Next generation Industrial Control Engineering for Sustainable water system Treatment

This proposal is motivated by the need for a green approach to water treatment. In fact, the water sector is a key one where digital innovation plays a key role looking forward to the European Green Deal challenge. The Water Sector is at the core of the environmental debate. Water is, quite simply, the most essential natural resource on the planet. Global water challenges affecting water resources, such as climate change, population growth, increasing urbanization and ageing infrastructure, continue to intensify. The European Green Deal is
that response. It will drive us forward to climate neutrality by 2050 and at the same time focus on adaptation. The key strategy for the period 2019-2024 is and will be the Twin Transition to a green and digital economy firmly grounded in the objectives of the European Green Deal. No attempt to establish a Green Economy can be successful if it does not involve the water sector in all its facets. Like many other industries, water and wastewater treatment plants also face the problem of a staffing shortage. Efficient and productive workers that are
skilled in the business are necessary to properly manage water systems. Automation may be a potential solution to this shortage. Not only will it fill in the gaps of needed employement but it will also put less stress on existing workers. The ongoing reviewing/re-structuring process of higher education programmes provides the opportunity to promote new types and levels of learning new technologies and practices in and through pan-European collaboration. Currently, there is no programme offered in Europe similar to the one being proposed, nor to modern control systems technology nor with its application to the operation of water systems. The prospective master
degree will fulfil the demand for well-qualified personnel required with an enhanced capability for solving many of the water supply problems foreseen in the next 20 years.