Registration for Northumbrian Water’s Innovation Festival is now open for 2025. Tickets are limited, so Northumbrian Water is encouraging those interested in attending to sign up quickly.
For the ninth time, the water company will be bringing together innovators, businesses, and thought-leaders under the theme of “regeneration” in order to see how to further improve the region’s infrastructure, ecosystems, and economies for a more resilient future.
The world-famous event, which is FREE to attend, will see attendees from the worlds of science, technology, energy, communications and more, come together to look at innovative ways to drive sustainability.
Previous Innovation Festivals have led to incredible ideas which have made huge differences to the region and the water industry – including the National Underground Asset Register, which was developed during the 2018 event. This has now been rolled out by the UK Government and is estimated to lead to economic growth of at least £400 million per year through increased efficiency of data sharing and excavations, fewer accidental strikes on underground pipes and cables, and reduced disruptions for the public and businesses.
More recently, festival-born inventions such as leakage solution, No Dig, prediction model, Gen AI for Water, and water quality monitoring drones in Project Kingfisher have started to make an impact.
The festival, which runs between the 7-10th of July, is expected to see over 2000 attendees descending on Newcastle Racecourse, as well as 650 students from across the region, who will attend the Young Citizens Work Experience Festival.
This Young Citizens event, held in conjunction with the main Innovation Festival, will see year 10 students from local schools and colleges expand their skills and gain career knowledge within the water sector and other STEM based industries as future places of work.
As well as this, there will also be an event which will run as part of Northumbrian Water’s ongoing commitment to support employment and access to work. This innovative experience will provide skills workshops along with practical support and tips to support people into employment, and will be a collaborative event to share opportunities in the water industry and supply chain.
Angela MacOscar, Head of Innovation at Northumbrian Water, said:
“Registration is officially open, for our ninth festival, and I can’t believe we are almost ready to delve into the action-packed, fun-filled week once more.
“Over the past eight years we have really seen some magic unfold at the festival, and this year I’m sure will be no different.
“This year’s theme of regeneration is a particularly exciting one, and the whole event is set to take on strong focus on sustainability from the inside out. We know that the water industry as a whole needs to do better, and the Innovation Festival is all about coming up with new ideas to make this happen – from decreasing storm overflows to fixing leakage.
“I can’t wait to see what our innovators come up with this year!”
As in previous years, the festival will also see a host of celebrity guests, entertainment, music and activities, and more announcements will follow soon.
