Market consultation: locate leaks with existing data

Aim of the project

Today, water companies monitor water leaks in distribution networks by monitoring flows in District Metered Areas (DMAs) and detecting anomalies by comparing night-time consumption with measurements. Potential problems are identified and priority zones determined through methods such as steptesting (mainly for large leaks) and the use of mobile sensors. The current solution requires additional sensors within the DMA to reduce the leak search zone. While a greater number of physical sensors increases accuracy, this approach also involves higher costs in terms of purchase and maintenance.

Water companies wish to optimise leak detection in the water distribution network through data analytics to reduce the proportion of NRW (non-revenue water or unaccounted-for water). The aim is to intervene quickly in areas with the highest risk of leaks, with accurate localisation of small leaks at street level.

The intended innovation focuses on deploying virtual data, such as estimates or forecasts for locations without physical sensors, as well as indirect or proxy data that provide indirect insight about the condition at a specific location, such as customer notifications, works, fire service interventions and anomalies, as an alternative to placing additional physical sensors in the network. The ideal solution is an algorithm that merges existing sensor data with additional datasets to determine priority search zones and speed up leakage localisation, reducing search time and water loss.

However, current market solutions are hypothesised to be inadequate. Therefore, the drinking water industry wants to accelerate innovation by fostering cooperation within the NRW ecosystem. Based on the insights that will be drawn from the event, AquaFlanders wants to place a public tender to develop and validate solutions.

Purpose of the market consultation

During the open market consultation, we want to match the needs of the drinking water companies with (partial) solutions available on the market. The aim is to assess the extent to which companies can offer solutions for the various use cases. The insights and feedback from participants in the open market consultation will then be used to formulate a brief for a proof-of-concept, where selected parties can demonstrate their solutions in a living lab DMA. The results of the market consultation will subsequently be made publicly available via this webpage.

The open market consultation itself consists of 4 main parts:  

(1) an explanation of the challenge, followed by an interactive group discussion around the already identified use cases and possible missing use cases,

(2) an interactive group discussion on possible solution directions based on market research, followed by an informal and interactive exchange on available solutions from the participating parties during a poster exhibition,

(3) a brainstorming session on possible combinations of partial solutions that together can form a total solution for the water companies, and

(4) an explanation of the intended assignment in the form of a proof-of-concept from the tenderer, followed by an interactive group discussion. You will have all kinds of opportunities to share your reflections and engage with other attendees. We also provide optional speed dates.

Participate in the market consultation

To participate, we ask for preparation based on the project briefing, which includes the main needs of water companies. The result is a visually appealing fiche/onepager in which you answer three questions.

When registering (at the bottom of this page), participants can choose to make their onepager available to the other participants. They will then also get access to the onepagers of others who want to share their contribution. If you share your onepager, it will also be used as a poster at the poster fair and as a conversation starter during speed dates (see next point) with other participants.

Questions to answer on the onepager:

• How do you think you have understood and can address the challenge facing water companies with the core technology your company has on the market today and continues to develop?
• Where do you potentially see a gap between your current offering and the challenge or demand on the table today?
• How do you think you can close that gap, and what internal and external knowledge, expertise, technology, ... do you concretely need to achieve that?  

The deadline to participate is 16 September 2024 end of day. If participants choose to share the onepager, they will also receive others' onepagers by 19 September 2024 end of day.

Speed dates

When registering (at the bottom of this page), participants can choose to make their onepager available to other participants. They will then also get access to the onepagers of others who want to share their onepager. Then, those parties will get the chance to request a speed date.

During the speeddates, a domain expert will always be present to represent the demand side and enrich the conversation. By 25 September 2024 end of day, participants can let us know who they would like a speeddate with (form to follow). You will receive an overview of the companies you have a speeddate with by 3 October 2024. This overview will include times and contact information for your appointments.

Who are we looking for - target audience?

For the project 'Tool for innovative leak detection and leak localisation with (existing) data', AquaFlanders, Vlakwa, VMM, the water companies, VLAIO and Verhaert, invite companies and organisations for a physical market consultation.  

We are looking for companies, knowledge institutions and research institutes with expertise, experience and insights in the field of algorithm development, data science, machine learning and advanced analytics. We welcome both organisations with existing commercial solutions and solutions still under development.

Programme

The market consultation will physically take place on Monday 7 October 2024 and will be facilitated in English.

Participating

Participation is free and available by submitting the form below.

Please note that spots for the market consultation are limited, so the sooner you register, the more chance you have of being part of this event.

We specifically target one profile with technological expertise, such as R&D or engineering, and one profile with commercial expertise. The maximum number of participants per company is 2 people, but in case of high interest we may still have to limit this to 1 representative per company. In that case, we will let you know in good time and allow you to choose which person eventually participates.