With its Open Teder for Innovation (OTI), ARSINOE was giving the possibility to innovators to get their solution financed up to €50,000 so it could be deployed in real conditions in one of our case studies.
The Main River Basin suffers from climate change leading to droughts and heatwaves, which can be dangerous for citizens. One way to counter this is to improve public access to drinking water to ensure that everyone has enough water to hydrate. Another important part of the innovation is raising awareness of the fact that our good drinking water is a valuable asset that needs to be protected, firstly by saving water and secondly by preventing pollutants from entering the groundwater. Especially in the dry regions of Franconia, creating more awareness for the value of water resources and how they can be protected is essential.
Thus, a tip : tap aims to create more places along the Main Cycle Path where water bottles can be refilled with free, fresh tap water. Existing drinking fountains and refill stations will be made more visible and new ones initiated. The aim is to respond to the increasing number of hot days, create appreciation for the precious resource of drinking water and contribute to sustainable tourism. The vision is to offer cyclists the opportunity to refresh themselves with tap water at intervals of no more than 10 kilometres in the future, while also promoting the value of water and its protection along the cycle path. Organisations and people from the region can support the project e.g. by creating new Refill-Stations or by supporting the communication about the protection and use of tap water.
The innovation also revolves around education and capacity building: private individuals of all age groups will be educated on the ecological benefits of tap water, its production and on how to save water and protect its quality. Stakeholders will learn how to implement access to drinking water in public and new ways to positively communicate about drinking water and sustainability. Social or behavioural change and governance structures’ evolution will also be addressed, indeed people as well as organisations will be encouraged to re-think their habits of using bottled water. Drinking tap water will be normalised and facilitated. a tip : tap will bring social and governance innovation to the Main River case study.
We have now introduced the 3 winners of our 1st Open Tender for Innovation, stay tuned to learn more about the innovators of our 2nd call !