The project of the future

GII 2020 SUMMIT

In light of the COVID-19 global pandemic and related travel restrictions, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the 2020 Global Infrastructure Initiative Summit, scheduled to take place in Montreal on June 10-12. We intend to reschedule the Summit at the same venue, once the situation returns to normal cadence. In the interim, we are exploring a series of virtual GII convenings over the next 6 months, and details will be posted on this website. Our hearts go out to all of those experiencing hardship due to the current situation. Please let our event team know if you have any specific questions. Thank you.

Since 2012, the Global Infrastructure Initiative Summit has convened many of the world’s most senior leaders in infrastructure and capital projects to identify ways to improve the delivery of infrastructure and get more out of existing assets. Our sixth GII Summit will take place in Montréal, June 10–12, 2020, and focuses on defining the “project of the future.”

Global industry trends—such as digitization, industrialization, vertical and horizontal consolidation, and rising technology investment—are poised to dramatically change all stages of the project life cycle. The project of the future will forego siloed project stages and operate as a single production system integrated by technology from design, procurement and planning through to construction, commissioning and operations.

Moreover, the project of the future will require all members of the value chain to deploy technology-based solutions, new materials, collaborative practices, and agile ways of working to deliver resilient projects faster, at lower cost, and with improved schedule predictability. Notably, this will necessitate new skill sets and cultures to meet the emerging needs. Leaders attending the 2020 Summit will address the fundamental industry challenges and explore practical and scalable solutions.

Our 2020 program is organized around the following four content pillars:

DIGITAL AND ANALYTICS TRANSFORMATION
The industry has recognized the massive productivity gains that can stem from digitization and the application of analytics. To move beyond pilot projects and experimentation, organizations must undertake comprehensive transformation efforts at both the enterprise and project levels. This pillar focuses on how to create change at both levels while embracing the most promising use cases across digitization, automation, IoT, and analytics.

COLLABORATIVE PROJECT DELIVERY
Major capital projects come with built-in tensions that often discourage trust-based cooperation and can result in claims and variations that bust budgets and deadlines and compromise productivity. Increased collaboration can help align stakeholders, inspire innovation, and establish outcome-focused measures of progress. This pillar explores best practices in establishing financial incentives, risk-sharing structures, collaborative contracts, and a learning culture to prepare for the anticipated shift toward an integrated and digitally-enabled approach to project delivery.

LEADERSHIP AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
Modern infrastructure and capital projects demand new skill sets in every phase—and by every actor involved. Industry transformations are not likely to succeed without a focus on leadership, culture, organizational structures, and talent. Therefore, fresh perspectives, which come from cultivating a diverse workforce, will be essential to long-term success. This pillar considers how contractors, industry bodies, and governments can attract and train workers as well as build new cultures and diverse capabilities at scale.

FUTURE-PROOFING INFRASTRUCTURE
Emerging technologies are advancing faster than initially expected, and complex risks—from cybersecurity to climate resilience—continue to intensify. Ensuring infrastructure projects deliver their intended benefits, whether economic, environmental, or social, requires analyzing potential future states in the planning processes, designing and building flexible assets that can serve multiple uses, and identifying diverse revenue streams over an asset’s life cycle. This pillar tackles the processes that must be implemented to deliver resilient infrastructure. 

In addition, we will hold sessions that cut across the four pillars and focus on improving infrastructure governance, capability, and delivery systems to enable institutional change.

Read the outcomes report, capturing GII 2018's best ideas

View photos from the 2018 event
Explore the GII 2018 Summit program
See the GII 2018 Summit participants
GII 2018 Summit insights on Infrastructure and Capital Projects
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