Six tips for entering the Ofwat innovation competitions

The first round of the Innovation in Water Challenge (IWC) is officially complete, and we have announced the winners in April. We’ve also just launched the first £40 million Water Breakthrough Challenge, which closes to new entries on 3 June.

While there will be many chances to win funding for your innovations through future rounds of both our competitions, we know forming partnerships and planning entries take time.

So here are six tips for entering future competitions. They’re based on feedback from us and the IWC judging panel.

1. Form partnerships, partnerships…and more partnerships

We were pleased to receive 61 collaborative entries to the first IWC, which had a chance to win up to £250,000 each to kick-start, grow or scale their transformational initiatives.

Overall, the quality of entries was high, making the final decision remarkably challenging. We were impressed by the broad range of collaborative relationships formed: the vast majority of entries were submitted in partnerships that included at least one non-water company.

Both the IWC and the Breakthrough Challenge offer an exciting opportunity for water companies and the supply chain to work together to identify challenges and ways of scaling solutions as a community. We’re hoping to see entries that stretch collaboration to the wider infrastructure community and other sectors, such as energy and construction, engaging new partners in articulating solutions that can have positive impacts within and outside the water sector. The Find a partner page is a good place to start!

2. Be clear on the benefits

The strongest entries to the IWC were those that showed clear alignment to one or more of the Fund’s strategic themes. They also better explained how they would deliver positive impact for customers, society and the environment.  

Similarly, a clear and detailed explanation of what makes the project innovative and how it goes beyond business-as-usual was a feature of the winning entries.

3. Focus on innovations that can be shared

Our judging panel not only favoured entries that had assembled meaningful networks of collaborators, combining expertise and perspectives from within and outside the water sector. They also liked those that set out how the proposed approach would be transferable in a national context.

4. Explain why your entry is the best answer

A key strength of the winning entries was the precise articulation of the aims, objectives and outcomes they expected to see as a result of the project. They also explained carefully >why >their proposed solution would be the best answer to the problem they were trying to solve.

5. Have a clear plan for delivery

The strongest entries offered a comprehensive management strategy. This included, for example, clear success criteria and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for each suggested metric.

In addition, they delivered a thorough examination of the potential risks (and how they could be mitigated). They also set out how the delivery plan would align with the proposed budgets.

6. If you’re unsuccessful, try, try, and try again!

Innovation isn’t just about success. It’s also about trying things, failing and learning from them. We welcome unsuccessful entries being re-entered for future competitions – provided you’ve improved them since last time. So… make sure you read our tips first!