In November, we brought together Stream’s Advisory Group 2 (Technical) which comprises subject matter experts from 16 water companies and other industry stakeholders. Co-chaired by Icebreaker One and Pennon Group, this group advises and supports the project partners as they commence work on Stream’s Implementation Phase.

Date: 17 November 2025 10:00-11:30 GMT

Location: online

Co-Chairs: Lucy Chambers (IB1); Jackie Yemm

Secretariat: IB1

Meeting Aims:

  • It was noted that:
    • A series of more detailed workshops will be held to understand how Stream can move forward to becoming a Data Institution (legal & governance, technical, and commercial) and what the challenges may be.
      • Multiple people are welcome
      • Please invite anyone with IP experience to join the legal & governance workshop.
    • The Cunliffe review called out a need for a data sharing platform, the Data Institution work is in response to that call, alongside the need to be a sustainable venture.
    • A renewal for ESRI is occurring earlier, with a longer contract than anticipated and therefore tradeoffs have had to be made and the recommendations have been adapted accordingly.
    • Stream’s theme for 2026 is water efficiency, which came out of strategic priorities and AMP8 work.
    • The Achievement States have been set for the year and members have been asked to endorse them.
      • Sharing agreements are essential to move Stream beyond open data and the needs of these agreements are a key part of the work in Q1.
      • Water company risk appetite is low and therefore moving forward with data sharing without impacting the work on Open Data needs to be considered
    • A retrospective took place and members shared their feedback for the state of governance for 2026
  • It was discussed that:
    • One of the key challenges facing the Data Institution will be the shift in mindset from project to business, alongside the financial implications of this shift for water companies
    • The Data Institution is a big shift for Stream to communicate to stakeholders when the value creation work is still ongoing
    • Work needs to be done to show that this is relevant and the right thing to do
    • The biggest risk is that it is unknown whether the platform meets the requirements for the Phase 3 goals as we do not know what the requirements are.