemination Plan
55
URBANWATER PUBLIC Grant Agreement: 318602
URBANWATER PUBLIC Grant Agreement: 318602
7.10 Appendix 10: Orga Systems press release
Deliverable 8.5 – Dissemination Plan
57
URBANWATER PUBLIC Grant Agreement: 318602
7.11 Appendix 11: Scientific poster to be presented at the ERAD (September 2014,
Germany)
Deliverable 8.5 – Dissemination Plan
58
URBANWATER PUBLIC Grant Agreement: 318602