3.25 days of pure Innovation Energy.
Last week, we wrapped the NWG Innovation Festival 2026. No endless meetings. No spinning wheels. Just high-octane co-creation with Northumbrian Water (NWL), O2 Business, The Lab, and a powerhouse lineup of partners to crush a massive, real-world friction point.
The Challenge
Our target? Reimagining how sewer CCTV and asset health data is captured, transmitted, and put to work so field engineers can make faster, smarter decisions.
By merging Futures Design and Design Sprints into our framework at FuturesJam, we bring top-tier experts and partners into a high-stakes sandbox, give everyone an equal voice, and drive at speed. We didn’t just talk about the future—we prototyped and proved it in just 3.25 days.
Four Innovation Wins
The teams delivered four concrete innovation wins ready for immediate implementation or trials in 2026:
- The Field App: An operator-centric, one-click application designed for the boots on the ground.
- The Data Lake: A proof-of-concept for a dedicated, single source of asset data truth.
- The AI Assistant: A prototype to instantly flag immediate system issues and steer long-term investment.
- Connectivity: An opportunity to embrace a new era of Starlink/Satellite connectivity.
The FuturesJam Difference
Standard design sprints solve immediate problems, but merging Futures Design with Design Sprints ensures solutions are built with long-term strategic vision while delivering rapid execution.
| Feature | Traditional Design Sprint (Solve for Today) | FuturesJam Framework (Futures Design + Design Sprint) |
|---|---|---|
| Time Horizon | Short-Term (0–12 Months) Fixes immediate operational pain. | Hybrid (Now to 5–10+ Years Out) Solves today’s friction while future-proofing for tech shifts. |
| Strategic Lens | Fixing Today’s Band-Aids Focuses strictly on existing tasks and current bottlenecks. | Foresight-Backed Innovation Anticipates emerging trends, weak signals, AI, and connectivity. |
| Output | Single Tactical Prototype Yields a basic UI/UX mockup for fast validation. | Scalable, Future-Backed Roadmap Delivers immediate 2026-ready trials alongside long-term strategy. |
| Enterprise Impact | Built for Yesterday’s Constraints Solutions risk becoming outdated as technology evolves. | Future-Proofed from Day One Protects capital investment by building for where the market is going. |
Powering Innovation Through Collaboration
A massive thank you to our NWL sprint partner Benn Elsey and his A-Team for bringing the Sewer Inspection van and so many killer insights, and to everyone else who joined on one or all of the days—your raw energy was a key driver in helping us pull this off.
What’s Next?
With the sprint complete, the teams are now actively planning live trials for all four validated innovations across NWL, O2 Business, and The Lab. By designing and delivering this Futures Design Sprint, Futures Jam proved how rapidly enterprise foresight and prototyping turn multi-partner complexity into real-world capability—setting the benchmark for what’s ahead.
Got a massive friction point? Let’s crush it.