The Spring Accelerator calls out for specific implementable innovation for water companies to trial, progress and adopt as a collaborative group; facilitating collaborative working and breaking down barriers.
We start with problem identification and alignment, put out calls for innovation, and mobilise trials with multiple UK & Ireland water companies. Spring enables effective delivery and implementation of end-to-end innovation to address sector priorities at the right pace.
Our problem-definition and challenge-setting mechanism. Here, we bring water companies, suppliers, academia, and experts from adjacent sectors together to dive into a specific Ambition from the Water Innovation Strategy 2050.
We discuss the context behind the Ambition, look at it from multiple angles and explore previous attempts to resolve it (and why they weren’t successful). The output of this mini conference is a Call for Innovation, a document outlining the problem we’re looking to solve, and an invitation to innovators to solve it.
The Marketplace is where innovators submit their solutions against the Call for Innovation. The simple application is designed to provide a quick but thorough assessment of prospective solutions.
Applications get reviewed by the Spring team and relevant Subject Matter Experts from participating water companies. We provide detailed feedback to all applicants but only invite a select few on to The Innovation Exchange. Consenting innovators stay on the Marketplace platform for future brokerage opportunities.
Exchange events bring together selected innovators from the Marketplace and delegated committees from water companies to co-design the beginning of their relationship.
In practice, this means exploring the solution and business model in more detail, outlining the questions that still need to be answered before scale, and designing a trial to help get there. Successful Exchange events end with commitment from multiple water companies to trial a solution.
Innovators who make it through the Spring process will move on to mobilise a trial with multiple water company partners.
These trials are designed to resolve sector priorities, expedite the adoption of successful solutions, and ultimately accelerate the transformation of the UK & Ireland water sector.
The challenge statements our accelerator has addressed to date.
How can a reduction in operational emissions from water and wastewater treatment be achieved?
How can we monitor the condition of electro-mechanical assets for water treatment and distribution in changing environments?
SA3 launched in January 2024 with a challenge inside Theme 3: Protecting & Enhancing Natural Systems.
