SIWW2026 Closes with Strong Momentum in Advancing Global Water Resilience

Reaffirming its position as one of the world’s premier platforms for innovative water, coastal and flood solutions, SIWW2026 brought together governments, cities, utilities, academia, and industry to exchange insights, showcase innovations and forge partnerships that advance water security, climate resilience and sustainable urban water development.

A Global Gathering of Government, Utility and City Leaders

SIWW2026 drew strong participation from leaders across governments, water agencies, utilities and cities worldwide. Attendees included H.E. Retno Marsudi, United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Water, ministers and vice ministers from the People's Republic of China, Thailand, Nigeria, Armenia, Timor-Leste and Sarawak, as well as the Chairman of the Department of Energy, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Leaders from some 30 cities, including Copenhagen, Rotterdam, Hong Kong, New York City, Antwerp, Dubai, Jakarta, Melbourne, Quezon City and Tokyo, also attended the event, reflecting SIWW’s continued relevance to cities managing complex urban water challenges. They were joined by leaders from nearly 60 utilities across Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States, as well as senior representatives from leading international organisations, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Asian Development Bank, World Bank Group, C40 Cities and the International Water Association. Together, they exchanged peer-to-peer lessons on integrated water management, utility transformation and long-term resilience planning, augmenting the broader programme that followed.

Advancing Strategies, Innovation and Solutions in Urban Water Management

This high-level participation was supported by a broad high-quality programme designed to deepen dialogue and practical learning across the sector. SIWW2026 featured more than 100 sessions across three key themes — Municipal Water Solutions, Industrial Water Solutions, and Coastal and Flood Resilience — where participants discussed practical and scalable approaches to strengthening water resilience in the face of growing climate, resource and urbanisation pressures. Comprising of plenaries, summits, workshops and technical sessions, topics covered AI and digitalisation, water and resource circularity, treatment and reuse technologies, industrial water management, nature-based solutions, coastal and flood resilience, and financing and delivery models, reflecting the breadth of challenges and opportunities facing the global water sector today.

The Largest-Ever Water Expo: Driving Business and Partnerships

The Water Expo — organised in cooperation with IFAT and the pre-eminent marketplace for urban water solutions for municipal and industrial users across Southeast Asia — was the largest in SIWW's history, occupying six exhibition halls across two floors and 23,000 sqm of exhibition space. The 2026 edition attracted 500 exhibiting companies, with 56% overseas exhibitor participation, and featured the largest Singapore Pavilion to date. Connecting technology providers, project owners and capital to accelerate deployment across the region, the Expo catalysed new opportunities and partnerships, and saw 53 product launches, 35 project announcements, and a series of MOU and contract signings.

Key Announcements and Highlights

Across the week, SIWW2026 drove a series of landmark announcements and partnerships spanning research funding, innovation alliances, commercial partnerships, research funding, as well as guidelines and frameworks. Key highlights include:

• Nearly S$100 million in funding awarded under the Research, Innovation and Enterprise (RIE) 2030 Urban Solutions & Sustainability Domain, for PUB to advance research and development of municipal and industrial water solutions.
• Over 15 MOUs and partnerships at SIWW2026. Among them were MOUs between PUB and multiple stakeholders to form the Industrial Water Solutions Innovation Ecosystem Alliances for the data centre and wafer fabrication sectors.
• S$14 million in funding awarded by PUB to five projects under the Living Lab pillar of the Coastal Protection and Flood Management Research Programme, supporting the test-bedding of coastal protection measures at selected locations along Singapore’s coastline.
• Launch of the Coastal Protection Code of Practice to guide landowners and industry in fulfilling their coastal protection obligations, and the Flood-Resilient Developments Guidebook to help developments better manage flood risks.
• New partnerships to support the development and international deployment of water technologies. These included a new global cross-sector partnership involving Ramboll, Henning Larsen, the Royal Danish Academy and the University of Canberra to explore the use of wastewater treatment by-products as feedstock for low-carbon, circular building materials; as well as a strategic collaboration between Netatech, Dassault Systèmes and YellowScan to support next-generation coastal protection, digital twin intelligence and autonomous environmental monitoring capabilities.
• Launch of the 3rd addendum to the 4th edition of the WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality, which updates guidance across areas including small water supplies, sanitary inspections, water safety plans, microbial water quality risk management, priority waterborne pathogens, pesticides used for vector control in drinking water and supporting resources for implementation.

“SIWW2026 has shown what is possible when the global water community comes together with urgency, purpose and ambition. The ideas, partnerships and solutions advanced this week reflect the momentum needed to strengthen water security, climate resilience and sustainable urban development. As water challenges become more complex, SIWW will strive to be the platform where cities, utilities, industry and researchers can collaborate, innovate and turn shared challenges into scalable solutions,” said Mr Ryan Yuen, Managing Director of SIWW.

The next edition of SIWW, the 12th Singapore International Water Week (SIWW2028), will return from 12 to 15 June 2028 at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore.