The third round of Ofwat’s innovation competition –Water Breakthrough Challenge – has opened, encouraging innovation and collaboration to transform water services with up to £38 million available in funding.

The Water Breakthrough Challenge, run by Ofwat in partnership with Challenge Works, Arup and Isle Utilities, aims to encourage 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 taking opportunities to use open data and deliver value to society.

Previous rounds of the prize have already seen numerous innovative projects win funding for their potential to benefit customers, society and the environment. For example, Anglian Water’s Triple Carbon Reduction solution won more than £3.5 million in the first Water Breakthrough Challenge to use new technologies to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions, while Northumbrian Water’s National Leakage Research and Test Centre (NLRTC), won £4.3 million in the second Water Breakthrough Challenge to test new ways to combat leakage under “real life” conditions.

Another winner of the second Water Breakthrough Challenge, Support for All (also from Northumbrian Water), received over £630,000 for its plan to build a technology platform that combines data on vulnerable customers across utility providers in order to better reach and support those in need. This could make a significant difference to families facing rising utility costs in future winters.

The new round of funding will be available through two different streams:

• The Catalyst stream, which closes on Thursday 8 December 2022, will make £8 million available to entrants seeking between £150,000 and £2 million.
• The Transform stream will make £30 million available for entries seeking between £2 and 10 million, with the first stage of entries closing on Wednesday 9 November

Winners are expected to be announced in April 2023 for the Catalyst stream, and late May for the Transform stream. For further information check out the Ofwat website here.