Swedish Water Data Lab SVADA – Transition for Smart Water Management

With SVADA, we aim to establish a national Transition Lab for data-driven development in the water and wastewater (WSS) sector.

Over the three-year project period, we will create the foundational structure for a shared, interoperable dataspace where municipalities, authorities, suppliers, and research actors can securely and systematically share and reuse water-related data. This will be achieved through practical cases, technical development, and organisational capacity building.

Underlying needs in brief

Swedish water and wastewater organisations face increasing challenges linked to climate change, ageing infrastructure, and demands for more efficient resource use. At the same time, data maturity varies, and data is often siloed—hindering innovation and smarter operational management, both in day-to-day processes and in development and innovation efforts.

A lack of shared standards, insufficient interoperability between systems, and limited secure data-sharing solutions are additional barriers to progress. Establishing practical mechanisms for sharing and reusing data—for purposes ranging from leakage detection to climate adaptation, reduced environmental impact, and broader urban planning—is a key driver behind this initiative. We also see strong potential for a Swedish dataspace for WSS data to contribute to European initiatives and strengthen Sweden’s role in the EU data strategy.

Three practical cases and three parallel development pathways will pave the way

The project is built around three practical cases based on the needs of participating WSS organisations. In brief, the cases focus on:

1. Re-use of valuable data – a test environment for interoperability, modelling, and shared data flows between municipal actors and external suppliers.
2. Simplified data sharing with authorities – developing structures for trusted data sharing between municipalities and national actors/authorities such as the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI).
3. WSS data as a resource in urban planning – using water consumption data to inform planning for new housing areas and land development.

The need-owners in the Transition Lab are responsible for driving the cases in relation to the challenges they must address and the opportunities they want to capture in their transition toward more data- and insight-driven operations.

In parallel, three development pathways are carried out, connecting systemic transition issues—such as governance, standards, business models, and behavioural change—with the practical cases in the sector.

A. Development pathway for WSS organisations and municipal actors

This pathway focuses on the organisational transformation required by the need-owners. Its purpose is to break down silos and introduce shared data models and governance logic, enabling more efficient water management and more sustainable planning across municipalities, regions, and society at large.

B. Development pathway for suppliers (technology providers and service developers)

By shifting focus from isolated systems to a shared dataspace, suppliers and the innovation ecosystem can take part in the transition and contribute to the development of shared standards, security frameworks, and new business models.

C. Development pathway for national collaboration and scaling

This pathway aims to create conditions for national scaling and dissemination through learning journeys and best-practice examples that link local and national initiatives. The ambition is to lay the groundwork for a national infrastructure aligned with EU guidelines for dataspaces.

In this way, barriers to transition can be identified and addressed, while the benefits of digitalisation can be tested and scaled across the entire innovation ecosystem.

Who is involved in the first phase of the Transition Lab?

The Transition Labs within Water Wise Societies are intended to span a nine-year period starting in autumn 2025. SVADA has been granted funding for the first three-year phase, with the possibility of continuation.

In this first phase, the project is led by the City of Gothenburg, through Kretslopp och Vatten and Intraservice. Tjörn Municipality, SOLTAK AB and VIVAB also participate as need-owners. RISE leads and facilitates the Transition Lab together with IVL, which contributes domain expertise. Additional partners in SVADA’s innovation ecosystem include DHI, Gemit, Sambruk, IoT Open, and SMHI. All partners play important roles in both the cases and the development pathways that support the transition toward a more data- and insight-driven WSS sector enabled by a WSS dataspace.

Further WSS organisations are engaged through networks such as Taskforce VA and a national reference group. The ambition is to gradually grow into a broad national node connected to European dataspace initiatives, involving all actors who wish and need to be part of the journey.

What do we aim to achieve?

With SVADA, we aim to contribute to a more data-driven, resilient, and sustainable WSS sector. Through broad and interdisciplinary collaboration, our expected outcomes include:

• improved data quality and interoperability,
• secure mechanisms for sharing both open and sensitive data,
• reduced vendor lock-in and the development of new smart products and services that can be shared and scaled,
• enhanced ability to work data-driven—for example to detect leaks, work predictively and proactively, optimise operations, and plan investments,
• reduced reporting burden through standardised data sharing with authorities,
• smarter spatial and urban planning and reduced environmentally harmful emissions,
• increased innovation capacity across the sector.

With our broad approach combined with targeted, mission-oriented work, we expect benefits to emerge locally (municipalities, WSS organisations), nationally (authorities, sector bodies, municipal and regional cooperation), and internationally through alignment with European dataspaces.