Dutch water sector presence at ACODAL 2024
The Dutch representation at this year’s ACODAL Water, Waste and Energy Congress & Exhibition stood out once again, with a Netherlands Lounge hosting the largest delegation of exhibitors ever. A set of presentations on the latest Dutch innovations and projects given by the organisations at the Lounge was also an important element of the Congress’ programme. All in all, ACODAL’s attendees had ample opportunity to experience firsthand how Dutch know-how and expertise help address Colombia’s most pressing challenges.
Expertise at the Netherlands Lounge
The 67th ACODAL Water, Waste and Energy Congress & Exhibition took place from 5 to 7 June in Cartagena, Colombia. After two years of being held in Bogotá, ACODAL’s return to Cartagena benefited the Dutch representation as the city is the focal point of Dutch-Colombian cooperation. The exhibition space at the Netherlands Lounge was sold out in no time, with representatives from a total of 11 organisations and two cooperation and knowledge exchange initiatives being warmly welcomed. These were: Aquatech, Bluecon International, Led Illumination Concepts Sustainable Solutions, HERMANA Project (an initiative comprising Deltares, FutureWater, Hydrologic), IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, InspirAgua (an initiative of the Dutch Water Authorities’ Blue Deal Programme), Paques/Ecopreneur, PAVCO WAVIN, Prodeing/Econvert Water & Energy, Rainmaker Holland, Terberg Matec Latam, Van Essen/Wequips, and Witteveen+Bos.
The Lounge was hosted by the Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP) and Holland House Colombia whose team was also on site to receive visitors and further inform them about the Dutch water sector and the long-standing water-related collaboration between the Netherlands and Colombia. The hosts were supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Bogota, the Consulate of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Cartagena, and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency.
Knowledge exchange
In addition to the exhibition floor, ACODAL offered multiple speaking engagements to the Dutch delegation. Most of the exhibitors gave presentations covering a wide range of topics including compact treatment for domestic wastewater, innovative hydraulic pumps, and mobile water filtration equipment.
Parallel to this, ACODAL hosted the grand finale of Wetskills-Colombia 2024, where students and younger generations of water professionals presented their out-of-the-box solutions to real water related cases put forward by several Colombian and international organisations in the water-sustainability sector. InspirAgua also took part in the competition with six young talents and three cases.
Expanding business contacts
Even before the doors opened, ACODAL’s event offered many opportunities to strengthen Dutch-Colombian ties and create new ones. The Dutch delegation was welcomed to Colombia with a couple of field visits organised by Holland House Colombia and NWP. First, they visited Acuacar (in Spanish) Cartagena’s water and sewerage company, and then they visited the Secretaría de Infraestructura, the Government agency behind Cartagena’s infrastructure projects.
Once at the Congress, the Dutch exhibitors joined a matchmaking session organised by ACODAL. Here they got to know more about the specific challenges in the region from Colombian organisations and discussed possible bespoke solutions.
A network cocktail given at the Netherlands Lounge was also an important event for the Dutch group as they were able to further interact with Colombian partners. The Honorary Consul of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Cartagena, Mauricio Villegas, joined the event.
When looking back to the overall experience, Wiger Franke, Executive Director at Wequips, said that “the set-up of the Netherlands Lounge was excellent. I liked the opportunity to interact with other Dutch participants and the field visits before ACODAL had an added value. We had two great days of one-on-one meetings. In total, around 15 meetings which helped Wequips to find potential clients and future leads for pumps and monitoring equipment in an efficient way.”
Bert-Jan Pit, Bluecon’s Director also had a positive experience: “Bluecon is pleased to have participated in the Netherlands Pavilion at ACODAL, tightly organised by NWP and Holland House Colombia. Being able to build valuable contacts, partly through guided matchmaking, certainly helps us go one step further in this beautiful country that wants to move forward.”
