53 leaders discuss ways to accelerate scalable adoption of infrastructure technology

Scalable adoption of infrastructure technology (InfraTech) has the potential to transform infrastructure, the built environment and daily life for people worldwide. As identified in the GI Hub’s recent survey of more than 400 industry stakeholders, technology is expected to be a disruptor and enabler of future infrastructure in both the developing and developed world.

But adoption of InfraTech at a national or global scale requires the public and private sector to work together, with a shared agenda and forums for cooperation. The Riyadh G20 InfraTech Agenda resolves the first requirement, and the GI Hub is now coordinating across the infrastructure landscape to provide a forum for cooperative leadership that will accelerate scalable adoption of InfraTech.

On 5 November 2020, 53 members of our InfraTech Leaders Ecosystem – from more than 25 public and private entities – met for the first time to discuss ‘quick wins' and strategic priorities based on the World Bank's InfraTech Policy Toolkit, developed earlier this year to support the Riyadh G20 InfraTech Agenda.

The Ecosystem comprises a diverse group of stakeholders spanning 10 market segments, yet even with the highly diverse perspectives represented, clear consensus views emerged of high-impact areas that the leaders expect will carry InfraTech forward.

• The three high impact areas identified were:
• development of national strategies and visions for technology
• development of outcomes-focused policies to foster competition and innovation
• establishment of 'innovation sandboxes' to test and evolve the effects of new enabling environments.

Over the coming weeks, we will be releasing further information and insights from this workshop and will be working with key partners to act on the opportunities identified. To stay informed about this work, please subscribe for updates here.