The energy sector is at a pivotal moment. Transforming how energy is delivered, experiences and valued by customers is essential to achieving a clean energy future. This session brings you the team who engineered EON Next Gen Home energy as a service as they talk through:

• The challenges and opportunities presented by co-creation and partnership working
• First-hand experiences from the innovation journey
• The co-curation of services which change the way energy is valued and consumed
• Successful approaches to true innovation and partnership working
• Overcoming sticking points and barriers and how competing organisations can work together

To meet the ambitious goals set for the short and medium term, utilities must embrace new ways of working. Fairer risk sharing across projects reduces unnecessary contingency, encourages early engagement and gives the supply chain the confidence to invest in new methods, technologies and skills. Join this session to unearth how to better manage risk in construction to build stronger relationships in the supply chain and encourage innovation to drive efficient project delivery.   

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Deploying and scaling innovation is never straightforward challenges range from securing stakeholder buy-in to adapting solutions for wider rollout. This interactive Q&A session will cover:

• How to turn a successful trial into a business-as-usual solution
• The importance of prioritising genuine problems not innovation for innovations sake
• The value in engaging with stakeholders early and often to overcome the valley of death

With a wealth of innovation projects underway in the utilities industry, there is a clear need to streamline approaches, join forces and reduce the duplication of efforts. This session explores how AI presents a huge opportunity as the panel discuss how AI can:

• Align challenges and streamline investment
• Drive efficiency in innovation trials
• Improve knowledge sharing from projects to encourage faster deployment

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Utilities shouldn’t innovate for innovation's sake but seek to uncover hidden inefficiencies. Finding breakthrough solutions and scaling them responsibly is far from straightforward. This session explores how utilities and innovators can work together to surface innovative solutions, validate new approaches and navigate the financial and operational risks of moving from pilot to business‑as‑usual. 

Utilities need to change the way they currently operate to deliver for consumers, achieve sustainability and net zero targets and operate more efficiently. Startups bring a world of potential with fresh ideas, agility and innovative solutions to the utilities industry but maximising new partnerships presents its own challenges. This session offers practical guidance on:

• How to build strong partnerships with emerging companies
• Ways to navigate procurement approaches to fostering trust
• Managing and mitigating risk while accelerating innovation

There's one ingredient that's critical for innovation: failure. Time and again, we're told that if you're going to be successful at innovation, you must be prepared to fail and must create a culture where failure is acceptable. UWL26 is going to do just that, with speakers at our innovation mess up night sharing stories of their own failures, and what they learned from them.

As the energy system undergoes rapid transformation, closer collaboration between academia and the utility industry has never been more critical. This panel brings together researchers, utility leaders and non-departmental public body to explore how academic innovation can more effectively translate into real-world utility applications and how industry challenges can better inform research priorities. Through practical examples and candid discussion, the session will highlight pathways to accelerate knowledge transfer, reduce implementation barriers and build long-term partnerships that support a reliable, affordable, and decarbonised energy future.

• How do we shorten the cycle from academic insight to utility deployment and close the time to impact gap?
• Why do many clean energy pilots stall and how academia and utilities co-design programs that are scalable, repeatable and investment-ready?
• How can industry and academia better align incentives and success metrics to reward impact, deployment, and system benefit?
• Using CP230 frameworks and standards to align research, planning, and investment decisions around outcomes rather than isolated projects
• How can both academia and industry ensure graduates, researchers and practitioners are equipped for modern grid challenges?

The newly formed Institute of Innovation Management and some of its founding partners; EON and BSI, explore how ISO 56001 may offer a foundation to Innovation Management System Frameworks that provide momentum for best practice delivery, impact and resiliency. This session will explore: 

• The challenges faced by those seeking to innovate  
• How frameworks can help embed innovation as a system  
• How systemic innovation management delivers greater value – for organisations and ecosystems 
• Hear from those professionalising innovation management with firsthand experiences bringing the process to life   

Utilities face a critical crossroads continuing with business as usual is no longer an option. Meeting ambitious deliverability and sustainability targets to provide resilient critical national infrastructure requires bold change and fresh thinking. This session brings representatives from Ofwat and Ofgem's innovations funds together to discuss:

• Why networks need to embrace new approaches and innovate better
• What it takes to succeed in a rapidly evolving digital landscape
• How to maximise innovation funding

Join the Energy Innovation Centre (EIC) and guests to learn about the Industry Innovator Action Plan and how it aims to help innovators like you. 

Learn about the history of the Action Plan, its core aims and the progress being made by the EIC and its energy network partners to streamline access, improve collaboration, enhance support and help accelerate innovation from idea to business-as-usual deployment.

Water is an undervalued resource in the UK and ensuring a sustainable water future can’t rely on building infrastructure alone. Customers need to change their habits. 
Join this creative session to breakdown the challenges and explore innovative ways to engage consumers meaningfully to bridge the ”say-do” gap to truly help change behaviours for the long term. Our expert panellists will exchange insights of behaviour change research, the role of AI and practical applications on what’s working and what’s not and how we can shift perceptions of water and its value. 
This session will cover: 

• The key barriers and gaps to innovation in behaviour change 
• The role of AI and data science – how personal can we go? 
• How do we ensure inclusive and ethical design of interventions 

Utilities are uniquely positioned to drive positive change beyond service delivery by acting in the public interest and investing in the communities they serve. This session will explore how utilities can embed social value, equity and local partnerships into their strategies to create lasting community impact.

As customer expectations evolve and call volumes rise, utilities need to offer a variety of solutions to serve a diverse customer base. Energy and water companies need to understand which channels best support specific customer needs and preferences to drive operational efficiency and increase customer satisfaction. This session explores strategies for aligning the right communication and service channels with the right customer journeys to optimise engagement and outcomes.

Sponsored by: 

As the Clean Power 2030 target draws nearer, public discourse around net zero intensifies and future water security becomes a national priority, utilities must inspire meaningful engagement from both domestic and non-domestic customers. This session will explore how to deliver buy-in through transparent communication, tailored education and community engagement. Understand how to empower customers with the knowledge and tools they need to actively participate in building a resilient and sustainable utility network. 

With rising bills and escalating debt level, more customers are struggling to keep up with energy and water bills. How can the industry step in to support those most in need and close the widening debt gap? Join this session to uncover how companies are leveraging data-driven insights, streamlining processes and proactively engaging with customers to support vulnerable people, reduce debt and build long term trust and resilience  

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Encouraging customers to embrace and adopt LCT is a critical element in the UK achieving net zero objectives. Utilities have a responsibility to introduce customers to these technologies and gain their trust. This session will delve into the innovative financing options being trialled, how to appeal to a diverse and inclusive audience, and mechanisms to make LTC more accessible.

Both domestic and wholesale customers need to be more engaged with water and energy networks than ever before. Reducing use and driving a conscious use of utilities to manage demand on the networks is critical. Join this session to discover how utilities are harnessing smart meters and changing consumer behaviour.

As customer expectations rise and perceptions of utilities continue to fall short, how can water and energy utilities refine, evolve and optimise how they serve their customer base? Join this session to discover how emerging and existing technologies can improve satisfaction with customers, optimise call centre agents and help utilities deliver gold standard customer service.

 Sponsored by: 

As utilities embark on a period of major capital project delivery, asset management programmes and the mass roll out of LCT, the demand for skilled frontline workers is surging. More people will enter these roles than ever before, making it essential to certify, upskill, and effectively manage this growing workforce. This session will explore how utilities can access and maximise new talent pools, examine the digital tools and strategies that enable efficient workforce management, and highlight how frontline workers underpin industry growth and resilience, ensuring utilities can deliver for future generations. 

As economic pressures mount, utilities are under growing pressure to proactively identify and support vulnerable customers. This session will explore the groundbreaking innovations, technology and forward-thinking approaches helping utilities move beyond compliance and deliver more meaningful, targeted support to those who need it most. Discover how the sector is redefining its role in social responsibility with real work examples.  

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As utilities become increasingly digitised and adopt the power of AI, the need for robust cyber resilience has never been greater. This session explores how the sector can strengthen operational resilience while safeguarding customers, assets, and critical national infrastructure. With rising threats and regulatory pressure, utilities must evolve their strategies to detect, respond to and recover from cyber incidents. Join us to examine best practices, emerging technologies, and collaborative approaches to building a secure and resilient energy future.

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With aging infrastructure across water, gas, and power networks, utilities must harness smart technologies to predict failures and enable proactive maintenance. This session will explore how data-driven insights, intelligent monitoring and automation can extend asset life, reduce unplanned outages and support more efficient long-term planning.

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Utilities need to make more decision at a faster to pace to deliver upgrades necessary for resilience and support for customers in a complex environment. Join this session to uncover the latest digital tools, data platforms and AI-powered insight tools which are transforming decision making.

Sponsored by: 

To deliver value for customers and the wider public and reduce duplication of work, utilities require clear data sharing infrastructure. This session will delve into the collaborative work being done in the sector to improve data sharing and increase efficiency across energy and water networks and wider infrastructure sectors.

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Digital twins are unlocking new levels of control and visibility for network owners and operators, but the real value is realised when they are embedded across the asset lifecycle. This session will take a deep dive into how to maximise the impact of digital twins through design, delivery and maintenance. Understand why data quality, accessibility and integration across the supply chain are critical to success.

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The Energy Geeks, in association with CGI, present headline findings from their report into the role of digitalisation in the energy transition. The report sets out why digitalisation is an essential building block of clean power; who should orchestrate it; how we identify value to consumers and society as a whole and the risks and opportunities inherent in the project. It will also look at the concept of building a ‘highway code’ to underpin this digital revolution. This session will explore the key themes of the report along with the provocative views of the Energy Geeks on why progress to date has been limited.

 Sponsored by: 

AI is an enabler for utilities to delivery new assets faster, smarter and more sustainably and be more efficient with their asset management strategies. This session examines how networks operators are embracing AI to drive productivity, reduce operational risk and drive efficiency.

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Utilities are sitting on a mountain of operational data - but turning that data into actionable insight requires the right people, processes and technology. Join this session to explore how utilities can leverage advanced monitoring practices and analytics to optimise performance.

Sponsored by: 

The successful roll out of smart meters across energy and water is essential to unlocking the full potential of networks. Smart meters provide a wealth of data that can delivery unprecedented visibility into consumption patterns. Improve operational efficiency and enhance customer engagement with utilities. Join this session to learn how to successfully deploy smart meter, mine data to better understand human behaviour and gain better insights to the network.

To scale flex markets at pace, energy networks and retailers need to design products and tariffs that are attractive, engaging and offer the right level of incentives to consumers. Join this session to delve into the detail of how the industry is taking innovation and pilots to BAU and the measures they’re deploying to scale flexibility services capacity.

Digital infrastructure underpins efficient and accessible flexibility markets, but more needs to be done to share data and enable innovation to scale. Join this session to uncover the innovative approaches being adopted to build digital infrastructure, bridge data gaps and unlock flexibility market access.

Gaining traction with I&C customers is critical to unlocking more flex capacity. The challenge is demonstrating the value for end users and minimising disruption to their businesses. Join this session to learn more about partnerships with major energy users and what needs to change to encourage more participation into flex markets.

 Sponsored by: 

The UK’s Clean Flexibility Roadmap sets out an ambitious vision for scaling low-carbon flexibility to 51–66 GW by 2030 in support of decarbonisation and security of supply. Consumer leg flexibility is a critical enabler of a net-zero power system. But to unlock this at scale, energy retailers, utilities, network operators and regulators must coordinate across infrastructure, markets, and digital systems — and resolve emerging commercial, operational and regulatory tensions.  

• Do market design standards go far enough and are markets and revenue model investable? 
• What needs to happen within the next 1–2 years to put the UK on a credible trajectory to hit the short‑term milestones? 
• Where are the sticking points in delivery — and who is responsible for unblocking them? 
• What is the role will governance and accountability play in scaling flex? 

Scaling energy flexibility to support Clean Power 2030 ambitions require innovative thinking, novel approaches and groundbreaking companies to support the industry. Join this session to discover the disruptive technologies and methodologies reimagining the UK’s flexibility markets and removing barriers to access. 

Creating flexibility markets that are accessible is critical to scaling and enabling all customers to have more control over their energy bills. This session delves into how to best consider all energy users when designing flexibility products to avoid a two-tier system and ensure an equitable marketplace.

Making flex markets as easy to participate in as possible is key to driving successful engagement and leveraging the flex potential of the UK. This session will explore the work being done to improve automation, remove barriers and improve integration of markets.

As energy systems grow more complex and decentralised, understanding, managing and forecasting flexible assets is more critical than ever. This session explores how visibility, forecasting and automation can unlock the full potential of flexible assets. 

 Sponsored by: 

To best maximise renewable energy and achieve Clean Power 2030 objectives, the UK needs to increase its short and medium energy storage capability. Understanding the infrastructure needed to enable V2G storage, domestic batteries and more is critical to the successful use of flexible storage. In this session, discover the latest updates into storage technologies, grid readiness programmes and innovation.  

Energy flexibility is critical to achieving the government’s Clean Power goals for 2030 and beyond. To succeed in the roll out of energy flexibility and scale and pace, the UK needs a driving force to take the position of commissioner. Join this interview to explore the key objectives and priorities for the Flexibility Commission to ensure momentum in government to facilitate the building of robust markets, the delivery of strong economic and social outcomes and a united approach with buy in from multiple stakeholders.

With growing complexity in utility infrastructure projects and increasing demands for transparency, cost control and sustainability, utility network owners must evolve how they manage information and deliver consistent outcomes. This session will examine how standardised processes, data structures and digital information management can streamline operations, reduce duplication and improve decision-making across the asset lifecycle.

Sponsored by: 

As the utilities sector faces increasing pressure to balance competing priorities including major project delivery, aging infrastructure, climate change and regulatory shifts, utilities need rapid innovation. Traditional procurement and contracting models are struggling to keep pace. This session explores innovative strategies that challenge conventional approaches, highlighting how emerging collaborative frameworks, agile methodologies and technology can drive greater efficiency, resilience and value in infrastructure delivery and service provision.

Sponsored by: 

Planning delays remain one of the biggest obstacles to delivering critical infrastructure at pace with half of major planning decisions challenged in court. This session explores how to streamline the approval process while ensuring greater accountability for utility clients to demonstrate meaningful local engagement. This session examines how reforms aim to remove blockers early in the process, balancing the need for speed with community input and environmental stewardship in a rapidly evolving planning landscape. 

As utilities face delivering once in a generation projects and an unprecedented level of infrastructure delivery against finite resource in the supply chain, finding new ways of working is essential to deliver projects on time and on budget. This session uncovers best practice and lessons learnt from capital project case studies on mobilising the workforce, driving productivity and engaging with the supply chain.

Sponsored by: 

Water and energy networks are tasked with delivering more than ever before in their regulatory price control period. With limited resources and restricted capacity in the supply chain, the utility sector must design, build and maintain assets more efficiently. This session will uncover how the industry can work together to overcome workforce strain, improve capability planning, and unlock new efficiencies.

Capital project delivery in the utilities sector is under increasing pressure to be delivered on time and on budget while providing social value. This session explores how AI, automation, machine learning and cutting-edge digital tools are being leveraged to enhance planning, forecasting, risk management and real-time decision-making. This session will give attendees insights into how these technologies are transforming project outcomes, enabling smarter, data-driven capital investment strategies.

Sponsored by:

Under immense pressure to delivery at scale and pace while driving the net zero agenda, there is a growing need to rethink how infrastructure is designed, delivered and maintained. This session will explore how Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) and innovative delivery models can significantly reduce carbon emissions, drive productivity and efficiency and improve safety across the supply chain across the asset lifecycle. 

Despite a huge injection of investment for asset renewal, replacement and new infrastructure there is still a critical need to better monitor and manage existing assets. This session will explore the innovations, technologies and tools helping asset managers gain better visibility of the network, optimise existing asset and infrastructure and sweat assets to last longer while performing for customers.

To align water supply forecasts with predicted demand, the UK needs to act now to guarantee clean drinking water for future generations. The last reservoir build in the UK was completed in 1992, how are clients and the supply chain embracing new technologies, leaning on historical knowledge and winning over local communities to deliver reservoirs? Join this session to learn from case studies at different delivery stages to support upskilling and knowledge transfer across the industry.

As demand on the electricity grid intensifies—from the rapid growth of renewable energy sources and low carbon technologies to the electrification of industry and transport—the need for smarter, faster and more flexible grid connections and capacity has never been greater. This session explores how the grid must evolve to meet these challenges, including the role of ED3, innovative approaches to unlocking capacity and the future of grid connectivity.

Sponsored by: 

As environmental expectations rise, utilities must move beyond compliance to adopt nature-first strategies that deliver meaningful biodiversity gains in operations and infrastructure delivery. This session will unpack how to measure and monitor biodiversity, harness the power of nature and deliver a positive impact to the local environment.

As utilities face more extreme weather events and growing pressure to secure supply for future generations, integrating climate resilience into asset management and operations is critical. Join this session to gain the latest insight into what utility networks are doing to mitigate climate risk and environmental impact, ensure operational resilience and minimise disruption to consumers.

Sponsored by:

Utility networks need to transform operations to be more sustainable. Understanding the ways to benchmark, monitor and report of ESG initiatives is critical to improving the current way of working. Join this session to learn how companies are decarbonising operations, improving sustainability reporting and meeting regulatory requirements.

What does the future hold for the gas network? Will gas use decline due to electrification? What role could green gases like biomethane and hydrogen play? And what does that mean for our gas infrastructure? Will we still need it? If so, how much and for what purpose? What might the regulatory impacts of a declining user base be? This session explores all of these things and more.

In partnership with: 

Leakage poses a major challenge due to resource loss, increased operational costs, and environmental impact. Aging infrastructure, poor monitoring, and delayed maintenance often contribute to undetected leaks. This session explores the latest innovations, maintenance strategies and technologies helping networks drastically reduce leakage.

With increasing pressure on water companies to mitigate environmental harm from combined sewer overflows (CSOs), the sector must embrace innovation and smarter operations to reduce spills. This session will examine emerging technologies, regulatory expectations and nature-based solutions to address the challenge.

As heavy industries move toward decarbonisation, the UK must align its energy system to support cleaner processes without compromising reliability. This session explores how policy and innovation are driving the necessary infrastructure build and innovative solutions to deliver security of supply.

 Sponsored by: 

To truly reap the rewards of NBS and ensure long-term impact, utilities need to take a catchment approach to deployment. By considering the entire landscape and upstream-downstream interactions, utilities can better manage resources, reduce risks, and enhance ecosystem services. Join this session to uncover holistic strategies, how to maintain successful partnerships and how to integrate NBS into broader water management plans.

Join the Energy Innovation Centre (EIC) for an energising Meet the Innovator session helping energy networks uncover the latest groundbreaking companies solving the energy sector’s biggest problems. Hear quick fire pitches from trailblazers driving a new level of efficiency, resilience and performance across the sector. Following the pitches, dive into open networking where you can meet innovators directly, explore their solutions in depth and ask the questions that matter to your organisation. In just 90 minutes, discover fresh thinking, potential partners, and the next supplier who could help solve the problems keeping you up at night. 

In partnership with: 

To deliver a new generation of infrastructure, utilities need a strong and stable supply chain – as well as new ideas, fresh approaches and exposure to innovation. In this session, two procurement leaders set out exactly what they are looking for in supply chain partners - the capabilities, relationships and approach to innovation that gets vendors noticed. Hear firsthand insight into how utilities make purchasing decisions, what they need from their supply chain right now, and where priorities are shifting in the next few years. Followed by an exclusive preview of Utility Week Live's plans for 2027, with an opportunity to meet the team over lunch.

Britain’s gas networks are moving into delivery mode on emissions and leakage reduction — and we need proven ideas and credible partners now.
In this session, GB gas networks will set out our Innovation Strategy, near-term priorities, and where we’re actively looking for solutions across detection, prevention and repair.
This isn’t a showcase. It’s a working session.
Bring your technology, challenge our assumptions, and help shape what gets trialled, funded and scaled over the next two years. You’ll leave with a clear view of where the opportunities are, how projects are selected, and the routes to deployment across the networks.

If you’re serious about getting solutions adopted — this is where to engage.

We’ll tackle:

• Where methane reduction can be delivered fastest and at scale
• What’s deployment-ready vs what still needs proving
• How funding will be used to de-risk and accelerate adoption
• The critical barriers holding back rollout
• The collaboration models that actually work in practice

In partnership with: 

Many key decisions about grid connections are made early in project development, often with limited visibility of feasibility, cost and timelines. This drives uncertainty for developers, creates unnecessary workload for networks, and slows the progression of viable projects.

This interactive session brings together networks, developers and innovators to explore how accurate grid assessments could be enabled earlier. We will focus on what level of insight is needed to support real decisions, and how this could be enabled in a way that is practical, secure, and aligned with network operations.

Discussion points:

• For developers - what level of grid assessment accuracy or confidence is needed to make robust connection decisions without relying on submitting an application?
• What would be required to enable this required level of insight earlier (data, models, access)?
• What would need to change, at a system level, to enable accurate capacity assessment?
• What level of investment in data engineering capability in networks is needed to provide this level of data and insight at scale? 
• Should providing data become a much more significant part of the networks’ role?

In partnership with: 

As utilities face increasing pressure to monitor infrastructure more efficiently, drone technology offers safer, faster and lower-carbon alternatives to traditional inspection methods. Yet in the water sector, adoption remains fragmented and largely confined to pilots rather than coordinated, operational deployment. This interactive session will bring together utilities, regulators and technology experts to explore what it takes to scale drone operations in the water sector, drawing lessons from sectors such as energy where deployment is more advanced. 

Join this collaborative session to discuss:

• How drones can move from pilots to BAU operations
• What operational and regulatory barriers are preventing wider adoption
• What lessons the water sector can learn from energy and other utilities
• Building a roadmap for scaling drone technology

In partnership with: 

Join this interactive workshop to explore how Stream and CReDO are collaborating to enable secure, scalable data sharing to build climate‑resilient infrastructure across the UK. Take part in this facilitated discussion to unearth further high‑value, cross‑sector use cases that support coordinated planning and measurable resilience improvements. Open to all utility providers - bring your real‑world problems and ambitions!

In partnership with: 

Join Spring for an energising Meet the Innovator session spotlighting the disruptors reimaging the future of water. Discover pioneering companies that are unlocking efficiencies, revealing hidden opportunities and tackling critical challenges. Hear quick fire pitches from trailblazers driving a new level of efficiency, resilience and performance across the sector. Following the pitches, dive into open networking where you can meet innovators directly, explore their solutions in depth and ask the questions that matter to your organisation. In just 90 minutes, discover fresh thinking, potential partners, and the next supplier who could help solve the problems keeping you up at night. 

In partnership with: 

As the nature of GB’s power grid fundamentally changes with more renewables and growing flex markets, the control room also needs to adapt to best combine human expertise with advanced automation technology to manage a complex grid. This session explores the concept of the Control Room of the Future and how control room roles, systems and capabilities must evolve to improve grid resilience in the face of climate, cyber and operational challenges.

Joins this interactive session to collaborate with your peers and discuss:

• How to leverage AI, automation and enhanced system visibility. How to balance technology and auto mated control with human expertise.
• How the control room will support whole systems thinking and data sharing across the whole network.
• How to ensure resilience in the grid so customers have security of supply.

In partnership with: