The second round of Ofwat’s Water Breakthrough Challenge opens for entries today with successful partnerships able to win a share of the approximately £39 million prize pot.
The second round of Ofwat’s Water Breakthrough Challenge opens for entries today with successful partnerships able to win a share of the approximately £39 million prize pot.
The winners of the first Water Breakthrough Challenge were announced last month, including a project to slash greenhouse gas emission and energy demand of used water processing while creating a new source of hydrogen energy, as well as a project to support the restoration of the country’s rivers in partnership with the Rivers Trust.
The Water Breakthrough Challenge forms part of Ofwat’s £200 million Innovation Fund, which is being delivered collaboratively by Ofwat and Nesta Challenges, supported by Arup and Isle Utilities.
Following the successful partnerships formed in the first Water Breakthrough Challenge between water companies and the likes of conservation charities, technology giants and academia, the second challenge is encouraging even more creative partnerships, focused on all kinds of innovation – from cutting-edge technologies, to new ways for the water sector to collaborate and engage with customers.
The £200 million fund is intended to unlock innovation in the water sector and deliver transformative benefits for consumers, society and the environment. It aims to encourage radical start up and scale up partnerships from both within and outside the water sector, tackling major issues such as achieving net zero, protecting natural ecosystems and reducing leakage, as well as taking opportunities to use open data.
The fund is specifically for initiatives to drive the long-term transformation in the services water companies provide– drawing in new perspectives and fresh ideas from across the globe, and across the worlds of academia and business.
The winners of the first round of the competition were announced last month with water companies partnering with the likes of Airbus, Microsoft, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), and the Rivers Trust.
£9 million was awarded to projects that tackle the health of rivers and waterways, while a further £12.8 million was awarded to projects that will target the need to drastically reduce the emission of CO2 and other pollutants from the water treatment process. An additional £14.2 million was awarded to projects that aim to resolve challenges facing communities and vulnerable water users, as well as prevent leakages to reduce bills.
For this round of the competition, there are two streams of funding:
Catalyst Stream - Approximately £5 million is available for entries seeking funding of between £100,000 – £1 million. The Catalyst Stream will close for entries at 12pm on 8th December 2021.
Transform Stream - Approximately £34 million is available for entries seeking funding of between £1 million – £10 million. Stage 1 of the Transform Stream will close for entries at 12pm on 16th November 2021. Stage 2 entries will open on 15 December 2021 and close at 12pm on 8th February 2022.
Both streams are open to initiatives aligned with one or more of Ofwat’s five strategic innovation themes. Initiatives in the Catalyst stream should, at a minimum, reach the stage of prototyping and testing some components of their solution with real users; while initiatives in the Transform stream should go beyond this and deliver tangible benefits for customers, society and the environment.
John Russell, Senior Director at Ofwat, said:
“Through our Innovation Fund we want to bring in fresh thinking and inject new ideas and ways of working into the water sector to tackle the major challenges we face. Promoting the formation of new partnerships within the water sector and beyond, the Water Breakthrough Challenge encourages a start-up like approach to overcoming challenges with the potential to scale the solutions for long-term impact.
“Our goal is to create a more open, collaborative, progressive and outward-facing sector – supporting water companies to tap into new opportunities to learn from other industries and transform practices to make a lasting difference to the environment, society and people’s lives. The innovation we’ve seen in the two previous competitions have exceeded our expectations in their ambition and imagination and we’re excited to see what entrants come up with in this round.”
Interested organisations can register for a webinar on Wednesday 13 October at 1.30pm to find out more about Breakthrough 2, from its design to its entry process.
Click here to find out more about the second Breakthrough Challenge
Click here to register for the webinar
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