The water system throughout England and Wales is fully depending on the streamlined use of expertise, with tens of hundreds of sensors already used to trace and flag blockages and flooding threat, and complicated information assortment mechanisms used to watch altering water high quality.
Moreover, information is already used to establish susceptible prospects and ship tailor-made companies to people who want extra assist. However with giant ageing pipelines working within the context of accelerating demand and local weather change, the sector faces plain and pressing challenges that require motion now.
Water firms present consuming water and sewage companies to over 50 million households in England and Wales, with a sewage community that might wrap all over the world 13 occasions. Up-to-date upkeep and preparation for the way forward for these networks requires daring considering from innovators on the forefront of expertise improvement. This implies specialists and engineers who’re conversant in, and adept at, flexibly utilizing information, good expertise and the web of issues to resolve and stop industry-wide issues.
Final month, Ofwat launched the Water Discovery Problem, a brand new £4m competitors for innovators outdoors of the water sector with daring concepts that may assist remedy a few of its largest challenges. Ofwat is asking on innovators working in information, expertise and IoT to use their ingenuity and abilities to ship breakthrough options for use by the water sector.
The competitors is the most recent from Ofwat’s £200 million Innovation Fund, which seeks to generate new concepts to sort out points together with managing leaks, stopping air pollution, bettering water effectivity, lowering emissions, boosting flood and drought resilience, prioritising sustainable practices, and supporting susceptible prospects. We have to reply and adapt to local weather change, working in the direction of clear frequent objectives and ambitions.
How good expertise can revolutionise the water sector
Clever and adaptable water-tech could possibly be game-changing for the sector – from improved water therapy expertise to flooding threat administration, in addition to higher supply of companies for all prospects.
From implementing sensors to gather and transmit information from geographically disparate places throughout the nation, to distant supply administration information methods and water high quality monitoring, the chances are infinite. Good expertise may additionally rewrite the rulebook on leak administration and upkeep, particularly for inaccessible or distant places. Lastly, easier expertise – of the sort many people already use every single day on our telephones – may assist enhance communications between prospects and their water firms, and enhance ease of entry to paperwork reminiscent of payments.
Earlier competitions from Ofwat’s Innovation Fund have already seen quite a few successful tech and data-related entries. This consists of superior applied sciences such because the Water High quality As-A-Service Remedy-2-Faucet mission, which is exploring how sensor expertise may establish poor high quality water, alerting firms forward of consumers and permitting them to sort out the problems inflicting the issue. By the top of the mission, lead mission associate Northumbrian Water hope to be working Europe’s largest built-in community of water high quality and leakage administration sensors and analytics software program.
Equally, open-data system Stream, will permit higher insights into leaks, buyer wants and accountability, making it simpler to unravel complicated {industry} challenges. Stream will design and ship the ‘community of knowledge pipes’ wanted to share helpful {industry} datasets in a safe, standardised and simple to entry method. It will allow water firms to collaboratively remedy powerful sector challenges.
Different successful tasks utilizing information embrace Unlocking Digital Twins, which is creating digital copies of bodily datasets, that can be utilized in the identical method as the actual product and Assist for All, whichseeks to place in place a shared register of financially susceptible prospects, working with the NHS, third sector, and different utility suppliers, to allow prospects to contact one utility or service present to obtain assist from all.
The best way to enter the Water Discovery Problem
As much as 20 groups of probably the most promising innovators can be awarded as much as £50,000 to develop their concepts, with knowledgeable assist and mentoring from water firms. As much as 10 will go on to win as much as £450,000 to show concepts into pilots.
To ship the competitors, Ofwat is working with innovation prize specialists, Problem Works, alongside international engineering, sustainability and water sector specialists, Arup, and Isle Utilities. Along with monetary incentives, profitable groups will profit from knowledgeable mentoring and capacity-building assist, together with entry to insights and mentoring from water firms and assist for scaling options for the in depth water community in England and Wales.
The Water Discovery Problem closes on 5 April 2023. To search out out extra and to enter, go to waterinnovation.challenges.org
Wish to be taught in regards to the IoT from {industry} leaders? Try IoT Tech Expo happening in Amsterdam, California, and London. The occasion is co-located with Digital Transformation Week.
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