Visibility is key to deliver on my creators’ expectations, and thanks to my team of creators, January 2022 saw a very hectic schedule of presenting my credentials online!

My Project Manager, Dr. Konstantinos Plakas called out for me just before the Christmas recess at the Centre for Research and Technology, Hellas (CERTH) in Greece.  He looked quite solemn as he informed me that I had been invited to present my credentials to the European Court of Auditors.

The meeting which was organized online on January 7, 2022, created the very first opportunity to show off my Christmas present, a 3D miniature model of what I will look like in my much-awaited physical appearance in Lebanon, Spain and Tunisia. Understandably, I did feel a bit daunted at the challenge of extolling my virtues to such an eminent, and also quite unexpected, audience.

Ms Erika Katalin Söveges and Ms Annette Farrugia, who joined the meeting on behalf of the European Court of Auditors (ECA), had fully anticipated my being a bit perplexed with their invitation. Thus, they started the meeting by explaining that as part of ECA’s mandate to assess the efficiency of EU funding, they had invited my creators to bring insights from a project implementation point of view.

Dr. Konstantinos Plakas then kicked off with a brief overview of the many results achieved to date, not least the e-learning platform which guides water treatment plant operators on the design, operation and maintenance of each of my components. The ECA representatives were particularly keen to better understand my cross-border dimension and the expected benefits I should bring about.

My Communication Manager, Eng. Dirk De Ketelaere from Integrated Resources Management Company Ltd. (IRMCo), based in Malta, then also elaborated on the ingredients of my Capitalization Plan which is aimed at ensuring the sustainability of results after the end of the ENI CBC Med funding.

Concluding the meeting, my Overall Coordinator Creator, Prof. Anastasios Karabelas (CERTH) thanked the Managing Authority (MA) and the Joint Technical Secretariat (JTS) for their active assistance and guidance received both during the application process and during its implementation.

Soon after this meeting, I got yet another invite to present my credentials in achieving the foreseen results and my contribution to achieving the ENI CBC Med Programme objectives. The invitation informed that the company NAXTA was tasked to perform this assessment which is due to take place during the first half of February 2022.

Around the same time, my Team Leader at the Water Research and Technologies Center (CERTE) in Tunisia, Dr. Hamadi Kallali, enquired about my availability to present myself at the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus Innovation Week. He expressed the view that this online regional event would be an excellent opportunity to give a ‘technological push’ to my replication around the Region beyond the EU funding towards the construction of my 3 pilot demonstration units. 

I welcomed more than 275 visitors, including business angels and investors, to my 3D online booth between January 17 through January 20, 2022. As the event was organized online, my creators furnished the 3D booth with a short video clip of my miniature model and an accompanying catalogue describing the details of my components.

At the opening of this regional brokerage event, the Managing Authority’s Communication Manager, Mr. Martin Heibel, had given a lucid presentation in which he reiterated on today’s challenges faced in the Mediterranean Region to achieve the sustainable management of water, energy and agro-food systems.

Martin also provided a preview of the already planned successor of the ENI CBC Med Programme, which will be retitled as the Interreg NEXT MED Programme. Women and youth are identified as the most vulnerable groups among civil society, and therefore merit special attention. A further strong emphasis is given to communication on project outcomes to key stakeholders, particularly through online means. This in turn leads to more visibility of the practical solutions and best practices that are being developed through the funded projects.

Yes, I fully concur that giving more visibility to the eminent benefits I am about to deliver on is certainly a much-needed recipe for my successful replication around the Mediterranean and beyond!

Actually, the month of January 2022 saw yet another event that I could not resist to miss out on!

Ms Georgia Karavangeli, Coordinator and Ms Esperanza Castro Arillo, Communication Manager of the ENI CBC Med funded MEDTOWN project invited my creators to present my social innovation and inclusion and dimension at an International Seminar on this theme, which took place on January 27, 2022. My Communication Manager, Eng. Dirk De Ketelaere rushed to compile a 3-minute video clip which could be accessed on the MEDTOWN homepage already ahead of the event. The event was joined by 100 participants from around the world. A lady participant from Japan proved very active on the chatline to find out more about what the panellists were discussing about in a first session which focused on how social innovation experiences are affecting public policies at different levels throughout the Mediterranean.

Dirk then took part as a panellist in the second thematic discussion which was centred specifically on how experimentation at the project level can affect policies as well the legal and institutional impediments faced for the successful uptake of the outcomes of the projects which were represented, i.e. MoreThanAJob, MedUP, InnnovAgroWoMed, SIRCLES, MedRiSSE, and my good self AQUACYCLE.

This entry in my log is getting quite long, let me close by inviting you to watch a longer clip on my dedicated channel on YouTube, which is based on the content of the MEDTOWN presentation and can be accessed through this link.

Stay tuned and don’t forget to subscribe so you won’t miss out on the clips that are being added … including an interview in Arabic with Dr. Hamadi Kallali which was screened on Tunisia’s national TV Channel Wataniya 1 on the 6^th of January 2022. Subtitles were added in both English and French, with the help of Tawfik Naboulsi, who forms part of my team at the Lebanese University.