In May, we reconvened Stream’s Steering Group which comprises representatives from water companies, government and regulators. The Steering Group is designed to gather experts that can represent water companies, regulators, research, innovation bodies and government. 

Co-chaired by Icebreaker One and NWL, the group’s primary function is to help provide leadership and market signalling. Oversight of, and endorsement from, this group will establish a lasting set of robust governance measures to ensure data is shared safely and with the correct regulations.

Meeting Summary:

  • It was noted that the water companies had felt the following benefits:
    • Stream has helped to simplify the process of data requests during tendering, which would usually be a manual process, saving days of work
    • For many companies, resource constraints might have hindered their ability to set up an open data platform on their own. Stream has helped to avoid duplicative efforts and costs whilst collaboratively managing legal complexities and developing schemas.
    • Open Data has become accepted as a more mainstream concept, fostering cultural change within some water companies and their boards, allowing for increasing collaboration between teams.
    • Indirectly, there was an appreciation for the sector-wide alignment on data standards and the collective effort in data publication
  • It was also noted that:
    • Water companies are in the early stages of realising the benefits of Stream but they expect these benefits to scale significantly as more datasets are published and use cases developed.
    • Stream’s ambition should include more use case datasets being published, wider uptake on use cases, and new, innovative use cases being discussed.
  • It was agreed that:
    • Each paying company in Stream will receive one vote.
  • It was discussed that:
    • It would be useful for members to see what datasets are being viewed and downloaded from the platform as well as how often.
    • This year, Stream needs to answer the key question of “Where is the value?” Stream needs to deliver benefits to the three core areas: customers, society and the environment but in terms of use cases, Stream needs to explore which use cases are easy and hard and what the right mix of use cases to tackle each year might be.
    • The OKR drafts and their respective format need to be shared with the members for sign-off, along with the use case roadmap.
    • There are multiple funding opportunities for Stream that the members need to explore, deciding which avenue is right for the Future Business Model

Key Resources:

The next meeting will take place on 25th July 2024.