INFRATECH 2023: ALL THE BIG TASKS CAME TOGETHER IN ROTTERDAM

ROTTERDAM, Jan. 20, 2023 - No fewer than 20,844 visitors passed through the gates of Rotterdam Ahoy over the past four days to visit InfraTech 2023. On the exhibition floor, they encountered more than 500 exhibitors and took part in the knowledge program with just under 200 sessions, workshops and lectures, spread across five exhibition halls, various theme squares, pavilions and theaters. The most important infrastructure trade fair was buzzing with much-needed innovations and partnerships. Because the challenges facing the market, that’s quite something.

The 15th edition of the infra sector's largest and most important knowledge platform came just at the right time. A recurring theme during many sessions was "the enormous challenges we face in the Netherlands in the coming years". This not only referred to the enormous task of replacing and renovating bridges, viaducts, tunnels, locks and quay walls, but also to climate adaptation, energy transition, housing shortages, nitrogen, circular construction and, last but not least, the considerable shortage of personnel and materials.

Challenges
"So the importance of InfraTech seems obvious to me," Michèle Blom, director-general of InfraTech host Rijkswaterstaat said during the opening on Tuesday. "All major challenges for our society are reflected in this sector. The 15th edition of this exhibition also coincides with the 225th anniversary of Rijkswaterstaat. Over the next four days we are going to prove that we can take on all these tasks together."

Blom received support from co-host Municipality of Rotterdam. Marc van Leeuwen, Director of Project Management & Engineering: "Rotterdam is also a city full of challenges. We are a delta city and struggle with water. Climate adaptation is a top priority for us. We therefore need all government and market parties to shape this. InfraTech helps to bring all those parties together."

Pace and new techniques
Not only contractors, suppliers, knowledge institutes, trade organizations, Rijkswaterstaat, all twelve provinces, municipalities and water boards knew how to find Rotterdam Ahoy. Students from various technical courses and politicians also made an appearance.

"We do indeed have challenges in very many areas at once," said Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management Mark Harbers, who presented the InfraTech Innovation Awards on the second day of the exhibition. "A lot of our infrastructure is around 50 years old and at the end of its lifespan. In the next 10 to 15 years, an awful lot will have to be replaced or renovated. Not to mention the changing climate. That requires pace and new techniques. And it requires perhaps all the innovations on display on the show floor."

Harbers emphasized that he is the first Infrastructure and Water Management Minister in years to invest many billions more in the infrastructure sector. "Every year 1.5 billion structurally added for the maintenance of all that infrastructure. So that both large companies and SMEs can again design and build very beautiful things."

Working together
Jan Hendrik Dronkers, secretary general of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management made an ardent plea for cooperation during the CROW Infradebat on Wednesday evening. "We have to do things differently. With each other. We need to scale up and speed up. And enter into new long-term partnerships. In the words of Bob the Builder, 'Can we make it? Absolutely!' But only if we pay attention to the infrastructure of our collaboration and do it differently than we did it. I feel that change is in the air here."

Steps taken
Exhibition Manager Annemieke den Otter is proud of the more than successful 15th edition of InfraTech. "Both from exhibitors and visitors I hear hugely positive noises. It's fantastic to be back together in such large numbers after 4 years of absence and that exhibitors have turned out in such a big way. The past four days have given me a lot of energy. This edition shows the innovativeness and resilience of a fantastic sector. Together we have created something wonderful."

The next InfraTech will take place from January 14 to 17, 2025. From January 9 to 11, 2024, InfraTech Germany will be in Essen.

View the extensive atmospheric impression of the past four days here.
 

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