How can we address the needs of water management, food production and energy generation together? This question helped frame the EIT Water Central & Danube Forum, held at TU Wien in Vienna on the 21st of October 2026, where Dr Károly Kovács, Chairman of the Hungarian Water Partnership (HWP), represented our organisation.
The forum brought together regional water-sector professionals to explore shared challenges and help shape the priorities of EIT Water’s Regional Hub Central & Danube. Hosted in 2026 by BOKU University and TU Wien, the hub connects Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Serbia, with the aim of strengthening cooperation across the Danube region and the Balkans.
Bringing regional priorities into focus
Discussions centred on four interconnected themes:
The relationships between water, food and energy
Hydropower
Sediment management
Sustainable aquaculture
A keynote by EIT Water CEO Mikael Kamp Sørensen, an international panel discussion and collaborative exchanges provided opportunities to consider how the hub could connect regional expertise with future innovation activities. BOKU’s involvement is led by Christoph Hauer. Together with TU Wien and the wider regional community, the university is helping develop an approach that brings research, education and business closer together.
Looking ahead
For HWP, the initiative offers an encouraging prospect: a regional platform through which water-sector knowledge, practical experience and new ideas can meet across national and professional boundaries. We are excited to see this community take shape and curious to discover how its shared priorities will develop into projects, learning opportunities and practical solutions. The focus on water, food and energy is particularly relevant to a future in which decisions in one sector increasingly need to account for their effects on others.
With initial joint project calls expected from 2027, the coming period will be an important step towards translating the initiative’s ambitions into opportunities for cooperation.
HWP thanks EIT Water, the Regional Hub Central & Danube and the organising teams at BOKU University and TU Wien for welcoming us to the forum. We look forward to following the hub’s development and exploring opportunities for future collaboration.
About EIT and EIT Water
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) is a body of the European Union and part of Horizon Europe. It connects universities, businesses and research organisations through partnerships known as Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KIC), supporting innovation, entrepreneurial education and business development. EIT Water is the EIT’s tenth Knowledge and Innovation Community, dedicated to water, marine and maritime sectors and ecosystems. It aims to connect education, research and business to address challenges including water scarcity, drought, flooding, pollution and ecosystem degradation. Its regional hubs link local expertise with wider European cooperation.
Learn more: https://eitwater.eu/
Photo credit: © Matthias Heisler | EIT Water