The Water Resilience Challenge takes place 6-7 November.

Join regional businesses to tackle water and data challenges

The Environmental Futures & Big Data Impact Lab (Impact Lab) has united the Eden Project, the Met Office, South West Water and the Environment Agency to develop the Water Resilience Challenge, which launches with a free and fully-catered, two-day hackathon-style ‘bootcamp’ on 6-7 November at Exeter Science Park.

The Water Resilience Challenge is a collaborative event for anyone with a broad set of skills and experience, and a passion for problem solving. Broad focus will be in the fields of flood resilience; field run-off & eutrophication; and water quality. But solutions or projects don’t have to be environmental – the Impact Lab will provide access to valuable research, technology and data sets.

“This is the first in a series of themed Impact Lab Challenges, which are all about giving people the tools to develop successful commercial solutions to tackle important issues.” says Kathryn White, Impact Lab Innovation Manager. “We’re delighted to have the support of such well-known companies who are keen on open innovation and collaborative solutions. Challenge participants will have access to extensive support from the Impact Lab’s team of experts, as well as access to academic specialists and business support professionals.”

Led by the University of Exeter, the Impact Lab is based at the state-of-the-art Met Office HPC Complex and part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund. The initiative brings together Devon’s leading scientific research centres to help Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to create innovative products and services.

The Impact Lab is a partnership of seven organisations: University of Exeter, Exeter City Futures, Met Office, Plymouth College of Art, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, University of Plymouth and Rothamsted Research.
Since January 2018, the Impact Lab’s Innovation Support Team has engaged over 100 businesses. It is now delivering a number of projects, creating innovative new products and services with Devon-based businesses through the exploitation of environmental intelligence and data science.

Free registration for the Water Resilience Challenge is available at: http://bit.ly/waterchallenge1118

Follow the Impact Lab on Twitter (@efbd_impactlab) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/efbd-impactlab) for updates.

Date: 11 October 2018