Technology One : TechnologyOne and IPWEA tackle Australia’s creaking infrastructure, announcing National Thought Leadership Series

The peak body and software provider will bring together decision-makers from around Australia at the National Thought Leadership Series in May and June 2016.

'Currently, Australia's ageing infrastructure networks are struggling to remain effective,' says TechnologyOne's General Manager for Strategic Asset Management, Jeff Roorda.

'Around $47 billion worth of assets managed by local government alone are estimated to be in poor condition, and the gross replacement value of local government infrastructure for all Australian Councils is estimated at $438 billion.

'There is clearly a substantial proportion of infrastructure that is at or near the end of its life,' Roorda says.

'We need to address Australia's fragmented and unsustainable infrastructure practices now, and implement a long term Australia-wide infrastructure strategy.'

Mr Roorda says technology that can reveal the way people use infrastructure will be a valuable enabler for future planning.

'We can now monitor what time heavy vehicles are using our roads, and where are they going,' Roorda explains.

'We can track what the trends look like. It allows us to start to plan national strategies by looking at a map of where we've got constraints and congestion.

'The way we manage our cities and towns is going to change from how we've done it in the past. That's where the role of technology becomes particularly important, to deliver robust decision support systems to manage asset information and predict future trends and underpin a national infrastructure strategy.

'It's important we collect, understand and interpret the supporting data now to truly understand the state of our infrastructure and plan for the future.'

IPWEA Australasia CEO Robert Fuller says the thought leadership series will examine aligning infrastructure plans across all levels of government, standardising nationwide asset management systems and processes and moving toward an equitable national funding model.

'Infrastructure at the moment is one of the top agenda items for all governments,' Mr Fuller says.

'It is essential IPWEA is leading the national dialogue and intellectual discussion about how we better fund and manage our public infrastructure around Australia.'

The IPWEA also recently partnered with key peak bodies in infrastructure and planning to urge all political parties to make a commitment to maintaining long-term infrastructure spending. The group delivered a 9-point Infrastructure Plan, which calls for a long-term, strategic view of infrastructure investment to ensure Australia's cities and regions remain competitive, liveable and sustainable.

The National Thought Leadership Series will kick off in Melbourne on 25 May and will feature a keynote presentation from Mr Roorda, followed by other guest speakers and panelists.

Mr Roorda will explore the benefits of taking a national approach to asset management and how having the right decision-making information available will put government and councils in a position of strength to respond to the nation's mounting infrastructure challenges.

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About IPWEA
The Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia (IPWEA) is a professional organisation providing member services and advocacy for those involved in delivering public works and engineering services to the community.

About TechnologyOne
TechnologyOne (ASX:TNE) is Australia's largest enterprise software company and one of Australia's top 200 ASX-listed companies, with offices across six countries. We create solutions that transform business and make life simple for our customers. We do this by providing powerful, deeply integrated enterprise software that is incredibly easy to use. Over 1,000 leading corporations, government departments and statutory authorities are powered by our software.

We participate in only eight key markets: government, local government, financial services, education, health and community services, asset intensive industries, project intensive industries and corporates. For these markets we develop, market, sell, implement, support and run our preconfigured solutions, which reduce time, cost and risk for our customers.

For 28 years, we have been providing our customers enterprise software that evolves and adapts to new and emerging technologies, allowing them to focus on their business and not technology. Today, our software is available on the TechnologyOne Cloud and across smart mobile devices.

For further information please visit: TechnologyOneCorp.com