The Chair consists of a space that strategically responds to current challenges in the sustainable water and biowaste management, promoting knowledge transfer to move towards sustainable development models.
The Green Horizon Chair: Water-Bioenergy Nexus is now a reality. Promoted by the Universitat de València and supported by two leading companies in these sectors, such as Facsa and Sitra, the Chair was established as a strategic response to nowadays challenges in the sustainable water and biowaste management, and it represents a space where “science, technology and talent come together to generate knowledge and solutions for a greener future, resilient for water, energy and the planet”.
This was the definition of the Chair given by the rector of the Universitat de València, M. Vicenta Mestre, during the formal signing ceremony, which was also attended by Elena Llopis, Board Member at Facsa; José Claramonte, Managing Director of Facsa; Ricardo Sáez, Managing Director of Sitra; Rosa María Donat, Vice-rector of Innovation and Transfer at the UV; Josep Ribes, Director of the recently released Chair; and Guillermo Berlanga, Chief Innovation Officer at Nealis, the company to which Facsa and Sitra belong.
It consists of an alliance between the university and the company conceived to bring research closer to the realities of the water and bioenergy sectors, promote knowledge transfer and support talent development. “We firmly believe in collaborating with the university as a way to turn knowledge into real solutions for society. This Chair, which is the third promnoted by Facsa and the first by Sitra, will allow us to keep innovating and contributing to prepared professionals training to face futures challenges concerning water and bioenergy”, has underlined Elena Llopis.
Regarding lines of work, the Chair will be focused on the development of solutions in relation to wastewater and biowaste treatment, supporting processes that allow a better exploitation of resources. In this field, advanced technologies will be researched to optimise sludge management and promote biogas and biomethane production. “Our aim is for the Chair to become a space from where innovative solutions are released to improve these processes and contribute to accelerate the transition towards a circular low-carbon economy”, has added Josep Ribes during the ceremony.
This signing marks the official creation of the Green Horizon Chair: Water-Bioenergy Nexus. The team responsible for this Chair has been working for months on the development and the projects that will arise from this initiative. In this context, the Chair has already hosted its first technical conference, a meeting that has given students at the Universitat de València the opportunity to see first hand the main challenges and opportunities of one of the sectors that also requires viable solutions from both technological and energetic perspectives. This initial contact may be strengthened through new activities related to the Chair, curricular and extracurricular internships, and access to an industrial doctorate that will integrate academic research and projects applied to business environment.
Additionally, the meeting was useful for the promoting entities to share their experiences in the field of circular economy, focusing on the development of biomethane as one of the key factors of energetic transition. The meeting was attended by Calagua, research group of the Chair, as well as other relevant agents of Valencian ecosystem of innovation and bioeconomy, such as AINIA and Bioval, which drew attention to key factors like the great future of talent in relation to bioeconomy, the specific opportunities and challenges it presents in the Valencian context, as well as the alternatives offered by this territory concerning technological entrepeneurship.
