Response to Ofwat consultation on driving transformational innovation in the sector

The authors welcome the opportunity to respond to this Ofwat consultation on collaborative innovation and the financial support targeted for it. We agree with Ofwat that a collaborative culture and financial ability are important factors driving innovation in the water sector. Collaborations between companies that are competitors are relatively rare in managing common-pool resources such as water. This response primarily offers learnings from a collaborative collective action among competing companies in Canada’s oil sands in 2012 (with water as one of the environmental priority areas), to shed light on some organisational rules underpinning such relationship and collaboration. We do also reflect on the financial mechanisms that Ofwat suggest for driving innovation, as well as consider the role and importance of regulation.