Don Ward delivered keynote presentations at the ICCRIP 2026 conference hosted by NICMAR in Pune, India, in August and the SEEDS 2026 conference in London, UK, in September. His key messages included:
- The construction (AEC) and built environment industry faces huge challenges of an economic, social and environmental nature, including climate change, societal health and well-being, new ways of working, and productivity improvement.
- Globally the sector needs to address these challenges, which are complex ‘wicked’ problems usually requiring multidisciplinary research to provide the evidence base for new ideas, and to position itself as a major contributor and partner in the solutions.
- The agenda for change and sector initiatives for improvement in our industry’s performance include digital technology, offsite/pre-manufactured solutions, health and well-being, and environmental sustainability. The global nature of this agenda points to the value of international collaboration in research for greater success, and we need to close the perceived gap between academia, practitioners and policymakers to improve relevance and impact.
