Workshop: Funding, Financing and Emerging Technologies in Infrastructure; New York, New York, December 2021; and London, England, Summer 2022

This award supports a series of workshops that will assemble experts from infrastructure’s economic, financial, social, technology and engineering dimensions to explore how a multi-disciplinary approach can address serious financial and policy challenges endemic to infrastructure delivery. The Workshops will review innovative approaches to the funding and financing of infrastructure based on lessons from both domestic and international case studies.

To this end, participants will strive to advance and integrate scientific understanding in three main subareas: (i) mechanisms and evaluation metrics toward the funding and financing of infrastructure; (ii) the social equity aspects of those funding and financing mechanisms; (iii) emerging technologies that facilitate and support public-private partnerships in infrastructure development, construction, operation and maintenance. The workshops will facilitate collaboration and continuing interaction between the US and UK, and also create a forum for students to participate and establish contacts with participants having strong national and international reputations, building a pipeline of next-generation experts in infrastructure planning and policy.

The workshops will be organized by research teams from the UK and US. On the US side, the Cornell University Program in Infrastructure Policy (CPIP) will be the focal point of workshop organization. CPIP will partner with the Urban Tech Hub at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, on the Cornell Tech campus in New York City.

On the UK side, the workshop is organized by the Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction (CSIC) based at the University of Cambridge. The workshop participants will generate a research agenda with the vision and expertise to transform infrastructure. It will establish an intellectual basis for public and private investments as well as the adoption of new and proven technologies to improve infrastructure delivery.

Example of the key questions to be discussed at the workshop are (1) How are financial risks shared in public-private partnerships and what types of funding mechanisms are more resilient in that shared-risk context? (2) What are key factors driving widespread participation in public-private partnerships, and how can funding mechanisms be designed to ensure that disadvantaged communities are not left out? (3) How can alternative delivery models and approaches, such as public-private partnerships, value capture, and asset recycling, be wisely designed while considering the increased attention on ensuring universal access, resilience, and emerging transformational infrastructure technologies? The result will be to guide and sustain impactful research for years to come, setting the stage for greater cross-country, cross-disciplinary, and cross-sectoral research and infrastructure implementation.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.