Clarium Associates
Cross-sector innovation and advisory

UK infrastructure
sectors are siloed.
We're fixing it.

We connect energy, water and infrastructure so ideas flow across boundaries. This cuts duplication, reduces costs and accelerates whole-system change.

£15m+ Innovation funding secured for energy network clients
£20m+ Innovation funding secured for water network clients
Innovation funding available 2026–2031
£500m SIF >£300m NIA +£400m Water
Why Cross-Sector

Why we work across sectors

Energy, water and other infrastructure sectors are regulated separately. They were never set up to talk to each other, and it costs consumers money.

Our mission

Get the sectors working together, cut the duplication, and do the innovation that only happens when they do.

Move ideas between sectors

We take proven innovations from where they're mature and land them where they're needed, bringing experienced partners from the more mature sector to move faster with less risk.

Get people in the room

We convene the people who can unblock cross-sector work, and we publish what comes out of it.

Push for reform

We work with government and industry bodies on shared data, aligned governance and joined-up consumer engagement.

What We Do

What we do

Every job we take has to pass one test: does it move something across a sector boundary? We work under Ofgem, Ofwat and other infrastructure sector rules. But the value is in what we create between them.

Cross-Sector Innovation

We find ideas that work in one sector and get them adopted in another. We also build the propositions that only make sense across sectors. Then we develop the concept, assemble the consortium and write the bid.

  • Moving proven ideas from one sector into another
  • Building concepts that span multiple sectors
  • Checking an idea is new before we pitch it
  • SIF, NIA and Ofwat funding strategy and bid writing
  • Putting consortia together across sector lines
  • Governance, reporting and delivery after the award

We don't sell other people's tech

We are not a broker. We find where a solution has already been proven under one regulator, then build the case and the consortium to deploy it under another.

We build for the gaps

Shared data, co-ordinated works, cross-vector flexibility. Biggest consumer benefit, and nobody else is set up to bid for them.

We check it's new

Before we put a concept forward we make sure it hasn't been done elsewhere. Working across sectors means we can tell.

We know where the money is

£500m Ofgem SIF. £300m+ NIA. £740m+ across the Ofwat funds. We match the concept to the right pot, or to more than one.

Explore our analysis of the energy and water challenges →

Early-Stage Infrastructure Development

We define bankable opportunities, build a team set up to succeed, and own and deliver work packages — identifying, structuring and sourcing capital across project stages.

  • Define bankable opportunities and build a team set up to succeed
  • Identify, structure, and source capital across project stages
  • Grid connection strategy and connection queue navigation
  • Regulatory engagement and licence condition interpretation
  • Business case development and project financial modelling
  • Own and deliver work packages end-to-end

Project Scoping

We identify and frame bankable opportunities — defining the problem, the market, the regulatory environment, and the team needed to succeed.

Financing & Commercial Design

We structure capital across project stages — from early development funding through to construction and operational financing.

Project Delivery

We own and deliver work packages, managing stakeholders, navigating regulations, gathering market insights and developing economic models throughout.

Grid Connection Navigation

Expert guidance on the GB transmission and distribution connection queue — strategy, sequencing and engagement with network operators to avoid delays and costs.

Whole-System Strategic Advisory

We advise government, local authorities, regulators and industry bodies on questions that sit between sectors: what one regime can learn from another, and what is actually blocking them from working together.

  • Cross-sector policy and regulatory advice
  • Working out what is blocking collaboration between regimes
  • Comparing Ofgem and Ofwat: what each can learn from the other
  • Whole-system modelling and economic analysis
  • Integration strategy for local and combined authorities
  • Price control and business plan support

Advice for government

Departments, regulators and industry bodies can remove the barriers. We bring them evidence from working across both regimes, not one.

Ofgem and Ofwat, compared

Each has solved problems the other still faces. We translate the mechanisms and precedents between them.

Local and regional planning

Local authorities are where energy and water physically collide. We help them plan and procure as one system, not four programmes.

Economics that count everything

Single-sector models miss benefits that land outside the sponsoring sector. Ours don't.

Innovation Challenges

The challenges

Ofgem and Ofwat set their innovation challenges separately. Put them side by side and you see the same problems with the same deadlines, being solved twice. The first tab is where we focus.

Each pairing below is work being commissioned twice and paid for from two separate bills. These are the propositions we build.

01

Shared asset intelligence

Energy · Eliminating outages (2038) Water · Asset health (2035)

Both are moving from time-based to condition-based maintenance. Both are funding sensor networks, digital twins and failure prediction over the same ground. One shared layer could serve both.

02

Co-ordinated build and street works

Energy · Faster build & maintenance (2035) Water · Leakage & network resilience (2030)

Energy needs to build 50% faster and 20% cheaper. Water needs to halve leakage. Both dig the same streets, often months apart. Joint planning and shared works is the biggest saving available.

03

Cross-vector flexibility

Energy · Decentralised balancing (2034) Water · Net zero & carbon (2030)

Water is a major industrial electricity user, and pumping and treatment can be shifted in time. Water's carbon target and energy's need for local flexibility are the same problem from two sides.

04

Connections and industrial siting

Energy · Industrial connection acceleration (2033) Water · Resilient supply (2030)

A big industrial site needs power and water, and needs both to arrive together. Ofgem's own challenge asks for cross-vector solutions including water and wastewater. The mandate is already there.

05

One customer, one conversation

Energy · Domestic plug-and-play (2032) Water · Customer & community value (2030)

Both sectors are building demand-management relationships with the same households, running separate vulnerability registers and separate campaigns. People live in one home, not two utilities.

Spotted an overlap we've missed?

These are the five we're working on now. If you're building something that crosses a boundary, or you think you're paying for work someone else has already done, get in touch.

Ofgem's Strategic Innovation Fund — £500m for 2026–2031 — has shifted decisively toward deployment over learning: ideas must map to a defined challenge and a credible route to business-as-usual. We help innovators do exactly that.

01

Industrial & Business Connection Acceleration

Major industrial sites energised within 6 months by 2033.
Turning grids into enablers for industrial policy.
02

Faster Build & Maintenance

50% faster, 20% cheaper build and maintenance by 2035.
Cutting the cost of a ~£trillion buildout.
03

Domestic Plug-and-Play

Instant plug-and-play connection of domestic energy devices by 2032.
Removing networks from the customer critical path.
04

Eliminating Outages

Near-zero interruptions via autonomous islanding by 2038.
Shifting from asset protection to service continuity.
05

Decentralised Balancing

Autonomous local balancing at every network level by 2034.
Moving control to local, AI-driven operation.

Working on something relevant?

We map research to the right challenge, build the consortium and lead the bid — at no cost. Start a conversation.

The Ofwat innovation landscape spans over £740m across three funds, with the same shift toward deployment at scale. We've secured £20m+ for clients across 25+ Ofwat bids — and we map your innovation to the right challenge and stream.

01

Leakage & Network Resilience

Net zero leakage by 2050, with a 50% reduction by 2030.
Moving from reactive repair to predictive, sensor-led detection.
02

Net Zero & Carbon Reduction

Net zero operational carbon across the sector by 2030.
Decarbonising treatment, pumping and sludge through circular recovery.
03

Storm Overflows & Water Quality

Eliminate harm from storm overflows by 2035; continuous monitoring by 2030.
Moving to real-time predictive management and nature-based solutions.
04

Asset Health & Digital Infrastructure

Near-zero unplanned asset failures via remote monitoring by 2035.
Shifting from time-based to condition-based maintenance with IoT and digital twins.
05

Customer & Community Value

Demand management and resilient supply for all customers by 2030.
Turning billing into an active demand partnership.

Working on something relevant?

We secure the water-company lead, build the consortium and write the Ofwat bid — at no cost. Start a conversation.
Our Ecosystem

Our team and partners

Joining sectors up needs people who have worked in more than one. Our team and associates span energy, water and related industries. That's how we spot when a problem has already been solved somewhere else.

Clarium core team Academia Birmingham · UCL · Warwick Associates 20+ global experts Innovators & technology Your network Lower TRL Higher TRL

Clarium Core Team

Technical, commercial, economic, regulatory and bid-writing skills in one accountable team. Every job starts and ends here.

Associates

More than 20 expert associates across energy, water and related fields. Specialist depth when you need it, without big-firm overhead.

Academia

Universities including Birmingham, UCL and Warwick. Early-stage research we can connect to live network problems.

Innovators & Technology Providers

We track who is working on network monitoring, flexibility and DER, storage, hydrogen, asset health, and data and AI. We know who is credible.

What this means for you

What you get

Research that ends up deployed

We take early ideas and shape them into things networks can run.

Built to fit the rules from day one

We shape concepts around Ofgem and Ofwat expectations from the start, not afterwards.

Direct access to the networks

We work with every GB energy network and twelve water companies. Most are looking for innovation partners.

The right partners in the consortium

We bring in the technical, academic and commercial partners a bid needs to win.

What networks are working on now

We know the live problems, not just the published ones. That gives your idea a head start.

A clear route to a real trial

We map the path from where your research is now to a funded network trial, then walk it with you.

How we work

We've taken ideas from concept to deployment across multiple GB utilities. This is the process.

01

Finding the idea

We help innovators identify research and technology that GB utilities can use.

02

Workshops

We run sessions between utilities and innovators to define early-stage solutions to real problems.

03

Turning it into a business case

We structure the idea into something a utility can buy and scale, and that meets regulatory priorities.

04

Writing the bid

We write the funding application at each stage of the project, at no cost to the innovator.

05

Delivery

We don't disappear once the money lands. We stay on through deployment and handle the regulatory, commercial and reporting work.

Demonstrated Impact

Track record

Cross-sector work only lands if each sector trusts you first. We work with every GB energy network and twelve water companies. That's why they listen when we ask them to work together.

£35m+Innovation funding secured for clients across energy and water
25+Ofwat water innovation bids developed across all streams
75+SMEs and start-ups supported and helped to scale
All GBElectricity, gas and water utilities connected to and worked with
Energy Networks
National Grid Electricity Distribution (NGED)
SP Energy Networks (SPEN)
Northern Powergrid
Electricity North West (ENWL)
Cadent Gas Networks
National Gas Transmission (NGT)
NESO (National Energy System Operator)
Water Companies
United Utilities
Severn Trent
Anglian Water
Northumbrian Water
Yorkshire Water
Welsh Water
Scottish Water
…and 5+ more across GB
Get In Touch

Get in touch

If you're working on something that crosses sector boundaries, or you need advice on innovation, infrastructure or strategy, we'd like to hear from you.

DirectorImran Abdulla
LocationLondon, United Kingdom