WATER AI: How Wilo Combines Water and Artificial Intelligence for a Sustainable Future

1. We enable AI

Wilo empowers the AI value chain

Wilo develops water technologies for industries along the AI value chain, such as data centers or chip factories -places where every degree and every minute counts. Smart cooling circuits ensure stability and save energy.

Data Centers:
Intelligent cooling circuits guarantee the stable operation of servers, whose failure would have enormous economic consequences. Wilo delivers reliable, energy-efficient systems here—including for global players like Google and Alibaba.

Semiconductor Manufacturing:
Chip production requires especially pure and precise water treatment. Wilo contributes to quality and efficiency in the production of AI technologies with innovative water treatment solutions.

Smart Cities:
Urban water supply and wastewater management become more efficient and future-proof through automated water reuse systems. Wilo supports sustainable urban development and helps meet the growing demand in expanding metropolises.

2. We embed AI

Wilo integrates AI into products, systems and solutions

Wilo integrates AI directly into products, systems, and solutions: this creates solutions that self-optimize, process data in real-time, and adapt to different operating conditions.

Smarter Pump Operation:
Since 2017, Wilo has produced smart pumps that network with each other and optimally adjust their energy consumption.

AI-supported Flow Equalization Systems:
In buildings like SIGNAL IDUNA PARK, these systems ensure pumps are optimally controlled according to load and demand, reducing wear and energy consumption.

Real-time Data Processing:
Continuous analysis of operating data enables early response to malfunctions and intelligent planning of maintenance cycles.

3. We embrace AI

Wilo uses AI internally and empowers people

Wilo uses AI internally - from research and development through production and logistics to service. Digital twins speed up testing, assistants help in daily work, and predictive analyses shorten response times.

WiloGPT
Since 2023, Wilo has developed its own internal AI tool, WiloGPT. This innovative system is tailored specifically to the needs and requirements of the Wilo Group. After a successful development and testing phase, WiloGPT was rolled out company-wide and has been available to all Wilo employees worldwide ever since. The tool supports our teams in working more efficiently, sharing knowledge faster, and developing creative solutions.

AI-powered development environments:
With AI-based simulations, Wilo accelerates product development and testing - efficiently and sustainably. This approach was recognized as a best practice example in the international comparative study “Managing Sustainable Innovations” and underscores our commitment to consistently combining innovation and sustainability.

Employee transformation:
By 2030, around 80% of the workforce will be trained in using AI and actively involved in the transformation. Tools such as Microsoft Copilot help make everyday work more efficient and data-driven.

WATER AI as a Driver for Sustainability

The focus is practical, not pretentious. When buildings can heat and cool more efficiently, when cities lose less water, when industrial processes become more predictable — that’s when measurable benefits arise. Oliver Hermes puts it this way: “With numerous applications in the development and production of our products, systems, and solutions, we can already be considered a true AI pioneer.” The goal: to combine performance and responsibility.

The strategic framework remains broad and down-to-earth. The Wilo Group approaches AI through its three sustainability impact areas:

• Creating: Wilo provides sustainable solutions that address real-world challenges - saving energy, preventing failures, conserving resources.

• Caring: People come first. This includes reducing emissions, protecting data, and minimizing risks.

• Connecting: Building strong partnerships - with politics, business, science, and society. This is how technology becomes an ecosystem.

WATER AI and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Wilo was recognized as an innovative pioneer for its practical application of artificial intelligence in product development. Especially in the context of sustainable water technology, the company sets new standards. The close linkage of digitalization and environmental awareness significantly contributes to actively promoting the global UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - particularly in clean water, affordable and clean energy, and sustainable industry.

Membership in the KI Park e.V., a central platform for exchange between business, research, and politics in the field of artificial intelligence, underlines Wilo’s strategic commitment to developing future-oriented technologies. Here, not only innovative solutions are created, but also partnerships that extend beyond the company’s own scope.

With more than 10,000 employees worldwide, Wilo has combined solid expertise in water technology with modern digital solutions for over 150 years. Under the motto “Pioneering for You”, the company works to make water more sustainable, smarter, and more efficient - fully in line with a livable future.

This is how water becomes the future.

The course is clearly set on the organizational level as well. Internal initiatives range from AI-supported development environments and automated quality reports to support channels that resolve inquiries more quickly. Logistics is becoming more predictive, manufacturing more flexible, and service more personal. The key is to manage complexity - not increase it. That’s why Wilo places great importance on transparency and accountability. AI is meant to empower employees, not replace them, and to enable customers to make clear, informed decisions.

Conclusion

In the end, impact is what counts. When AI helps use energy and water more intelligently, society benefits twice: costs go down, and so do emissions. That’s what makes WATER AI more than just a buzzword — it’s a promise that can be measured in everyday life.

This approach is anything but theoretical. Wilo has been recognized as a hands-on AI pioneer in product development, and its membership in KI Park e. V. reinforces its partnership with business and research.

For more than 150 years, around 10,000 employees have been combining water technology and digitalization — Pioneering for You.
That’s how water becomes the future.

*This article was created in collaboration with Contentway and published in Handelsblatt.