Mülheim Water Award 2024

The Mülheim Water Award is coordinated by IWW Water Centre in Mülheim an der Ruhr.

Call Topic

• The subject of submission for 2024 is: Innovations for a sustainable water management and safe and secure drinking water supply
• They are looking for innovative, practice-relevant concepts as well as application-ready solutions to meet future challenges in water systems and water analysis.
• Future challenges for a sustainable water management and a responsible water use and –application require the rethinking of design and/or the improvement of business and technical processes as well as in the analysis and assessment of water quality.
• The following focus topics are particularly addressed:
  • Non-target screening (NTS) and high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS)
  • Effect-based Analytics
  • PFAS – Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances
  • PMT – persistent, mobile and toxic substances
  • Green Analytical Chemistry
  • Digitalization, automation, big data and artificial intelligence (AI)
  • The adaption to changing structures because of demographic/structural/climate change.
  • Use, efficiency and protection of resources
  • Sustainability reporting – Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)
  • Predictive maintenance
  • operating cost optimisation
• You can also apply with projects that are dealing with waste water but are connected to the drinking water production, having a verifiable positive effect on it.

Award Information

• The prize to win in 2024 are 10.000€, donated in equal parts by RWW Rheinisch-Westfälische Wasserwerksgesellschaft mbH and GERSTEL GmbH & Co. KG, both companies located in Mülheim in Germany.

Eligibility Criteria

• People or institutions from Europe and Israel can apply with innovative procedures, products, concepts and new findings with a strong focus on practical use and application within water management.
• Requirements for participation
  • Natural or legal persons, groups of persons and institutions from Europe may apply with projects about innovative procedures, solutions, products and concepts. Also of interest are new findings with a strong focus on practical use and applicability within water management. You can only apply yourself, you cannot be nominated or suggested by anyone else and you cannot suggest anyone. If you apply as a group, there has to be named one so called ‘leading applicant’. Members of the jury are not allowed to participate.
  • You can apply from Europe (geographically defined, not politically) and Israel. For the Mülheim Water Award, Turkey counts as part of Europe, as well as the Caucasian countries Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia Not counted as Europe is Kazakhstan.
  • Due to the political situation, applications from the Russian Federation and Belarus are excluded until further notice.
  • The expansion to Israel is based on the long common history of Europe and Israel, which is characterized by growing interdependence and cooperation. Israel has also been involved in the EU’s research and technological development framework programs since 1996.
  • The geographical limitation to Europe is related to the location of the headquarters of the applicant. If you apply as a group, at least one member of the group has to have their headquarters in Europe. The implementation of the project you apply with does not have to be in Europe. If the project, you want to apply with ended more than two years ago (measured from the time of the application) you cannot apply with it any longer. You are allowed to apply with a project that isn’t finished yet, but only if it is in an advanced state, concluded from a scientific point of view, and the results can be measured according to the evaluation criteria.

Evaluation Criteria

• The following criteria are the basis for the project evaluation:
  • Innovation level and relevance
  • Transferability
  • Quality
  • Sustainability
  • Economic Efficiency

For more information, visit IWW Water Centre.