Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | JULY 2021 | 37 A route map for water sector collaborative innovation Professor Tony Conway and Dr Kamal Birdi from the University of Sheffield have compiled a practical guide on how to set up, implement and benefit from collaborative water projects. Analysis C ollaborative innovation within the water sector is currently high on the agenda, thanks to the Ofwat Innovation Fund. A team from the University of Sheffield has distilled its work on how best to build partnering relationships that lead to viable innovations into a new downloadable guide for the sector. The guide – Collaborative Innovation in the Water Industry: How to Make it Happen – is published by TWENTY65 , the £3.9 million water research programme funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and comprising a consor- tium of six universities, with the University of Sheffield as lead. It's the result of comprehensive research and in- depth interviews with a wide range of stakeholders to identify the key factors most likely to deliver collabora- tive innovation success, with the recommendations organised in a logical sequence and format aligned to the stages of a typical water industry project. The guide has been conceived and designed as a practical and easy-to-use tool, with repeatable processes and opportunities for reflection and lesson learning. It includes a checklist for project leaders, managers and teams to assess their current level of collaborative innovation capability, and to signpost areas for improve- ment. The guide's authors are Professor Tony Conway and Dr Kamal Birdi from the University of Sheffield. Practical tools to maximise value "Only through active and committed collaboration, at scale and embracing all water industry stakeholders, will we fast-track the innovative solutions and new ways of working that society urgently needs," explains Profes- sor Conway. "In the UK, the industry itself, its regulators and stakeholders are united in their support for innovation through collaboration. The vision of Water Innovation 2050, an alliance of 19 UK water utilities, is to 'create open collaboration opportunities across the water sector and beyond to drive transformational change through innovation'. And a key driver of Ofwat's £200 million Innovation Fund is the pressing need to turbocharge innovation through effective collaboration. "This industry guide is designed to help equip project leaders and teams with the practical tools they need to enable collaborative innovation to happen at project level, and to maximise the value it can deliver for the pro- ject itself, the sector and wider society as a whole too." Dr Kamal Birdi is a senior lecturer in occupational psychology at the University of Sheffield Management School. He says: "While there are many individual exam- ples of effective collaborative innovation in the UK water sector, evidence of how and why those examples were successful can be hard to find. "We wanted to find out what the essential actions we need to take are, to ensure that projects have collabora- tive innovation baked in at every stage, from initiation to implementation. We conducted a number of research studies, including a systematic literature review and interviews with many water sector stakeholders, to identify major barriers and facilitators of collaborative cross-organisational innovation initiatives in the UK water industry." The research findings identified six core stages of the collaborative innovation project process. Within the six stages, there are 14 collaborative innovation themes covering 44 individual factors that contribute to great collaboration innovation. These six stages comprise: Project Stage 1: Defining the innovation project. A pre-requisite for collaborative innovation is for all partners to have a shared and clear understanding of the problem to be solved or the opportunity to be pursued. Project Stage 2: Building the project team. The right people need to be involved in the collaboration, includ- ing effective leadership and teams that are competent, creative, motivated, diverse and capable of enacting their decisions. . Project Stage 3: Establishing a collaborative environ- ment. The cultural dynamics of the collaboration should ensure there is trust between members and that partici- pants feel safe to share their thoughts and ideas. Project Stage 4: Managing activity. Moving forward on an organised, collaborative basis is key for the project to stay on track. Project Stage 5: Realising benefits. Many potentially good innovative solutions fail to turn into reality. Imple- mentation of innovation can be aided by ensuring there is effective collaborative change management capabil- ity and that, critically, operational end-users are fully engaged. Project Stage 6: Reflection and learning capabilities. As projects close, valuable insights can be gained by reviewing what went well, and what could have been better. "The factors we have identified will enable produc- tive collaboration from the outset and create a unified culture which allows real innovation to thrive," say Conway and Birdi. UW Innovate a new hub housed within the UW platform, designed to champion and facilitate collaborative innovation. To find out more go: https://utilityweek.co.uk/ uw-innovate To download a copy of Collaborative Innovation in the Water Industry: How to Make it Happen, by Professor Tony Conway and Dr Kamal Birdi, visit: https://bit.ly/2TyiPzE Professor Tony Conway Dr Kamal Birdi

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