An updated innovation accelerator has been launched by Spring as part of a multi-year effort to remove the barriers to mobilising trials at pace within the water sector.

The new Spring Accelerator calls for implementable innovations for water companies to trial, progress and adopt in collaboration, working to deliver ambitions set out in the UK Water Innovation Strategy 2050. 

Spring Accelerator 3, the first accelerator using the new process, begins with a free to attend online Ambition Surgery on 29th January 2024, focusing on theme three of the UK 2050 Water Innovation Strategy – Protecting and Enhancing Natural Systems.

Building on Spring’s original accelerator model, the new four-step, end-to-end process has been created to ensure greater cross-sector alignment and reduce trial duplication, with the ultimate aim of delivering innovation at pace.

The four steps of the new accelerator process are:

1. The Ambition Surgery – A challenge-setting mechanism for the industry to connect, articulate the problem and define a specific challenge, aligned with an ambition from the UK 2050 Water Innovation Strategy. Conference-style events will bring water companies, suppliers, academia and experts from other sectors together.

2. The Innovation Marketplace – A directory for innovators to submit their solutions against the call for innovation. The application has been designed to provide a quick but thorough assessment of prospective solutions. For innovators, this means just one application is required, which will be seen by the right people from all participating water companies, with guaranteed detailed feedback. For water companies, suppliers will be screened and engagement will be concentrated, meaning access to the best opportunities at a fraction of the time.

3. The Innovation Exchange – Sessions to bring together water companies and selected innovators to co-design the beginning of their relationship by exploring solutions and business models in detail and scoping trials together. Successful exchange events will end with commitment from multiple water companies to trial a solution.

4. Mobilisation – A facilitation service to mobilise trials with multiple water companies. Trials will be designed to resolve sector priorities, expedite the adoption of successful solutions, and ultimately accelerate the transformation of the UK & Ireland water sector. Having multiple water companies involved means only one trial will be required, splitting the resource requirement and saving time.

Thomas Walker, Senior innovation manager at Spring explained the background to the new accelerator process:

“To date, Spring has carried out two accelerator programmes with some noteworthy successes – we had all UK and Ireland water companies engaged in the process, we have supported our 10 portfolio companies in either securing a multi-partner trial or creating meaningful relationships with individual water companies.

“Lessons from the programmes show there are still barriers to mobilising trials at pace, which is why the new model is working towards an end goal of six-months-to-mobilisation.”

Spring was launched in 2021 to accelerate UK & Ireland water sector transformation and support delivery of the water sector’s 2050 Water Innovation Strategy. Spring brings stakeholders together from across academia, the supply chain and water companies – and is backed by all UK and Irish water and wastewater companies which are committed to removing duplication of innovation efforts.

Spring’s first online Ambition Surgery, the starting point of its next accelerator programme, which is free to join, will take place on 29 January 2024 10:00am – 14:00pm and will focus on a specific challenge inside the theme of Protecting and Enhancing Natural Systems.

Click here for more information and to register for the Ambition Surgery