Season’s greetings from CIB! I am pleased to see that the final edition of our newsletter this year is dominated by stories about our work with students and early career researchers. The medium and long-term prosperity of research in our sector depends on high quality researchers, and I am proud that CIB is emphasising the development of emerging talent.
Personally I am just back from Dubai, where I was honoured to provide the welcoming words and a keynote speech at the TG96 (Accelerating Innovation in Construction) conference on Accelerating Innovation to Deliver Smart Built Environment organised by Heriot Watt University Dubai and Leeds Beckett University. A month after COP26, I was keen to emphasise as an NGO founded under the auspices of the UN that CIB’s mission is to ensure that research and innovation in our sector is aligned to attainment of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. There is no more important framework for understanding the value of the sector, and there is no more important focus for CIB, and I trust this is reflected appropriately in the balance of our work, our Working Commissions and Task Groups, and in our priority stakeholders. I was also able to reflect on the UAE and the wider MENA region, where the conference was to have been held face-to-face until another Covid-enforced change of format. The region will host COP 27 in Egypt and COP28 in UAE, so it will play an important part in the global climate change agenda over the next 2-3 years. Consequently, we need to increase our profile and the impact of R&I in this region, and we will launch a strategy for CIB growth in the region early in 2022. To register your interest or to volunteer your support, please contact Professor Taha Elhag or myself.
It remains for me to send all our members a hearty season’s greetings, and I look forward to working with you in 2022 – hopefully more often face-to-face than has been possible in the last 21 months!
My very best wishes.
Don Ward
Chief Executive
