Embracing strong AI partnerships
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Through strong partnerships, we work towards to embrace strong AI partnerships.
We work with select partners from business, academia and civil society to connect AI research and with practical application.
Technological expertise and practical experience can help us harness the potential of artificial intelligence. AI is developing rapidly – and the expertise required is no longer found within individual organisations alone.
Wilo therefore relies on carefully selected partnerships that bring together different perspectives. We combine our experience in water and technology with scientific expertise and AI know-how in targeted fields of application. This creates new ideas, enables the testing of applications and helps develop solutions to specific challenges.
Global WATER AI Academy as a platform for AI partnerships
The Global WATER AI Academy is a Wilo Group platform that promotes collaboration at the intersection of water, digitalisation and AI.
It brings together companies, research organisations, universities, technology partners and experts from various countries. Together, we discuss new technologies, identify areas of application and develop innovative solutions.
This is about more than knowledge-sharing. The Academy enables co-creation, joint projects and international networking. It brings together diverse perspectives to turn ideas into practical applications and develop new strategies to address the future needs of water management.
Bringing science and industry together
Progress happens when scientific findings are applied to specific practical challenges. That is why Wilo brings research and industrial application together through selected partnerships.
This includes the Global WATER AI Academy, which works with selected universities and research institutions to apply scientific expertise and AI perspectives to real-world needs from water management. Partners include, for instance, Heriot-Watt University, TU Dortmund University and the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.
Case study: The Wilo Group and Heriot-Watt University
One of the Global WATER AI Academy’s first partnerships is with Heriot-Watt University. Wilo is working with Heriot-Watt University to develop an educational programme.
This collaboration combines academic knowledge with industrial applications, while creating new opportunities for students and experts to engage with water management in a professional context. The partnership is intended to build expertise and support the development of new approaches.
Connecting AI expertise with water technology
In-depth domain knowledge can help tailor AI applications to specialist requirements. For Wilo, this means: the development of smart solutions does not start with the technology, but with the specific requirements of infrastructure.
This is where our AI partnerships make a difference. Wilo contributes its many years of expertise in water technology, physical principles and real-world systems. Technology partners complement this experience with specialist knowledge in areas such as machine learning, reinforcement learning, simulation and data-driven decision support.
Case study: Partnership with InstaDeep
This approach is particularly evident in the partnership between Wilo and InstaDeep. Since March 2026, the two companies have been working together to combine water technology and AI in joint development projects. The aim of this multi-stage development partnership is to create an AI platform that can support a wide range of use cases.
Here, Wilo’s experience and specialist knowledge in water technology come together with InstaDeep’s expertise in AI applications – particularly reinforcement learning and simulation environments. AI-based solutions for selected challenges relating to complex water systems are being developed collaboratively. These solutions are first tested in simulations, before being evaluated for use in selected real-world applications.
Shaping the future together
The future of water and artificial intelligence takes shape where people, businesses, science and technology pool their strengths.
Wilo is therefore actively establishing partnerships that go beyond traditional corporate boundaries. The Global WATER AI Academy serves as a platform for selected collaboration and exchange initiatives. Collaborations such as the partnership with InstaDeep demonstrate how joint development work on specific AI application challenges can be organised.
