The Ignite+ event which took place on 21 September was run by Dr Jannis Wenk from the Water, Innovation, and Research Centre (WIRC) at the University of Bath, who this year was an academic secondee at Bristol Water.

The event provided an open platform to share insights, exchange ideas and learn from each other’s experiences for strengthening collaborations to overcome current and future challenges in the UK's drinking water supply, treatment, and delivery.

Talks were given from key water experts in both industry and academia, including the event lead Dr Jannis Wenk, Jon Chouler from Bristol Water, and Zac Hickman and Jason Edwards, Business Partnerships and Knowledge Exchange Managers from Research and Innovation Services (RIS) at the University who helped facilitate. Jon Chouler, Bristol Water, says:

The event was hugely engaging and a great opportunity for water company representatives to discuss and cultivate novel ideas around the compelling challenges that the drinking water industry faces. A huge thank you to the University of Bath for hosting this event, we came away from the day full of ideas and new avenues for addressing our challenges, with opportunity to truly collaborate with the University.

There were 28 attendees from a range of leading water companies, including Wessex Water, Bristol Water, Bournemouth Water, and Southwest Water, as well as across the university, notably the Departments of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Architecture and Civil Engineering. Dr Jannis Wenk, says:

It was an exceptional networking event that highlighted numerous opportunities for collaboration between the water industry and the University of Bath. I was particularly impressed by the enthusiastic participation from representatives of four different water companies. I would like to express my gratitude to the Business Partnerships and Knowledge Exchange team for their invaluable assistance in facilitating and organising the workshop, as well as to the Water Innovation and Research Centre at Bath for their support throughout.”

Complete the Expression of Interest (EoI) form by 31 October for funding to support a Knowledge Exchange networking event.

More on our Ignite+ event series.

Contact the Knowledge Exchange and Business Partnerships team with your queries: partnerships@bath.ac.uk