Platform & Services

Risk Mapping and Geographic Analysis

ISSI develops digital maps that make complex water-related vulnerabilities immediately understandable. Geographic analysis helps decision-makers identify where risks are concentrated, which communities or economic activities may be most exposed and which areas should receive priority attention.

Depending on the availability and quality of the data, maps may represent climatic pressures, drought exposure, flooding potential, infrastructure vulnerability, groundwater stress, ecosystem degradation, socioeconomic sensitivity and the location of essential services.

The geographic outputs can be updated as new information becomes available, allowing the analysis to evolve alongside the territory rather than remaining a static assessment.

Scenario Development and Stress Testing

ISSI develops future scenarios to explore how territories and infrastructure systems could respond to different combinations of environmental and socioeconomic pressures.

Scenarios may examine prolonged drought, intense rainfall, rising seasonal demand, population changes, tourism peaks, agricultural water stress, infrastructure disruptions or simultaneous emergencies. The purpose is to test the resilience of the territory and reveal vulnerabilities that may not be evident under normal operating conditions.

Scenario analysis allows public institutions and utilities to compare possible interventions, evaluate trade-offs and identify measures that remain effective under different future conditions. It consequently strengthens strategic planning under uncertainty.

Socioeconomic Impact Analysis

ISSI evaluates how water-related disruptions may affect the wider territorial economy. The analysis considers potential consequences for agriculture, tourism, commerce, industry, employment, public services and household welfare.

This service helps administrations understand that the cost of a water crisis extends far beyond direct physical damage. Reduced agricultural productivity, interruptions to business activity, declining tourist attractiveness, increased public expenditure and unequal access to essential services can create long-term consequences for local development.

By identifying the sectors and social groups most exposed to water-related disruption, ISSI supports the design of more targeted, equitable and economically informed resilience policies.

Strategic Support for Public Administrations

ISSI provides administrations with technical and strategic assistance throughout the decision-making process. This may include the interpretation of analytical results, the prioritisation of interventions, the preparation of administrative recommendations and the coordination of discussions between departments and external stakeholders.

The Institute acts as an intermediary between scientific research, technological development and public policy. Its role is to ensure that advanced analytical tools produce information that is understandable, relevant and usable within real administrative processes.

Stakeholder Engagement and Participatory Planning

Effective water planning requires cooperation between institutions, utilities, businesses, professional associations, agricultural organisations, researchers and local communities. ISSI facilitates structured engagement processes to collect territorial knowledge, validate analytical findings and ensure that proposed measures respond to local needs.

Stakeholder participation also improves data collection, helps identify practical constraints and strengthens the legitimacy of the resulting strategy. The objective is to develop solutions with the territory rather than simply applying an external model to it.

Training and Knowledge Transfer

ISSI provides training for municipal personnel, technical professionals and partner organisations. Training activities may cover Water Intelligence, vulnerability assessment, data interpretation, scenario planning, climate adaptation and the use of digital analytical tools.

Knowledge transfer is a central element of the Italian–Scandinavian collaboration. The purpose is not only to deliver a final report or technological product, but also to strengthen local capacity and enable institutions to understand, update and apply the methodology over time.

Pilot Projects and Territorial Experimentation

ISSI designs and coordinates pilot projects through which predictive tools and resilience methodologies can be tested in real territorial contexts. Pilot projects generally include data collection, platform configuration, vulnerability analysis, scenario development, validation with local stakeholders and the preparation of strategic recommendations.

These initiatives allow municipalities to evaluate the practical value of Water Intelligence before considering wider implementation. They also generate local evidence, refine the methodology and create replicable models for other Italian and European territories.

Data Integration and Decision-Support Dashboards

ISSI supports the integration of information that is frequently distributed across different offices, databases and institutional actors. Climatic observations, hydrological records, infrastructure data, land-use information and socioeconomic indicators can be combined within a common analytical environment.

Decision-support dashboards provide a clear representation of the principal indicators, vulnerability levels, geographic hotspots and possible future scenarios. They are designed to help both technical personnel and decision-makers access complex information through an intuitive interface.

Communication and Dissemination

ISSI supports institutions in communicating water-related risks and project results to citizens, stakeholders and the wider public. Communication activities may include public reports, explanatory materials, institutional events, workshops, visualisations and presentations.

Clear communication is essential for transforming scientific analysis into collective awareness. It can strengthen public understanding of preventive measures, encourage responsible water use and demonstrate the value of investing in resilience before a crisis occurs.

A Shared Italian–Scandinavian Model

The ISSI model is built on cooperation between two complementary contexts. Scandinavia contributes an advanced culture of prevention, interdisciplinary research, technological experimentation and climate-resilience planning. Italy contributes territories characterised by significant climatic diversity, complex water-management challenges, strong local institutions and an urgent need for innovative solutions.

ISSI brings these elements together. The Institute does not simply transfer a Scandinavian model to Italy; it adapts international expertise through local data, institutional dialogue and territorial experimentation. This creates solutions that are scientifically robust, technologically advanced and genuinely responsive to the needs of Italian municipalities and communities.

Starting from Siena and Tuscany, ISSI aims to establish a replicable model for other territories in Southern Europe: a model in which water crises are no longer treated only as unpredictable emergencies, but increasingly understood as risks that can be anticipated, managed and mitigated.

Predictive Water Intelligence

ISSI develops integrated analyses designed to identify how, where and under which conditions future water crises may emerge. The service combines climatic, hydrological, infrastructural, environmental and socioeconomic information to assess the probability and potential consequences of droughts, floods, water shortages, infrastructure failures and other water-related disruptions.

Unlike conventional monitoring systems, which mainly describe current or historical conditions, ISSI adopts a prospective approach. Data are used to identify emerging vulnerabilities, simulate possible future scenarios and support decisions before critical events become emergencies.

Through Hydro Nexus Analytics (HNA), the predictive platform developed by Aegir Resilience, ISSI can produce vulnerability assessments, territorial risk maps, trend analyses, early-warning indicators and scenario-based projections. The objective is not to predict individual events with absolute certainty, but to provide administrations with a scientifically grounded understanding of the factors that could increase the probability and severity of future crises.

Integrated Territorial Vulnerability Assessment

Water crises rarely result from a single environmental variable. A period of limited rainfall, for example, may become a severe socioeconomic crisis when it interacts with ageing infrastructure, high seasonal demand, agricultural dependence, ecosystem degradation or limited institutional capacity.

ISSI therefore analyses water vulnerability as a multidimensional phenomenon. Its methodology evaluates the interaction between climatic exposure, infrastructure conditions, environmental pressures and socioeconomic sensitivity.

The analytical process generates an Overall Vulnerability Index (OVI), supported by specialised sub-indexes:

- the Climate Vulnerability Index (CVI), assessing drought, rainfall variability, temperature trends and exposure to extreme climatic events;

- the Structural Vulnerability Index (SVI), examining water infrastructure, storage capacity, network efficiency, accessibility and continuity of essential services;

- the Environmental Vulnerability Index (EVI), evaluating ecosystems, soil conditions, land use, groundwater pressures and the capacity of the natural environment to absorb disturbances;

- the Socioeconomic Vulnerability Index (SEVI), analysing how water-related disruptions may affect households, agriculture, tourism, local businesses, industrial activities, employment and vulnerable social groups.

The inclusion of socioeconomic vulnerability is one of the distinguishing features of the ISSI approach. Water scarcity is not assessed solely as a hydrological deficit but as a potential disruption to communities, public services and local economic systems.

Municipal Water Strategies

ISSI supports municipalities in developing comprehensive Municipal Water Strategies based on scientific evidence and predictive analysis. These strategies translate complex technological outputs into concrete administrative priorities and long-term policy directions.

The process begins with an assessment of the territory’s water system, available data, existing infrastructure, environmental pressures and institutional responsibilities. Predictive analyses are then used to identify priority vulnerabilities and evaluate how different future scenarios could affect the municipality.

The results are converted into recommendations for infrastructure investment, maintenance planning, emergency preparedness, land-use policies, climate adaptation, environmental protection and public communication. The final strategy provides the administration with a shared framework through which different municipal departments can coordinate their activities.

A Municipal Water Strategy is not intended to replace existing hydrological, engineering or civil-protection plans. It complements these instruments by connecting them within a broader and forward-looking vision of water security.

Hydro-Strategic Reports

ISSI prepares tailored Hydro-Strategic Reports for municipalities, territorial authorities, utilities and economic stakeholders. These reports transform technical analyses into accessible and actionable intelligence.

Each report may include a territorial water profile, an assessment of current and emerging vulnerabilities, a review of critical infrastructure, maps of priority areas, scenario simulations, socioeconomic impact analysis and recommendations for preventive action.

The reports are designed to serve both technical and institutional purposes. They can support administrative decision-making, investment planning, funding applications, stakeholder consultations and communication with citizens.

ISSI – Istituto Senese di Servizi Idro-strategici provides advanced services in predictive Water Intelligence, climate resilience and hydro-strategic territorial planning. Its purpose is to help municipalities, public institutions, water utilities and economic stakeholders move from fragmented information and emergency response towards an integrated, preventive and technologically supported approach to water security.

ISSI is rooted in a joint Italian–Scandinavian innovation ecosystem. Based in Siena, the Institute combines detailed knowledge of Italian territories and public administrations with the scientific, methodological and technological expertise developed in Sweden. Its activities are supported through collaboration with the Scandinavian Institute of Climate Resilience (SICR), the research environment of Lund University and Aegir Resilience AB, the Swedish WaterTech company developing the Hydro Nexus Analytics platform.

This cooperation allows ISSI to adapt advanced Scandinavian approaches to prevention, climate planning and technological innovation to the environmental, institutional and socioeconomic characteristics of Southern Europe.