Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 23RD - 29TH MARCH 2018 | 23 Operations &Assets Views from the table: 1. Collaboration will drive innovation. Work with other companies inside and outside the utili- ties sector and share knowledge wherever possible. 2. Create an inno- vation culture by ensuring all employ- ees are aware of and are on board with what you're trying to achieve. 3. Focus on a few key innovations as priorities, don't focus on too many at once. 4. Collecting data is all very well, but it is important to invest in technologies that can be used to make sense of this data, so it is usable. 5. Smaller com- panies may find it harder to raise the capital to invest in large innovation projects, but their size generally makes them more agile when it comes to testing new ways of doing things. Key takeaways Nick Rutherford, 2020 vision IT investment programme director, Bristol Water "Innovative and disruptive technolo- gies are coming thick and fast. The 4th industrial revolution is converging many technology changes and we need to find ways of understand- ing their capabilities, how to use them and learn lessons from other more advanced industries and sectors." James Houlton, chief technology officer, Cadent "Innovation culture needs to be akin to health and safety culture in utilities. It's fundamental. Yes, there's someone in charge of it, but it's everyone's responsibility." Ian Cameron, head of innovation, UK Power Networks "As networks change we're going to require new skill sets. Innova- tion creates a great pool of resource that can split off into new operating models. At UK Power Networks we demonstrated this with the creation of the Smart Grid team from Innovation." William Hewish, chief information officer, United Utilities "Different con- stituencies within an organisation will have different ideas about what innova- tion should look like – IT, engineering and operations personnel tend to have very different views about what "good" innova- tion includes." Jeremy Heath, innovation manager, SES Water "The Internet of Things can bring information back from the networks, but it is artificial intel- ligence which will help us make sense of all that data." The Utility Week-Wipro Technology and Innovation Council is a forum for networking and ideas-sharing. It meets for face-to-face debates and workshops and approves the focus for bespoke research. For 2018, the council's research project will explore innovation and technology adoption strategies in UK utilities, with questions focusing on three themes: • Innovation leadership and investment • Innovation culture and process • Technology strategy An online survey to gather input for this research will launch this month.

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