Begbroke tenant Mode Labs Ltd has been awarded £100,000 as one of 20 finalists in Ofwat’s Water Discovery Challenge, which aims to accelerate the development and adoption of innovations to support the water sector’s greatest challenges.
Mode Labs secured the award to develop and trial its CERES autonomous chemical-monitoring platform in the real-time measurement of harmful chemicals in rivers and sewer overflows. The project aims to help water companies detect pollution sooner, make better-informed operational decisions and protect rivers through continuous, laboratory-quality chemical monitoring in the real world.
Dean James, CEO of Mode Labs, comments:
“Our ambition is to replace occasional snapshots of river health with a continuous picture of what is happening across rivers and sewer networks. By making laboratory-quality chemical monitoring far less costly and maintenance-intensive, we can help the sector detect pollution sooner, direct investment more intelligently and protect rivers at a scale that has been difficult to achieve using conventional monitoring approaches. Support from Ofwat allows us to demonstrate that vision in real-world conditions and accelerate the route towards commercial deployment.”
In April 2027, as many as 10 of the 20 finalists will go on to win up to £550,000 each to further develop and test their ideas and will be offered an additional five-month package of non-financial support and sector mentorship, to maximise the chance of the innovations launching and succeeding in the water sector.
