{"id":3661,"date":"2025-05-28T15:29:21","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T14:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newtonimpact.com\/?post_type=content_library&p=3661"},"modified":"2025-09-30T11:28:59","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T10:28:59","slug":"a-critical-year-for-infrastructure-craig-hoggett","status":"publish","type":"content_library","link":"https:\/\/newtonimpact.com\/en-us\/content-library\/blog\/a-critical-year-for-infrastructure-craig-hoggett\/","title":{"rendered":"“Human Ingenuity & Artificial Intelligence: Reflections on a Critical Year for Infrastructure, Energy, and Collaboration”\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Take Me Back<\/a>\n\n

“Human Ingenuity & Artificial Intelligence: Reflections on a Critical Year for Infrastructure, Energy, and Collaboration”\u00a0<\/h1>\n

By Craig Hoggett<\/p>\n\n

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Partner, Infrastructure<\/p>\n <\/span>\n \n

Blog<\/p>\n <\/span>\n \n \n

28th May 2025<\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n \n\n\n

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\n \"Infrastructure\n <\/div>\n\n
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Craig Hoggett, Partner, Infrastructure, shares his experiences and insights <\/span>from attending industry events, and the trends he has seen emerging from across senior conversations in the market.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n \n\n\n

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“This year, I\u2019ve been fortunate to step back from the daily intensity of operational leadership and spend time immersed in two exceptional conferences: <\/span>International Energy Week 2025<\/span><\/i>, held in London by the Energy Institute, and the <\/span>Utility Week Conference<\/span><\/i> at the NEC in Birmingham.\u00a0 While different in scale and focus, both forums brought together leaders from across sectors including energy, water, transport, and utilities, to grapple with the rapidly evolving demands of our industries. The most striking insight?\u00a0 Despite sectoral differences, the core challenges and opportunities we face are remarkably aligned.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Across both events, the atmosphere was marked by a sense of urgency.\u00a0 Geopolitical, economic, and environmental uncertainty, is reshaping how we must plan, build, operate, and sustain national infrastructure.\u00a0 We are dealing with increasingly complex capital portfolios, aging asset bases that demand more sophisticated maintenance strategies, and a growing shortage of capability and capacity within our workforces.\u00a0 The pace of change is outstripping the traditional models of delivery.\u00a0 A collective recognition emerged: no single actor, government, operator, OEM, or service provider, can meet this moment alone.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are three themes I took away that I believe deserve deep attention and broad action:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n \n\n\n

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1. Human Collaboration and Ingenuity are the Cornerstones of Progress<\/h2>\n <\/hgroup>\n \n
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Despite the proliferation of technologies on offer, both conferences reinforced a foundational truth: our greatest breakthroughs are still driven by people.\u00a0 Real progress comes not from innovation <\/span>in isolation<\/span><\/i>, but from collaboration, the act of coming together across traditional boundaries and working toward shared outcomes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the most powerful moments of the year for me was the interview with Maksym Timchenko, CEO of DTEK, who shared the extraordinary story of how an Ukrainian onshore windfarm was designed and built during wartime.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t a story of perfect conditions or boundless resources, it was a story of resolve, collaboration, and national ingenuity under pressure.\u00a0 Once again, necessity proved to be the mother of innovation and success.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This echoes what we saw during the pandemic.\u00a0 When urgency eclipsed bureaucracy and competition, human ingenuity flourished.\u00a0 In energy, water, transport and beyond, we must now ask: how do we recreate that mindset in \u2018<\/span>peacetime<\/span><\/i>\u2019?\u00a0 How do we embed radically collaborative behaviours into everyday delivery, not just emergency response?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n \n\n\n

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“It\u2019s not AI that will take your job; it\u2019s a human with AI”<\/p>\n \n Nisarg Hirani <\/span>\n Scottish Water <\/cite>\n <\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n \n\n\n

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2. “HI + AI: Human Intelligence Plus Artificial Intelligence is the Real Opportunity”<\/h2>\n <\/hgroup>\n \n
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Technology was, predictably, a prominent theme and yet not just as a buzzword or silver bullet there\u2019s a growing maturity in the conversation about Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.\u00a0 The consensus is shifting: <\/span>AI alone won\u2019t replace human work, but humans who know how to use AI will replace those who don\u2019t.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Amber Russell from BP highlighted the need for Human Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence (<\/span>HI + AI) <\/span><\/b>when she spoke recently at the Reuters Downstream event, a recognition that Artificial Intelligence becomes most powerful when paired with Human Intelligence.\u00a0 Scottish Water\u2019s Nisarg Hirani at the Utility Week conference was even more direct: <\/span>\u201cIt\u2019s not AI that will take your job; it\u2019s a human with AI.\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This resonates deeply; across industries, we\u2019re witnessing a rapid democratisation of tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and others.\u00a0 Children use them for homework.\u00a0 Executives use them to brief reports yet, these tools still require context, judgment, and experience to be truly effective.\u00a0 The real opportunity lies in how we combine expertise and emerging technology to tackle age-old challenges, e.g. maintenance optimisation, network resilience, decarbonisation, asset planning, and customer service.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Generative AI, predictive analytics, and machine learning won\u2019t do the work for us but, they will help us do the work better, faster, and with greater foresight.\u00a0 The amplification of human potential is the real transformation.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n \n\n\n

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“Infrastructure isn\u2019t just an enabler of prosperity; it is the very foundation of it.”<\/p>\n \n <\/cite>\n <\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n \n\n\n

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3. Infrastructure Security is National Security<\/h2>\n <\/hgroup>\n \n
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Perhaps the most urgent, and often underappreciated, message was this: <\/span>infrastructure resilience is now at the heart of national resilience<\/span><\/b>.\u00a0 The Energy Transition is about more than reaching Net Zero, <\/span>crucial<\/span><\/i> though that is.\u00a0 It\u2019s about building a more secure, flexible, and interoperable energy system, deeply integrated with the water, transport, digital and economic infrastructure of the nation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s underway is staggering in scale.\u00a0 New offshore and onshore wind capacity.\u00a0 Advanced thermal energy systems.\u00a0 SMRs and next-generation nuclear.\u00a0 Electrification of transport.\u00a0 Hydrogen corridors.\u00a0 Modernised ports and digital roads.\u00a0 All of it will require expanded and upgraded transmission and distribution networks, and all of it must be monitored, controlled, maintained and defended: <\/span>digitally and physically<\/span><\/b>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This infrastructure is becoming increasingly intelligent.\u00a0 Sensors, digital twins, and automated control systems generate oceans of data every second.\u00a0 That data offers enormous value <\/span>if<\/span><\/i> we can make sense of it.\u00a0 AI can help us interpret signals, identify faults, predict failures, and optimise usage, but with connectivity comes exposure.\u00a0 The convergence of critical infrastructure and digital technology creates both exponential opportunity <\/span>and<\/span><\/b> systemic risk.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The recent wave of global cybersecurity breaches reminds us: the more integrated and intelligent our systems become, the more vulnerable they are to disruption.\u00a0 The Internet of Things is no longer a consumer trend, it\u2019s the nervous system of a modern nation.\u00a0 We must now invest not only in building new infrastructure, but in defending it.\u00a0 Cyber resilience is fast becoming as important as carbon neutrality.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking Forward<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The path ahead is daunting, yet the upside is profound.\u00a0 We are standing at a crossroads, where leadership means being bold enough to embrace both the technical and the human.\u00a0 To build trust across organisational boundaries.\u00a0 To invest in new capabilities while holding fast to timeless ones: judgment, integrity, and cooperation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We know what\u2019s possible.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen it, whether in the pandemic, the windfarms of Ukraine, or the advances in asset performance delivered by AI-assisted teams.\u00a0 The key lies in amplifying human ingenuity through collaboration and technology, not replacing it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s time to lead systemically, act collaboratively, and deliver relentlessly.\u00a0 Infrastructure isn\u2019t just an enabler of prosperity; it is the very foundation of it.”<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n \n\n\n

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