SEMIDE at ECOMONDO 2026 in Rimini, Italy: From Water Innovation to Policy Action

SEMIDE supported the CPMR Intermediterranean Commission in organising the 3rd Transformative Innovation Policy Lab (TIPLab 3): “From Solution to Action”, held as part of ECOMONDO on 4–5 November.

This was the third and final session in a series of three TIPLabs bringing together Mediterranean organisations, including the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), the Mediterranean Institute for Water (IME), PRIMA, Plan Bleu, REMOC, European projects, and regional authorities that are members of the CPMR Intermediterranean Commission. The series aimed to foster dialogue and cooperation on transformative innovation policies across the Mediterranean.

During the TIPLab, Maroua Oueslati, Project and Information Manager at SEMIDE, presented the key outcomes of the first and second TIPLabs and engaged participants in an interactive discussion . Together, they explored preliminary policy recommendations to address water scarcity in the Mediterranean region, emerging from the discussions held throughout the TIPLab series. These recommendations will contribute to the preparation of a joint regional policy paper, bringing together the key findings and proposals developed through this collaborative process.

Alongside these policy discussions, SEMIDE also contributed to ECOMONDO's Blue Ecosystem event through the CARDIMED project. On 5 November, Maroua Oueslatirepresented the CARDIMED project in a roundtable discussion held during the “Blue Ecosystem Final Event: Marine Pollution, Water & Waste Management – Showcase of Innovative Solutions”, at the BLU-ER stand.

The discussion explored innovative approaches to tackling marine pollution, water scarcity and waste management challenges. Maroua highlighted how improved wastewater treatment, water reuse and resource recovery can help reduce environmental pressures on rivers, coastal ecosystems and the Mediterranean Sea.

To illustrate these approaches, she presented three CARDIMED demonstration cases showcasing water recycling and resource recovery across different sectors.

Maroua also emphasised CARDIMED's replication strategy, which aims to facilitate the transfer and uptake of these solutions across different sectors, regions and territorial contexts, extending their impact beyond the demonstration sites.