WRC
Summary of the technology support that WADER provided in 2016 / 17 .
Sector Engagements
The Water RDI Roadmap Roadshow was conducted across five provinces in South Africa with the purpose of providing an update on the National Water RDI Roadmap and to introduce the water sector stakeholders to the PMU and WADER . All sessions included :
• An overview of the Water RDI Roadmap , with a particular emphasis on starting to clarify the boundaries of the different investment areas and the opportunities we are trying to coordinate the sector around ;
• An overview of the PMU and WADER and the service offerings they provide ; and
• An opportunity to engage the sector about the synergies their organisations have with the Roadmap , the best ways to share information with the Roadmap team , partnership models , and the kinds of support needed from the PMU and WADER . In addition to the Roadshows , the PMU and WADER engage in ongoing interactions with the wider sector through presentations , events and exhibitions .
Partnerships
As part of the Water RDI Roadmap Roadshow , the PMU and WADER set up a range of strategic partnership meetings :
• Meetings with Metros , water boards and utilities were held with a view to understanding the innovation strategies and models these partners adopt and exploring if we can set up a national network of test bed sites .
• Meetings with University Research Groups , Technology Transfer Offices ( TTO ) and Research Offices were held to understand how the Research Office and TTO provide support to academics , how they can partner with WADER , and how they can provide the PMU with information . The University team meetings were undertaken with a view to understanding where there are synergies with the Roadmap and big opportunities to track .
• Meetings with Catchment Management Agencies and Provincial DWS partners were undertaken to generate awareness about the roadmap , unpack some of the needs relating to the governance clusters , and make sure that we have partners to support us where province-specific projects start taking place . In addition to the partnership meetings , the Water RDI Roadmap team works through a series of formal and informal partnerships associated with the WRC . u
Fig 1 : This diagram describes the WRC research project alignment to the various clusters of the roadmap , based on the research projects active in 2016 / 17 .
The Water RDI Roadmap is a collaborative plan that coordinates a range of stakeholders engaged in water-related innovation activities as well as the funders of these activities . netwroking contributor industry debate environment infrastruture municipalities
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