Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
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A fresh approach The Talk: innovation survey conviction that companies are internally aligned in the need for innovation, they want greater incentives and recognition for innovation - fewer than half of all respond- ents (46 per cent) agree that their business rewards innovation. And only 16 per cent of managers strongly agree that their business seeks out and benefits from innovation in the supply chain. Questioned about perceived barriers to innovation, respondents said the chief problem was the lack of infrastructure to fast-track ideas from inception to imple- mentation. Unsurprisingly, regulators were also per- ceived as presenting barriers to innovation. The £200m innovation proposed by the water regulator is seen as a crucial catalyst for technological breakthroughs. The regulator has just completed a consultation on allowing companies to increase custom- ers' bills by up to a total of £200m (shared across all companies) to fund and/or reward innovation over 2020-2025. Ofwat is offering three options for the way the fund could operate: a collectively- funded innovation competition, which appealed to one in five of respondents; a re- An injection of new thinking is needed by the water sector finds a new WWT survey. A n exclusive WWT survey of senior executives and managers from water companies and water & sew- erage companies has revealed innovation is seen as the key to tackling the myriad issues facing the sector – and Ofwat's proposed innovation fund could prove the catalyst for fundamental change. Chief executives, board and other directors and heads of department (42 per cent of respondents) and managers (58 per cent) at 13 companies took part in the survey, which was supported by UKWIR (UK Water Industry Research). The results revealed that 100 per cent of respond- ents rated innovation as important or extremely important. Additionally, almost eight in 10 respond- ents support Ofwat's proposed £200 million innovation fund, with 76 per cent favouring a combination of a collectively funded in- novation competition and a reward for the successful rollout of innovative solutions. However, the survey also reveals an apparent disconnect between leadership teams and other management on the best approaches to implementing innova- tion. While managers share senior teams' 10 | DECEMBER 2019 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk Overall Water & sewerage Water only Manager Chief/Head of Dept Director or above Average Rating 4.64 4.71 4.64 4.79 4.45 4.33 The entire water sector agrees in the importance of innovation l 100% of respondents rate innovation as important or extremely important l This equates to an average rating of 4.64, out of 5 Q: How important is it that the UK water companies increase their innovation activity and ambition over the next five years? Please indicate the importance on the scale from 1 to 5 1: Not important at all 2 3 4 5: Extremely Important 36.4% 0% 0% 0% 63.6%