OFWAT’s water innovation fund goes live!

The water services regulation authority OFWAT has launched a water discovery challenge, conceived to grow the water industries capacity to innovate, enabling it to better meet the evolving needs of customers and our environment.

OFWAT launched the £200 million innovation fund as a pilot during November 2020 and has already awarded £63.5 million to date through 2 rounds of competitions.

Following a review of the fund period, OFWAT created the water discovery challenge to support a wider range of innovation through the fund.

This now opens the doors for companies such as SwitchWaterSupplier.com to enter the arena and submit an application for funding to scale up the business and to further penetrate the £2.5 billion water retail market.

The development and launch of SwitchWaterSupplier.com was conceived by Husband and Wife team Nicky Mann and Graham Mann way before the water retail market was launched 6 years ago.

A digital masterpiece, the platform is without doubt ahead of its time, aiming to meet the challenges of the water market now and well into the future.

Since its launch SwitchWaterSupplier.com have tendered water supply contract values from as low as £20,000 up to £2.8 million, boasting global brands as clients.

They have made impressive savings not only on the procurement of water and wastewater services but also through correcting the clients wholesale water market data and delivering significant savings and refunds due to historical billing errors.

Plus the all important water and wastewater consumption savings by identifying high water consuming sites and carrying out water leak detection and water audits.

Driving down water consumption and meeting clients sustainability and carbon reduction targets.

All of the high value cost reduction and environmental services offered by SwitchWaterSupplier.com fit, and in most areas exceed the criteria required to qualify for funding from OFWAT’s water discovery challenge.

So what are OFWAT looking for?

The water discovery challenge welcomes entries from all sectors of the water industry, innovative proposals can be from anywhere in the world to enter, but organisations must: –

Be a UK incorporated entity.

Hold a UK business bank account. 

Comply with the terms and conditions. 

Not be a regional water or wastewater company. 

OFWAT are seeking ingenious and bold innovation that can help solve the biggest challenges facing the water sector today and well into the future.

OFWAT are seeking innovations that: –

Have the potential to have a positive impact for water customers, society and our environment, guided by four strategic innovation themes.

Innovation enablers and innovative solutions ready for concept proofing, testing, early feasibility studies, development and verification in the water sector.

Are delivered by teams that have the capacity, capability and commitment to deliver.

Have the ability to succeed, be sustainable and / or gain wide adoption across the water sector in England and Wales.

These 4 categories comprise our assessment criteria which OFWAT will use to assess and evaluate all entries received into discovery.

Each of these 4 categories is explored in detail.

What you can win in the water discovery challenge.

You can win up to £500,000 split between the finalists awarded (up to £50,000) and the winners awarded (up to £450,000)

Up to 20 finalists with the most promising entries will be awarded up to £50,000 to develop their innovation, with a range of exterp support and cess to mentoring from water companies.

OFWAT’s water innovation fund, making water famous !