MONDAY 27 JULY 2026  |  TUESDAY 28 JULY 2026

CONFERENCE THEME
Celebrating Excellence in Innovation

The 2026 conference theme, Celebrating Excellence in Innovation, focuses on recognising outstanding projects that demonstrate innovation in action across the water sector.

The conference will showcase practical solutions, strong collaboration, and real-world impact — highlighting how ideas are being translated into outcomes that deliver value today while shaping the future.

Together, the sector will come together to celebrate achievements, exchange insights, and build momentum for the next wave of innovation — delivering tomorrow’s water innovations today.

Celebrating excellence isn’t just about recognition; it’s about sharing what works, learning from experience, and inspiring continued progress.

JasonPresenting2025

Tickets are no charge for IWN Members including all Victorian and Tasmanian Water corporation employees.

Gather & Graze Dinner on the evening of 27 July costs $65 per person.

DAY 1: Monday 27 July

IN PERSON EVENT

REGISTRATION
8:30 am – 9 am
Hansen Hall, State Library

CONFERENCE
9 am – 5 pm
Conversation Quarter, State Library

PRE-DINNER DRINKS
& CONFERENCE DINNER
5:30 pm – 8:30 pm
The Oxford Scholar

DAY 1 PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Final Program details coming soon.

Morning


Innovation Adoption showcases how technologies and solutions initially trialled through IWN have successfully transitioned into everyday operational practice. It celebrates innovation that has moved beyond experimentation to deliver lasting value, highlighting how practical solutions are meeting utility needs, improving outcomes, and demonstrating the real impact of innovation when successfully embedded into business as usual.


Leading Excellence in Innovation explores how leaders create and sustain cultures where innovation can thrive, focusing on the practical approaches used to encourage collaboration, support experimentation, manage risk, and drive adoption across organisations. Reflecting on past, current, and future initiatives, the session highlights how leadership enables innovation to move from ideas and trials into business as usual and creates the conditions for long-term innovation success across the sector.

Afternoon

Celebrating Current Excellence in Projects highlights the outstanding innovation currently underway across IWN, showcasing projects that are advancing both technology and practice through strong collaboration and fresh thinking. It celebrates the people driving this work and the creativity, commitment, and leadership behind solutions that are already delivering meaningful impact for organisations and the broader sector.

StormHarvester Project Overview showcases a current innovation project demonstrating strong early promise and growing interest across the sector. The session provides an overview of the trial to date, highlighting the progress, learnings, and potential of the project, while exploring how emerging solutions are generating value and attracting attention from other utilities seeking innovative approaches to shared challenges.

Processes for Driving Innovation explores the structured approaches that enable innovation to be generated, tested, and scaled across the sector. It highlights initiatives such as WMCIC, Hackathons, and In-Stream as practical mechanisms for fostering collaboration, solving challenges, and accelerating the development of impactful solutions.

Building on this, In-Stream Deep Dive focuses on how facilitated innovation programs bring ideas to life through structured collaboration between industry partners and participants. It examines how guided cohorts and cross-sector input support the progression from problem identification through to tested solutions, demonstrating how applied innovation processes are turning ideas into tangible outcomes.

Future Resilience & Future innovations explores how investment in edge innovations and cross-sector collaboration is strengthening system resilience and accelerating the translation of research into practice. It highlights how coordinated effort across the sector is driving excellence in innovation and enabling scalable, real-world impact through shared knowledge and partnership-driven approaches.

DAY 2: Tuesday 28 July

ONLINE EVENT

ONLINE PROGRAM
8:30 am – 4.30 pm

Day 2 of the Conference is held online focusing on the IWN programs, specifically looking at the current and future possible projects and trials.

DAY 2 PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Final Program details coming soon.

Morning

Afternoon

CONFERENCE MCs

Nick-Raffaele
NICK RAFFAELE

Team Leader, Minor Capital Program, Greater Western Water

Brydie Campbell
BRYDIE CAMPBELL

Environment Officer,
North East Water

CONFERENCE SPEAKERS

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: DR ANGELA MACOSCAR

Head of Innovation at Northumbrian Water, Dr. Angela MacOscar is a visionary leader with a PhD in physical chemistry and a boundless passion for innovation and a track record for fostering innovation cultures, streamlining processes and driving purpose-driven innovation strategies. Extensive cross-sector experience, Angela has spearheaded transformative product and commercial innovations across several sectors, including managing billion-dollar FMCG franchise pipelines.

Renowned for her strategic mindset and out-of-the-box thinking, Angela is a collaborative force, adept at maximising ideas and simplifying complexity. A passionate advocate for women in STEM, champions diversity, mentorship, and inclusivity to drive meaningful change.

IWN EXECUTIVE CHAIR

DONA TANTIRIMUDALIGE

Managing Director,
Westernport Water

Jason-Cotton
JASON COTTON

Program Director, Intelligent Water Networks (IWN)

Nick-Raffaele
NICK RAFFAELE

Team Leader, Minor Capital Program,
Greater Western Water

Rodrigo-Marquina
RODRIGO MARQUINA 

Senior Infrastructure Planning Engineer, Goulburn Valley Water

BEN MUTTON

Senior Water & Wastewater Treatment Scientist, Wannon Water

VICTOR PERTON

Intelligent Water Networks (IWN) Ambassador

MARK WILLIAMS

Manag Managing Director, Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water (GWMWater)

SHAUN CUMMING

Managing Director,
Barwon Water

DALE ANDREA

General Manager Service Futures, Yarra Valley Water

JO LIM

CEO,
VicWater

KAREN CLODE

Market Leader – Industry, Asia Pacific, Isle Utilites

DAVID BERGMANN

CEO, Water Research Australia (WaterRA)

JO MURDOCH

Managing Director, North East Water

CONFERENCE VENUE FOR DAY 1

State Library Victoria
328 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC 3000

Function space: Conversation Quarter and Hansen Hall
Use Entry 1 via Swanston Street

The State Library Victoria, located in the heart of Melbourne’s CBD and within close proximity to train and tram networks, blends history and modern design, offering a unique and accessible event space. ​

The Conversation Quarter showcases three centuries of architecture and cutting-edge technology in the one venue and will be a magnificent backdrop to the 2025 IWN Members Conference.

Attendees will enjoy morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea as part of the conference registration.

CONFERENCE DINNER

The Oxford Scholar Hotel

Level 1, 427 Swanston Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000

Gather and Graze Dinner on 27 July: 5:30pm onwards

Open to all conference attendees, this relaxed and casual evening has been designed to create more opportunities to connect, unwind and continue conversations from throughout the day in a welcoming social setting.

The evening will feature roaming canapés, substantial grazing-style food, drinks, and plenty of space to mingle and network with colleagues from across the sector — all without the formality of a traditional sit-down dinner.

To attend the dinner, please select the Gather & Graze ticket option when registering for the conference.

CONFERENCE FAQS

All staff of IWN Member organisations, including most Victorian water corporations as well as DEECA and TasWater can attend the conference at no cost.

The dinner is an optional paid event, subsidised for IWN Members.

Please contact us if you require further details.

Please note parking and accommodation are not included in your Conference ticket.

No, parking and accommodation are not included in the Conference tickets.

While IWN and The State Library will try our best to accommodate special dietary requirements, we can only accommodate requests if notified prior to the event.

Please ensure you complete this item during registration.

Conference Cancellation & Refund Policy

In Previous years, we had an incredible response, with strong registrations and enthusiasm for the event. However, we also experienced a high drop-off rate, which had real impacts:

Wasted catering and money – Catering was planned based on registration numbers, and unfortunately, a large amount of food and therefore money went to waste. The money wasted could have been used more efficiently to fund our member projects/trials.

Missed opportunities – Our amazing speakers, panelists, and vendors put in time and effort to share their knowledge, but with fewer attendees, valuable insights and networking connections were lost.

To ensure we maximise participation, reduce waste, and respect the time and effort of all involved, we have enacted a Cancellation Policy that will be strictly followed.

Cancellation Policy

If you are no longer able to attend –

  • You may transfer your ticket to someone else from your organisation to attend in your place up-to 1 week out from the event (Monday 20 July). Please do this by clicking the ‘manage order’ button on your confirmation email. Please ensure that the new attendee’s email is updated in the ticket details, otherwise they might miss important information.
  • If you need to cancel your ticket, you must inform us at least 10 business days (by Monday 13 July) prior to the event via enquiries@iwn.org.au. If you fail to notify us within this timeframe and do not attend, a $200 fee will be charged to your organisation.
  • If you need to cancel your dinner ticket you can cancel through the Humanitix platform and receive a full refund.

We understand that unexpected circumstances might arise in the 2-week lead-up to the event. IWN will reasonably consider a request for cancellation within this period (which is outside of the cut-off times specified above) but we ask that you provide notice to us as soon as possible via enquiries@iwn.org.au.

This event will be recorded and available to watch on replay.

Participants participating in Q&A and/or workshops understand and agree that any comments or activities including photography, film, quotes, and/or recordings during this event may be used in IWN and VicWater publications and promotional materials.

The conference will showcase practical solutions, strong collaboration, and real-world impact – how ideas deliver value today while shaping the future.

TICKET DETAILS

Don’t miss your chance to be part of the IWN Members Conference, which brings Victorian and Tasmanian water professionals together with industry & technology partners, researchers and State Government, to showcase innovation and knowledge sharing to foster collaboration across the sector.

Secure your place now!

Conference Ticket Includes:

  • Full day Program
  • Morning & Afternoon Tea and Working Lunch
  • Access to the full Program Replay
IWN Members:  FREE

Dinner Ticket Includes:

  • Pre-Dinner Networking Drinks
  • Roaming canapés and substantial plates
  • A space to unwind and connect
IWN Members:  $65

CONFERENCE SPONSORS

Thanks to our generous sponsors for supporting this important water industry event.

Platnium and Keynote Sponsor

Media Sponsor

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Melbourne  VIC  3000  Australia
enquiries@iwn.org.au

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