Driving transformational innovation in the water sector
In their emerging strategy for regulating water and wastewater companies in England and Wales, Ofwat highlighted the need to find new ways of driving transformational change in the water and wastewater sector.
Ofwat believes that the adoption of innovative approaches is key to delivering long-term resilience and great customer service at an affordable price, and is looking to the sector to step up and increase innovation in order to meet the strategic challenges it faces.
‘Ofwat’s emerging strategy: Driving transformational innovation in the sector’ explores options for customer-funded interventions designed to drive innovation to benefit customers in the longer-term. In particular, they are proposing to make up to £200m available for innovation activities for the period 2020-2025. This could include the introduction of an innovation competition or an end-of-period roll-out reward. In July 2019, Ofwat launched the document for consultation to seek feedback on their proposals plus a range of additional policy options for encouraging companies to work together to drive innovation in the sector and to ensure that regulation is effectively facilitating innovation.
The UK Water Partnership coordinated an industry response to Ofwat’s consultation with input from its membership. Please click the link below to read our response.