A Collaborative Hub of Innovation

The Innovation Festival is a dynamic event that brings together a diverse array of participants, including employees, industry experts, academics, and innovators. The festival features a variety of activities such as design sprints, hackathons, workshops, and interactive sessions - all designed to inspire creative solutions to the water industry's most pressing challenges.

This year's theme, "Speed and Scale," emphasised the rapid development and scaling of good ideas. By fostering open dialogue and experimentation, Northumbrian Water ensures that innovation remains central to its operations, driving progress and enhancing service delivery.

In addition to the main events, this year's festival also introduced the Young Citizens Work Experience Festival. This initiative provided 14-18 year-olds from local schools with hands-on work experience, aiming to inspire the next generation of innovators and expose them to various career paths.

Ntegra at the Innovation Festival

We were delighted to attend the NWG Innovation Festival this year, and it once again lived up to its reputation as a premier event for promoting innovation and creativity in the water sector. The festival has grown significantly, featuring over 50 separate sprints tackling real-world challenges across various domains. Ntegra was fortunate to participate in two sprints, focusing on Gen AI and Robotics.

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The “Robots to the Rescue” sprint, hosted by the National Robotarium, focused on leveraging robotics and AI to revolutionise inspection processes. The core objective was to explore how current robotic technologies could be adapted or adopted to meet the challenges posed by AMP8 (Asset Management Period 8). With increased funding aimed at enhancing customer service, sustainability, resilience, and efficiency, the goal was to develop ideas to make inspection processes safer, smarter, and more efficient.

Insights from the Field

It was fascinating to see the current business challenges in the field and how new technologies are being introduced, along with the hurdles they face. Enablement was a key priority, focusing on understanding the technology and finding the best methods for its introduction. Challenges included regulatory hurdles, trust in AI and data, knowledge gaps, and commercial considerations.

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The understanding of AI has grown rapidly over the past year. The use cases on display provided insights into how to push AI usage further. The “Robots to the Rescue” sprint featured an AI assistant named H2O, a GPT-based assistant trained on the sprint data. H2O introduced the sprint aims and participated in the sessions, summarising each team’s ideas into concise combined concepts, and streamlining the process throughout the week.

An Engaging Experience Overall

Northumbrian Water put considerable effort into making the festival lively and engaging. Beyond the sprints, attendees enjoyed live music, dancing, and a happy yoga session led by Guru Dudu, which set a positive tone for the event. The pit stop challenge, where teams raced to achieve the fastest tyre change, added a competitive and fun element. Additionally, the various tech stands showcased the latest advancements in technology, offering valuable insights into industry innovations.

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We were also inspired by talks from Ellie Simmonds, Steve Cram, and Willard Wigan, who shared their unique experiences and illustrated how innovation has played a crucial role in their achievements. For these unique experiences, Ntegra is proud to be a returning participant of the NWG Innovation Festival and looks forward to seeing you at the next!

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Authored by Sean Bailey, Head of Research and Development at Ntegra.