TWRC at the forefront of Europe’s first water tech seminar

Our Chief Technology Officer, Prof Jacob Tompkins OBE, is also the co-founder of a water technology accelerator and at the end of January 2025, in Brussels, they hosted Europe’s first seminar dedicated to water tech start-ups and scale-ups. The event was supported by EY and WRc and brought together 50 water tech companies along with regulators, utilities, investors, engineering companies and academics to discuss how to create an ecosystem for deploying new water tech in Europe. There were discussions on technology trends, how innovation can drive productivity, and how regulation can facilitate water technology uptake. There were talks by investors on funding for technology and it was highlighted that water tech investment topped £1bn last year for the first time.

From a regulatory perspective, Ofwat presented their innovation fund, and the European Commission talked about upcoming regulation on pollution and drinking water quality. There were also panels with water companies talking about technology uptake, including Anglian Water and TWRC from the UK. And there were discussions with engineering firms and tech providers like WRc, Arup, Grundfos and Xylem. The key learnings were that adopting new water technologies can give businesses with several advantages, reducing costs, increasing efficiency and productivity, ensuring regulatory and environmental compliance, and meeting customer expectations.

Organising and participating in events like this means that TWRC is at the cutting edge of water research and technology, and a lot of this technology has direct relevance to TWRCs customers in areas like wastewater treatment, water purification, and water efficiency. Specific examples of new technologies include taps that can reduce water use by up to 95%, waterless urinals, washing machines that use nylon beads instead of water, software that drives pro-environmental behaviour, and microbial fuel cells for treating wastewater. In addition, we have expertise in deploying established technologies like rainwater harvesting, aerated showerheads, CIP systems etc. So, if you want to know about water technology get in touch and let’s see how we can help your business gain a financial advantage through better water management.

Like Jacob, all TWRCs staff are experts in their area with detailed experience in areas like regulation, billing, technology, trade effluent, metering, leakage, and more. And to ensure we stay ahead of the game, we constantly offer our staff training and engage in wider activities in the water sector so we can bring this unique expertise to our customers.