February Edition: Big Moves for Water Data & Collaboration!

The View from...Gavin Starks, CEO, IB1.

Data makes markets. ?

Today we are at an inflection point: acceleration of AI and global regulatory shifts mean we must engage to control our digital futures.?

The Data (Use and Access) Bill, which covers both customer data and business data, was in the King’s Speech and is expected to pass through parliament this year, running in parallel with the National Data Library and AI action plan. ?

With the right economic incentives, these will catalyse data ecosystems and present major opportunities: innovative data-enabled services, new financial models, shaping common standards, and creating competition. They can drive growth and help us accelerate to net zero.

To realise our data-enabled futures we must ‘collaborate on the rules; compete in the game’. Good governance doesn’t add delay, it accelerates adoption. ?

At the heart of this is a very dull phrase: interoperability. For data to flow freely the rules must be harmonised (legally and technically) with interoperable frameworks that reduce cost and friction. In the data landscape, these rulebooks are called Schemes. ?

Done well (which requires collaborative governance to build trust), Schemes enable interoperability not just within a sector but across sectors. A clear indication that connecting data in low-friction, high-trust environments creates market value is Perseus — it connects smart meter data to banks to reduce lending risk. ?

We bring an abundance of confidence that many of the hard yards are already addressed. The water sector can rapidly build upon the work of the financial and energy sectors and avoid expensive dead-ends from lessons-learned. It can deliver an interoperable future where data flows securely, commercially and freely between the real and financial economies: to the benefit of customers, businesses and suppliers.?

Strategy Update?

Introducing our use case for the first two quarters of 2025: Clean Up UK Rivers, Lakes and Seas.?

The issues around water quality are challenging and multifaceted and require collaboration from a wide range of different stakeholders.?

Stream’s Clean Up UK Rivers, Lakes and Seas use case aims to be the catalyst for this collaboration. Through this use case, we want to expand the availability of environmental datasets to enable further research and support decision making and policy creation.?

Working with water companies, citizen scientists and beyond, this work will build on the National Storm Overflow Hub by providing more data to support catchment management and systems thinking for the water environment.?

We’ll be releasing some trial datasets at the end of February. These will be made available to our pilot users: an Ofwat funded project called River Deep Mountain AI and to several UK universities who are taking part in Stream supported hacks during Open Data Day (1-7 March 2025).? Feedback from both will help inform our data publication roadmap.???

We’re also looking to run a design sprint following user research that we undertook in January. This will explore how to collectively design our citizen science solution to work towards a holistic, targeted citizen science approach to waterway quality. We’re looking to round up the challenges by the end of March and more water company datasets by the end of June.???

Sign up for the further user research 3rd-14th March.

Spotlight??

Our Takeaways From The State Of Open Conference

February saw our Stream Co-leads, Melissa Tallack and Andrew Myers , take to the stage at the State of Open Conference (SOOCON25).??

SOOCON is one of the world’s leading open source conferences and, having previously spoken about the creation of Stream, this year we shared our learnings with delegates: what has gone well, some of the key challenges we’ve faced, and some of the things we’d do differently with hindsight! ?

There was also much food for thought for the Stream team!

The conference explored views on the future of open source and discussed the need to evolve the first-generation open source business models to ensure ongoing sustainability. ?

OpenSearch shared the work they’ve done to create a community, the trust they’ve built and how this has accelerated innovation. We’re at the early stages of building Stream’s community so this was close to our hearts and we took away some valuable insights. ?

AI was naturally a big area of focus with discussions around the significant role that accurate and trusted data plays in AI. There was also a though-provoking panel session on licencing in the age of AI.?

We heard about the appetite for opening up government and the need for a more collaborative and adaptive approach where citizens and civil servants work together. We fundamentally believe that citizens have a crucial role to play when it comes to water matters and we are working hard to enable citizens to become more directly involved in what happens next.??

Open data is the catalyst for innovation across so many industries. SOOCON25 gave us a moment to step back, reflect on what we’ve achieved and think about what’s next and we hope that by sharing our learnings we’ll help others on a similar journey.?

Stream team news?

• Open Data Day?is Almost Here!?This year, for the first time, we’re running Open Data Day (1-7 March), and we’re busy adding those final touches to make sure it’s a week packed with collaboration, problem-solving, and big ideas. Expect hackathons, expert chats, and a deep dive into how open water data can help clean up the UK’s?rivers, lakes, and seas.?

• Aiimi Graduates and Our Working Group Avengers!?We’ve been working with some graduates from Aiimi to take one of our key use cases and datasets to the next level. We’ve also assembled some key working groups (think Avengers-style, but for data!) to tackle data quality, standardisation, and interoperability. Their outputs will directly support our use cases and dataset pillar, ensuring we build high-quality and well-developed datasets into Stream. ?

• London Calling: On 19-20 March, we’ll be at the Connected Places Summit, joining some of the most exciting conversations about the future of connected data. We’re ready to connect, share insights, and dive deep into what’s next for data-driven innovation. If you’re around, come find us—we’d love to chat!?

What we’ve enjoyed this month?

Every month we come across articles, podcasts and talks that get us thinking about the challenges and opportunities in the water sector. Here’s what caught our attention this month:????

A Shared Crisis: The UK and Europe Face The Same Water Challenges

We are not alone in our water challenges, Europe is facing the same struggles.?

The European Commission is calling for a united, data-driven approach to water management, stressing the need for cross-sector collaboration. ?

? The quotes that caught our eye in this article align well to our current use case, ‘Clean Up UK Rivers, Lakes and Seas’, and in particular how we are preparing to publish data to support a more integrated approach here in the UK:?

“The overall goal is clear: the water cycle—from land to sea—is broken, and it needs to be fixed. There is an urgent need for an integrated approach to water management,”

Roswall said. ?She also emphasised the need for collaboration across various policy areas, as water management is closely linked to competitiveness, agriculture, food security, ocean health, fisheries, crisis prevention, and climate action.?

She also emphasised the need for collaboration across various policy areas, as water management is closely linked to competitiveness, agriculture, food security, ocean health, fisheries, crisis prevention, and climate action.? ? ?

Learn more here.

PFAS: A Growing Challenge for Water Protection

PFAs contamination is a serious issue, impacting everything from drinking water to ecosystems. Europe is taking steps to regulate these chemicals, but more monitoring is needed to understand their full impact and ensure policies are effective. ?

That’s where citizen science plays an important role. Stream’s Clean Up UK Rivers, Lakes and Seas use case is helping to bridge the gap, empowering people to contribute real world data that support better decision making.?

Learn more here.

And that's a wrap for this month! Thank you for reading – we look forward to sharing more updates with you in next month's edition.

In the meantime, visit our platform to explore more and sign up to join our growing community.

Best regards,

The Stream Team.