The second edition of the Water Discovery Challenge is now open, offering £7.5 million in funding to support bold, early-stage innovations addressing some of the biggest challenges facing the water sector.

Part of Ofwat’s wider £600 million Water Innovation Fund, this national competition supports innovators at TRL 3–6 to develop, test and validate new solutions, with direct access to water companies and sector experts.

The Challenge is actively seeking ideas from outside the water sector, making this a particularly relevant opportunity for enterprise educators supporting:

• student, staff or graduate entrepreneurs

• researchers exploring commercialisation pathways

• interdisciplinary teams applying digital, AI, energy, construction or systems-based approaches to real-world problems

Up to 20 teams will receive £100,000 to develop their ideas, with up to 10 finalists progressing to receive up to £550,000 to further scale their solutions.

Beyond funding, the Water Discovery Challenge also presents a live innovation brief that can be adapted into teaching, workshops or challenge-based learning, helping learners build real-world innovation, systems thinking and problem-solving skills.

Key dates

• Call opens: 20 January 2026

• Deadline: 8 April 2026, 1 pm (GMT)

• Launch webinar: 29 January 2026, 1 pm (GMT)

🔗 Find out more, access entry materials and register for the launch webinar: waterinnovation.challenges.org/discovery2