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The Ofwat Innovation Fund has launched the sixth Water Breakthrough Challenge which will award up to £50 million to groundbreaking, collaborative innovations that will help tackle the biggest challenges facing the water sector. 

• Ofwat’s sixth Water Breakthrough Challenge will award up to £50 million to collaborative projects between water companies and innovators from across sectors and worldwide.
• It seeks broad solutions that tackle big water sector challenges, including climate change, pollution, leakage and nature restoration – all while ensuring good value for customers.
• This is the first competition of AMP8, following the announcement in January that the Ofwat Innovation Fund has been extended to 2030, with £400 million of funding.

Entries can be broad in scope and could include anything from ideas that help to achieve net zero, to projects that protect natural ecosystems, prevent leaks and pollution, and cut costs for customers.

Water companies are encouraged to partner with businesses, charities, academic institutions and civil society organisations from outside the water sector to create new approaches, invite in new thinking and develop diverse solutions to the challenges facing the industry.

Initiatives may feature advanced new technology, revolutionary commercial models, or game-changing business practices. As in previous years, entries must be led by a licensed water company in England or Wales (including small water and sewerage companies, and Thames Tideway)[1].

The Water Breakthrough Challenge is delivered by innovation prize experts Challenge Works (part of Nesta), in partnership with Arup and Isle Utilities. Up to £50 million will be awarded through two streams:

• The Catalyst stream will award partnerships seeking between £150,000 and £2 million. It will close for entries on 6 January 2026.
• The Transform stream will award partnerships seeking between £2 million and £10 million. First stage entries close on 29 September 2025, with the most promising entries then invited to enter Stage 2 on 17 November 2025.

The winners of both streams will be announced in mid-May 2026.

Dr Jo Jolly, Ofwat’s Director of Environment and Innovation, said:

“Since 2020, the Ofwat Innovation Fund has awarded £190 million to 109 projects involving more than 250 partners around the world – from universities and start-ups to cutting-edge tech giants. Innovation means creating and spreading new ideas, products, and processes – it is what fuels sustainable economic growth.

“When water companies team up with innovators from other sectors, it fosters new thinking and novel approaches to problems, resulting in solutions that bring about meaningful change – as can be seen from the impressive range of projects we have helped to fund and bring to life in the first five years of the Ofwat Innovation Fund.

“In this sixth Water Breakthrough Challenge, we’re driving ever more boldly at this goal: drawing on the diverse strengths and skills of great minds to develop novel and ambitious answers to the challenges the water sector face”.

Natalie Wadley, CEO of ChangeMaker 3D, a partner in Water Breakthrough Challenge 3 winning project, Water Industry Printfrastructure, said:  

“Over the past few years, we have developed, tested and proven to the water sector that 3D printing is an essential transformation tool in meeting crucial milestones and targets over the next 5 years – thanks to the funding awarded through the Water Breakthrough Challenge. It has been game changing for our business.

“Working with United Utilities, Manchester Metropolitan’s Print City and Scottish Water, we successfully demonstrated that 3D printed concrete infrastructure can be built faster and with a smaller carbon footprint than traditional methods – even under hostile weather conditions.

“United Utilities now plans to use the 3D printing applications developed through the Water Industry Printfrastructure project in its AMP8 investment programme. Together, we are working to share the lessons of the project with the wider industry, so that the benefits of 3D printed infrastructure can be felt nationwide and around the world, where we are already seeing interest in the USA, EU and Brazil.”

In May 2025, Ofwat revealed the winners of Water Breakthrough Challenge 5, which included robots to make chemical-free ‘slow sand filtration’ more efficient, drones that monitor coastal water quality and AI to predict the growth of algal blooms. Partners in the 16 winning projects include NASA, multiple British and international universities, and charities such as the Rivers Trust and Surfers Against Sewage.

The sixth Water Breakthrough Challenge is the first competition to be launched following the announcement in January by Ofwat of a £400 million, five-year extension and expansion of the Ofwat Innovation Fund for 2025-2030.

In addition to five annual Water Breakthrough Challenges, the extension will see the return of two Water Discovery Challenges for innovators new to the water sector – with Water Discovery Challenge 2 opening in January 2026 – and four new competition and funding streams:

• On 25 November, Ofwat will be launching the Water Efficiency Lab, within the £100m Water Efficiency Fund. The Water Efficiency Lab will be a series of competitions dedicated to supporting innovations that drive a transformative, sustained, and measurable reduction in water demand across both household and non-household customers. The first competition will call on innovators to develop solutions that deliver personalised water usage insights that drive a reduction in water consumption for both households and businesses in England and Wales.

• The Water Innovations Missions – launching in 2026 – will identify a problem of strategic importance for the water sector with water companies, as a collective, bringing forward solutions.

• The Cross-sector Challenge, led by Innovate UK – launching in April 2026 – will deliver the ground-breaking development of cross-sector solutions which support mutually beneficial and long-term systemic change for the water environment.
• The Implementation Programme, led by Isle Utilities – launching in 2026 – will accelerate the speed and scale by which innovation is adopted across the sector, through the provision of supporting resources and funding to overcome barriers to implementation.  Further details of each of these will be announced by Ofwat in the coming months.

More information about the Water Breakthrough Challenge, including the entry form, assessment criteria, terms and conditions and how to book a one-to-one surgery session with delivery team can be found at waterinnovation.challenges.org

Notes to Editors

For all media enquiries, please contact waterinnovation@seven-consultancy.com or call +44 (0)20 7754 3610

[1] Entries must be led by a regional water and sewerage undertaker, a regional water only undertaker, a small water and sewerage undertaker (previously known as New Appointment and Variations, or NAVs), or a holder of an Infrastructure Provider Project License (at this stage, only Bazalgette Tunnel limited (Tideway) holds such a licence). For more detail, visit https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/regulated-companies/ofwat-industry-overview/licences/

About the Ofwat Innovation Fund

The Ofwat Innovation Fund aims to grow the water sector’s capacity to innovate, enabling it to better meet the evolving needs of customers, society and the environment. It is encouraging new ways of working that go beyond business-as-usual innovation practices in the water industry, in particular increasing and improving collaboration and building partnerships from within and outside the water sector. It is delivered by challenge prize experts Challenge Works in partnership with Arup and Isle Utilities.

Following the Independent Water Commission’s (IWC) review and the UK Government’s decisions on future regulation, we know this is a time of change for the water sector. The IWC and the government have made it clear that the arrangements for the current price control will remain in place and that includes continuing the Innovation Fund. For more detail visit: https://waterinnovation.challenges.org/news/7130/

The Ofwat Innovation Fund forms part of Ofwat’s approach to innovation in the water sector. Ofwat with the Environment Agency and Drinking Water Inspectorate also runs StreamLine, a joint service for innovators and businesses to get informal regulatory advice. To contact Ofwat’s press office, please call 0121 644 7700.

Brokerage service for innovators

Do you have a technology you’re looking to introduce to the water sector? Reach out to the team at Spring – the water sector’s innovation hub: https://spring-innovation.co.uk/

About Challenge Works 

Challenge Works designs and runs challenge prizes to spark innovation in science, technology and society. We are a part of Nesta, the research and innovation foundation. We are innovation experts, embedded in science, technology and entrepreneurship. We are problem-centred, drawing on insights from lived experience and sector experts. We are thought leaders in using innovation to drive impact. Challenge prizes offer a series of incentives in return for solving a defined challenge, creating breakthrough innovations, helping innovators thrive and unlocking systemic change. On behalf of our public, private and philanthropic funders, we have organised over 100 challenge prizes around the world, awarding a combined prize purse of over £250m.

About Arup 

Dedicated to sustainable development, Arup is a collective of designers, consultants and experts working globally. Founded to be humane and excellent, we collaborate with our clients and partners using imagination, technology, and rigour to shape a better world. Together we help our clients solve their most complex challenges – turning exciting ideas into tangible reality as we strive to find a better way and shape a better world. With a community of over 1700 water professionals, Arup is leading global thinking across key areas like innovation, resilience, net zero carbon and sustainable water management. Find out more: www.arup.com

About Isle Utilities

Isle is a global team of independent scientists, engineers, business and regulatory experts with a common drive to make a positive environmental, social and economic impact through the advancement of innovative technologies, solutions and practices. Our passion and expertise in technology and innovation enables us to connect expertise, investment and inspired ideas across the globe. At the core of all our activities is our ambition to make the world a better place. Find out more: www.isleutilities.com