Unearthing water’s Eureka moment   

The UK water sector is at a pivotal moment in its response to the big societal and environmental challenges of our time.

From tackling climate change and achieving net zero, to improving long-term resilience and reducing infrastructure risks to customers, there is a growing sense that the time for action is now.

The key that can unlock the transformative change that’s needed can be summed up in one word: innovation.

That’s why as a regulator we are determined – through our £200 million Innovation Fund – to grow the sector’s capacity to innovate, enabling it to better meet the evolving needs of customers, society and the environment.

Enabling innovation   

Last month we announced the winners of the first Innovation in Water Challenge – the first in a series of competitions that we’ll be running up to 2025.

Schemes that turn ammonia in wastewater into green energy, harness behavioural science to better support vulnerable consumers and use AI to detect leaks in the water network were among those receiving up to £250,000 each through the £2 million competition.

We were particularly pleased to see strong collaboration across the sector and input from outside – universities, construction firms, charities and NGOs were all involved in the successful entries.

It’s this theme of partnership and collaboration that we’re keen to maintain and build on through the inaugural Water Breakthrough Challenge.

Searching for a breakthrough    

The £40 million challenge, which is open for first-stage entries until 3 June, has been created in partnership with Nesta Challenges and with support from Arup.

For this second, larger challenge we have increased not just the funding available (entrants can request between £1 million and £10 million) but also the scope of what we’re looking for.

Hence the word breakthrough: this is all about finding radical ideas that embody the spirit of ‘what if’ thinking.

We want to think even bigger by finding ground-breaking initiatives that have an industry-wide impact and deliver long-term, tangible benefits for customers, society, and the environment.

To infinity…   

This year’s big ideas could be the brainchild of a tech entrepreneur whose app is conceived for banking but has a function in the water sector, or it could be adapted from something designed from satellite technology.

What matters is that, like NASA’s Perseverance mission, successful bids will enhance our sector’s understanding and enable us to see things differently as well as having practical applications.

…and beyond   

Again, we are actively encouraging water companies to seek new partnerships within and outside the sector to drive new thinking, approaches and ways of working.

The opportunity with the Water Breakthrough Challenge is to move above and beyond small-scale pilot ideas or trials. We want to see entries that show how several organisations can collaborate to identify, test and scale new solutions and approaches to industry-wide challenges together.

We also want them to share learning to reduce the cost and time it takes for benefits to be realised for the millions of people who rely on the water sector’s services every day.

Inspiring collaboration

To find these breakthrough innovations we will need to think collaboratively – and differently.

We want to create an environment where our sector looks even further outside itself and shares ideas not just with fellow water companies, but takes inspiration from a host of other industries – from construction to space, finance to pharmaceuticals – to access new thinking that could have applications for the water sector.

It’s about thinking big and thinking bold. We need to encourage blue sky thinking to find solutions to problems that affect us all, such as climate change. I’m looking forward to hearing these ideas, which could create a giant leap for the sector.