The winners of the first round of the Innovation in Water Challenge (IWC) were announced on 21 April 2021.
The primary objective of the first IWC was to encourage new ways of working that go beyond business-as-usual innovation practices in the water sector, in particular, increasing and improving collaboration and building partnerships from within and outside the water sector.
Through the IWC, we were looking for initiatives that water companies would not otherwise be able to explore or invest in.
We were looking for all types of projects – be they technology, culture, business practices, commercial models or something else. Initiatives can be at any stage, as can the technologies, practices and models that you may use within them.
The IWC was a chance to create new initiatives and partnerships that never had an opportunity to be explored. We assembled a panel of expert judges to help Ofwat select a diverse portfolio of promising innovations to receive funding.
The IWC key information is available below (please note, IWC is now closed):
All this information is available in the Entrant handbook (PDF, 1 MB), if you would prefer to review this information in one document.
Elements from the first IWC informed the Catalyst Stream of the Water Breakthrough Challenge 2, which opened in Autumn 2021. We are continuing to listen and learn as we develop the water innovation challenges, and future challenge rounds may be designed differently.
Entries to round one of the IWC opened on 18 January and closed on 26 February 2021 at 12 noon (GMT). The judges convened in March 2021 to recommend which entries should receive funding, and winners were announced on 21 April 2021.
There is £2 million available to fund innovative projects, depending on the quality of entries submitted. Entrants should bid for between £50,000 to £250,000 per entry. In exceptional circumstances, the judging panel may recommend that more than £2 million is awarded from the Innovation Fund.
The judges will consider how best to allocate funding based on the entries received. We hope to award between 10 and 15 prizes for varying amounts for the first round of the IWC.
Innovation is not just about the development of new technologies – it can mean setting up new processes or systems to support activities; or collaborating in new ways.
We are looking for your ideas that address the big challenges facing the water sector – guided by Ofwat’s five strategic innovation themes, innovation principles and the objectives of the UK and Welsh governments. We aim to fund a wide range of entries that will showcase a diverse mix of innovative ways of working and solutions.
Ofwat’s five strategic innovation themes are:
We have worked with Ofwat to identify a number of innovation enablers that will be particularly critical to growing the water sector’s capacity. The Fund will support initiatives that demonstrate and further strengthen these enablers, including:
The assessment criteria that will be used to select successful entries, along with the questions you will be asked to answer against these criteria are available on the Assessment criteria page. All three criteria will be weighted equally.
When completing your application form, please cite the best available evidence to back up your claims, wherever applicable. You may include hyperlinks in your application form.
The lead applicant must be one of the 17 licensed regional water only and water and wastewater companies or new entrant water and wastewater companies (NAVs) in England and Wales, but they can partner or form a group with any organisation to enter.
All entries must include a minimum of 10% financial contribution, to ensure customers do not bear all the risk of initiatives funded through the Challenge and to encourage good project management. We encourage this to be a direct financial contribution by the water companies but are flexible for it to come through commercial partnerships or other funding sources (not including other sources of customer contributions, e.g. Green Recovery Fund). Any additional contributions, beyond the 10% minimum financial contribution will be considered favourably during the assessment of entries.
You can submit as many entries into the Challenge as you like, providing each entry is for a different initiative. It is unlikely, however, that the judging panel will award funding to more than three entries with the same lead applicant.
We particularly encourage entries which involve partnerships and collaboration between water companies, NAVs, as well as with organisations in the water sector supply chain and beyond, including but not limited to suppliers, water retail suppliers, academia, start-ups and small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs).
All entries must be submitted by 26 February 2021 at 12 noon (GMT) using the online application form available here. The water company, leading any partnership or consortia, will need to submit this form.
Before submitting your entry, please ensure that:
The application questions are available in this document to help you to develop and collaborate on your answers ahead of completing the online version.
We are aiming to make sure the application process is as efficient and practical as possible, ensuring ease of access for organisations, in particular smaller companies.
We are committed to enabling a diverse range of entrants to enter the Challenge. If there are any reasonable adjustments that would support you to enter, catering for any additional needs you may have, please contact [email protected]. Unfortunately, no time extensions will be possible in this round of the IWC.
All participants in the IWC will be required to adhere to the full Terms and Conditions of participation. Please ensure you have read and understood these before submitting your entry. If selected as a winner, you will be required to sign a further agreement which will outline arrangements for monitoring and reporting based on your specific project proposal.
In particular, the key requirements of winners will include:
To see all the information about the IWC please review the Entrant handbook, and if you have questions please review the Frequently asked questions. If you still have questions, please email us at [email protected].
Further details of events, including webinars, partnership brokerage sessions and recordings of these sessions will be updated regularly on the News & views page. For example, you can view the recording of the webinar on the 16 December about the IWC, together with a transcript of the session.
If you have further questions or would like to clarify any guidance we have published, One-to-One Surgeries are available on Thursdays. Please sign up to a session on Eventbrite.
We will be reaching out to the water sector and beyond to explore what further support will be valuable. Please contact [email protected] if you have any ideas or questions on support.
