HOME – 5ºEdi 2026 – EN

AIGÜES DE BARCELONA

DeepTech​ Edition

From water to impact

European Call for Open Innovation with Big Data for Research until November 13​​

PARTICIPATE

WHAT IS
AB DATA CHALLENGE

The AB Data Challenge is an initiative driven by Aigües de Barcelona that aims to put technology and data at the service of society to respond, thanks to open innovation, to new contexts, needs, challenges, and applications within the Barcelona metropolitan area.

After four successful editions alongside Catalan universities, this new DeepTech edition takes a European leap and is committed to a collaborative approach with the research ecosystem, building alliances with technology centers, research groups, emerging companies (startups), and/or tech-based or R&D-specialized small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Join this collaborative ecosystem and co-create disruptive solutions!

PARTICIPATE

WHAT IS
AB DATA CHALLENGE

The AB Data Challenge is an initiative driven by Aigües de Barcelona that aims to put technology and data at the service of society to respond, thanks to open innovation, to new contexts, needs, challenges, and applications within the Barcelona metropolitan area.

After four successful editions alongside Catalan universities, this new DeepTech edition takes a European leap and is committed to a collaborative approach with the research ecosystem, building alliances with technology centers, research groups, emerging companies (startups), and/or tech-based or R&D-specialized small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Join this collaborative ecosystem and co-create disruptive solutions!

PARTICIPATE

WHAT IS
THE GOAL

Thanks to the deployment of remote reading, Aigües de Barcelona records water consumption data, remotely and in real time, in the 23 municipalities of the Barcelona metropolitan area where it supplies drinking water.

This call aims to identify, develop, and integrate innovative solutions that leverage the potential of anonymized remote reading data to generate a positive impact on people and the territory through the integrated water cycle management carried out by Aigües de Barcelona.

WHAT DO WE OFFER?

Financing up to €100,000

Allocated entirely to the technological development and implementation of the winning solution, subject to compliance with the Eligibility Criteria (Legal Terms, Section 6).

Unique and real data

Access to anonymized remote reading databases from the municipalities where Aigües de Barcelona provides its services (daily, hourly, consumption typology, etc.) and access to the Aigües de Barcelona technological environment (Datalab).

Real development

6 to 18 months of development and implementation with Aigües de Barcelona. 
PARTICIPATE

INFORMATIONAL
WEBINAR

Information session to present the call and answer participants’ questions.

→
DATE
October 7, 2026
→
TIME
10:00 AM (CET)
→
Format
Online
REGISTER FOR THE WEBINAR

If you have any questions, you can email us at 

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?

Aigües de Barcelona invites organizations from across Europe to propose innovative use cases based on the real remote reading data of the call.

Technology centers

Organizations with applied R&D and technology transfer capabilities.

Research groups

University teams and research centers whose main objective is to conduct fundamental research, industrial research, or experimental development.

Startups and/or SMEs

Tech-based or R&D-specialized emerging companies focused on the development of disruptive technologies.

WHAT THEMES?

Choose the track that best fits your proposal. If none fit, theme 05 is your entry point.

Intelligent simulation and prediction of consumption

Develop predictive analytical models based on remote reading data and the integration of external variables (weather, seasonality, tourism, socioeconomic data, etc.) to estimate water demand across multiple time horizons and under different climate and/or socioeconomic scenarios.

Characterization of household consumption patterns

Identify consumption patterns from analytical remote reading data to deduce water consumption dynamics inside the home without requiring additional physical instrumentation. These developments should make it possible to infer variables such as occupancy, household typology, or consumption habits (appliance use, peak hours).

Alert system with social, environmental, or economic impact

Evolve the current alert system toward a model based on the analytics of atypical temporal consumption patterns to contribute to social protection (e.g., monitoring consumption patterns in homes of vulnerable or dependent people), property and commercial security (e.g., unexpected consumption during vacation periods or outside business hours), and water efficiency (e.g., early leak detection).

Remote reading data quality

Optimize the massive processing, cleaning, and validation of data flows from the smart meter fleet through, for example, the automatic identification of anomalies, inconsistencies, or gaps in the remote reading data time series.

Disruptive Innovation

Development of new applications, methodologies, algorithms, or novel and disruptive use cases that exploit the potential of the remote reading datasets managed by Aigües de Barcelona to respond to major environmental, social, operational, and/or economic challenges.

CALENDAR

Sept 14, 2026
Registration opens
Oct 7, 2026
Webinar
Nov 13, 2026
Call closes
DEADLINE
Dec 2026
Announcement of
6 finalists
Jan 2027
Pitch Day and winner
2027
Implementation / Integration

Sept 14, 2026

Registration opens

Oct 7, 2026

Webinar

Nov 13, 2026

Call closes

DEADLINE

Dec 2026

Announcement of 6 finalists

Jan 2027

Pitch Day and winner

2027

Implementation / Integration

SELECTION PROCESS

Participation in the call is voluntary and free of charge

Reception and eligibility

Prediction of consumption, effect of external phenomena (climate change, tourism fluctuations…) and detection of anomalous consumption.

Evaluation

All eligible proposals will be evaluated based on the evaluation criteria set forth in the legal terms.

Pitch Day

The 6 proposals that have obtained the highest scores will be invited to present their proposal to a jury of experts from Aigües de Barcelona.

Selection of the winning Proposal

The jury will meet to select one (1) proposal as the winner of the call.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN 3 STEPS

1
Check the legal terms of the call.
DOWNLOAD THE LEGAL TERMS
2
Submit your technical proposal by filling out the Word form.
SUBMIT YOUR PROPOSAL
3
Send it before November 13, 2026, to the following email in PDF format:

For any questions or inquiries, email

abdatachallenge.cat
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.