What does our industry look like in 2050?

Clancy Docwra had the opportunity to share their dreams for the future with our friends at the Pipeline Industries Guild during the June 18th Conference “Utilities 2050: Building for the Future”. COO, Seamus Keogh, and our Business Improvement Manager, Alvaro Montenegro, shared the stage with some of the brightest minds and top decision-makers of the utilities sector. The speakers included Isabel Dedring, Deputy Mayor of the Greater London Authority; Steve Fraser, Managing Director of United Utilities; Jon Butterworth MBE, Director of National Grid; and Dr James Bellini, Director of The Talent Foundation. The conference was focused on the young professionals that are making this future a reality and was capped with the Guild’s Young Professional Awards ceremony.

So what does 2050 look like? Space travel? Flying cars? Our view, as one of the most trusted contractors in the industry, consisted of three main mega-trends that will shape our industry in the future: Scarce Resources-Resilient Networks, Total Customer Symbiosis, and Disruptive Cross-Pollination. These three drivers, which have already made deep marks in the way we do business, will help us achieve dreams such as utility services that are not tied to a physical place but to a customer, or a crowd-sourced 3D repository of all underground infrastructure, or a robotic aid for ‘hand’ digging excavations, or maybe even self-healing pipes.

The day went on in a very positive mood; it is always uplifting to dream about what we can do. However, the important message is how do we get there, the journey. What do we need to do today to achieve our aspirations. Well, at Clancy Docwra we started the very next day at 7:30am to make our 2050 a reality. Come and join us.