From Pilot Purgatory to Pilot Heaven: How Structured Trials Are Changing the Odds for Water Innovation

The water sector has long struggled to move promising technologies from proof of concept to full deployment. Regulatory pressure, long procurement cycles, and misaligned risk have left too many innovations stranded in what the Cunliffe Report called “pilot purgatory.” In Episode 87 of the Exec Exchange, Piers Clark speaks with Dr. Jo Burgess, Chief Executive of the Tech Ascend Foundation, about a model that’s flipping those odds — and the real-world results to prove it.

The Trial Reservoirs Initiative: Removing the Financial Barrier

The Tech Ascend Foundation — the not-for-profit sister organization of the Isle Group — runs the Trial Reservoirs Initiative, an evergreen revolving fund that de-risks full-scale technology trials for water utilities. The Foundation provides repayable grants to technology developers to fund proof-of-value demonstrations within a utility’s actual asset base. If the trial fails, the Foundation absorbs the loss. If it succeeds, the utility proceeds with procurement, and the vendor returns the funding to the reservoir to finance the next innovator. The model is deliberately circular: each success seeds the next trial.

The Trial and Purchase Agreement: Shifting the Thinking Forward

The mechanism behind the model’s performance is the Trial and Purchase Agreement (TNPA). Before a trial begins, both the technology vendor and the end user must agree in writing on objective success criteria, measurable KPIs, procurement volumes, and pricing. This means the commercial conversation happens at the start — not after results are in — removing ambiguity, eliminating post-hoc negotiation, and ensuring that a successful trial leads directly to a purchase order. It also means that when a trial doesn’t succeed, it’s a clean outcome: criteria weren’t met, lessons are banked, and the sector moves on.

Three Trials, Three Continents

Dr. Burgess shared three case studies from the Foundation’s portfolio. In the Netherlands, Brabant Water used the Climate Change Trial Reservoir to trial KenWave’s Dynamic Response Imaging technology for non-invasive structural assessment of asbestos cement pipelines — completing setup, trial, and evaluation in under ten months and committing to a further 12 kilometers of inspection. In the UAE, solar desalination company Desolenator trialed its SP40 platform with Silal, demonstrating fully circular, brine-free desalination and cooling for greenhouse agriculture in Abu Dhabi — and went on to become an XPRIZE Water Scarcity semifinalist. In Canada, EnBiorganic Technologies deployed its bioaugmentation system at a Paper Excellence pulp mill in Saskatchewan, resolving a color and COD challenge that was blocking zero liquid discharge goals — and received its purchase order before the trial period had even ended.

A 72.5% Success Rate Against an Industry Average of 20–25%

The Trial Reservoirs Initiative currently operates at a 72.5% trial success rate. The industry average sits between 20% and 25%. Dr. Burgess is clear that the TNPA is the driver: because all thinking — commercial, technical, and contractual — is completed before the trial starts, there is no grey area at the end. Success is objective and pre-agreed. The remaining failures are not a flaw in the model; they are evidence that the Foundation is taking on genuine risk, not just backing certainties.

A Sector Built on Shared Purpose

When asked what advice she’d give to someone entering the water sector, Dr. Burgess was direct: this is a team sport. Everyone here is working toward something outside themselves — whether that’s safe water for underserved communities or environmental protection. The sector doesn’t require individuals to have all the answers. It requires them to contribute what they can, where they are, and trust that the collective effort will get the job done.

The Tech Ascend Foundation was recently named a finalist for the 2026 Keeling Curve Prize, with laureates to be announced in July. It’s a recognition that reflects what the Trial Reservoirs model has always been built on: the belief that if you remove the right barriers and design the right conditions, innovation doesn’t get stuck — it scales.