Fugro to develop digital innovations for ageing infrastructure under the National Growth Fund grant

As a member of the programme consortium, Fugro aims to develop digital innovations and structural monitoring solutions to support the maintenance, replacement and renovation of ageing assets in the Netherlands.

Within the programme, Fugro is part of the Talking Assets partnership that is responsible for the development of data-driven asset management. Alongside TNO, Witteveen+Bos, Royal HaskoningDHV, Arcadis, Movares, and Deloitte, Fugro will develop digital solutions and smart methods to enhance decision-making for repairing and replacing ageing infrastructure.

Building on its existing structural health monitoring offering, Fugro will develop innovative sensors and smarter inspection methods for scalable monitoring programmes, combining acquired Geo-data with advanced algorithms to effectively detect and predict the condition of infrastructure. This approach will ensure safe operations, improve planning of rehabilitation projects and avoid unexpected closure of critical assets in the national transportation network.

Roeland Allewijn, Rijkswaterstaat Chief Data Officer said: "Rijkswaterstaat is very happy with the National Growth Fund award. With this programme, there will be funds available for digital solutions to manage, maintain, and renovate aging infrastructure. This is very much needed given the challenges Rijkswaterstaat and other asset owners face. The proposed activities strengthen the collaboration between private and public parties and provide actionable insights that will enable us to make faster improvements together."

Robert Hoddenbach, Global Director of Asset Integrity at Fugro said: "The challenges of ageing infrastructure, climate change, and limited resources demand innovative partnerships and scalable technologies within the industry. Fugro is proud to have collaborated with the public and private sector over the past two years, culminating in the award of this research and development grant. With this funding, we can accelerate the transition towards data-driven asset management, ensuring a sustainable and safe infrastructure for future generations."

The programme accelerates Fugro’s global ambition to play a key role in the transition to data-driven asset management and deliver high-end digital products and services for monitoring and inspection of civil infrastructure.