As an AI expert, Calejo has participated in a large industry- and municipality-wide Vinnova-funded PiiA project in the water & sewage area called "VA-Eko, VA digitization in a smart ecosystem".
Water & Sewage faces gigantic challenges in the future when it comes to finances, technology and sustainability, which in the future will require strong investments and large investments. Sweden and the world have major challenges ahead when it comes to water supply and wastewater management. This area will require gigantic investments to continue operating.
- It is about meeting a large and increasing growth in the cities, an aging water and sewerage infrastructure, increasing emergency response and historically large investment needs. The industry association Svenskt Vatten estimates the municipal investment need over the next 20 years at over SEK 100 billion to continue to be able to purify our water and manage our wastewater, says Mats Johansson, project manager and senior advisor at Process IT Innovation.
Wide support of actors In the current strategic PiiA project, new and already existing parties has been gathered in an inclusive and open feasibility study regarding future needs and possible effective digital solutions. Project owner Process-IT in Luleå and among other participants besides Calejo are Stockholm Water, Stockholm Waste, Umeå and Vindeln's VA companies Vakin, Mälarenergi, Luleå Energi, Umeå Energi, SCA Munksund, LKAB, SSAB, Siemens, ABB, Afry, Elsys, Flow Below, Umeå University, RISE, Luleå University of Technology, Blue Institute and FOI.
The project aims at a consensus and a better understanding of the world around us as a basis for creating necessary activities and applied projects based on this, but it will also result in a transfer of knowledge and understanding of technology between the process industries and the municipalities.
Significant potential The goal is then to initiate one or more new PiiA projects, as well as other strategic activities in the water and sewage area. The project will also produce an easily accessible report and a white paper in the form of a digitization strategy for VA investments. Another objective is to map the need and interest in introducing a new system for Asset Management in the VA area in accordance with ISO 55000.
- There are great opportunities for technology and knowledge transfer between the process industry's water use and the municipalities' water and sewage treatment. In both cases, the processes are continuous and the experiences that are now being built in the industry within AI and IoT can easily be transferred to the infrastructure sector as well, says Johannes Holmberg, CEO of Calejo Industrial Intelligence. and ends:
- The potential for the new technology is significant and will be able to contribute to making the infrastructure and municipal facilities both more efficient and more sustainable.