D3.5: Perception, acceptance and use of digital solutions

The objective of the report is to identify enabling and hindering factors for the uptake of ICT solutions to water governance, through the analysis of the process of development and the introduction of three digital applications in three different contexts of water management.
This final deliverable builds on a preliminary (deliverable 3.4) for WP3 which was submitted in November 2020. The report applies the structure proposed in the Guiding Protocol (Deliverable 3.1).

This document is a draft version. A final version will be submitted in May 2022.

The report first describes the general case context of Berlin, Paris and Milan before turning to the assessment of the digital water governance system in the three case studies. In a second step, the social context of the use of the digital solutions will be evaluated.
As such, collected findings in this report are still preliminary and, so far, not every hypothesis defined in the Guiding Protocol has been inquired thoroughly. Nevertheless, current research has reached good progress, reflected in the current status of this report. The first sets of stakeholders’ interviews and community of practices were conducted and allowed to delineate the structural configurations of water governance specific to the different case studies. They expose elements that might prove to be factors and conjunctions that affect – positively or negatively – the uptake of digital solutions and the coordination among involved actors.
The process of development of the three applications – ICT solutions – in Berlin, Milan and Paris proceeds in parallel to the sociological research on the respective systems of water governance. Thanks to regular communication and exchanges, digital solutions will be developed accordingly with the study cases’ own specificity, to ensure that, once finalized these will be effectively used by people and will thus support a digital and sustainable transition of the water systems.

Note: the preparation of this report has been impacted by the COVID pandemics. In consequence, a previous draft version was delivered in November 2020. The present document represents the second draft version, and compared to the previous version it brings additional input regarding:

• information on the COPs and the collection of the public opinion in Paris.
• Introduction to section 3 “governance assessment”.

In addition, the introductive sections of the deliverable have been amended. It has been agreed that the final version is due end of May 2022.