Water Breakthrough Challenge 5
Paid UK water companies between £150,000 and £10 million to trial and scale big innovations across the water sector.
The fifth round ran two funding streams: a single-stage Catalyst stream for smaller, faster-moving projects, and a two-stage Transform stream for large, long-term transformational work, each on its own timeline running through to January 2025. Mentorship came from Arup and Isle Utilities, and the round has since closed.
Ofwat's Water Breakthrough Challenge backed highly collaborative ideas that help the water sector meet customer, social and environmental needs over the long term. Entries had to align with one of four innovation themes covering climate adaptation, environmental protection, operational resilience and new ways of working, and were expected to bring in partners from outside the water industry.
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