The Innovation Fund is financed by household water and wastewater customers in England and Wales.
In AMP 8, Ofwat is overseeing an array of competitions and initiatives which support water company-led innovations; create pathways for new innovators to the sector; convene stakeholders (from across sectors) around strategically important challenges; and enable the implementation of proven solutions.
We have published an update, please read here.
We are open to initiatives that have successfully secured additional external public or private funding (including from other competitions run by Ofwat), provided there is no duplicative or double funding.
If entrants have received funding for their initiative from sources other than Ofwat, then they must ensure that those sources do not restrict their ability to receive funds from Ofwat, or comply with our terms and conditions.
If you have entered an innovation into another Ofwat funded competition, such as Water Efficiency Lab 1, you can still enter Breakthrough 6. However, you will not be able to receive funding for the same innovation from both competitions. This means that if your entry is selected as a winner for Breakthrough 6 you will need to decide whether to accept the Breakthrough funding and withdraw your WEL 1 entry, or to withdraw from Breakthrough and continue as a WEL 1 entrant, at your own risk of potentially not being selected as a WEL 1 winner.
Breakthrough 6 winners will be informed in mid-April 2026; WEL 1 winners will be informed in mid-June 2026.
One of the priorities for Ofwat’s Innovation Fund is enabling the water sector to better meet the evolving needs of its customers. This is focused on household customers in England and Wales, although benefits to non-household customers are also encouraged. All entries that propose primarily to benefit non-household customers must also demonstrate how the proposal can benefit household customers.
Entries should clearly explain how the proposed innovation will make a difference for customers – for example, by lowering costs, giving them insights to help them plan their water use, or improving their experience of their local water environments.
Following the consultation on the future of Fund, from April 2025 Ofwat will stop using the Innovation Fund themes. We will continue using the (updated) water cycle tags. We are keen to see entries addressing a variety of problems and delivering a range of benefits that help customers, communities and the environment.
The Independent Water Commission has reviewed the water sector in England and Wales and has set out a new direction. The UK government has confirmed it supports the recommendation to establish a new water regulator in England that will bring together Ofwat, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, the water functions of the Environment Agency and Natural England. The Independent Water Commission has also recommended changes to the regulatory arrangements in Wales for the Welsh Government to consider.
The UK government will publish a white paper in the autumn and bring forward legislation in 2026. The UK government has also confirmed that Ofwat will remain in place and continue to operate during the transition to the new regulator.
The government is not revisiting the 2024 price review funding decisions including the £600m Innovation Fund. We will therefore continue delivering our business-as-usual activities, including the Innovation Fund.
Breakthrough 6 has been designed to be largely consistent with round 5, with most features and timelines remaining the same, with some amendments to the entry and assessment criteria.
This round we are gathering information on whether partner organisations are SME’s and/or UK Incorporated Entities. This data is for reporting use only and has no bearing on the assessment entries.
The criteria and questions now make more reference to Inputs, Outputs, Outcomes and Impacts. As such there is a new question (1.2.2) about the intended outputs of the entry. You can see more about these terms in FAQ 7.11.
A new sub-criterion (2.2) has been added to focus on how the lead entrant and their partners themselves plan to develop and implement the innovation, separate from its wider adoption in the water sector (which is covered in 2.3).
After the successful implementation of the Drinking Water Inspectorate providing additional review of relevant entries in Breakthrough 5, we will be extending this to include the Environment Agency in this round. Entries 6 may be passed to the Environment Agency (EA) for review. This is to allow the Fund to make informed funding decisions and ensure policy coherence. The Environment Agency’s views may in turn be provided to judges and Ofwat to aid their decision-making. All funding decisions will be made in accordance with the published assessment criteria.
The two Streams of Breakthrough 6 have slightly different key dates, as the Transform Stream has a two-stage entry process:
Catalyst stream
The Catalyst stream opens for entries on 8 September 2025 at 12 noon (BST)
The Catalyst stream closes for entries on 6 January 2026 at 12 noon (GMT)
Transform stream
Stage 1 opens for entries on 8 September 2025 at 12 noon (BST)
Stage 1 closes for entries on 29 September 2025 at 12 noon (BST)
Stage 1 live Q&A with assessors will take place between late October and early November 2025
Stage 2 opens for entries on 24 November 2025 at 12 noon (GMT)
Stage 2 closes for entries on 14 January 2026 at 12 noon (GMT)
Both streams
Breakthrough 6 Launch Webinar Recording: Took place on 9 September 2024 from 11.30 am to 12.30 pm (BST)
Judging Panel meeting (including Q&A with judges): 24-26 March 2026
Winners announced: By mid-May 2026
Winners’ onboarding event: 9 June 2026 from 1 to 3 pm
The lead entrant to Breakthrough 6 must be an appointed ‘Water Company’ (a water and/or sewerage undertaker or infrastructure provider (i.e. Tideway) in England and Wales.
We encourage water companies and third parties to actively establish new partnerships to enter the Challenge. Partners of water companies do not need to be based in England and Wales.
Water companies can enter in partnership with any organisation within and outside the water sector and internationally. Examples include, but are not limited to: academia, water retailers, start-ups, and small businesses across sectors such as energy, manufacturing, health or financial services.
For Breakthrough 6 water and/or sewerage undertaker or infrastructure providers (i.e. Tideway), are required to be the lead entrant. Other organisations, in partnership with the lead entrant, can develop the entry. If the entry is successful, entry partners will have access to the funding via the lead entrant.
For the Catalyst Stream, partners other than the lead water company can submit the entry via Submittable, which will then be shared with the lead entrant water company for validation.
A senior, accountable person employed by the lead entrant, i.e. the lead water company indicated in the entry, will act as the signatory.
As a water retailer, you are able to enter Breakthrough 6 as part of a partnership or consortia led by a water and/or sewerage undertaker or infrastructure provider (i.e. Tideway) ) in England and Wales.
Information about eligibility for all upcoming competitions will be published on the competitions page and we would advise you to subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date with the latest news and Fund announcements.
Partnerships should be in place for as long as is required for successful delivery of the initiative. Successful entries will provide evidence to the judges to demonstrate the strength of collaboration arrangements through the entirety of the initiative or project life cycle.
We recognise that it takes time to forge good relationships, so we’d encourage you to plan early and also have an eye on future competition rounds. We recommend that you do not wait for a competition to open to start developing relationships to ensure sufficient time is allowed to nurture relationships and hone entry ideas.
If you are new to the water sector, you may wish to contact Spring, the water sector’s centre of excellence for innovation. In particular, we recommend you read the Water Innovation Strategy 2050 and the Water Innovation Strategy Ecosystem Guide before contacting water companies to understand their innovation priorities.
Organisations that have already worked together are welcome to enter. We strongly encourage the formation of new partnerships that bring additional value to individual entries.
We have not set out a preferred make up of partnership/consortia as we do not want to restrict any opportunities at this stage. Entries will be assessed against the assessment criteria.
You can read the full assessment categories and guidance for each stream of Breakthrough 6 on their dedicated pages:
The lead entrant (a water and/or sewerage undertaker or infrastructure provider (i.e. Tideway)) of any successful entries will receive the funds and is responsible for any relevant legal agreements.
It is a contractual matter between members of a partnership to make their own arrangements on how the funds and responsibilities will be split and allocated between different parties within the partnership. This also applies where there is a consortium of water companies.
The Fund strongly encourages entrants to develop collaboration agreements in advance of the project start to avoid delays if the entry is successful. You are welcome to use the template ‘collaboration agreement’ (developed by the water sector) available via the Key Materials on the Catalyst and Transform pages.
Both streams of Breakthrough 6 are looking for your ideas that address the big challenges facing the water sector. We aim to fund a wide range of entries that will showcase a diverse mix of innovative ways of working and solutions.
We are seeking truly innovative solutions that deliver greater value than current practices in the sector; advance the water sector’s understanding; and could not otherwise be funded. See the Innovation Fund’s definition of innovation for more information. We recognise that these kinds of entries carry risk and uncertainty, and we encourage this, in line with our principles for risk and innovation.
See sections ‘What we are looking for’ and ‘Entering the Catalyst/Transform stream’ of the Entrant Handbooks (Catalyst and Transform) for more details on what we are looking for and the assessment criteria for both streams.
Water Cycle Tags refer to specific parts of the water cycle, which are shown in the diagram below. You will be asked in your entry form to specify which Water Cycle Tags apply to your project. This information is used in determining if your entry will be passed to the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) for additional review, and is used for monitoring and reporting purposes of winning projects.
We are seeking truly innovative entries that deliver greater value than current practices in the sector; advance the water sector’s understanding; and could not otherwise be funded.
Pre-existing initiatives or projects can be submitted, provided the work you propose to undertake meets the Innovation Fund’s definition of innovation.
The scope of the initiative you are entering should be made very clear. Please note, the entry will be assessed based on what will be delivered as part of that scope rather than the scope of any wider initiatives.
The same entry may be submitted to future rounds, provided it can comply with the criteria for that round.
We will aim to provide clear feedback to support further development of unsuccessful entries. The same entry should not be resubmitted until relevant feedback has been considered.
We are also open to winners using later competition rounds to further the development of a previously successful entry – subject to continued compliance with the criteria for that round, including evidence and assurance that there is no double funding.
Yes. We are seeking ambitious and innovative entries. However, we recognise that audacious “sector-changing” plans can present risks. As such, we actively encourage entrants to use stage gates as part of their governance plans to mitigate innovation risks. This is an established approach to innovation and project management.
Entrants will be responsible for managing delivery against milestones and adapting delivery to realise the intended impact most efficiently and effectively, with the support of Ofwat and the Breakthrough 6 delivery partners. Please note we are unable to offer partial funding, so the decision to fund or not fund is made against the entire entry.
Very early-stage concepts with high levels of uncertainty or limited testing may be better suited to the Catalyst Stream. If successful, such entries are welcome to seek further funding through future rounds of the Transform Stream.
We are open to a wide range of project delivery timelines, from less than a year to multi-year periods that continue beyond 2031. There is no requirement for delivery to be completed within the current asset management plan (AMP) period.
We expect initiatives entered into Breakthrough 6 to start within six months of being awarded funding. While we recognise that particularly complex entries may require a longer mobilisation period, based on past winners’ experience and feedback, we strongly encourage entrants to consider the following points in advance of the project start to avoid delays if the entry is successful:
The location of work will be up to those submitting the entry.
In exceptional circumstances, some unsuccessful entrants to Stage 1 of the Transform stream might consider entering the Catalyst stream (which closes on 6 January 2026) with a revised entry.
Unsuccessful entrants to Stage 1 of the Transform Stream will be required to confirm in writing if they plan to enter the Catalyst Stream by 12 pm (GMT) on Friday 28 November 2025.
Further information about this option has been included in Appendix 2 of the Entrant Handbooks (Catalyst and Transform), and the terms and conditions of the Challenge reflect this opportunity. Please note, this does not represent a recommendation from the Fund to enter the Catalyst stream. Entering the Catalyst stream after the Transform stream will not in any way guarantee that your entry will be successful in winning funding. All entries to the Catalyst stream are subject to the same entry process, terms and conditions, and assessment.
You can submit as many entries into the Challenge as you like, providing each entry is for a different initiative. We will ensure that we progress a diverse portfolio of entries in terms of entry themes, types, entrants and geographic location.
You will not be permitted to switch streams once you have submitted your entry.
If you enter the Transform stream and are unsuccessful at Stage 1, you are considered to have exited the Challenge altogether.
However, if you are unsuccessful in Stage 1 of the Transform stream, you may enter the Catalyst stream if the entry meets all of the eligibility criteria. Your likelihood of success does not increase in the Catalyst stream if you have previously entered the Transform steam. Beyond standard feedback provided at the sole discretion of the Fund, no assistance can be provided by Ofwat or the delivery team to any entrant. Further information is available in Appendix 2 of the Entrant Handbooks (Catalyst and Transform).
If you’re successful in Stage 1 of the Transform stream, you will be invited to Stage 2 when it opens on 24 November 2025 at 12 noon (GMT).
You will have access to your entry again in Submittable, and the entry form will have been updated to reflect the changes set out in the Entrant Handbooks (Catalyst and Transform). You can change answers to all your questions in this period, provided that the entry remains consistent with what was submitted during Stage 1.
It is at that point that Transform entries will be requested to book a pitch recording session.
Once Stage 2 closes on 14 January 2026 at 12 noon (GMT), your entry will be completely reassessed. This may be by a different assessment team who first reviewed your entry.
Breakthrough 6 will continue with the single, unified judging panel to review entries to the Catalyst and Transform streams.
Following successful use in previous rounds, Breakthrough 6 will also offer the opportunity of a live Q&A session for the entrants of Transform Stage 2 and Catalyst streams to respond to judges’ questions as part of the entry process. Please note entrants will not be requested to pitch to the judges in this round.
All answers in this entry form are treated confidentially except 0.1 (Entry title) and 0.2 (Entry Description) in the ‘General information’ section of the entry form.
Ofwat may include non-confidential information about your entry in decision documents and other publications.
Please refer to the Challenge terms and conditions, ‘Publicity’ section, for more information.
We are committed to enabling a diverse range of entrants to enter Breakthrough 6. If there are any reasonable adjustments that would support you to enter, catering for any additional needs you may have, please contact [email protected].
If you wish to work on more than one draft of the online entry form during the entry period, please contact the team at [email protected] for assistance.
You can now transfer ownership of a Submittable entry to another user at any time. You can see guidance on how to do this on Submittable.
If you’re having any problems with Submittable, please contact the team at [email protected] for help. There are self-service help files available directly from Submittable.
Unfortunately, the export feature in Submittable strips away any rich text formatting, such as bold, italics and bullet points. Submittable is exploring adding exporting rich text formatting in their development roadmap, but please be reassured that assessors and judges have access to review your entry directly on Submittable so they can see entries with all the formatting that is input when you submit.
There are known issues with using Submittable when using certain firewalls, which block the ability to upload documents to Submittable. At this time, we are aware that this most commonly affects entrants using Submittable while the Dwr Cymru Welsh Water firewall is active.
Where possible, please save your entry and attempt to use a device not using a firewall, but if this isn’t possible or practical, please feel free to send any relevant attachments to [email protected] with reference to your entry, and we will attach them on your behalf.
We offer one-to-one surgery sessions during the entry period to give entrants an opportunity to ask questions about the entry process. They aim to help clarify publicly available information and support entrants in understanding the guidance currently available.
You can sign up for a 15-minute session, and one or more members of the delivery team from Challenge Works, Isle and Arup will aim to answer all your questions on the short call. If we aren’t able to answer your question on the day, we will then go away and aim to get back to you as soon as possible with an answer. You can sign up for a Catalyst session or sign up for a Transform session. You will be asked to tell us about your query when signing up. This is to ensure that we get the relevant people onto the call.
You are welcome to book as many surgery sessions as you wish, and you can bring along multiple team members.
Surgery sessions will be carried out using Zoom. If this is a technical issue for you, please email us at [email protected], and we can organise a phone call or use Microsoft Teams.
Please note the delivery team will not be able to provide any guidance on entries themselves through the surgery sessions.
Pitch recordings are short video recordings that are viewed alongside your entry to help assessors and judges understand and review your entry. These must be recorded during the entry period by booking a pitch recording session with the Challenge delivery team. You can book your pitch recording session for the Catalyst stream or the Transform stream (Transform link will be made available when Stage 2 opens).
Within your pitch, you should outline:
You are welcome to use slides or other visual aids within your pitch recording. The entry form allows you to upload any presentation/visuals used in the pitch recording (optional).
For the Catalyst stream, pitch recordings are required and should be no longer than 3 minutes in length.
For the Transform stream, pitch recordings are required and should be no longer than 5 minutes in length. Only those entries invited to Stage 2 will be required to make a pitch recording.
We ask that you do not come to pitch recording sessions with pre-recorded pitches, with the exception of any short (up to 30-second) video excerpts.
To promote equity, diversity and inclusion and reduce any potential bias in the entry process, we continue to exclude speaker videos in pitch recordings for Breakthrough 6. We ask that you present slides or other visuals while talking.
Slots for Catalyst pitch recording slots are available from 17 November to 18 December 2025 and can be booked using this link between 8 September and 18 December 2025.
Slots for Stage 2 Transform pitch recording slots are available from 26 November 2025 to 13 January 2026 and can be booked using this link between 24 November to 23 December 2025.
If you are unable to attend any of the available slots, please let us know by emailing [email protected] by 5 pm (GMT) on Monday 15 December 2025.
As in Breakthrough 5, we no longer require entries to Transform Stage 1 to make pitch recordings. All Catalyst entries, and all Transform entries invited to Stage 2 will need to book a pitch recording session. You can book your pitch recording session for the Catalyst stream or the Transform stream (Transform link will be made available when Stage 2 opens).
During assessment and judging, all Catalyst and Transform Stage 2 entries are reviewed by technical assessors and judges, who will have access to the pitch recordings together with the rest of the entry materials. As in Breakthrough 5, entrants will not be required to pitch live in front of the judges. However, they will be invited to a live Q&A session to respond to judges’ questions as part of the entry process.
A pitch recording session is designed to give you a supportive space to record your pitch. By default, these happen on Zoom but let us know at [email protected] if this is a problem for you.
When you join the session, you will be joined by a team member from the Challenge delivery team.
You will be invited to test that your sound and screen sharing are all working well. When you’ve tested these out and are ready, we will then invite you to record your pitch. We will offer to give you time prompts (for example, ‘One minute remaining’) using the chat or to leave you to it. We will stop the recording when the allotted time is up (3 minutes for Catalyst stream entries, 5 minutes for Transform stream entries).
To promote equity, diversity and inclusion and reduce any potential bias in the entry process, we continue to exclude speaker videos in pitch recordings for Breakthrough 6. We ask that you present slides or other visuals while talking.
Assuming there is time left in the 15-minute recording slot, we will ask you if you are happy or if you wish to have a second attempt at the recording. If, after the second attempt, you are still not happy, we will offer you an alternative 15-minute slot to try again.
Please refer to FAQ 6.1 for further guidance on what pitch recordings should look like.
There will be no questions asked of you on the pitch recording session.
However, entries to Stage 1 of the Transform stream will be offered the opportunity of a live Q&A session with the assessors in late October/early November 2024. More information on these sessions is available in Appendix 2 ‘Entering the Catalyst stream if unsuccessful in Transform Stage 1’ section of the Entrant Handbooks.
We will also offer the opportunity of a live Q&A session with the judges’ panel during the judging days in April 2025. More information about this will be shared if you are invited to the live session with the judges.
Please note entrants will not be requested to pitch to the judges in this round.
Approximately £50 million is available across both the Catalyst stream (for individual entries seeking funding of between £150,000 and £2 million) and the Transform stream (for individual entries seeking funding of between £2 million and £10 million).
The lead water company will receive the funds for winning entries.
The lead water company will receive the funds. It is a contractual matter between members of a partnership how the funds will then be split and allocated between different parties within the partnership. This also applies where there is a consortium of water companies.
We expect entries to demonstrate cost efficiency and good use of customer money, with a clear case for any costs included in the entry budget.
Strong entries will reassure assessors, the judging panel and Ofwat that entrants have a realistic cost breakdown and financial plan, with cost risks and associated contingency arrangements identified.
Tab C in the Entry template is designed to help assessors and judges to understand and assess the entry. You are advised to provide clarifying information in the description column, especially where there are large sums attributed to budget items. You can then provide further information in questions 3.4.3 of the Entry form.
We are open to initiatives that have successfully secured additional external public or private funding (including from other competitions run by Ofwat). However, entrants must confirm that:
Funds from this competition are not classified as subsidies within the UK Subsidy Control regime (previously referred to as ‘State Aid’).
A maximum of 90% of the total financial cost of the entry will be provided by funding from Breakthrough 6. Entry partners must provide the remaining 10% of the entry’s total financial costs as a mandatory 10% financial contribution. Entry partners have the flexibility to decide how the remaining 10% is funded, as long as it is not funded by charges to water customers in England and Wales.
We welcome any additional financial and/or non-financial contributions beyond the minimum 10% and have seen many entries do this in previous rounds.
A calculator has been added to the entry form in Submittable to help with entry cost percentage calculations.
Following confirmation from HMRC, receipt of funds through the competition is not subject to VAT.
Activities undertaken within entry projects are subject to VAT and are subject to the usual rules of recoverability for water companies.
Entry delivery costs should be inclusive of applicable taxes, which are not recoverable, reflecting the true costs of the initiative.
Where taxes are fully recoverable, such as VAT, costs should be shown net of (excluding) the recoverable amount.
Taxes that are not recoverable should be included, for example, customs duties payable on goods imported into the UK.
Nominal prices are money in today’s value rather than a deflated or inflated value. For example, water companies often operate in 2022/23 prices in line with the current AMP cycle. The amount you bid for in the Water Breakthrough Challenge is the amount you will receive, if successful, in today’s money.
You are welcome to use your preferred approach to calculating overheads; please provide details of the approach you have used within the template. You are advised to provide clarifying information in the description column, especially where there are large sums attributed to budget items.
You will see mention of inputs, outputs, outcomes and impacts throughout the entry. Here are how those are defined:
This is to bring the terminology more in that with that used in the monitoring of successful entries.
Yes, please feel free to change the formatting and overwrite any formulas for the template.
The template is provided as a guide. Please ensure all the relevant information required by the template is included and easy to identify.
Entrants to Breakthrough 6 will have two IPR options to choose from:
Option 1 – default IPR terms (previously known in Breakthrough 2 Catalyst as “Background IPR trial terms”)
Option 2 – alternative IPR terms;
Where possible, you should adopt the default IPR terms, which we hope you will find fair and reasonable given the investment of customer money in entries. The aims of these IPR terms are to ensure all customers benefit equally from the innovation funded through the Breakthrough 6.
If, for any reason, you are unable to adopt the default IPR terms, we ask you to share more details about this in your entry form in requesting alternate IPR terms, which are reviewed on a case-by-case basis by Ofwat.
In respect of all the options available, you will be required to answer questions on your IPR proposals as part of the entry form. We may seek further clarification on these proposals following the submission of your entry.
In order to assess whether the proposed IPR terms are fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory, we expect you to provide information in your entry that demonstrates how the proposed royalties, remuneration and/or principles are:
We currently use Zoom for all of these, although this is subject to change. Please ensure you have downloaded the desktop version of Zoom to enable full functionality. You can find advice on joining a test call here.
Follow these steps to get the best out of your session:
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