NewsNews – OpinionWater Discovery Challenge
December 1, 2025
In this guest blog, Waterwhelm describe their journey from demonstrating and commercialising their water reuse solution, building traction with water companies, and navigating the many barriers to innovation in the water sector.
A finalist and winner of the Ofwat Innovation Fund’s first Water Discovery Challenge, they followed up their win with a strong partnership with Northumbrian Water and were awarded almost £2 million through the Water Breakthrough Challenge 5 competition for the Net Water PositHyve project. Check out Waterwhelm’s key tips at the end for other innovators.
Waterwhelm is an award-winning company offering a breakthrough patented technology for water reuse and desalination. The company was founded in 2018 in Scotland and has been propelled by a team of experienced engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, managers, and advisors leading a major technological leap to offer world-leading water supply solutions.
In this blog we will tell you:
Waterwhelm’s solution aims to increase water availability for people and businesses, with a focus on addressing increasing industrial water demands, including from:
This is achieved by sustainably producing recycled water using waste heat and brackish or seawater, which addresses the need for sustainable water reuse to achieve long-term water resilience and security.
Compared to existing solutions like reverse osmosis, Waterwhelm’s patented forward osmosis technology:
The technology has now been proven at multiple wastewater treatment and industrial sites across the UK achieving the lowest-ever rate of electricity consumption for water reuse, down to 0.3 kilowatt-hour (kWh) per cubic metre.
The Water Discovery Challenge (Discovery), launched by the Ofwat Innovation Fund in 2023, was an 18-month competition aimed at accelerating innovations in the UK water sector. This marked the first time the Fund invited entries from outside the traditional water company ecosystem — and the response was significant, with 247 eligible entries. £5.5 million in funding was subsequently awarded, with up to £50,000 for 20 finalists and an additional £450,000 for 10 winning projects.
As a well-known Ofwat competition in the UK water sector, we were aware of Discovery before attending the initial Launch Webinar. This marked the beginning of our Discovery journey. We then attended a key seminar for further information before submitting our application.
Discovery provided us with the perfect opportunity to prove the value of a solution already in development. But the combination of financial support and access to water company mentors helped our project advance from a working prototype to a commercially ready system.
Crucially, the funding also enabled us to develop early commercialisation plans, identify routes to market, and engage directly with water companies on the viability of large-scale deployment of our technology.
Proving that the technology works is not enough; time also needs to be dedicated to demonstrating the benefit and possible method of implementation to water companies.
Discovery funding and non-financial support also enabled us to build robust business cases tailored to the needs of five water companies, outlining expected water and carbon savings, detailing site compatibility, and showing clear methods for implementation.
This was important because when you’ve got hard numbers behind what a commercial system can deliver, and those hard numbers are generated by data that are provided by water companies sites – you can make a very strong techno-economic case.
Presenting a credible commercial offer to water companies helped us to visualise how the technology could be seamlessly integrated into existing infrastructure. It is important to build multiple commercial cases for different water companies to increase the likelihood of finding alignment with a company’s specific needs and goals.
We also prioritised visibility from the outset, knowing that a strong dissemination and engagement strategy would generate momentum. Attending sector events, showcasing our technology, and participating in Discovery events, all helped to build recognition within the water sector. This visibility helped us strengthen our network, building relationships that would be crucial when progressing from pilot to broader rollout.
The competition gave all 10 winning teams the opportunity to present their solution on the main stage at the World Water Tech Innovation Summit in 2024, which raised significant interest from international audiences. These in-person engagements helped us to gather feedback, test assumptions, and identify the right champions within companies to help move interest forward.
The opportunity to present our solution at a sprint during Northumbrian Water’s Innovation Festival in 2024 also helped us to develop relationships that ultimately led to a pilot partnership with Northumbrian Water to prove the effectiveness of the solution on a site setting.
Like many other Discovery participants, we encountered significant barriers along the way:
Some water companies were hesitant to engage with new technologies, focusing more on perceived risks and implementation hurdles than on potential long-term benefits. Others simply lacked the internal resources to explore or trial new innovations.
For external innovators, it can be difficult to gain traction without being an approved supplier by water companies or working through an intermediary. Frameworks designed for R&D and efforts to adapt procurement processes could go a long way in supporting adoption, even if they come with a degree of risk.
Another key barrier was access – not just to people, but to the data needed to build comprehensive commercial and deployment plans. As part of the non-financial support package offered through Discovery, we were assigned mentors, to help us stay focused and develop a stronger contextual understanding of the water sector.
A gap that we identified was having a connection to the right people and data that would enable us to demonstrate the commercial viability of our solution. To address this, we made the strategic decision to work with AtkinsRéalis to help bridge these gaps. This brought vital sector expertise, data access, and site knowledge, which transformed our ability to build compelling, evidence-based business cases.
AtkinsRéalis’ networks helped us to identify water company contacts with operational insight and access that could strengthen our commercial cases. The decision to partner with AtkinsRéalis provided us with real value by combining the agility of us as a small innovator with the reach and credibility of an established player.
Discovery provided us with a clear and supported pathway from early innovation to real-world deployment, through its structured financial and non-financial support. While this was an important enabler, as was the visibility that the challenge provided within the sector.
Discovery offers visibility to the water companies. It’s almost doing that de-risking process and highlights the best-in-class solutions.
We see this as a key message to share, not just with future entrants but also with water companies themselves, so that they can engage early and seek out opportunities to partner with emerging innovators.
Since Discovery concluded, we have been awarded further funding through the Water Breakthrough Challenge 5 for a bid we developed with Northumbrian Water which continues the work we started in Discovery. The project will deploy the technology to an industrial scale at Bran Sands Wastewater Treatment Works.
Situated at the heart of the Teesside industrial cluster, the access to industries with large consumption rates of freshwater as potential end users is one of the key strengths of our bid. The partnership includes AtkinsRéalis and the University of Bath, who will enable the development of a detailed techno-economic analysis for adoption between the water sector and various industries across the UK.
This project aims to pave the way for not only sector-wide adoption of a breakthrough technology but also multi-sector collaboration to meet the water consumption needs of industry in a sustainable way.
Our journey through Discovery highlights what’s possible when funding, mentorship, and strong sector partnerships come together.
Discovery provided us with the space to refine the technology, develop commercial plans, and build credible business cases that responded to water companies’ needs. Our focus on visibility, early engagement, and relationship building was key, and bringing on board the right partner at the right time helped us to unlock access to data and expertise that strengthened our offer.
Ultimately, this laid the foundations for success in our Water Breakthrough Challenge 5 entry, showing how structured innovation support can lead to sector-wide impact and deployment of new technologies at scale.
Our Water Discovery Challenge 2 competition will open on the 20 January 2026 at 1pm with approximately £7.5 million available to accelerate the discovery, development and implementation of promising, early-stage innovations. By providing funding, mentorship and expert support to organisations from outside the sector, it aims to create a pathway for disruptive innovations to be developed, implemented and scaled in the water sector.
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