A highlight of the Intelligent Water Networks Members Conference on Monday 28 July was the official launch of the 2025 Water Minister’s Climate Innovation Challenge by the Hon. Gayle Tierney MP, Minister for Water.
The Challenge – now in its third year – continues to drive bold, practical climate action across the Victorian water sector. Minister Tierney’s launch was a powerful moment that reaffirmed the sector’s commitment to innovation and resilience in the face of climate change.
As part of the launch, delegates also heard directly from past Challenge recipients through a dedicated panel session, where they shared the real-world impact of their projects and the value the Challenge has brought to their organisations and communities.
The launch took place at IWN’s Annual Members Conference, which welcomed over 150 attendees and received outstanding feedback. But more importantly, it provided the perfect platform to set the tone for this year’s Challenge – one that invites new ideas, fosters collaboration, and builds sector-wide momentum for climate resilience.
The Challenge aims to:
Promote and recognise innovation within the water sector.
Increase the resilience of the water cycle by supporting the sector to harness new opportunities that may arise through effective climate action while delivering essential water services to the environment and the Victorian community.
Reduce barriers for the Victorian water sector to explore and implement innovative solutions to climate change challenges.
Support collaboration and capacity building within the sector.
Share key learnings and generate sector-wide transformational outcomes while inspiring climate action within the Victorian water sector and beyond.
The Challenge will encourage commitment and support for the water sector to harness new opportunities that may arise through effective climate action.
Challenge Rules in brief
The Challenge will deliver a Ministerial Innovation Award to the Victorian water sector and promote and recognise innovation.
The funding pool for the Challenge Round Three (2025) is $280,200. This money will be awarded to one or multiple submissions at the discretion of the judging panel.
The Challenge is open to all Victorian Water Corporations. Collaborative submissions are encouraged provided the submission is led by a Victorian Water Corporation.
Submissions must meet the competition brief and all areas of the submission must be addressed and must be endorsed by an Executive representative from within the submitting organisation.
A submission cannot be shortlisted unless all criteria is met.
Entries must be submitted via this website via the Awardforce competition software platform.
Winners of the Challenge are to provide progress reports every 6 months following the receipt of the funding, including potential site inspections, completion/implementation reports, and benefits and impacts realisation report.
Assessment Criteria
Stage 1 – Eligibility Review
- All the required fields of submission have been completed by applicant
- The submission is led by a Victorian Water Corporation
- The submission was received before the closing time and date
- The submission has been endorsed by an Executive Team member from the submitting water corporation
- The submission is focussed on an initiative or project that aims to deliver a positive climate outcome
Stage 2 – Shortlisting Criteria and Weighting
- Climate Outcomes: The degree to which the project demonstrates achieving a real and measurable positive climate outcome consistent with the DEECA climate action objectives. (40%)
- Sustainability: The degree to which the project outcomes can be maintained or improved in the future and scaled across the water sector in Victoria. (30%)
- Capability to deliver the project: The degree to which the applicant can demonstrate their capacity and capability to successfully undertake and deliver the project/activity. (20%)
- Risk Identification and Control: The degree to which the applicant identifies potential risks and adequate actions to remove, reduce or manage those risks. (10%)
2025 Challenge Timeline
Judging Stage 1 – Eligibility Review
Submissions will be reviewed by IWN to confirm they comply with entry requirements.
Judging Stage 2 – Shortlisting
Eligible submissions will be scored using a weighted system against a set of approved criteria. Not all judges will assess every submission; instead, judges will be allocated submissions to judge as outlined above. The highest-scoring submissions will be considered the shortlisted finalists.
Judging Stage 3 – Final Pitch Judging
Final judging will be based on a live pitch, with judges attending only their allocated sessions to avoid conflicts of interest. A conferral meeting will be held immediately after the pitch event to finalise scores and agree the funding recommendations to the Minister for Water.
