Emerging Contaminants
The next Spring Accelerator programme – addressing an Ambition inside WIS2050 Theme 2: Providing clean water for all– is looking for specific, implementable solutions in the “Emerging Contaminants” topic area.
The Spring Accelerator 4 programme is addressing an Ambition inside the Water Innovation Strategy 2050 – theme 2: Providing clean water for all. Specifically, this programme is looking for implementable solutions in the ‘Emerging Contaminants’ topic area.
This topic area will be defined and explored through the Spring Accelerator 4 Ambition Surgery on 4th September. Ambition Surgeries are our problem-definition and challenge-setting mechanism. We bring together water companies, suppliers, academia, regulators, and experts from adjacent sectors for two virtual sessions to dive into an Ambition from the Water Innovation Strategy 2050. Learn More About the WIS50 Theme here.
Spring invites water companies, academics, the supply chain, innovators and everyone in between to join us at this free open-access event to better understand “Emerging Contaminants” and develop a Call for Innovation in this space.
While our morning session will provide a foundational understanding of the context behind our Ambition, the afternoon session will be a deep dive into lessons learned from past efforts and explore future possibilities on the topic of emerging contaminants. Ensure you get the complete picture and contribute fully to the formation of Spring’s Call for Innovation by joining us for both sessions.
The next Call for Innovation will be released shortly.
Find out more about the Accelerator and how to apply.
The Spring Accelerator is an end-to-end innovation challenge process that has been created to identify innovative solutions that help address a significant need in the UK water sector, reduce the duplication of innovation efforts, and provide a path to faster adoption.
Each Accelerator programme launches a specific Call for Innovation which has been designed to address a specific Ambition inside one of the seven Water Innovation Strategy 2050 themes. Spring Accelerator 4 addresses theme 2: Providing clean water for all– and is looking for specific, implementable solutions in the “Emerging Contaminants” topic area.
Learn more about the Accelerator here.
The Accelerator is open to all innovators who have an idea or solution that addresses the challenge statement. Applicants may be individuals, businesses or a partnership between the two.
You can submit more than one entry to the Challenge.
Innovators can be UK-based or international.
Priority will be given to solutions not previously trialled in the UK and Ireland.
More detailed information, including the application questions and scoring criteria, will be announced shortly.
The goal of the Spring Accelerator is to speed up the process of finding, progressing, and adopting solutions to a given water industry challenge. This means that those who successfully navigate the accelerator process will go on to progress their solution with one or more water utilities. This could take the form of mentoring, a collaborative trial to test the solution in context, or anything in between.
Following Water Company engagement, Spring’s Knowledge Transfer service will provide easily shared project outputs, creating sector-wide project legacy and making it easier for teams to communicate the intricacies of their project to a wider audience.
At this time, financial support is not offered as part of the Spring Accelerator process. Project/trial delivery is at the discretion of the water companies involved.
Submissions to the Accelerator first undergo a review from Spring’s industry experts who will provide an initial assessment of the application.
Submissions will then be shared with subject matter experts who have been selected by each of the participating water companies. The subject matter experts will provide a second review of submissions and vote on the ones that they would like to be brought forward to the Innovation Exchange. Feedback is aggregated and sent to all applicants.
Applicants who are invited to the Innovation Exchange will have the opportunity to pitch their solutions to key water company stakeholders. These events go a lot deeper than a pitch, however; experts and decision makers from interested water companies will join applicants in a round-table-like moment to start building a business case for mobilising the solution. Successful Exchange events end with commitment from multiple water companies to progress a solution.
More detailed information, including the application questions and scoring criteria, will be announced shortly.
