Information for winners

The payment of any funds awarded through the Challenge shall be settled through the mechanism agreed by the Water Companies. Neither Nesta, Ofwat nor any of their respective partners in the Challenge shall have any responsibility or liability to anyone, however, arising for the non-payment or delay in payment of any funds awarded through the Challenge. 

For Breakthrough 4, the winner’s agreement is based on the standard template available here. Please note this template is being provided for information purposes only at this time and may be subject to changes. 

For Breakthrough 1, 2 and 3 and Innovation in Water Challenge it is likely that your winner’s agreement is similar to this template. However, please refer back to your actual agreement for any contractual matters.

Through monitoring we aim to:

• Support and enable winners to take well managed project/innovation risks.
• Act as a supportive thought partner – trusting and enabling winners to be open about their projects.
• Collect learnings from the projects, to share them more widely with the cohort of winners. 
• Take a flexible approach that is proportional to the innovation risk and minimises any additional reporting burden wherever possible.

At various stages, the monitoring process is designed to capture:

Inputs – The resources required to achieve the project objectives (this includes programme, expenditure and costs, risks, including any approvals and consents required and project partners).

Outputs​ – The direct result of the activity, e.g., technological progress, IP developed, or increased knowledge including lessons learnt. Outputs are definable things which the project produces through doing the work and may be wider than the original expectation (i.e. a direct consequence of the project). The outputs will support the immediate outcomes and longer-term impact.

Outcomes – The changes or benefits that result, generally to the direct beneficiaries of the programme, during and at the completion of the project e.g., benefits to the customers, society or environment from the innovation development. These will be different for each project and will have initially been defined as SMART objectives in the original entry.

Impact​ – The wider sectoral and longer-term changes that are anticipated to result from the project, either directly or indirectly. These will be different for each project and will likely draw on the impacts included in the original entry. The Outputs from any project should result in direct and immediate Outcomes, but it is also likely that in many cases the Outcomes from multiple projects will act together to achieve the intended / necessary Impact across the sector.

Annual – monitoring questions asked on an annual basis reflecting the project’s position at the end of the financial year (the responses to these questions are reported in July of any given year).

Winning projects will be asked to define and confirm their SMART objectives:

Specific – Be specific about what you are aiming to achieve and how

Measurable – Be clear about what you will measure to assess whether your objective has been achieved

Achievable – Ensure that your outcomes are realistically achievable

Relevant – Make sure your outcomes are aligned to the bigger picture and the long-term impact you want your project to have

Time-bound – Set a date for when you can expect to achieve your outcome

The following diagram shows the different types of reports each project will be required to submit over the project’s lifecycle, and the frequency of reporting to be expected.

Baseline report 

The baseline report is an opportunity to update and confirm the project’s intended outcomes and programme, any additional risks and opportunities, and a spend profile.

This is one-off report that should be submitted when your projected has started. For the purposes of monitoring, we define your project having started as follows:

• You have held or are about to hold a project inception meeting to initiate project delivery activities
• Your project team has been mobilised and has just begun working on project delivery
• You have commenced work on the first activity identified in your Programme, as submitted in Entry Form Annex 1 (Winners Agreement Annex 2) excluding where these refer to pre-mobilisation activities or collaboration agreement formation.

Please see the template for the Breakthrough 4 Baseline Report here.

Bi-annual reports (or quarterly reports as required)

Bi-annual reports are focused on understanding the progress of the entries, any risks and issues and collecting key lessons learnt.

If we consider your project to be more high risk, the Monitoring Team may increase your monitoring reporting from a bi-annual to a quarterly basis which they will communicate with you.

Please see the current Breakthrough Monitoring Form template here.

See some guidance below about examples of information to include in your bi-annual report:

1:1 meetings

One-to-one virtual meetings are held with the entry delivery team to discuss progress, with a focus on any key points or challenges highlighted in the bi-annual or quarterly report.

Annual review of outcomes and impact

This is an additional section to the quarterly report, focused on reporting progress over the previous year and updating the delivery programme (these questions will be asked on the Monitoring form in the July or September quarter depending on your monitoring frequency).

Final project report

This report will be required of all projects at the end of the project and will focus on reflecting on the success of the project and any lessons learnt..

It is Ofwat/ the delivery team’s chance to fully understand the project’s outputs, outcomes and impacts at the project completion.

Your final report (and any IPR) will be hosted on the Ofwat Innovation Fund website and so needs to be written in a manner that doesn’t assume a lot of background knowledge.

Please see the timeline for the draft final report below:

Please find the Project Final Report template (including guidance) here.

See this best practice example from Anglian Water’s The World’s First Ecological Digital Twin project Final Report, which provides a good level of detail and insights of the project’s outputs, outcomes and lessons learned.

Post-delivery impact report

Projects will be asked to take part in a semi-structured interview and complete a survey post-project completion. We seek to understand the outcomes the project has developed and understand any further long-term benefits. This is part of the overall assessment of theimpact of the Fund and how it’s working to achieve its intended impacts as set out in the Fund’s Theory of Change. This will happen within 12 months of the project’s completion.

Projects are expected to highlight any changes to their project. Please find here the link to the project change request template which you should complete and send to [email protected]. 

Changes that need to be reported as soon as possible via the above Project Change Request form, and require approval include:

• End-date changes (no cost to Fund extension)
• Partner change (excluding Lead)
• Budget
• Other e.g. minor scope changes

Changes that need to be reported as soon as possible, but don’t require approval include:

• Project lead​ change
• High risk realised
• Significant scope change that impacts the outputs/outcomes of the project
• Accountable officer​
• Milestone and award installment

The Monitoring Team will reach out to inform you when your monitoring report is due and what your project’s monitoring report frequency is (bi-annual or quarterly).

Monitoring reports are due January, April, July, October depending on your project’s monitoring frequency.

Monitoring reports are due by the second Monday of the quarter you are reporting in e.g. Monday 13 January 2025, Monday 14 April 2025, Monday 14 July 2025 and Monday 13 October 2025.

Monitoring meetings will be arranged for projects that have submitted a monitoring report during the quarter.

The timing of the monitoring meetings is dependent on the competition stream and the individual project’s risk profile, as well as the availability of the team.

The Monitoring Team will reach out to projects to arrange a suitable time for monitoring meetings.

Twitter handles
@Ofwat
@Challenge_Works
@ArupUK
@IsleUtilities

LinkedIn handles
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arup
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Visual Assets
Water Breakthrough Challenge logo
Ofwat Innovation Fund logo

Hashtags
#WaterBreakthroughChallenge4
#WaterBreakthroughChallenge3
#WaterBrightIdea
#WaterBreakthroughChallenge2

Information on past and upcoming events can be found on our Events page.

Please get in touch with [email protected] in the first place and we will connect you with the PR agency for the Fund, Seven Consultancy.

Breakthrough 2 Transform – General Communications Pack

• Password:  !TransformWinners!

Breakthrough 3 – General Communications Pack

• Password: B3Launch!

Breakthrough 4 – Comms pack for winners

Sharing project learning is one of the most important aspects of the Ofwat Innovation Fund as we want to increase innovation awareness and knowledge sharing amongst water companies and the sector. Moreover, the Clause 12 of the Winner’s Agreement covers reporting requirements.

You shall share all of your knowledge and learnings arising from your Project with the Water Companies (which includes New Appointments and Variations (NAVs)), including (without limitation) at the Challenge events, and permit them to use such knowledge and learning unconditionally.

We have more details in the monitoring template on the learning we ask you to share

• Opportunities to share learning
• Monitoring reports
• Monitoring calls

• Supporting customers in vulnerable circumstances has been sharing their learning through CCW working groups.
• Catchment Life is going to use the annual River Restoration Centre Conference to share what they’ve learnt so far.
• Reservoir Water Community Monitoring for Algal Associated Risk Assessment (IWC) has liaised closely with the New York Department of Environmental Protection (NYDEP) to help them understand their relatively new T&O events within their water catchments. They were invited to the NYDEP facilities where we were involved in a two-day Water Foundation led T&O workshop alongside T&O specialists from across the US and Australia.  The NYDEP have expressed their interest in continuing this work as an ongoing collaboration. This has not only extended the project outreach to a global range, but also provides the opportunity to use a completely different reservoirs system and catchment type as a case study for work.
• Case Study: AI & Sewer Defect Analysis
• Case Study: Leak Detection using Dark Fibre

Once your project has been completed, we will ask you, through your final report, to draft an update for your project page. We will also be asking for the resources that have been created by the project, along with information on who to contact to be able to use your IPR. See an example here. 

This update on the page will serve as a legacy for your project, and also a way for people interested to be able to access your learnings and the IPR attached to the project. 

Slide deck (PDF, 2.5MB)

Breakthrough 4 Webinar Recording (Vimeo)

Transcript (PDF, 0.2 Mb)

Innovation in Water Challenge

Breakthrough 1

Breakthrough 2 Catalyst and Transform

Breakthrough 3 Catalyst and Transform

Breakthrough 4 Catalyst and Transform

Innovation in Water Challenge

Breakthrough 1

Breakthrough 2

Breakthrough 3

Breakthrough 4

Case studies

Winners’ page directory