Innovation festivals are inspiring, but what happens when the lights go down? At the VicWater 2025 Annual Conference, Intelligent Water Networks (IWN) Programme Director Jason Cotton argued that the sector needs more than “rah-rah events.” It needs systems that bridge the gap between promising trials and sector-wide adoption.
Over the past year, IWN has expanded its collaborations with partners such as Salesforce, NCS, and Wipro, alongside startups from Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. Cotton highlighted several standout stories. In one case, a regional water authority suspected that an industrial customer was damaging its mains, but had no way to prove it. Working with Spiral Data, IWN deployed new AI-enabled pressure transient sensors that captured evidence in real-time. Once the faulty valve was replaced, the damaging shocks fell by 400 per cent, effectively extending the network’s life by 20 years.
At the other end of the spectrum, IWN has been trialling technologies designed for homes and communities. In Torquay, a caravan park is piloting Hydraloop, a Dutch-made greywater recycling unit about the size of a fridge, capable of cutting household water use by up to 50 per cent. On Victoria’s coast at Port Fairy, a New Zealand UV treatment system demonstrated it could slash incoming wastewater containing 12,000 E. coli to fewer than 10 in half a second—under conditions far harsher than conventional UV systems could handle.
To support experimentation at scale, IWN has even invested in “Sandy,” a secure AI sandbox that allows the sector to test AI on billions of data points without risking corporate systems. But the biggest announcement was InStream—a 12-month program co-created with Salesforce, NCS and Isle Utilities.
Unlike short innovation sprints, InStream is designed for longevity, with “stream teams” drawn from Victorian water authorities working alongside private-sector partners using global best-practice design thinking. Two draft challenge statements will shape the first year: digitising the customer experience and intelligent asset management.
For Cotton, the goal is simple but ambitious: move innovation beyond experiments and into adoption at speed and scale.
“Today’s business-as-usual is yesterday’s innovation,” he reminded delegates.
If IWN’s early successes are any guide, InStream could help turn promising pilots into everyday practice across Victoria’s water sector.