Environmental challenges are set to be tackled at Northumbrian Water’s Innovation Festival.

Registration has opened for the free event at Newcastle Racecourse from Monday 8 to Thursday, July 11, which sees creatives minds from across the planet come together to address key issues such as water scarcity and storm overflows.

The festival will feature 50 sprints, hacks and dashes, including several with an environmental focus, such as improving water quality, achieving net zero and reducing pollution and leakage.

Angela MacOscar, head of innovation at the water company, said: "These are topics that we know really matter to our customers, and we are so excited to gather some brilliant people all in one place in order to grow some great ideas at speed and scale.

"It is so important for our innovators to get together and come up with creative and tangible solutions to some of the very real problems that we face every day."