The availability of Food, Water and Energy are crucial to the ongoing growth of our cities. KnowNow Information is pleased to announce its role in a new international project called CRUNCH.
What is CRUNCH?
The project tackles the urban challenges and inefficiencies of the food, water and energy sectors. It involves 19 partners from 6 countries and has received €1.6m of funding.
Increasing demands for food, water and energy often exceed the capabilities of any one region. Combined with population growth and the expansion of cities, an interconnected world makes such collaboration necessary.
CRUNCH focus
Food-Water-Energy
The project focuses on intersections and potential synergies between sectors usually treated separately in business, policy and research.
CRUNCH will investigate food, water and energy as one complex system. It will create a knowledge platform and make discoveries that cannot emerge when investigated separately.
It combines an advanced Decision Support System and visualisation models with expert knowledge in waste, food, material flows, water and energy management as well as urban planning, architecture and urban governance.
Chris Cooper, KnowNow project lead, said
“The importance of CRUNCH is the ability to make information useful for citizens in a sustainable and trusted manner. KnowNow aims to create a Human Information Marketplace”
Prof Steffen Lehmann, CRUNCH Project Lead, said
“The CRUNCH consortium brings together a breadth of expertise and diversity of technical, social and business disciplines to develop a new knowledge platform, support better decision making and work on the common challenges. We are aiming for ground-breaking outcomes that are truly transdisciplinary, working closely with local stakeholders at every step of the project.”
A visualisation of the Food-Water-Energy Nexus as addressed by CRUNCH
Notes:
The project team is The University of Portsmouth (Project Lead), National Taiwan University, KnowNow Information Ltd, Eindhoven University of Technology, Experior Micro Technologies Ltd., Florida International University FIU, Uppsala University, Glasgow City Council, Gdansk University of Technology, AECOM Ltd, Soil Association, Southend on Sea Borough Council and the Ecological Sequestration Trust.
The 6 participating municipalities are: Southend-on-Sea (UK), Eindhoven (NL), Gdansk (Poland), Uppsala (Sweden, Miami (USA) and Taipei (Taiwan/Chinese Taipei).
You can find more information on the project here:
https://jpi-urbaneurope.eu/news/the-15-projects-that-will-take-on-the-food-water-energy-nexus/