Engineering Innovation (EI) and Network Operation

Civil engineering operations are experiencing structural changes throughout the value chain. At the upstream, major engineering companies consolidate their global operations with aggressive mergers and acquisitions. Examples in 2017 include Jacob’s acquisition of CH2M Hill, SNC-Lavalin’s acquisition of Atkins, and John Wood’s acquisition of Amec Foster Wheeler. At the downstream, large construction companies are on the brink of crisis as exemplified by Carillion’s liquidation in 2018 and Wanda’s reform towards asset-light service operations [1]. These changes, which are often intertwined with unprecedented digital transformations brought by new possibilities such as Big Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things, prompt us to rethink whether the current operations capabilities for civil engineering are still useful and keeping up with the actual need of competition [2].