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Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience
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The Water Hub

The Water Hub was a collaborative initiative between Durham University, Durham County Council, the Environment Agency and Northumbrian Water. 

The aim was to engage with Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the North East of England to identify and develop innovative, practical solutions to challenges in the region’s water sector. 

The project, which was funded by the European Regional Development Fund, delivered support to SMEs through challenge events, partnership working, flexible small grants and access to test facilities. 

Project features: 

  • Challenge events offered SMEs the chance to work on specific problems to try and find innovative solutions. Suitable solutions were tested and further developed using live testing facilities. 
  • Innovations partnerships facilitated the development of new networks of SMEs, partners and researchers with the aim of bringing people together to form new, exciting collaborations. 
  • A number of small grants, which were made available at different stages in the innovation process. Grants had a value of between £1000 and £5000, which was fully matched by the SME. 
  • A range of test facilities encouraged and facilitated new product development and assisted with market feasibility testing. These facilities included residential homes, laboratories and supply chains, to help test and develop innovative ideas. 
  • Valuable mentoring and facilitation to SMEs which in turn helped to develop ideas further, opened up new supply chains and connected SMEs with research innovation services across the North East of England. 

 

“The Water Hub is all about harnessing the talent and technology of the North East business community to solve real challenges that affect us all, in areas such as water efficiency, water cleaning and flooding. 

“We are really excited to be launching this ambitious initiative and look forward to sharing lots of valuable opportunities with businesses we can work with in the near future.” 

Professor Louise Bracken, Scientific Director of The Water Hub