Look back at Innovation Lab 3 (2020/21)

In 2020 we launched the second innovation lab.

Globally, more than 450 suppliers were scouted for Innovation Lab 3, and 103 of these submitted their ideas to United Utilities for consideration which was then narrowed down to a shortlist of 20 to pitch their ideas on pitch day. This Innovation Lab asked for ideas relating to:

Systems Thinking - HWM & Noam
Circular Economy - Changemaker 3D & Genesis Biosciences
Future of Water - Leakster Pty & SME Water
and Wild Card - Planetek Italia & Transcend Software Inc.

Reflecting on our third Innovation Lab

Discover what our suppliers thought about the experience.

Changemaker

ChangeMaker 3D is an early-stage business with a vision to use 3D Concrete Printing (3DCP) to ‘Print a Sustainable Future’. ChangeMaker 3D has spent 3 years immersing itself in developing the capability of 3D Concrete Printing (3DCP) for both commercial and societal benefit. They can now demonstrate the 3DCP ‘art of the possible’ showcasing how the unique quick-drying mortar and the mobile robotic arm can provide sustainable products that save time and reduce waste.
Noam

Noam (by Peruse) is an on-premise capable knowledge automation platform for enabling systems thinking. By using machine intelligence, automation, and data, it provides deep, valuable insights into an organization’s operations. Noam 1 solves the problem of data and information -- turning idle unstructured data within the organization into actionable insights to logically improve operational performance.
Genesis Biosciences

Genesis Biosciences is a global biosciences company with the unique capability to ferment bacteria strains and develop safe and natural microbial and antimicrobial products on a solid foundation of eco-benign® technology. Their Evogen Biogas Additive is a powdered product that combines a novel mineral carrier with an application specific naturally occurring, non-pathogenic, stable microbial component. The application of EBA can contribute towards the circular economy of sludge treatment and disposal through delivering improvements across the entire system of treating and disposing of sludge.
HWM

HWM is an experienced and respected manufacturer of monitoring and telemetry equipment for clean water, waste water and gas networks, together with telemetry AMR and facilities optimisation products. Having supplied the water industry for nearly 40 years, they combine advanced communications technology with rugged, purpose-designed hardware to deliver a variety of robust and efficient network monitoring solutions.
Transcend

Transcend is a team of water experts on a mission to accelerate the adoption of new and sustainable water treatment technologies. While innovation in the water industry is often stymied by outdated, manual design processes that can take hundreds or thousands of hours, Transcend’s software fully automates the preliminary engineering for water and wastewater facilities. End users enter basic project and details on the outcomes they want (e.g. effluent quality or energy consumption) and high quality engineering documents are produced within hours.
SME Water

SME Water specialise in clean water pressure and hydraulic modelling, using contemporary analysis and data science techniques to deliver complex projects. The team use their extensive subject knowledge of water network behaviour and engineering insight to ensure that their projects deliver tangible and sustainable benefits. Their flagship Dynamic Pressure Analysis provides valuable insight into network anomalies and enables companies to proactively localise and target bursts on the network.
Leakster

Leakster has developed the hardware and software to provide a ground-breaking water distribution condition monitoring solution that detects, classifies, and pin-points water distribution pipeline leaks - enabling water utilities to make more efficient asset management decisions.
Planetek Italia

Planetek has developed Rheticus - a satellite based monitoring service. Rheticus® is an automatic cloud-based geo-information service platform, designed to provide fresh and accurate data and information on our changing world.