A knowledge-sharing vision and set of best practice principles have been created by Spring Innovation and Ofwat.
Spring, the UK water innovation centre of excellence, partnered with the water regulator for England and Wales to establish the new guidance to support faster scaling-up and adoption of new solutions in the sector.
Throughout 2024, the two organisations have engaged with senior water company leaders and innovation managers to hear their thoughts and learn from their experiences of knowledge-sharing between companies.
Views and recommendations gathered during discussions and workshops were used to inform six principles that support the vision ‘Unlock faster adoption by creating a world class knowledge-sharing culture’.
Spring and Ofwat’s six principles for best practice knowledge-sharing are:
- Learn from existing information before committing to innovation projects
- Target innovation insights at the right audiences to meet objectives
- Regularly share insights through multiple channels from day one of the project
- Ensure insights from both innovation successes and failures are shared
- Ensure sector knowledge is open and centralised
- Empower people to receive and embed lessons from external sources
While knowledge-sharing has been a key requirement of the Ofwat Innovation Fund since its launch in 2020, and is one of Spring’s core principles, the sector recognises there is a need for faster dissemination of information from all innovation projects as more technologies are trialled and tested.
In 2022, an innovation baseline report, commissioned by Ofwat as part of its Innovation Fund evaluation process, found there was a need for greater knowledge sharing among companies.
In March 2024, the regulator began its consultation into the Innovation Fund’s 2025-30 approach. The consultation document highlighted knowledge transfer as a key element of the fund that should be prioritised.
As such, Ofwat has strengthened the application criteria for knowledge-sharing in future competitions – although the new guidance should apply to all innovation projects to encourage a sector-wide culture change.
Ofwat senior director for sector performance Helen Campbell said: “The Ofwat Innovation Fund was created to find solutions with the potential to deliver wide-scale, transformational change for customers, society and the environment.
“Better information sharing across the sector will support water companies to make informed decisions about the solutions that best meet their needs and accelerate the widescale deployment of new technology, processes and ways of working.
“The new guidance developed with Spring will be an important tool for senior water leaders and innovation managers and we look forward to continuing to work together to deliver faster, smarter solutions.”
Spring managing director Carly Perry said: “Spring and its water company partners know that working together to deliver the sector’s innovation ambitions will accelerate overall performance.
“While some knowledge sharing is already happening, our conversations with water and innovation leaders, told us there was a need to establish guidance to ensure a consistent approach, as more innovation projects get underway.
“Effective knowledge sharing has wide-reaching benefits – it promotes greater efficiency, reduces repetition and environmental footprint, ensures lessons are learned by the right people, provides project transparency, promotes cross-company collaboration and increases employee satisfaction from sharing insights to help others.
“For a cultural shift to occur and for knowledge-sharing to become business-as-usual, Spring, Ofwat and water companies, all have a role to play. We hope the new vision and principles start us on a journey to faster adoption and support efforts to break down the barriers to moving at pace.”
