Northumbrian Water has joined an innovation accelerator programme to find novel ways to reduce sewer blockages and monitor water quality within district meter areas (DMAs).
The company was named as one of seven partners in the Digital Catapult programme, which offers £20,000 to applicants to develop smart technology solutions to industry challenges.
Together with Sainsbury, BAE Systems, O’Neills Sports and other corporations, the water company joined Made Smarter Technology Accelerator to find and work with technology start-ups and scaleups.
Northumbrian set two challenges that applicants are invited to bid on. It wants to develop a scalable, cost effective device that catches and identifies the source of items such as wet wipes, nappies and sanitary products in sewers. The company currently uses a device that sits in sewer traps, which it wants to see developed into a smart version with sensors and data collection capabilities to analyse the depth of flow and identify the presence and origin of unflushables.
Northumbrian’s second challenge is improve water monitoring capabilities within DMAs without relying on physical sampling. It is hoping to find a non-disruptive sensor system for managing water quality, flow, pressure in near real-time.
Angela MacOscar, head of innovation at Northumbrian, said the company is always looking for the best ways of working for both employees and customers.
“Innovation is at the heart of everything we do, and by joining the Made Smarter Technology Accelerator programme we’re able to see first-hand how our partners and other technology providers can develop innovative solutions to some of our problems in the water sector.”
The centre behind the programme, Digital Catapult, said its recent research showed many UK manufacturing and operational firms see the country lagging behind international competitors on the implementation of advanced technologies.
The study showed 77 per cent of businesses were more open to AI, blockchain, internet of things and 5G because of coronavirus and called the current situation a “turning point” that could push forward the fourth industrial revolution.
However barriers such as cyber security concerns, economic worries and lack of skills within companies have prevented businesses from implementing smart and advanced technologies.
Manufacturing operations, design and engineering processes and procurement were all identified by companies as areas that would benefit from such innovations, however 32 per cent of manufacturers believe the UK lags behind international competitors when it comes to implementing advanced technologies.