Water sector innovation boosted by £4m open competition –

Water sector innovation to improve water quality, supply and resilience is sought with the launch of a new £4m competition.

The Water Discovery Challenge is an open-access competition that seeks innovators with bold and ingenious ideas that can solve the biggest challenges facing the water sector today and in the future.

The competition is the latest from Ofwat’s £200 million Innovation Fund which seeks to generate new ideas to tackle issues including managing leaks, preventing pollution, improving water efficiency, reducing emissions, boosting flood and drought resilience, prioritising sustainable practices, and supporting vulnerable customers.  Ofwat is England and Wales’ water regulator.

The new Water Discovery Challenge is incentivising ideas from, and led by, those outside of the water sector. It is seeking solutions from industries dealing with similar challenges to those faced by the water sector, or implementing solutions that could benefit water and wastewater services in England and Wales – with no requirement for entrants to partner with a water company. The goal is to open the sector to new ground-breaking insights and thinking that benefit consumers and the environment. 

Up to 20 teams of the most promising innovators will be awarded up to £50,000 to develop their ideas, with expert support and mentoring from water companies. Up to 10 will go on to win up to £450,000 to turn ideas into pilots.   

“Water affects everyone, and it’s time we see what the water sector can learn from astronauts, farmers, data specialists, architects and planners,” said David Black, chief executive of Ofwat. “This is about preparing the water sector for the future, and I look forward to the ideas that come out of it.”

Ofwat is looking for bold and innovative entrants from outside the water sector. It has identified five sectors where it believes there is particularly high potential for innovative crossovers: energy, cities and transport, construction, agriculture and farming, digital, data and internet of things.

“Our £200m Innovation Fund has already supported projects that detect and fix leaks, capture carbon emissions from water processing plants to convert them into fuel, and remove fertilisers from waterways to be re-used in our food system,” said John Russell, senior director at Ofwat. “Now, we’re broadening the opportunity to innovators in any industry that can make a difference to improving the water system for all of us.” 

To deliver the competition, Ofwat is working with innovation prize experts Challenge Works, alongside global engineering, sustainability and water sector experts Arup, and Isle Utilities. In addition to financial incentives, successful teams will benefit from expert mentoring and capacity-building support, including access to insights and mentoring from water companies and support for scaling solutions for the extensive water network in England and Wales. 

Holly Jamieson, director at Challenge Works, said: “Our experience of nurturing and rewarding innovators across multiple challenge prizes has shown us that it is often the least likely suspects that can provide the solution with the greatest impact. And with the support of Arup and Isle Utilities, we can work closely with innovators from outside the water sector to turn great ideas into real-world solutions.”

The Water Discovery Challenge, the latest competition from Ofwat’s £200 million Innovation Fund, will fund innovation from sectors meeting similar challenges including energy, construction, cities and transport, agriculture, and data.

The Water Discovery Challenge opened to entries on 25th January and closes on 5 April 2023. To find out more about the competition and enter, visit waterinnovation.challenges.org