wetsus
- Type
- Research, Education & Health Organisation
- Location
- Leeuwarden, Netherlands
- Industries
- Waste efficiency, Food ingredients & products, Crop / plant science, Farm input, Food safety & quality
- Technologies
- Water-reuse technology, Resource-recovery technology, Circular & resource technologies, Analytical measurement, Measurement & sensing
About wetsus
Wetsus is a not-for-profit foundation and European centre of excellence for sustainable water technology, based in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. It acts as a facilitating intermediary for know-how development, bringing together companies, universities, research institutes and public bodies to develop profitable and sustainable water treatment technologies.
Its work is organized around a demand-driven, multidisciplinary open innovation model. Research themes are defined by the private and public water sector and carried out in close collaboration with universities and research institutes, with the aim of turning scientific excellence into commercially relevant innovations that help address global water problems.
Core Values
- Innovation: Wetsus actively seeks trendsetting technological innovations that can be applied in society and contribute to sustainable water solutions.
- Partnership: The organization emphasizes trust-based relationships and inspiring cooperation with partners to create an effective network.
- Reliability: Wetsus highlights keeping promises and delivering on declared standards as a core principle.
- Joy: It aims to create a pleasant working atmosphere in which colleagues can grow professionally and personally.
- Cooperation: Wetsus stresses open, safe and respectful collaboration across disciplines and organizations.
Unique Aspects
- Open innovation model: Wetsus combines scientific excellence with commercial relevance through a distinctive open innovation setup that links companies and universities around shared research themes.
- Large multi-partner ecosystem: As of January 2026, Wetsus reports 108 company participants, around 140 international partners, 50 scientific chairs and 28 research institutes involved in its network.
- National strategic status: In 2022, the Dutch government appointed Wetsus as a national institute for strategically important research (SBO-instituut).
- WaterCampus Leeuwarden base: Wetsus is part of WaterCampus Leeuwarden, which concentrates research infrastructure, education, talent and commercialization support in one location.
- Strong IP framework: The organization operates with dedicated intellectual property rights regulations to support cooperation, innovation and commercialization.