Olympios Group contributing to the EU Digital Action Plan for Water. From smart meters to smart water management: Europe’s next digital challenge

How can Europe turn digital water technologies into real operational value and greater water resilience?

On 9 September, Olympios Group was in Brussels, contributing to the workshop “Shaping the EU Digital Action Plan for Water”, alongside the European Commission, leading water and technology companies, utilities and European organisations.

Our contribution focused on a simple principle:
Large-scale IoT should not mean simply deploying more devices. It should mean building sustainable, secure and interoperable digital infrastructure.
Smart meters and sensors are only the starting point. Their real value comes when they are connected with communications, data platforms and existing utility systems and when the data they generate can support better decisions, earlier leakage detection, improved network performance and greater efficiency.

For Olympios Group, scaling digital water in Europe requires three things:

• Design it end-to-end. Connect devices, communications, platforms and utility systems from the outset.
• Secure it by design. Embed cybersecurity and NIS2-aligned requirements throughout the digital infrastructure lifecycle.
• Sustain it over time. Move beyond funding only initial deployment and ensure that digital investments can be operated, maintained, upgraded and continuously improved.

The same ambition should guide Smart Metering for All.

The goal should not simply be meters for all, but value from smart metering for all, including small and medium-sized utilities, while creating the digital foundation for tomorrow’s AI, predictive analytics and digital twins.
Europe has the technology. The next step is to make digital water work at scale, securely, sustainably and with measurable impact.