http://www.uintei.kiev.ua/en/page/promising-world-scientific-and-technological-areas-research-field-water
Authors:   State Scientific Institution “Ukrainian Institute of Scientific and Technical Expertise and Information”, Pisarenko T. V. , Kvasha T. K. , Paladchenko O. F. , Molchanova I. V. 
Published: March 2021

Water is essential for human, animal and plant life and the economic activity. It is a natural and limited resource that needs to be protected and used in a sustainable manner in both quality and quantity, and its protection and effective management go beyond national boundaries. Humanity is faced with the acute problem of protecting and preserving freshwater ecosystems, and only together it can provide water for life. On a global scale, the foundations for better water management to sustain life on the planet are provided by the UN Treaties and Sustainable Development Goals until 2030, including Sustainable Development Goal No. 6 "Ensuring Accessibility and Sustainable Management of Water and Sanitation". Achievement of SDG No. 6 is envisaged through the development and implementation of innovative technologies. Identifying the world's promising scientific and technological areas of research is an important and urgent task for conducting effective research and technological forecasting in Ukraine. For determination innovative technologies for the provision of clean water and proper sanitary conditions, scientists of the Ukrainian Institute of Scientific and Technical Expertise and Information carried out the next: 1) improving the methodology of scientific and technological forecasting using the patent landscape and intellectual property analysis; 2) identification of the world's most promising scientific and technological areas. The research was conducted using scientometric and patent analysis on the platform of international databases of scientific publications (Web of Science, Scopus) and patent publications (Orbit, Derwent Innovation, PatSnap, etc.). The following Top-10 areas have been identified as promising scientific directions in the "Water" thematic area: construction of hydraulic structures; water regeneration; treatment plant; sewage treatment system; multistage filtration; groundwater quality; water distribution; nanofiltration; combined drainage system; stormwater management. Promising technological areas in the field of "Water" are the following: stormwater management; construction of hydraulic structures; combined drainage system; multistage filtration; surface water runoff; catchment; water softeners; water resources; water quality monitoring; water storage systems. Comparative analysis of the results of the study gives grounds to conclude that in the field of "Water" the generalized priority technological areas in the world are the next: construction of hydraulic structures; multistage filtration; combined drainage system; stormwater management. Comparative analysis of the research results, taking into account the areas of patenting the of the Top 10 companies in the world and their placement on the landscape map, gives the basis for the recap that in the field of "Water" was made the following conclusions:1) priority technological areas are: water treatment, industrial or domestic wastewater; filtering devices; auxiliary devices for filtering; designs of filter cases; construction of cases; combination of devices for separating particles from gases or vapours; 2) promising technological areas are: devices or stationary installations for cleaning sewer pipes, such as flushing; sewage wells (sewage treatment; details related to wastewater treatment); methods and devices for general hydraulic engineering construction; mixers with rotary mixing devices in stationary tanks; nature of the pollutant (inorganic compounds; organic compounds); separating the dispersed particles from gases, air or vapors using a liquid as a separating agent.