SARASWATI 2.0 is a four-year Horizon 2020 project jointly funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under Grant Agreement nº 821427 and by the Department of Science and Technology (DST)/Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India. The project finds its framework under the call topic: SC5-12-2018 EU-India water co-operation. It builds on previous EU-India projects, in particular on the SARASWATI project that was implemented from 2012 to 2017.

The acronym SARASWATI is based on the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, arts and science. Also the name of the lost holy river in India, the acronym draws attention to the importance of rivers and at the same time of knowledge and science to protect and recover the rivers.

The project is coordinated by the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Austria, from the EU side, and the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, from the Indian side. The consortium comprises of a total of 17 institutions of which 9 are European, 7 are from India and one partner is from Israel.