Examines how ever evolving and disruptive technology impacts major infrastructure investment and proposes that we look at human capital as the most important piece of 21st century infrastructure.
Beginners Guide to TikTok for Search - Rachel Pearson - We are Tilt __ Bright...
Human Capital as 21st Century Infrastructure
1. The Future of Infrastructure:
Questions from Christchurch
By Raf Manji
2. Outline
• Roads, Pipes and Bridges – 20th Century
• Disruption and Predicting the Future
• Infrastructure as Legacy or Burden – Stranded Assets
• The Christchurch Opportunity – Human Capital as 21st Century
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is all about enabling.....enabling movement of people, goods, energy, water, waste, air. It’s a platform for providing economic, social, cultural and environmental outcomes.
It's very hard to believe we can predict transport passenger flows in 25 years, when it's hard to know what that transport will even look like. Had anyone heard of Google even 15 years ago…or Facebook 10 years ago….or AriBnb 5 years ago?
A$4b to build Victorian Desalination Plant has cost over $2b so far….and delivered no water. A$10b spent on plants around Australia which have all been mothballed.
A350Wb Bracket printed from resin and meeting Airbus material certification. Rolls Royce also testing 3D printed parts.
PowerWall
YangYang International Airport on the East Coast of South Korea, built at a cost of NZ$425m. Built in 2002, it became a ghost airport. 3m passengers a year predicted….by 2009 they were up to 26 a day.
A$4b to build Victorian Desalination Plant has cost over $2b so far….and delivered no water. A$10b spent on plants around Australia which have all been mothballed.
Disruption to infrastructure causes us to ask questions about what it is we actually provide. So when we look at transport, we may look at corridors of movement or mobility, not roads or rail tracks. We may look at air space differently, or simply space to create, think and exist. We may look at the ease of doing business or how affordable housing is, as basic infrastructure...in other word, we may need to move up the hierarchy of infrastructure to really deliver the sustainable prosperity we desire. Our needs for economic, social, environmental and cultural support are changing and with that comes challenges and opportunities.
On Tuesday, August 4, the White House hosted a Demo Day where we showcased the wide-ranging talents of innovators from across the country.
New ideas are generated by people, by people often coming together and bouncing those ideas off each other…..this is the start of the creative process which leads to new inventions, new products and services and new businesses. This is what drives economic and social prosperity, which is the job of good quality infrastructure.
Data is information.
Creating a Knowledge Infrastructure for London
Bike sharing.
Bitcoin is a peer to peer decentralized protocol system….a piece of exchange infrastructure
Turned it down in 2009……Union Square ventures
Bitcoin is a peer to peer decentralized protocol system….a piece of exchange infrastructure
Public Realm
Put this altogether and what do you get? Infinite Loop in Cupertino. $5b to build but will house close to 15,000 employees. 176 acre site. Bringing talent together to create the future.
We’re not Silicon Valley and are not trying to be….but we do have a history in developing cool new kit and ideas…….we need to build on that with a new wave of human capital.
May not be No 1 Infinite Loop but it’s a good starting place. We could have filled 6 of these by now…..the challenge is to build more…..
Like this.
And this.
We want 20,000 people living in the central city…….we have the basic infrastructure, now we need the people bit….. If we don't invest in the future, we may end up investing in the past.
This means changing our immigration strategy to actively target people we want to come here, not just dealing with demand. The government has signaled its interest in this type of approach, especially ex-Auckland, and Christchurch needs to grab this opportunity and drive this shift. We are a city on the edge of the world but at the edge of the future and if we can seize the opportunity in front of us we can really create a truly sustainable city.
We may be a city on the edge of the world but we are also a city at the edge of the future and if we can seize the opportunity in front of us, by building 21st century infrastructure on top of our very good 20th century infrastructure, then we can really create a truly prosperous and sustainable city.