Presidential Roundtable summary: working to develop a digital strategy for better infrastructure delivery

This roundtable chaired by ICE President Keith Howells was a discussion with the Hong Kong Development Bureau and global infrastructure professionals on developing a digital strategy to improve infrastructure delivery.

The cost of delivering infrastructure projects is growing worldwide and governments are facing difficult decisions about whether to scale back or delay strategically important infrastructure projects.

Improving productivity is therefore critical to help maximise investment and mitigate the risks from inflation to infrastructure pipelines. Digital technology is vital for reducing construction time and costs.

The ICE convened this online roundtable to discuss Hong Kong’s digitalisation strategy to help the government deliver its ambitious capital works programme.

Hong Kong’s experience shows the benefits of government leadership in setting a clear agenda and collaborating with the supply chain to drive adoption of new tools and methods.

The discussion also looked at other potential benefits of digitalisation, such as smarter management of existing infrastructure systems and assets, as well as challenges and risks, including privacy and data-protection.