The National Infrastructure Commission is today (Wednesday 15 February) launching a four week Call for Evidence to shape the development of its new Technology study.
On 23 November 2016, the Chancellor asked the commission to conduct a study to identify which new technologies have the greatest potential for improving the productivity of our infrastructure, and what steps government should take to support the deployment of these technologies.
Launching the Call for Evidence, Lord Adonis said:
“From big data to the internet of things, and artificial intelligence to digitalisation, new technologies are reshaping our infrastructure and our country. If the UK is to succeed in the global economy of the future, we have to ensure that we are harnessing innovative new technologies to maximum effect.
“This study will explore which new technologies have the most potential for improving the way we manage our infrastructure. So through this call for evidence we want to hear views from across industry, politics and the public, from infrastructure specialists, to developers of new technologies.
“This work is timely and vital – if we don’t position ourselves at the forefront of technological innovation, our competitors will.”
The questions that the Commission are particularly keen to focus on are:
- What are the key technologies which the NIC should take forwards to consider for this study? Which will have the greatest potential impact over a timescale of 10 – 30 years?
- How will these technologies meet the outlined criteria. For example:
- How does the new technology improve infrastructure productivity? What aspects of the management of infrastructure could the technology address – for example aspects of operation, maintenance, efficiency, capacity, reliability or resilience; would the uptake of the new technology for example reduce demand for pressurised services such as transport, energy and water?
- What stage has the technology reached in terms of demonstration and uptake?
- What evidence is there supporting the potential benefits that may be expected? Are there examples or case studies of deployment or demonstration in other sectors, or internationally? Any indicators of the benefits that could be expected and sectors to which applied.
- What evidence is there supporting the likely costs of introduction.
- What are the principal challenges and barriers which need to be addressed to enable the maximum uptake of the technology?
- Would the introduction of the technology imply major changes to existing infrastructure, require new infrastructure, or does it fit with existing infrastructure? Would its introduction make previous infrastructure redundant?
Submissions of evidence should be no longer than 5 pages (5 sides) and should be emailed to TechnologyEvidence@nic.gsi.gov.uk, by 15 March 2017.
