Telefonica : The public water consortium Consorcio de Aguas Bilbao Bizkaia launches an open request for innovation to seek out innovative solutions to facilitate management and maintenance of control devices at its facilities

An innovative solution is being sought through Bizkaia Open Future to provide a unified environment regarding access and management for different control systems

• This is the ninth call for proposals launched through the Bizkaia Open Future open innovation programme; it allows submission of proposals by entrepreneurs, startups, SMEs, universities and technological centres.
• The period for candidates to submit their proposals via http://bizkaia.openfuture.org will begin on 16 September and end on 16 October.
• The winning project will be able to conduct a real pilot of its proposal and obtain an additional prize of 15,000 euros

Bilbao, 16 September 2019.-The Consorcio de Aguas Bilbao Bizkaia public water consortium has launched an open call for innovative solutions through Bizkaia Open Future to facilitate management and maintenance of control devices at its facilities. This public entity, responsible for the primary water network of nearly one million Biscay citizens, has turned to the initiative promoted by the Biscayan Provincial Council and Telefónica to find innovative solutions providing a unified environment for access and control for different elements.

The challenge set by Consorcio de Aguas Bilbao Bizkaia is entitled How can new technologies facilitate management and maintenance of the control devices of its facilities? This call for proposals is the ninth to be launched through Bizkaia Open Future; the aim is to obtain technological proposals that contribute a distinctive degree of innovation to management of control devices by the Consorcio de Aguas Bilbao Bizkaia.

The winner of this challenge, set through the global Telefónica Open Future platform, will be able to carry out real pilot testing of the winning project funded by Consorcio de Aguas Bilbao Bizkaia, obtain an additional prize of 15,000 euros and access grants from the Biscayan Provincial Council, provided that the relevant conditions are met. The period for submission of entries for the open call for innovation from the Consorcio de Aguas Bilbao Bizkaia, launched through Bizkaia Open Future, begins today and will end on 16 October. Any entrepreneurs, startups, SMEs, universities and/or technological centres which would like to participate in this call will be able to sign up at http://bizkaia.openfuture.org

About Consorcio de Aguas Bilbao Bizkaia

Consorcio de Aguas Bilbao Bizkaia is a public entity responsible for managing the primary network for both supply of drinking water and waste water treatment for approximately one million Biscayan inhabitants.

It is made up of 81 municipalities, in addition to the Biscayan Provincial Council and the Basque Government.

It aims to provide a service to society, contributing to the wellbeing of the community, and therefore innovation and quality affect its activity in a cross-cutting way, together with respect and caring for the environment.

Consorcio de Aguas Bilbao Bizkaia manages 26 drinking water plants, 32 water treatment plants and over 4,000 kilometres of network and has a workforce of 350 people.

About Bizkaia Open Future

Bizkaia Open Future is an initiative from the Biscayan Provincial Council and Telefónica, which was created four years ago to support the Biscay-based industrial sector in its digital transformation. This initiative is aimed at industry in general and has become the link between new local and international entrepreneurial talent and the companies in the province.

Since its launch, Bizkaia Open Future has set eight challenges from leading companies and organisations related to the province as part of its Open Innovation programme. Velatia, OSI Ezkerraldea Enkarterri Cruces-Hospital Universitario Cruces, Dibal, Ingeteam, Tecuni, Sidenor and IMQ received over 220 proposals from the Basque Country, the rest of Spain and around the world.

The Commercial Acceleration Programme aims to boost the development of the business of technology-based startups and SMEs which have technological solutions that have been launched onto the market or have been validated internally with customers, which dovetail with the Telefónica portfolio and are in line with its commercial strategy but which require acceleration in terms of building closer relationships with customers.

About Open Future

Telefónica Open Future, as part of the Open Innovation division, is a network composed of over 50 innovation hubs, present in Spain and Latin America. A global platform designed to create business opportunities connected to entrepreneurs, investors and public/private partners from around the world.

https://www.openfuture.org/

Contact:

Aitziber Diez, Communication Officer, Economic Advancement Department.

Telephone: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]

Rafael Ossa, Communication Officer, Telefónica

Telephone: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]

@OpenFuture_Biz

http://bizkaia.openfuture.org

Irma Cerro - MBN Comunicación (Communication Department, Consorcio de Aguas Bilbao Bizkaia)

Telephone: [phone]

Email: [e-mail]