The next ten years are key to unlocking digital transformation benefits

THE NEXT TEN YEARS ARE KEY TO UNLOCKING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION BENEFITS

The journey of digital transformation for infrastructure in Australia is just beginning. On the one hand, inflation is rising, supply chain issues continue to plague the sector, and market capacity issues are increasing as post-pandemic economic activity overheats the economy—all putting pressure on budgets and investment decisions.

On the other hand, there has never been a time where the benefits of digital transformation are more needed to provide increased efficiency, cost savings, and time savings.

Bentley Systems was proud to host the former head of the Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB) Alexandra Bolton in Australia and Singapore to meet with key stakeholders and clients across September. Bolton visited the Asia Pacific region as part of a knowledge exchange tour, focusing on the outcomes from the global thought leadership work at the conclusion of the CDBB program.

Decade of Opportunity

One of the key themes of Bolton’s visit was the incredible decade of opportunity facing the sector. With the upcoming Commonwealth and then Olympic and Paralympic Games providing key bookends for the infrastructure sector, we expect to see Australia taking on and then meeting some of the biggest global challenges over the next ten years. Australia will face it all—from climate change and energy transition to smart city transformations, to shortening and strengthening supply chains, through to responding to geopolitical uncertainty in the region.

Joining Bolton on her tour was Bentley Systems’ International Director of Public Policy and Advocacy Mark Coates. Coates explained that it is an attractive mix of opportunity and transformation.

“Digital transformation can be and will be a key component in what we all expect to be the most connected and collaborative Olympics and Paralympics in history,” said Coates. “Add to that the massive projects likely to be undertaken in energy, defence, and construction, Australia has a decade of delivering and then a decade of exporting its leadership and capabilities—what an opportunity!"

Bolton’s tour took in five Australian cities—Brisbane, Canberra, Geelong, Melbourne, and Sydney—to meet with key stakeholders and clients, as Australia continues its national digital transformation journey. In recognition of the tremendous opportunities available in Asia over the coming years, the tour also visited Singapore.

Consult Australia was pleased to co-host with member Bentley Systems a Boardroom lunch with Alexandra Bolton, former Executive Director of Centre for Digital Built Britain who was visiting Australia in September this year.

Over 12 business days, the knowledge tour encompassed around 45 meetings and events with over 1,100 participants. As many participants noted, there is a huge potential to improve the uptake of digital techniques and technologies while creating a sustainable resilient future.

Peter Vanderaa, Principal Policy Officer, Infrastructure Innovation, Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning, Queensland, said, “Mark and Alexandra’s meetings with Queensland Government representatives and local industry were incredibly informative and fruitful. Hearing first hand from international experts on digital twins and their experience with CDBB was timely and supported the consideration of next steps in investigating the possibility of our own digital twin in South East Queensland.

Breaking Down Geographical Silos and Learning from Global Experts

Over the course of several meetings with prominent clients and firms in the sector, it is clear that there is a need and desire to share expertise and understand best practices from across the globe. As one noted, “Cities, regions, and governments at all levels across the globe [are grappling] with the opportunities and challenges of implementing new digital solutions, such as digital twins. […] The value of knowledge sharing between professional peers with handson experience cannot be over- stated. […] By sharing experiences, what worked well and what didn’t, what could be done differently and why, common themes and insights emerge, and we build upon rather than repeat the steps achieved by others.”

Hearing from international experts like Bolton can help catalyse and give direction to key conversations that have been boiling away for a while without constructive framing.

As one event participant noted, “It’s important that we build on the achievements of others in this space. Our problems are not unique individually but are in the aggregate. Taking the incredible learnings from around the world to solve for our individual circumstances will allow us to leapfrog and develop some amazingly valuable digital tools, including digital twins.”

Alexandra Bolton is the former executive director of the Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB), where she founded, ran, and grew this unique socio-technical change programme, home to the U.K.'s Building Information Modelling (BIM), National Digital Twin, and Global BIM programmes. Bolton is the former deputy head of the National Digital Twin programme, an ambitious U.K. programme to enable an ecosystem of connected digital twins across the built environment, and the founding home of the Digital Twin Hub.

By Matt Gijselman, Director of Public Policy and Advocacy, Bentley Systems