Mediterranean Regions for Water Resilience: Territorial Solutions, Shared Priorities

The Dialogue4Innovation (D4I) Territorial Innovation Policy Lab (TIPLab) on Water Scarcity is a year-long, three-stage co-creation process linking Mediterranean regions, expert stakeholders and innovation project promoters to build shared EU-level advocacy on water resilience. Since the Bologna Challenge Workshop (June 2026) and the online Solutions Webinar (September 2026), the TIPLab has built a common evidence base across the basin, spanning governance, technology, finance, markets and society. 

This operational session brings that process to its territorial and advocacy core, combining two complementary voices. First, Mediterranean regions take the stage, presenting in their own words the concrete initiatives they are advancing on water scarcity through a selection of regional case studies.  
Second, the session closes with a roundtable of open discussions in order to collect the views and opinions of the invited regions on priorities and needs to pursue this Mediterranean challenge. The industrial and scientific relevance is direct: participating regions operate water authorities and utilities already testing non-conventional resources and demand-management solutions at delivery scale. Together, their input will feeddirectly into the Mediterranean Joint Policy Position on Water that CPMR-IMC will finalize with a coalition of the willing in early 2027. 

Session Chair
Francesco Camonita, CPMR-IMC

Program

14:00 Welcome & Framing: The TIPLab Journey and the Path towards a Mediterranean Joint Policy Position on Water Management  
Francesco Camonita, CPMR-IMC

14:05 TIPLab Case Studies: Regional Initiatives for Water Resilience and Scarcity  
Moderator:
Francesco Camonita, CPMR-IMC

Speakers: 

Round A: 
Roberta Maria Rana, Head of Water Treatment and Final Discharge Department (Autorità Idrica Pugliese), Apulia Region, Italy
Valentín Vélez Pacios, Engineer and member of Staff of the Water Department, Generalitat Valenciana, Spain
Giampaolo Sarno, Head of the Sustainable Agriculture Unit, Directorate-General for Agriculture, Hunting and Fishing, Emilia-Romagna Region, Italy

Round B:
José Sandoval, Director General for Water, Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia, Spain
Yorgos Stephanedes, Professor Emeritus, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Patras, Greece
Patrizia Bianconi, Senior Expert Senior Expert at Emilia-Romagna region and Coordinator of Alliance of European Regions on Water Resilience and Preparedness for Climate Change  

15:30 Mediterranean Roundtable: Open discussion on priorities and desired opportunities

Guiding questions for all speakers:
What is the single most urgent priority action needed to accelerate water resilience in the Mediterranean over the next 2–3 years, from where you sit?

What kind of partnership or funding opportunity would most help scale your initiative to other Mediterranean regions?

If you could ask one thing of EU institutions (funding, regulation, coordination) to better support that work, what would it be?

15:55 Wrap-up & Final Steps of the TIPLab  
Francesco Camonita, CPMR-IMC