Cities bring water challenges, operational expertise and opportunities for experimentation into close proximity. Valencia and Singapore demonstrate how different approaches to governance can help turn this potential into lasting improvements in water management.
This insight examines Valencia’s utility-led digital transformation and entrepreneurial ecosystem alongside Singapore’s long-term public leadership, research partnerships and support for emerging technologies. It explores what these approaches share: sustained investment, strong anchor institutions and collaboration between utilities, governments, businesses and academia. Their experiences offer lessons for cities seeking to move water innovation from early trials into wider adoption, showing how governance, procurement and partnerships create the conditions for solutions to take root and scale.
