GOVAQUA is a Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Action at aims to accelerate the transition to sustainable and equitable water use across Europe by advancing practical governance solutions and tools.
It tackles today’s water‑resilience challenges, recurring droughts, allocation tensions and ecological stress, by aligning ecosystem needs with economic uses in line with the EU Water Framework Directive, the European Green Deal and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The project combines comparative analysis of water‑governance systems across Europe with real‑world experimentation in multi‑stakeholder Living Labs in France, Finland, Spain, the United Kingdom and Romania, plus a transnational Finland–Sweden site.
The Oxfordshire Living Lab illustrates this approach and notes EU co‑funding and UKRI support, with Living Lab activities running from August 2023 to July 2026.
Short summaries of Work Packages :
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WP1 - Assessment Tool: A practical framework and tool to diagnose water governance, score indicators and prioritise improvement pathways at basin level.
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WP2 - Policy & Regulation: The Policy Matrix and legal/regulatory analyses on ecological flows, water allocation and policy coherence.
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WP3 - Participation: Methods and instruments for inclusive, multi‑stakeholder collaboration to enhance legitimacy and uptake of decisions.
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WP4 - Economics & Finance: A review and guidance on innovative economic and financial instruments and how to implement them.
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WP5 - Digital Solutions: Identification and testing of data‑ and information‑sharing tools that enable transparent, evidence‑based decisions.
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WP6 - Living Labs: Design and operation of six Living Labs to experiment with and validate governance innovations in real basin settings.
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WP7 - Communication & Online Academy: Targeted dissemination to decision‑makers and practitioners, and open access to results through the public platform.
Outputs you will find here include the Assessment Tool to diagnose governance, score indicators and prioritise improvement pathways at basin level.
Decision support on ecological flows, water allocation and value‑chain regulation is provided through the Policy Matrix and related resources.
Practical methods and process designs for planning and running Living Labs support replication and learning in new territories (WP6).
A review of innovative economic and financial instruments offers guidance for context‑sensitive adoption and financing strategies (WP4).
Publications and news update stakeholders on releases, events and emerging results throughout the project.
GOVAQUA is coordinated by the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), which convenes a multidisciplinary consortium and leads engagement with decision‑makers, practitioners and communities.
Activities contribute to the WaterGovernance2027 cluster alongside sister projects to align tools, practices and evidence for greater impact across Europe.