Ofwat, the Water Services Regulation Authority for England and Wales, has established a £200 million Innovation Fund to grow the water sector’s capacity to innovate, enabling it to better meet the evolving needs of customers, society and the environment.
We launched the fund as a pilot in November 2020, and delivered three competitions as part of the pilot period – the Innovation in Water Challenge, the Water Breakthrough Challenge, and the Water Breakthrough Challenge 2. Following a review of the pilot period (summarised in the End of Pilot Report prepared by the Fund’s delivery partners) and a consultation, Ofwat has unveiled how the Fund will evolve post-pilot – summarised in this blog.
Our newest competition, the Water Discovery Challenge, announced 1o winners on 20 February 2024. Having opened on 25 January 2023 and closed for entries on 5 April 2023, Discovery supports early-stage innovation, and is open to entries from anyone, with no requirement for organisations to partner with a water company to enter.
In May 2023, the third Water Breakthrough Challenge (Breakthrough 3) saw 16 winners sharing in approximately £40 million. In May 2024, the fourth Water Breakthrough Challenge (Breakthrough 4) saw 17 winners sharing in approximately £40 million.
The fifth round of the Water Breakthrough Challenge will open on 9 September 2024, and will invite water companies and NAVs from England and Wales to participate.
You can read about the initiatives we’ve funded to date on our Winners page. You can also read about previous rounds of our competitions on the Past Competitions page.
We expect different rounds of the competitions to run until at least 2025, and Ofwat are currently consulting on a proposal to continue the Fund until 2030, but our goal is that the Innovation Fund’s impact will continue well beyond this.
Competitions will be focused on funding initiatives in line with the aims of the Fund, that deliver innovation aligned with the four strategic innovation themes.
Led by Ofwat, the Innovation Fund is being delivered by Challenge Works (formerly known as Nesta Challenges), in partnership with Arup and Isle Utilities.
You can read more about the delivery partners on the dedicated page.
