Water Breakthrough Challenge 3 in the UK

Deadline: 9-Nov-22

The Ofwat Innovation Fund (OIF) is inviting applications for its Water Breakthrough Challenge 3 to fund innovative initiatives which can deliver benefits for customers, society and the environment.

The Innovation Fund, delivered in partnership with Challenge Works (formerly known as Nesta Challenges) and supported by Arup and Isle Utilities, is designed to complement Ofwat’s existing approach to innovation and to help deliver against Ofwat’s strategy which highlights the role of innovation in meeting many of the challenges the sector faces.

The overarching objective of the Fund is that the sector can better meet the needs of, and create long-term value for, customers, society and the environment through innovation.

The Competitions

Through the Fund, Ofwat are delivering a series of innovation competitions that water companies, in partnerships with others, can enter. They expect different rounds of the competitions to run until 2025, and Ofwat are currently consulting on a proposal to continue the Fund until 2030, but their goal is that the Innovation Fund’s impact will continue well beyond even this.

Funding Streams

• Water companies in England and Wales will be able to bid for funding through two streams:
  • Water Breakthrough Challenge Catalyst Stream: Water companies may devolve project management responsibilities (including drafting entries) to their partners.
  • Water Breakthrough Challenge Transform Stream: Water companies must play a leading role in all aspects of developing entries and delivering projects.

Funding Information

• Water Breakthrough Challenge Catalyst Stream
  • Through the Catalyst stream, there is approximately £8 million total funding available for successful entries. Individual entries to the Catalyst stream can request between £150,000 to £2 million in funding. If you wish to request more than £2 million, please see the Transform stream.
  • As such, they expect to receive entries into the competition with a total financial cost of from £165,000 to approximately £2.2 million, inclusive of the 10% mandatory financial contribution.
• Water Breakthrough Challenge: Transform stream
  • There is approximately £34 million available in total for successful entries to the Transform Stream of the Water Breakthrough Challenge. Individual entries to the Transform Stream can bid for funding of between £1 million and £10 million.
  • Water companies seeking funding of between £100,000 and £1 million can read about the Catalyst Stream of the Water Breakthrough Challenge on its dedicated page.

What they are looking for?

• Water Breakthrough Challenge Catalyst Stream/ Water Breakthrough Challenge: Transform stream

• They are looking for your ideas that address the big challenges facing the water sector – aligned with Ofwat’s four strategic innovation themes. They aim to fund a wide range of entries that will showcase a diverse mix of innovative ways of working and solutions.
• These themes have been updated since the second round of the Water Breakthrough Challenge. They no longer explicitly reference open data or vulnerability in the themes – however, both would be implicit in theme 4 (and others), and both would easily be a means to fulfil this theme.
• They have published more detailed policy statements on Ofwat’s position around Open Data and customer vulnerability since the start of the Ofwat Innovation Fund. They believe that the breadth of the broader theme allows for greater freedom in proposing improved ways of working and could deliver greater benefits.
• While no longer explicitly referenced in the themes, enabling activities are still very important to drive innovation in the sector and have a key role to play in helping the Fund achieve its outcomes. They invite entries in this important area as they will support the Fund’s ambition to embed innovation practices and knowledge within water companies (and the sector) for the long term. ​
• They have identified a number of innovation enablers that will be particularly critical to growing and sustaining the water sector’s capacity to innovate. The Fund will consider supporting initiatives that demonstrate and further strengthen these enablers, including but not limited to:
  • Collaboration: building and strengthening collaboration and partnerships across companies, the supply chain and outside the water sector.
  • Openness: to sharing data, insights, and ideas within the water sector and with other sectors. All projects supported by the Fund should use an “open by default” approach to data and learning.
  • Adaptability: flexibility and openness to trying out new ways of working.
  • Innovation risk management: delivering value from all innovation projects, particularly more experimental projects, even if they fail.
  • Scalability & deployability: improving the ease of scaling up and rolling out of proven innovations within the sector.
  • Long-term view: taking both a longer-term and broader perspective to better meet the evolving needs of customers, society, and the environment.

Eligibility Criteria

Water Breakthrough Challenge: Catalyst Stream

There are four main categories of eligibility criteria to the Catalyst Stream of the Water Breakthrough Challenge, detailed below:

• Lead entrant
  • The lead entrant must be one of the licensed water companies or NAVs in England or Wales, but they can partner or form a group with any organisation to enter. They strongly encourage lead entrants to enter Breakthrough 3 in partnership or consortia.
  • For the Catalyst stream, partners other than the lead entrant can submit the entry form on Submittable.
• Funding requested
  • Through Catalyst, the minimum amount of funding that can be requested from the Fund is £150,000, and the maximum that can be requested is £2 million.
• Financial requirements
  • Only 90% of each entry’s financial costs will be provided by funding from Breakthrough 3. The remaining 10% must be provided by entry partners as a mandatory 10% financial contribution.
  • They welcome any additional financial and/or non-financial contributions beyond the minimum 10%. Non-financial contributions should be excluded from the total financial cost of the project.
  • They are open to initiatives that have successfully secured additional external public or private funding. Entrants must confirm that there is no duplicative or double funding and that they are not restricted by their current funding source when applying for additional and alternative funding through this Fund.
• Terms & conditions
  • All entry partners must agree to abide by the terms and conditions.

Water Breakthrough Challenge: Transform stream

• Lead entrant
  • The lead entrant to Breakthrough 3 must be one of the licensed regional water only and water and wastewater companies or new entrant water and wastewater companies (NAVs) in England and Wales. They strongly encourage lead entrants to enter Breakthrough 3 in partnership or consortia.
• Funding requested
  • The minimum amount of funding that can be requested from the Fund is £2 million, and the maximum that can be requested is £10 million.
  • In exceptional circumstances where an entry will deliver impact across the water sector in England and Wales, they are open to accepting entries requesting greater than £10 million. They ask that this impact is demonstrated by having a minimum of 10 water companies in England and Wales as entry partners and is subject to the approval of Ofwat.
• Financial requirements
  • Only 90% of each entry’s financial costs will be provided by funding from Breakthrough 3. Entry partners must provide the remaining 10% as a mandatory 10% financial contribution. They do not consider that customers should bear all the risk of initiatives funded through the competition and believe this encourages strong project management.
  • Entrants need to specify the source of funds for their contributions in the entry form. They welcome any additional financial and/or non-financial contributions beyond the minimum 10%. Non-financial contributions should be excluded from the total financial cost of the entry.
  • They are open to initiatives that have successfully secured additional external public or private funding. Entrants must confirm that there is no duplicative or double funding and that they are not restricted by their current funding source when applying for additional and alternative funding through this Fund.
• Terms and conditions
  • All entry partners must agree to abide by the terms and conditions.

Deadlines

• Water Breakthrough Challenge: Transform stream: Entries will close on 9 November 2022.
• Water Breakthrough Challenge: Catalyst stream: Entries will close on 8 December 2022.

For more information, visit Ofwat.

For more information, visit https://waterinnovation.challenges.org/current-competitions/