The water industry is constantly looking to innovate in order to add value for customers. Whether that’s through simplifying bills, reducing leaks or investing in nature-based solutions, Southern Water is striving to continuously improve all aspects of our operations.
To accelerate this process, our regulator, Ofwat runs an annual Innovation Fund which fosters collaboration between water companies, industry, academia, charities, and NGOs to accelerate the rate of change within the sector.
There are two parts to the ‘Water Breakthrough Challenge’. The Catalyst stream targets beyond business-as-usual innovation practices and allows for projects between £500k and £2M. The Transform stream focuses on sparking ambitious new approaches to the big challenges facing the sector, funding between £2M and £10M is available for applicants. A total of £38M is available through these programmes, with the deadlines falling in November and December respectively.
Applicants are encouraged to align with one or more of the four key themes which underpin both streams of the fund, supporting Ofwat’s priorities in addition to the Water2050 strategy:
- Adapting to climate change and achieving net zero emissions
- Protecting and enhancing the environment
- Delivering long-term operational resilience
- Improving the delivery of services for customers and society
If you are interested in finding out more information on these competitions, Ofwat provide regular updates via the competition website and have even published a report on the pilot phase of the fund, including learnings, updates plus revisions to the competition based on applicant feedback.
Did you know?
A new ‘Open Access’ competition is launching in early 2023, with an emphasis on fostering early-stage innovation, and will be open to anyone. Although there is no requirement to work with a water company, we’d still love to hear your ideas. Contact the Bluewave team
Collaboration is a key part of our strategy, allowing us to deliver the latest generation of technologies along with new and novel ways of working, which is why we’re excited to begin working on the latest ideas for round three of the Innovation Fund.
The Bluewave team act as a central innovation point within Southern Water, coordinating our efforts and response to funding and partnership opportunities. If you believe your idea, technology or way of thinking can improve or even transform the way we operate we’d love to hear from you!