Critical infrastructure connects people and supply chains and is absolutely essential to the smooth running and continued growth of cities and economies. Airports, seaports and land-based transportation systems including road and rail are vital enablers of both basic and the more niche requirements of everyday life.

Whether air, sea or land-focused, critical infrastructure must function like a well-regulated Swiss watch 24/7/365 in step with a city’s requirements at present, and in the future. This means steps must be taken to ensure these critical assets are kept up-to-date and are running efficiently and sustainably in line with a city’s Net Zero goals. In addition, as technology is integrated more and more into these large-scale projects due to digital transformation mandates, it’s vital that owners and operators take steps to protect these vital systems from dangerous cyberattacks. The latter is such a concern that research has found that the critical infrastructure protection (CIPS) market size was US $96.30bn in 2019 and is slated to reach $154.59bn by 2027, with a CAGR of 6.2%.

Given the age of some of the infrastructure in the region and ambitions to diversify and strengthen economies, efforts have begun to reinvigorate airports, seaports, as well as road and rail systems. This includes the development of brand-new assets and/or the upgrade and refurbishment of existing assets, which also covers the integration of technology to boost efficiency, contribute to sustainable agendas, and keep systems resilient in the face of any number of potential issues and challenges.