Tech Ascend Foundation
Initiatives & Model
Tech Ascend supports initiatives that move proven but unfamiliar water-related technologies into everyday practice by enabling confident adoption decisions and addressing the structural barriers that prevent adoption.
The Trial Reservoirs Initiative
The Foundation’s flagship programme, the Trial Reservoirs Initiative, addresses a persistent challenge in the water sector: how to adopt proven technologies without exposing end users or technology suppliers to unacceptable financial or operational risk.
The Trial Reservoirs Initiative is different from innovation accelerators because it addresses the point at which promising technologies stall – between trial success and adoption – by structuring how adoption decisions are made. By linking trial outcomes to pre-agreed performance criteria, the Trial Reservoirs Initiative changes behaviour across the system rather than encouraging further pilots.
The model
The Initiative provides funding for real-world trials of proven, late-stage technologies in operational environments, particularly those addressing emissions reduction, water efficiency and reuse, asset optimisation, wastewater compliance pressures and industrial water circularity.
Up to 100% of trial costs are provided to technology developers as a repayable grant, which helps cover the costs of demonstrating their solution in the potential end user’s asset base, reducing upfront capital barriers for both tech developers and industry and utility operators.
Trials are overseen by senior consultants from Isle Group and assessed against clear success criteria which form the basis of the Trial & Purchase Agreement. These criteria and the key performance indicators (KPIs) by which they are measured are co-designed by the trial manager, end-user, and technology supplier to ensure the end user will learn whether a technology can be implemented in their operations.
The Trial & Purchase Agreement allows flexibility in how trials are conducted but it is firm on performance measures and outcomes. The framework ensures trials run only for as long as required to reach a decision.
Where the trial’s agreed criteria are met, end users are obliged to make a meaningful commitment, such as equipment lease or purchase or a multi-year software service agreement. The Technology company then repays the grant back to the Initiative. Where success criteria are not met, the trial is concluded with no repayment required. In both cases learning is captured and fed back into future trial design.
Built for complexity: why the model works across contexts – Water systems are inherently complex, with physical, chemical and biological processes varying widely by site and rarely behaving in predictable ways. Rather than forcing trials into a one-size-fits-all template, the Trial & Purchase Agreement shapes success criteria, monitoring, and post-trial commitments around the technology and its operating context. This ensures the assessment reflects real asset conditions, regulatory pressures and resilience requirements.
Thematic Reservoirs
- Climate Change Trial Reservoir: A global programme supporting technologies that mitigate climate change through either direct or indirect greenhouse gas emissions reduction across water utilities and water-dependent industries, strengthening climate resilience while reducing operational emissions exposure.
- Advanced & Industrial Trial Reservoir: Focused on advanced and industrial water treatment and management solutions addressing resource recovery, emerging contaminants, waste-to-energy, circular economy, and decentralisation worldwide, with emphasis on efficiency gains and cost-effective resource recovery.
- US Utilities Trial Reservoir: Supporting trials with US utilities, with a particular focus on utilities led by individuals from historically underrepresented groups or serving communities that have historically faced barriers to innovation and investment, particularly where ageing infrastructure and capital constraints limit access to proven solutions.
Other programmes
Alongside the Trial Reservoirs Initiative, Tech Ascend is home to a small number of complementary programmes that reinforce learning, leadership, and readiness for adoption in the water sector.
These include the Water Action Platform, a global monthly forum for sharing best practice across the water sector, and the Executive Exchange, a short-form podcast series featuring senior leaders reflecting on innovation, risk, and change.
These initiatives support the Foundation’s core mission by strengthening networks, capability, and shared understanding that make adoption more likely, rather than acting as standalone delivery programmes.
For funder and partnership enquiries, please contact Dr Jo Burgess.
We bring together de-risked trials, leadership learning and coordinated action to move proven solutions into real-world use – making best practice common practice in the water sector.