Research carried out by engineering consultancy Atkins suggests that 68 per cent of infrastructure businesses expect their outlooks to have recovered to pre-crisis levels within 18 months.
The work – which was carried out by the independent market research organisation Savanta ComRes on behalf of Atkins – also finds that the vast majority of leaders in the sector expect digital innovation to be at the heart of this recovery.

Based on 398 responses from senior public and private sector decision makers the report, entitled Infrastructure Insights: COVID Impact and Recovery, found that while the industry has been impacted by the pandemic – with organisations reporting that 16 per cent of the work they had on immediately before Covid-19 had been postponed or cancelled completely – 52 per cent were confident that they would see outlooks for the sector return to pre-crisis levels by Q4 of 2021.
More COVID-19 technology news from The Engineer
In the private sector, almost 7 in 10 respondents predicted a return to their organisation’s pre-crisis outlook before the end of next year.
Amongst the different areas covered by the research, respondents from the utilities sector were most bullish about the prospects for the future, with 69 per cent expecting a return to pre-COVID business levels before the end of Q4 2021. Confidence levels appear to be at their lowest in the property sector, with just 47 per cent expecting a bounce-back over that time frame.
Across the board, there appear to be very low levels of enthusiasm for the effectiveness of the the government, with just 20 per cent of respondents expressing confidence in its plans for the sector.
The report also reveals that 65 per cent of senior decision makers would like to see government provide a clear roadmap to help the sector’s Covid recovery, while 53 per cent want to see increased spending beyond the 2020 budget commitments and 53 per cent called for better co-ordination between central and local government.
There is general agreement that the sector will not emerge from the crisis in the same form, with the vast majority of respondents agreeing that digital innovation will be increasingly important. It is also clear that senior decision makers want to see digital innovations from the design, engineering and consultancy sector to help support their organisations during the Covid-19 crisis and recovery.
Atkins UK&E CEO Richard Robinson, said: “The findings set out in this report represent a compelling and powerful take on the sector and its path forward. While it’s clear that we need a finalised National Infrastructure Strategy to give us more clarity and confidence, there’s an expectation for the private sector to step up the use of technology and data to accelerate the recovery by building back smarter as well as better.”
No surprise there, but does anybody question the effectiveness of the private sector in planning the innovative infrastructure that’s essential for the transition to RE?
To judge from the various definitions of ‘digital’ and ‘innovation’, we appear to be at risk of getting lost in a fog of jargon, by putting the two together. If new technology is selected on the basis of its ROI profit potential, that’s not good news for the consumer or the economy at large. It will tend to inflate dividends and add to the flow of wealth into tax havens.
The government’s responsibility lies in controlling the excesses of rentier capitalism and reversing the damage caused by the privatisation of national monopoly assets such as National Grid. The regulators and industry bodies have proven to be toothless and incapable, especially in the way that disruptive innovation is stymied by ill-conceived (neoliberal) policies.
The effectiveness of, e.g. the ORE Catapult, is a question nobody has asked.
“. . . would like to see government provide a clear roadmap. The vast majority of respondents agree that digital innovation will be important. Senior decision makers want digital innovations from the design, engineering and consultancy sector help support their organisations during the Covid-19 crisis and recovery.”
“We need a finalised National Infrastructure Strategy to give us more clarity and confidence.”
Does the government’s lack of transparency inspire confidence?
https://bylinetimes.com/2020/08/11/cabinet-office-launches-new-contract-system-for-ai-procurement-reducing-public-transparency/
“Digital tools” per se, cannot create innovation – that skill resides in the human brain. Digitise all you like, but an input of a preconceived, biased or false premise still results in GIGO.
The mission statement of a new R&I centre: “It will focus as much on the ‘how’ as the ‘what’. That includes new processes and simulation techniques, education in new areas of technology and encouraging collaboration between innovators and those who can help realize their ideas.”
First identify ‘what’ the transition to 100% RE requires – i.e. energy storage. Then find “new areas of technology” in order to demonstrate ‘how’ it should be designed.
“Innowatts’ platform combines customer-centric energy analytics with insights from managing millions of meters around the world to provide accurate demand forecasts and improve power purchase efficiency.”
https://www.energylivenews.com/2020/08/27/shell-partners-with-innowatts-for-ai-powered-demand-forecasting/
DSM/DSR is irrelevant, if the RE supply-side delivers FLEXIBLE generation from energy storage.
Smart meters are irrelevant for most smart consumers, but we pay the bill and get no benefit. (I have no use for one.) “UK.gov’s smart meter CBA for 2019 goes big on cost, easy on the benefits. Rollout given another 4 years as price tag soars to £13.4bn.”
Will The Engineer, or the RAEng, or IMechE be putting forward their game-changing proposals to this BEIS consultation? (We know what the outcome should be – FIRST scrap the CfD.)
http://www.gov.uk/government/news/consultation-launched-to-support-marine-renewables
I am, but who will listen?! The entire £800m budget for Dominic’s ‘ARPA’ should be invested in the design of our future RE marine power system, but it’s not ‘blue skies’ research, it’s applied science and pre-commercial innovation, which promises a huge ROI (to the government) from the first project to be built integrating wind/wave and tidal with energy storage. (But who owns the IP?)
Promises, (empty?) promises:-
http://www.civilserviceworld.com/professions/article/sunak-confirms-800m-for-blue-skies-research-agency-amid-rd-funding-boost
In the past, R&D spending has always been the first casualty of any recession.
http://www.politicshome.com/news/article/rishi-sunak-launches-spending-review-with-focus-on-strengthening-recovery-from-coronavirus-pandemic