On the 1st of February 2014, the project “Integrated Support System for Efficient Water Usage and Resources Management” (acronym ISS-EWATUS) was launched. The project is scheduled for 36 months and is carried out under the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research (FP7), in the use of ICT for water resources management (Objective ICT-2013.6.3). University of Silesia (Institute of Computer Science, Faculty of Computer Science and Materials Science WIiNoM) is the project coordinator. The partners forming the consortium are academic institutions, scientific research units and enterprises of five European countries: Poland – University of Silesia (US), Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas (IETU), Municipal Water Company of Sosnowiec (RPWiK), United Kingdom Loughborough University (LU), Brunel University (BU), Spain Universidad Pablo de Olavide (UPO), Greece Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH), Municipal Water Company of Skiathos (DEYASK), DOTSOFT S.A. (DS), Netherlands VU University Amsterdam (VU). Dr. Ewa Magiera (US) is the Project Coordinator, Dr. Eng. Wojciech Froelich (US) is the Scientific and Quality Manager and Dr. Małgorzata Gajos (US) is the Dissemination Manager.
The project ISS-EWATUS concerns developing an integrated, computer-based system aimed at supporting the efficient use of water in the UE. The main objective of the project is to conserve water by means of ICT tools, especially, to increase the awareness of water consumption, to change people’s behaviour concerning the excessive use of water and to create new models of water consumption at both municipal and household levels.
On the 27th-28th of February 2014 in The Scientific Information Centre and Academic Library (Polish acronym: CINiBA) in Katowice, a kick-off meeting was organized to launch the project ISS-EWATUS. The meeting was attended by the representatives of the project partners and invited guests, the representatives of the University of Silesia: Vice-Rector for Science and Collaboration with Industry Prof. Dr. Habil. Andrzej Kowalczyk, Dean of WIiNoM Dr. Habil. Danuta Stróż Prof. UŚ, Deputy-Deans Dr. Habil. Piotr Porwik Prof. UŚ and Dr. Katarzyna Trynda and Director of The Institute of Computer Science Prof. Dr. Habil. Eng. Zygmunt Wróbel. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss tasks and expected outcomes of the project, the management, cooperation activities and dissemination of the project.
Project coordinator Dr. Ewa Magiera presented the consortium and discussed the overall objectives of the ISS-EWATUS project. On behalf of the University of Silesia, the guests were greeted by the Vice-Rector for Science and Collaboration with Industry Prof. Dr. Habil. Andrzej Kowalczyk, who congratulated all participants and wished them to obtain fruitful and effective implementation of the project tasks. He emphasised that both the scientific and administrative potential of the University of Silesia ensure proper coordination of the project. Deputy coordinator and Scientific and Quality Manager Dr. Eng. Wojciech Froelich presented the scientific and technical objectives of the project and specified its detailed aims. Dissemination Manager Dr. Małgorzata Gajos discussed the principles of the project dissemination plan, highlighting the importance of the dissemination of the project results during their final evaluation by the European Commission. The coordinator and the deputy coordinator of the project discussed the roles of committees: Steering Committee, Project Boards, Scientific and Quality Board, Validation and Evaluation Board, Advisory Board. The leaders of the work packages discussed the goals and concepts of the tasks, which were also the subject of heated debate.
The participants visited also the newly built Scientific Information Centre and Academic Library, which was created thanks to the funding obtained from the EU. The staff of the Centre presented modern technology and organizational solutions offered to the readers of the library.

Project ISS-EWATUS participants on the kick-off meeting

From left: Evangelos Kosmidis (DOTSOFT), Prof. Krzysztof Berbeka – expert (University of Economics, Cracow), Prof. Shuang-Hua Yang (LU), Lukasz Podsiadlo (RPWiK), Rafal Ulanczyk (IETU), Dr. Katarzyna Samborska (IETU), John Sarris (DEYASK), Prof. Jose L. Salmeron (UPO), Dr. Eng. Wojciech Froelich (US), Dr. Elpiniki Papageorgiou (CERTH), Dr. Chrysi Laspidou (CERTH), Dr. Ewa Magiera (US), Dr. Andrea Capiluppi (BU), Dr. Sandjai Bhulai (VU), Dr. Malgorzata Gajos (US), Dr. Lili Yang (LU). In the middle: Ewelina Doluk – secretary, Project Department (US).