UPC news
The UPC-TAIGUA Corporate Chair and INTEXTER organise the conference "Innovation and Governance of Water"
The UPC-TAIGUA Corporate Chair and the Institute for Textile Research and Industrial Cooperation of Terrassa (INTEXTER) held the conference "Innovation and Governance of Water in Public and Private Contexts" at the UPC's ESEIAAT. The ENMA-INTEXTER group (Engineering and Environment Group) took the opportunity to launch the IWaST (International Congress of Water Sustainability and Technology) 2027, which will be held at the ESEIAAT in Terrassa and is organised biennially together with the Universidad Católica Boliviana.
The collaboration between the UPC-TAIGUA Corporate Chair and INTEXTER UPC highlights their shared concern for water management at a global level, both in its integral cycle and at the city scale.
As the director of the Chair, Ramon Pérez, explained: "The concepts of governance and management of public services are often confused. The management of public services can be public or private, but governance must always be public. Nevertheless, even when it is public, it takes different forms depending on the elements involved: institutions, social actors, technology, laws, leadership, etc. That is why we have organised this conference: to debate the different forms of governance and how innovation adapts to management models."
From INTEXTER, Beatriz Amante invited various experts from Bolivia (Paola Alvizuri and Paul d'ABZAC, from the Universidad Católica Boliviana, and Carlos Revilla, director general of the NGO IADII) to analyse other realities of governance in a country with very different challenges and environments, which notably enriches the global vision of the subject.
Also of note was the participation of Yasmina Ferrer Medina, head of the Water and Sanitation Cooperation Area of the Subdirectorate for Ecological Transition, Water and the Fight against Hunger (AECID), who opened the door to possible grants that would allow the twinning of cities from different parts of the world to share knowledge and improve services.
The programme began with welcoming remarks from the director of ESEIAAT, Jordi Voltas; the director general of Industry of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Xavier Roca; and the deputy mayor and councillor for City Promotion of Terrassa City Council, Joan Salvador. The event was closed by Diana Cayuela, director of INTEXTER, and Ramon Pérez, director of the UPC-TAIGUA Corporate Chair.
From the company Taigua and the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), we are committed to the UPC-TAIGUA CHAIR IN ENGINEERING AND URBAN WATER MANAGEMENT to assist future professionals in their integration into the workforce. This chair combines theoretical and practical knowledge from the water sector, providing students with comprehensive training to face the challenges of an evolving industry. The collaboration between Taigua and UPC offers them an integrated view, from technological innovation to sustainable management, preparing them to lead projects that contribute to social and environmental well-being.
Additionally, the chair promotes applied research projects to improve the competitiveness and sustainability of the sector, generating innovative solutions for the current and future challenges of water management. This collaboration between UPC and Taigua fosters knowledge transfer and the creation of projects with both local and global impact.
Thus, the UPC-TAIGUA CHAIR becomes a meeting point between the academic and business worlds, establishing synergies that benefit the university, the company, and society, training highly qualified professionals to address the challenges of sustainable water management.