Water Innovation Fund (Water Efficiency Lab and Water Discovery Challenge)

Water Innovation Fund (Water Efficiency Lab and Water Discovery Challenge) is sponsored by Ofwat (UK-based, but seeks international innovators). The Water Innovation Fund has two currently open competitions: the Water Efficiency Lab, seeking innovations to reduce water usage across England and Wales, and the Water Discovery Challenge, aiming to accelerate promising new innovations for the water sector to benefit customer…

Water Innovation Fund - Water Innovation Fund Check out our open competitions: Water Discovery Challenge 2 : has now closed; 20 finalists were announced in July 2026 Water Breakthrough Challenge 6 : has now closed and we have announced the 19 winners . The Water Breakthrough Challenge 7 will open on 7 September 2026. Water Efficiency Lab 2 is open for entries until 20 October 2026, seeking innovations to reduce customer-side leakage.

WEL 1 announced 7 winners on the theme of Actionable Insights in June 2026.

Water Innovation Implementation Programme is accepting applications on a rolling basis We need your water innovation Ofwat, the economic regulator of water and wastewater services in England and Wales, is delivering a £600 million, 10-year Water Innovation Fund to grow the water sector’s capacity to innovate, enabling it to better meet the evolving needs of customers, communities and the environment.

Alongside the Water Innovation Fund is the Water Efficiency Lab , established by Ofwat as part of its £100 million Water Efficiency Fund to drive a transformative, sustained, and measurable reduction in water demand across England and Wales. The Water Efficiency Lab (WEL) will make up to £25 million available through annual competitions to fund the development of new technologies and processes for water efficiency.

The Fund is delivered in partnership with Challenge Works (formerly Nesta Challenges) and supported by Arup and Isle Utilities. Find out more about the Fund Through a number of different funding streams , the Fund supports ambitious and collaborative initiatives that move beyond business-as-usual and have the potential to create significant value for customers, communities and the environment.

All of the competitions are open to innovators from across sectors and worldwide. Some of our competitions are water company-led, while others are open directly to innovators to develop their ideas with access to water company facilities and staff. You can find out more by looking at the entry criteria for each of our competitions (linked below).

Since its launch, the Water Innovation Fund has invested almost £250 million across 128 projects through the Innovation in Water Challenge, Water Breakthrough Challenge and Water Discovery Challenge competitions. These projects have involved over 300 partners, ranging from water companies, large and small businesses, universities, environmental charities, local governments and other utilities.

How and when you can apply The Water Efficiency Lab 2 competition opened on 3 August 2026 and will close for entries on 2026. It will award up to £5 million in each competition to the most innovative solutions to specific water efficiency challenges that unlock progress on water efficient technology, processes and approaches. The Water Breakthrough Challenge 6 has announced 19 winners.

The Water Breakthrough 7 will open on 7 September 2026. It will award up to £50 million to collaborative projects between water companies and innovators from across sectors and worldwide. It seeks broad solutions that tackle big water sector challenges, including climate change, pollution, leakage and nature restoration – all while ensuring good value for customers.

The Water Innovation Implementation Programme has launched on 2 March 2026. The Water Discovery Challenge 2 will announce 20 Finalists in July 2026.

Future competitions include: Annual Water Breakthrough Challenge competitions Annual Water Efficiency Lab competitions The Water Innovation Implementation Programme launch ed 2 March 2026 Water Discovery Challenge Water Innovation Cross-sector Challenge Water Innovations Missions launching in 2026 For specific information about each competition stream, please read this detailed blog or refer to each competition specific page As well as directly supporting innovative initiatives through its innovation competitions, the Water Innovation Fund aims to provide resources and support to help the sector innovate.

📖 Insights from the winning projects, thematic reports, case studies and more can be found in the Access Innovation section 📣 Blogs and updates about the Fund, the competition and the winning projects can be found on our News & Views section 📅Information on past and upcoming events can be found on our Events page 🤝🏽Support for organisations looking to collaborate with the water sector is available on Spring’s brokerage service page (external) Ten ways the Ofwat Innovation Fund made waves in 2024-25 Satellites, Robots, Drones and AI win Ofwat’s fifth Water Breakthrough Challenge Water Breakthrough Challenge Discovery: Meet the Winners Water Discovery Challenge Ofwat announces details of £400m fund to spur water sector transformation in next five years Stay up to date on the Water Innovation Fund This will close in 15 seconds This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.