Well-known businesses from the worlds of data, technology and AI are joining forces to help to regenerate the water industry as part of Northumbrian Water’s Innovation Festival.
Creative minds from leading businesses such as Siemens, Cognizant, CKDelta and the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology, will be joining together to find new approaches to tackle some of the biggest challenges facing the water industry.
The ninth annual iteration of the festival is returning to Newcastle Racecourse on 7-10 July, and is set to find new ways of working in order to improve the way the water industry works.
Among the 53 overall sprints, which form a workshop-style idea-generating process, a number of different topics will be tackled by the company’s platinum sponsors such as:
Siemens – Exploring how large language models can support a smart network to improve outcomes for improving leakage, per capita consumption, supply interruptions and water quality.
Cognizant – One of two challenges taken on by Cognizant will build on the success of the on-going River Deep Mountain AI project and explore the challenge of getting new AI and remote-sensing models to tackle water pollution.
CKDelta – Harnessing AI to unify operational knowledge, break down silos, and empower field teams with real-time insights for confident, high-impact decision-making.
Department for Science, Innovation & Technology – Looking at how to unlock the full potential of National Underground Asset Register (NUAR) data.
Gold sponsors Stantec, Jacobs, Qualitest, Softwire and Vyntelligence will also be taking to the tents to look at issues such as capturing data more accurately, using AI to improve asset health, and green transformation.
Angela MacOscar, Head of Innovation at Northumbrian Water, said:
“Without our fabulous sponsors, the Innovation Festival simply wouldn’t happen each year – so we are incredibly grateful to have each of them on board.
“Innovation is all about collaboration, and we are lucky to be collaborating with some hugely influential businesses this year – so we are sure that we will get some valuable outputs which will ultimately make a difference to our customers, who are at the heart of everything we do.
“Each of our sponsors understand what it means to adopt technology and best practice techniques to make sure that our communities receive the greatest service possible.”
The theme for the event is regeneration – meaning that the event is set to take a strong focus on sustainability from the inside out.
The festival-style get-together is expected to see thousands of attendees descend on the racecourse, including year 10 students set to take on the Young Citizens Work Experience Festival – which is a second event running parallel to the main festival.
This Young Citizens event will see 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.
