Water Discovery Challenge II braces for flood of entries
27 Jan 2026
Entry is open for the second Water Discovery Challenge and the opportunity to share in up to £7.5 millions for innovations in the water sector.
The competition on behalf of the industry in England and Wales accepts entrants from areas including energy, cities and transport, construction, agriculture and farming, but also AI, digital, data and internet of things.
Supported by Ofwat’s Water Innovation Fund, it is run by Nesta’s Challenge Works arm, in partnership with Arup and Isle Utilities.
The inaugural competition was launched back in 2023 – a testament to the length of the competition process, which ran for 20 months and in five phases.
Winner Waterwhelm’s re-use and desalination technology that operates using waste heat at wastewater treatment works went on to become a key part of Northumbrian Water’s NetWaterPostiHyve project, with a £2 million award.
For the second contest, as previously, a total of 20 entries will reach the earlier, Finalist stage in June this year. They will be eligible for up to £100,000 in seed funding and a package of non-financial support and sector mentorship to develop their solutions.
Of these,10 winning teams will go on to enter the Winner stage when they will be awarded up to £550,000 in funding in April 2027 to further develop their solutions, plus a five-month package of non-financial support and sector mentorship.
Ofwat director of environment and innovation commented: “The Water Innovation Fund supports bold, scalable solutions to the sector’s toughest challenges. Breakthrough technologies can make a real difference, but the sector can be hard to access for new innovators. The first Water Discovery Challenge proved there’s a talented community of innovators raring to make a difference.”
The application period closes on 8 April 2026. Entrants do not need to partner or receive sponsorship from a water company to enter but must be a UK registered entity.
Pic: Severn Trent
