Acknowledging the added-value
of developing and operating HYDRA in a collaborative and competitive environment, rather in a vacuum, the project will give special attention in establishing communication paths and engaging with national and international networks of water-related laboratories.
In this context, the project has already engaged with the Co-UDlabs communities, and the close collaboration is expected to continue during, as well as after the end of the project.
Additional key aspects
of HYDRA, also associated strongly with the long-term operation and sustainability of infrastructure, are its modular, multi-purpose and extendable nature.
Further to scientific- and curiosity-driven experimental applications, HYDRA will be able to serve market- and policy-driven needs for developing, testing and demonstrating smart water cutting-edge technologies on a controlled laboratory environment, and hence accommodate a wider range of stakeholders and end-users, such as technology developers and water energy infrastructure agencies and supply utilities.
HYDRA will be the first
infrastructure of this type in Greece, and one of the few in Europe, and as such, can significantly enhance the existing academic, research and market opportunities for multiple stakeholders.
In addition to serving the academic and research goals of NTUA, HYDRA can become the starting point for cooperations between LoAH and similar laboratories at national and international level, in both academic and research context, including EU funded calls. HYDRA will be the first aspires to be a first-of-its-kind “Living Lab” where:
undergraduate, postgraduate and lifelong learning modules taught at NTUA can be underpinned with hands on experiences for young engineers
novel models and algorithms for water systems (e.g. based on machine learning and soft-sensors techniques) as well as digital services and applications (digital twins) can be developed and tested on realistic laboratory data
New software and hardware products (e.g., new water quality sensors and/or smart meters developed by third parties) can be evaluated and benchmarked to become suitable for real-world conditions, also ensuring financial sustainability for the HYDRA infrastructure.
Therefore the facility will be open and accessible to academic staff, post-doctoral researchers and PhD candidates for their research projects. Special care will be given to attract young researchers developing their thesis on physical modelling and experimental work. Moreover, the facility will be available for graduate and undergraduate students, either in the framework of a course or for the development of their dissertations. Finally, the facility could be used to improve communication of water-related problems with non-expert audiences, such as the demonstration of the facility at visiting schools.
