Ofwat has announced their next competition, the third Water Breakthrough Challenge (Breakthrough 3) is open, with £38 million available in two streams.
In total, Ofwat 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. The Innovation Fund, delivered in partnership with Challenge Works (formerly known as Nesta Challenges) and supported by Arup and Isle Utilities, is designed to complement Ofwat’s existing approach to innovation and to help deliver against Ofwat’s strategy which highlights the role of innovation in meeting many of the challenges the sector faces.
Through the Fund, Ofwat are delivering a series of innovation competitions that water companies, in partnerships with others, can enter. They expect different rounds of the competitions to run until 2025, and are currently consulting on a proposal to continue the Fund until 2030, but say their goal is that the Innovation Fund’s impact will continue well beyond even this.
The winners of the second round of the Water Breakthrough Challenge (‘Breakthrough 2’), were announced in Spring 2022 and can be read here.
Details regarding Breakthrough 3 are available here.
