The UK’s first draft Water Innovation Strategy has been launched setting out a vision for transformational change across the water sector in anticipation of Ofwat’s £200m innovation fund and the establishment of a Centre of Excellence that will act as a UK hub for global water innovation.
UK Water Industry Research (UKWIR) has facilitated the development of the Water Innovation Strategy alongside ARUP and the 19 UK water companies. It is open for consultation through the summer and will be finalised in September 2020.
The draft strategy looks ahead to 2050 and provides a roadmap for the UK water sector to make the step-change in collaborative innovation required to meet the challenges for the future. Its launch starts a period of engagement within and outside the sector with the aim of galvanising interest and ideas from a broad range of organisations who could play a role in helping to shape and deliver a different future for water across the country.
The strategy has been organised into seven key themes which focus on addressing the water sector’s greatest challenges and where the most significant benefits for customers and the environment can be achieved. These include delivering carbon neutrality, protecting and enhancing natural systems, providing services that society expects and values and delivering resilient infrastructure systems.
Central to delivery of the strategy is a proposal for a Centre of Excellence – a central hub that will bring together the people, skills, testing facilities and data needed to make the UK a world leader in water innovation and provide a single gateway for partners interested in working with the sector.
Steve Kaye, CEO of UKWIR, said:
“For the first time we can see the full picture of the innovation landscape across the UK and beyond which shows a web of opportunity for the sector to collaborate with a range of global organisations to access the best intelligence, maximise opportunities across sectors and leverage more funding to drive the progress we need in a co-ordinated and collaborative way.
“The development of the strategy and the Centre of Excellence proposal has been a truly collaborative effort from all involved. Its launch marks the next step on our journey,and we are keen fororganisations and individuals to participate, who think they have a part to play in its future.”
‘The Innovation Strategy is available at –https://waterinnovation2050.org.uk/– where you can also sign up to attend the launch webinar to be held on Thursday 16th July at 10am.
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