Innovation's the key

Innovation is essential for meeting the challenges we face in the future. During this significant time of change and challenge for the whole water sector, we can reach our goals faster and more efficiently if we’re open to new ideas, new ways of working, and new practices. Bluewave is Southern Water's in-house innovation team and as we plan up to 2030 and beyond, the Bluewave team have been focusing their attention on how to innovate and what to focus our innovation efforts on.

To provide some focus to priorities, we’ve considered four key themes for innovation. These themes let us think about opportunities for change in a structured way and then to develop a roadmap to 2030 and beyond.

The themes are:

• Improving sustainability and maximising value using the circular economy - exploring opportunities for operating more sustainably and maximising re-use and recycling of materials and wastewater.
• Tackling emerging contaminants holistically - exploring the end-to-end process of emerging contaminants before they even enter our network and removing them before they can have an impact on customers and the environment.
• Delivering a resilient supply and an affordable service for all - making sure the service we provide meets the needs of our customers, both now and in the future. This means improving our customer experience so we can aim to exceed customer expectations and continue to support our most vulnerable customers to make their lives a little easier.
• Enhancing our regional water environment - exploring innovation opportunities to reduce pollution events, improve water quality and protect the ecology of our region.

We've tested these themes with colleagues from across our company and with other water companies, as well as listening to what our customers are saying, to make sure we’re focusing on the most relevant and valuable opportunities. The themes also helped us to identify some cross cutting challenges that we also need to consider, such as providing innovation to support Southern Water’s net zero ambitions. 

A considerable focus has been on creating and coordinating capabilities within Southern Water to generate ‘innovation enablers’ in the business, maintaining a culture of innovation, where everyone in the business understands their role in innovation and transformation.

Working with our four key themes for innovation will help us continue to focus on where and how to innovate, long into the future.   

We know there’s a lot to be done and we’re ready for the challenge. If you’d like to work with us, get in touch. Drop us a message at bluewave@southernwater.co.uk.