FIDIC’s Global Infrastructure Conference 2026 got under way at the Andaz Delhi, by Hyatt, in Aerocity today, bringing together delegates from across the global engineering, construction and infrastructure community for two days under the theme Engineering a Bright Future, Together – Quality Infrastructure for People and Prosperity.
A decade and a half after India last hosted FIDIC’s flagship annual event and opening the conference for the first time as FIDIC president, Alfredo Ingletti (pictured above) struck a note of confidence despite what he called “some serious headwinds” facing the industry. Geopolitical uncertainty and the climate crisis were reshaping the world the sector operates in, he said, but these were challenges that would be “addressed, mitigated and made manageable – through the work of engineers.”
Ingletti thanked the FIDIC secretariat, the conference’s sponsors – led by strategic partner the Abu Dhabi Projects and Infrastructure Centre and including Dineshchandra R Agrawal Infracon, Nippon Koei, Autodesk, AJI Group and Bentley Systems – and the federation's global network of member associations. He set out the shape of the two days ahead: leadership and collaboration this morning, financing the global infrastructure gap straight after, digital transformation and AI in the afternoon, and risk, contracting and future skills on day two.
“Good, quality, sustainable infrastructure is a driver of economic progress,” Ingletti told delegates. “That's precisely what you'll hear over the next two days.”
The conference welcomed Amitabh Kant, former G20 Sherpa and former CEO of Niti Aayog, as its Guest of Honour. Kant, who played a leading role in shaping initiatives including Make in India and Startup India and steered India’s G20 Presidency in 2023, drew delegates’ attention to the BRICS summit that had just finished in Delhi and had taken place, like FIDIC’s event, in a “world turned upside down” due to geopolitical instability and conflict.
Kant said that global value chains had been broken and replaced by protectionism and tariffs at the very time when there was a massive increase in productive potential as a result of AI and technological advance. “The world will see the biggest increase in productivity it has ever seen,” Kant said and FIDIC’s conference theme of Engineering a Bright Future, Together could not be more relevant.
“In the next 21 years, India was looking to increase its infrastructure by 16 times what it is now,” Kant told delegates and so FIDIC’s annual conference could not be taking place in a more relevant place, he said. He said that those present in the room today were the very people – the consultants, engineers and infrastructure professionals – who would make that transformation happen, said Kant (pictured below).
It’s not how cheaply we can build, but how much value can be added from the infrastructure that we build
“India’s next infrastructure challenge is not about scale, it’s about quality. The question today should not be how cheaply we can build, but how much value can be added from the infrastructure that we build – and that is where India’s needs align with FIDIC’s values and standards,” Kant said. “India should become a laboratory for the growth of infrastructure in the global south and FIDIC, with its global engineering standards and contracts, must be at the heart of that.”
Following a fantastic local cultural performance, the morning’s keynote address came from speedskater Arianna Fontana, Italy’s most decorated Olympian and a 14-time medallist across six consecutive Winter Games – the first woman in Olympic history to do so. Drawing on more than two decades of competing at the highest level, Fontana said that she related to the work of engineers in that they create things today that last a lifetime – precisely what she has tried to do throughout her sporting career. “To achieve that means addressing obstacles and challenges and with a team effort to make things happen,” she told the audience.
Fontana spoke of the need for strategy, creativity and “the courage to do what you think is right which make the infrastructure of tomorrow possible”. Speaking of inspiring through design, Fontana said this was a crucial approach as it enables people to “feel and experience” their surroundings. The subtleties of design as practised by engineers and engineering were something that she could absolutely relate to in her work in skate blade design, where mere millimetres made all the difference, she said.
“How do you design for a future that does not look like the present?” Fontana asked the delegates. Everyone in this room has the enormous responsibility of doing just that, she said, and that was why “inspiring through design” was so important. “As you have your discussions over the next couple of days, think about how you can continue to inspire and evolve what you do. When you design something, can it adapt to our changing world? When you succeed, will you redesign it before the world forces you do – and above all, build to inspire,” she said.
The opening session set up a packed first day. Delegates moved straight into Plenary Session 1, a high-level panel on leadership and collaboration across governments, industry and financiers, featuring Kant alongside FIDIC CEO Susanna Zammataro, Hisham Nasri Al Zeir of the Abu Dhabi Projects and Infrastructure Centre, William Cox of Aurecon and Amit Sharma of Tata Consulting Engineers. The programme continues through the day with sessions on bridging the global financing gap and on AI and digital transformation in infrastructure delivery.
Ingletti closed his opening remarks with a challenge to delegates to make the most of their time in New Delhi. “The best ideas in this room won't come from the stage,” he said. “They'll come from what happens between sessions, over lunch, in the corridors.” With that, GIC26 was officially open – two days of plenary and parallel sessions covering resilience, nature-positive infrastructure, dispute avoidance, integrity, sustainable transport and capacity building now lie ahead, alongside Tuesday’s keynote from Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi and a guest of honour address from Indian government minister Nitin Gadkari.
