Water BOOST Enabling Innovation for Future Ready Cities 2025

Water-BOOST’s cross-city analysis reveals three emerging lessons about what enables (or constrains) water innovation in urban settings: 1. Innovation cannot scale without an interconnected ecosystem Even the most ambitious ideas stall when key stakeholders are missing or disconnected. It is not enough to have strong utilities, forward-looking regulators or vibrant start-ups on their own. Innovation ecosystems become functional only when all essential actors are present and linked through enabling mechanisms. 2. Innovation ecosystems depend not just on who is involved but on how they work together The most catalytic enabling mechanisms were often those that improved relationships between actors – from targeted innovation funding to regulatory flexibility or shared platforms for piloting. These relationship enablers lower risk, build trust and enable scaling. Cities must pay as much attention to the quality of these connections as they do to the presence of stakeholder groups. 3. Cities can, and should, learn from one another Enabling environments differ, but they are not incomparable. Cities do not need to replicate each other’s systems – they can adapt what works. Strategic comparison allows decision-makers to identify transferable enablers and tailor them to local needs, capacities and governance structures. These reflections reinforce a core principle: innovation thrives when systems align. Water-BOOST helps make that alignment visible and shows how it can be strengthened through shared learning and targeted action. Key learnings from six cities: –Governance gaps are systemic. Even where policy ambition is high, procurement and regulatory frameworks often lag behind innovation. –Finance pathways are fragile. Limited pilot funding and risk-averse utilities make it difficult for entrepreneurs to demonstrate impact at scale. –Ecosystem fragmentation persists. Stakeholders operate in silos, slowing alignment and cross-sector collaboration. –Context matters. What works in Barcelona may not work in Accra without adaptation, but structured comparison reveals transferable mechanisms.4.4 What Water-BOOST teaches Image credit: Paani Earth Foundation Water-BOOST: Enabling Innovation for Future-Ready Cities 40