Utility Week‘s sister brand, WWT is partnering with Ofwat to host a webinar highlighting the regulator’s plans to drive transformational innovation and address key strategic challenges such as climate change and population growth.

The discussion, which is taking place on 16 March at 2pm, will challenge the water companies, supply chain and other key actors to step up and take a leading role in encouraging the necessary change and embedding a culture of innovation in the sector.

With the water regulator recently confirming that an additional £200 million will be made available through an innovation competition between 2020 and 2025 and calling on the water companies to come together through a new innovation strategy, Ofwat will also provide an update on where they are in the process, what they want to achieve through the innovation competition and their plans around open data.

The speaker from Ofwat is Clothilde Cantegreil, who has been leading the innovation work at Ofwat since she joined the regulator in June 2019.

The discussion will also feature Denise Massey, managing director at the Energy Innovation Centre (EIC), who will share her experience of how fostering collaboration and partnerships in other sectors has led to improvements in innovation.

It will offer insights for senior managers and executives in water companies who are tasked with delivering on multiple agendas – such as digitalisation, data management, decarbonisation and customer service – but with tight resources and limited organisational appetite for risk.

With almost eight in 10 respondents to a recent WWT survey supporting Ofwat’s proposed £200 million innovation competition, the discussion is likely to be useful for heads of, and directors of, assets and operations, and strategy and innovation leaders.

There will also be an opportunity to discuss next steps on the innovation competition and other potential activities such as the water companies’ joint innovation strategy.

Key takeaways will include:

  • Hearing what Ofwat’s ambitions and expectations are for innovation in the sector
  • Finding out how your organisation can play a leading role and work collaboratively with others to drive innovation forward
  • Gaining a perspective from another sector
  • Understanding next steps on the innovation competition

WWT content director Alec Peachey said: “We’re delighted to be working in partnership with the regulator and look forward to hearing more about their innovation competition. Ofwat have clearly expressed a desire to work closely with the sector to help shape their plans in this area and I’d strongly encourage everyone to register for this exciting event.”

Register for the event here .