Entries have opened for Ofwat’s second Water Breakthrough Challenge. This challenge fund calls for initiatives to drive innovation and collaboration within the water sector. The first round brought together water companies, conservation charities, technology giants and academia. The second challenge aims to encourage more partnerships focused on innovation from cutting-edge technologies, to new ways for the water sector to collaborate and engage with customers.

The Water Breakthrough Challenge aims to tackle major issues 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.

For this round of the competition, there are two streams of funding:

• Catalyst Stream – Approximately £5 million is available for entries seeking funding of between £100,000 – £1 million. The Catalyst Stream will close for entries at 12pm on 8th December 2021.
• Transform Stream – Approximately £34 million is available for entries seeking funding of between £1 million – £10 million. Stage 1 of the Transform Stream will close for entries at 12pm on 16th November 2021. Stage 2 entries will open on 15 December 2021 and close at 12pm on 8th February 2022.

For further details, click here for the link to Ofwat