SPRING STRATEGIC NARRATIVE
A WATERSHED MOMENT
Time is running out.
In the water sector, we’re facing a perfect storm of climate change, population growth, political unrest, ageing assets, rising costs, and the rapid pace of new technology.
In addition, our industry is facing intense public scrutiny over issues like issues like sewage discharges, leakage, and flooding. Our regulators are rightly demanding more progress, tightening the rules, and stepping up enforcement.
These are no longer distant challenges; they’re here, and their impact is already being felt. Expectations of us are increasing, and billpayers are holding the water industry to account.
Now, more than ever, we must come together as an industry to rally the brightest minds, share the sharpest insights, and connect the toughest problems with the smartest solutions — and fast.
This is what Spring is here to help accomplish.
CREATING WAVES
Our vision is to be global leaders in open innovation.
This means we want to be among the best at helping our industry unite to solve the biggest challenges. Innovation doesn’t happen in isolation; it thrives when people share ideas, understand what’s needed, and work together.
Our mission is to attract, connect, and support innovators across the industry to accelerate transformation.
This means we’re here to connect the best thinkers, ideas, and problem-solvers to stimulate fast change. By uniting the right people and supporting their success, we’re making real transformation happen faster than ever before.
Our objective is to fuel innovation and collaboration by creating centralised intelligence for both water companies and suppliers.
This means we spotlight the brilliant innovations emerging within the sector by acting as brokers, collecting and openly sharing the knowledge and lessons learnt to help others adopt new ideas more easily and quickly.
TURNING THE TIDE TOGETHER
What will it take to achieve our vision, mission, and objectives and rise to our industry’s challenges?
Together with our regulator, water company colleagues, leading academics, and sector suppliers – we must build an environment where intelligence is combined, needs, opportunities, and priorities are clear, and knowledge flows freely.
There are several water companies across the UK and Ireland, each tackling the same challenges but often in their own way. Instead, picture a single hub that brings together all the innovation, insights, and lessons from hundreds of projects. A place where key supplier contacts, data, trial results, costs, and benefits are all at your fingertips, ready to drive smarter solutions and faster progress.
No more silos, no more starting from scratch each time, no more wasted effort. By cutting out duplication and working as one, we save time, resources, and energy.
We want to become an industry that looks beyond its own walls to find bold, groundbreaking solutions to the most significant problems we face.
We’re not there yet, but we’re making big strides. Across the sector, there’s growing, tangible proof that collaboration is working: the industry is aligning on its toughest challenges, spotlighting shared priorities, and exchanging knowledge in ways that deliver real value. It’ll take even more sector coordination, stronger brokerage, and automatic information exchange to turn the tide.
This isn’t just a vision; it’s the future we’re shaping together, and Spring is helping to make it happen now.
HOW WE NAVIGATE THE CURRENT
As the water industry’s eyes and ears, we’re in the epicentre, tracking emerging ideas, uncovering hidden insights, and connecting the dots between today’s challenges and tomorrow’s solutions.
We bridge the gap by linking water companies with the trades, tools, testbeds, and thinking necessary to turn innovation into action. Our services serve as the front door to the UK and Irish water industry: who’s doing what, what’s working, and where the next big transformation could come from.
By doing the heavy lifting, we give water companies the time and headspace to do what they want to do: innovate. They come to us to shortcut the learning curve, avoid duplication, and move faster using a springboard of shared experience.
Together, we’re revolutionising how the sector thinks, acts, and collaborates to meet the future needs of communities, customers, and the environment.
