In January, we brought together Stream’s Advisory Group 1 (Market & User Needs) which comprises subject matter experts from 16 water companies and other industry stakeholders. Co-chaired by Icebreaker One, Northumbrian Water and Stream, this group advises and supports the project partners as they commence work on Stream’s Implementation Phase. 

Date: 16th January 2025 11:30-13:00 BST

Location: online

Co-Chairs: Melissa Tallack (NWL); Charlotte Hillenbrand (IB1)

Secretariat: IB1

January’s meeting was aimed at: 

  1. Reviewing and providing advice on the outreach map for Cleaning Up UK Rivers and Seas
  2. Surfacing warm contacts for the Cleaning Up the UK’s Rivers and Seas ecosystem
  3. Reviewing and advising on the plan for Open Data Day 

Summary:

  • It was noted that:
    • This quarter’s OKRs for the Use Case and Dataset are all about improving processes to support continuous development and improvement of the value delivered and the quality of data.
      • Additionally, the Clean Up UK’s Rivers, Lakes and Seas will be the main focus for Stream for at least the first two quarters of 2025.
    • In terms of the Ecosystem pillar, the focus is on building brand presence and trust.
    • Any members are welcome to join RDMAI demo days to learn more about the project, the techniques and parameters.
    • The Clean Up UK’s Rivers, Lakes and Seas use case was scored 6/8 using the value framework, which was very high in comparison to other use cases in the backlog.
    • The Stream product team needs support from members to help build out the ecosystem for the Clean Up the UK’s Rivers, Lakes and Seas use case.
      • These actions are detailed above and a list of organisations has been sent to the members to share any relevant contacts with the team.
    • Open Data Day will take place from 1-7th March and this will be Stream’s first Hackathon event.
      • The incentive for university participants is the opportunity to speak to water companies and have their ideas taken forward after the hack
  • It was agreed that:
    • The River Deep Mountain AI (RDMAI) team would provide the names of water company contacts supporting the RDMAI project.
  • It was discussed that:
    • Water company data will be funnelled through Stream in partnership with RDMAI to help set standards everyone can meet for scalability.
    • Open Data Day will be targeting four nodes, with two already agreed:
      • North East University cluster
      • VKEMS
    • The Open Data Day Working Group is looking for further opportunities with other universities and water companies, with some suggestions put forward by members on the day, as well as judges to support during the week.
    • The Working Group also posed a series of questions to the group to ask for their contributions:
      • What might be needed to make such an event a success?  
      • What advice would AG1 provide to the working group planning and running the event?
      • Do you agree keeping it small and targeting is the right option for us this year?
      • Can you think of any other outcomes we should be targeting with this event?
      • Any views to shape the challenge statement (s)?
      • Any advice around communications about the event?

Formal records, including attendees, are maintained by the secretariat, and are confidential to the Advisory Group members.