Water Valley Innovation

Denmark aims to be an international hub for water technology solutions. With Water Valley Innovation, efforts are strengthened to drive concrete innovation, demonstration, and scaling of solutions that support both the green transition and Danish exports.

The project builds on the strong national effort that since 2021 has brought together actors across the water sector to develop sustainable and efficient water technologies. In this phase, Denmark’s position is further strengthened and embedded in an international context through knowledge exchange, learning, and collaboration.

Vision and ambition

The project’s vision is: “To develop and demonstrate sustainable and efficient water cycles.”

The ambition is to unite stakeholders across the ecosystem and create innovation that:

• strengthens exports in the Danish water sector
• contributes to a cleaner aquatic environment
• supports the goal of a climate-neutral water sector

Focus areas

The activities in Water Valley Innovation are aligned with the overall focus areas of the lighthouse initiative:

• Challenge-driven innovation collaboration
• Acceleration of entrepreneurship within water
• Preparing SMEs for export
• Development of a strong and coherent ecosystem

The project is a key part of the challenge-driven innovation collaboration, aiming for at least 100 SMEs to develop new solutions by 2030 based on the activities.

Project content

The project implements a series of innovation collaborations where water technology SMEs develop new solutions in close interaction with water utilities, water-intensive industries, and knowledge institutions. The initiative is organized into two main activities:

Green transition of water-intensive industry

This activity focuses on reducing water, energy, and resource consumption in industrial processes – particularly in water-intensive sectors such as the food industry. Through mapping, data analysis, and testing, new technologies and business models are developed that:

• reduce climate impact
• increase resource efficiency
• create scalable solutions with export potential

In addition, solutions are developed for predictive maintenance and autonomous inspection of pipeline systems, extending lifetime, reducing environmental impact, and improving operations in both wastewater and district heating systems.

Shallow groundwater and digitalization

This main activity focuses on digitalization and sensor technologies that strengthen future utility infrastructure. The initiatives address, among other things:

• intelligent control of hydrogen sulfide in sewer systems
• digital rat control combined with monitoring of flow and water levels
• smart monitoring and circular utilization of shallow groundwater

The solutions contribute to more efficient operations, reduced use of chemicals and energy, as well as increased security of supply and climate adaptation.

Collaboration and impact

The project brings together SMEs, water utilities, industry, universities, and GTS institutes in concrete innovation processes. The developed solutions create direct value for participating companies and hold significant potential for scaling – both within the water sector and across industries.

Through the project partners, collaboration, knowledge sharing, and international visibility are strengthened, enabling solutions to move from testing to market and supporting Denmark’s position as a strong player in water technology.

Read the official announcement from Erhvervsstyrelsen here.