Innovation in the water industry

As water companies come under pressure to up their game on innovation, Water & Wastewater Treatment (WWT) in association with UKWIR (UK Water Industry Research) carried out an exclusive survey of directors, heads of departments and managers in water and water & sewerage companies to find out more about activity levels, barriers and preferred incentives to encourage new ideas and processes.

Key findings of the survey include:

• 100 per cent of respondents rated innovation as important or extremely important.

• Almost eight in 10 respondents support Ofwat’s proposed innovation fund, with 76 per cent favouring a combination of a collectively funded competition and a reward for the successful roll-out of innovative solutions.

• Seven out of 10 respondents (70 per cent) say that their organisation pursues incremental innovation, as opposed to ‘disruptive’ innovation.

• Perceived barriers to innovation vary considerably by business type and seniority – the highest rated barrier was the lack of infrastructure to fast-track ideas from inception to implementation.

• Water & sewerage companies are more likely to believe in a range of innovation enablers. Open data ranks highest amongst water and water & sewerage companies.

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