Agbar together with Fundació BCN Formació Professional has organized a conference to present a new pedagogical and innovative project based on the exchange of knowledge about innovative solutions in the field of sustainability.

This is the EU Water Challenge VET Lab project and aims to engage European VET learners and trainers to identify innovative nature-based solutions to mitigate the consequences and effects of flooding and improve water retention within an imaginary European city, named "Metròpoli". Both trainees and trainers are participating in the first international VET awards to respond to this key societal challenge in the water management sector.

Therefore, participating VET students must be creative in solving a real-world need by applying the Challenge Based Learning approach and other open innovation methodologies applied to VET, while acquiring deeper knowledge and skills needed to thrive in a changing world.

The event was attended by experts in the sector and brought together representatives of entities involved in the sector.
Among the speakers were Lluc Pejó, director of the Water School and talent manager of Agbar and Ms. Anna Hernandez, head of the Economic Development Area of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. In addition Sol Bermejo, project coordinator for the Fundació BCN Formació Professional presented "EU Water Challenge VETLab", and Gemma Sepúlveda, innovation project coordinator also from the Fundació presented the Metropolis FPLab.

During the presentation of the challenge, experts in urban drainage solutions have shared their knowledge and experiences, including the explanation of what are the "solutions based on nature"; by Angel Villanueva, director of resilience and climate change of Agbar accompanied by the artist and artist Lluís Valls who has been creating his live artwork of details of the Metropolis that needs to be highlighted. The city "Metròpoli" was also presented by Montse Llonch, Communication Manager of l'Escola de l'Aigua d'Agbar, explaining the basic requirements of the starting point of the challenge.

The Challenge-Based Learning (CBS) methodology, an innovative pedagogical element provided by the project, and the virtual platform were also presented by Joan Ras, from SDLI.