Hydreos competitiveness cluster

Hydreos is an inter-regional competitiveness cluster gathering Alsace and Lorraine on a particular approach which consists in knocking down the scientific and technical barriers related to the quality of inland waters and their impact on the health of populations and ecosystems.

Hydreos has to answer issues related to access to drinking water, water savings and water conservation by supporting collaborative research projects that cover three priority areas:

  • Control of pollutants such as the study of micropollutants and chemical precursors, analysis of human and veterinary drug residues, or preventive management of water pollution from farming;
  • Water networks and water transport, for example dynamic and sustainable management of drinking water systems, bottling and recycling, and protection of water in contact with hostile environments such as hospitals;
  • Water and ecosystems, e.g. restoration and ecological exploitation of wetlands, protection of water resources, wastewater treatment using wetlands, quality management of waters from flooded mines.

Among its members, we find large groups specialized in water treatment such as Veolia and Suez Environnement, in industrial equipments (Endress+Hauser, Millipore...) and in production of bottled water like Nestlé Waters, as well as a network of SMEs and engineering offices. In addition, Hydreos relies on 680 researchers identified both in public institutions (French Agency for Food Safety, BRGM, CNRS, National School for Water Engineering and Environment of Strasbourg, INERIS, INRA, National Institute of Applied Sciences...) and in private research centres (IFBM, Pasteur Institute in Lille, Kronenbourg, Nestlé Waters, Saint-Gobain PAM...).

Concerning training needs, the cluster can count on a network of universities and colleges which provide more than 4000 degrees per year in the field of water and which are implied in the European Confederation of Upper Rhine Universities (EUCOR), i.e. a consortium of French, German and Swiss universities.