On 3 June 2014, Mr. Khoo Teng Chey, Executive Director of the Singapore Centre for Liveable Cities and Mr. Ahmed Aboutaleb, Mayor of the the city of Rotterdam, jointly released two giant floating fish during the Dutch water sector network reception at the Singapore International Water Week, marking the official start of the third edition of the Singapore-Netherlands Water Challenge.
To the excitement of the more than one hundred guests, the fish appeared to be represent exactly the spirit that this year’s challenge with the theme Urban Water Rebels is looking to promote as they flew uncontrollably across the exhibition hall!
An innovative concept for an Integrated Floating Village has won the first Indonesia-Netherlands Water Challenge. The Indonesia-Netherlands Young Water Talent Award was presented to the winning student team from Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) by Dutch Minister for Infrastructure and the Environment, Mrs. Melanie Schultz van Haegen.
Picture above from left to right: Minister Schultz van Haegen, students from team ITB, Dr. Basoeki (chair judiging committee), Mr Van Niekerk (chair Export & Promotion Dutch water sector)
The Integrated Floating Village concept is specifically aimed at the fishing communities in Jakarta. As the city is developing plans for extensive flood defence structures in Jakarta Bay, these communities need to find a new place to live.
"With operations around the globe, Van Oord attaches great value to knowledge sharing, innovation, capacity building, and establishing relationships with local stakeholders. One of our initiatives to address these objectives is the Holland Water Challenge, a competition that inspires international young water talent to take an active role in finding innovative and sustainable solutions to real-life delta and water management problems."
Read more in the online client magazine: http://magazine.vanoord.com
Student teams from 4 Indonesian universities received a warm welcome during the Dutch trade mission on 20 and 21 November as they started working on new ideas for the development of Jakarta Bay. The Indonesia-Netherlands Water Challenge was officially launched during the Water and Ports Seminar on 20 November where all teams were given strong encouragement by the more than 150 Indonesian and Dutch guests attending.
The 16 students who have been selected after an initial call for papers in October, teamed up in Jakarta for two days with their mentor companies - Van Oord, BAM International, Royal HaskoningDHV and Deltares - to lay the foundation for their plans. Over the coming two months, the teams will further develop their ideas, taking advantage of expertise provided by the Dutch companies.
Singapore, 1 October 2013 -- Winners of the Singapore-Netherlands Water Challenge 2013 were presented today with the prestigious Singapore-Netherlands Sustainability Award by His Excellency Jacques Werner, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Singapore and Professor Chan Eng Soon, Dean of the Facutly of Engineering of National University of Singapore. The event, which was held at the National University of Singapore’s University Town, was attended by some 80 representatives from industry, academia and government of both countries.
