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Sia Partners among winners of latest Ofwat innovation competition
The 'Stream' initiative is amongst those awarded a portion of the £40 million made available in Ofwat’s latest innovation competition, Water Breakthrough Challenge 3.
Tuesday 16th May 2023, 9:00AM BST – 'Stream', an initiative to design and deliver the ‘network of data pipes’ needed to share useful industry datasets in a secure, standardised and easy to access way. This will allow our data to flow into larger datasets, enabling us to collaboratively solve tough sector challenges, has today received £3,973,205 in funding from Ofwat’s Innovation Fund.
The project is one of 16 solutions being awarded a share of £40 million today in the water regulator’s latest innovation competition – the Water Breakthrough Challenge.
The initiative is led by Northumbrian Water with Sia Partners, AWG Group, Thames Water, Severn Trent Water, Scottish Water, SES Water, United Utilities, South West Water, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water, Southern Water, Yorkshire Water, Aiimi, Open Data Institute and Costain. This project aims to unlock the potential of water data to benefit customers, society, and the environment. Stream will put in place technology and processes to remove the barriers to opening up and sharing water company data.
The Water Breakthrough Challenge encourages initiatives that help to tackle the biggest challenges facing the water sector, such as achieving net-zero, protecting natural ecosystems and reducing leakage, as well as delivering value to society.
David Black, CEO at Ofwat said: “The water sector has faced mounting pressure over systemic challenges related to the environment and society, while the surrounding climate continues to drastically change shape. That’s why we’re funding ground-breaking innovations with potential to help us save and reuse water and wastewater products, while supporting wider society.”
The Water Breakthrough Challenge is part of a series of competitions from Ofwat, run by Challenge Works with Arup and Isle Utilities, designed to drive innovation and collaboration in the sector to benefit individuals, society and the environment.
Previous rounds of the competition have already seen numerous innovative projects win funding for their potential to benefit customers, society and the environment through solutions that introduce rainwater storage systems to local communities and minimise water demand in new building projects.
More information about the winners of the Water Breakthrough Challenge can be found here: https://waterinnovation.challenges.org/winners/