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Newsletter on "Infrastructure for the crisis" - B Side/ 23rd, April 2020

   

OUR NEWS


Téléonard -  Ever since the lockdown was announced, Leonard and its partners have been holding daily online conferences on topics to spur conversations among people building cities and regions, on the issues that we have been exploring for three years now. You can replay all our past conferences here and read the programme for next week here (in french).

— Enjoy, and let's stay in touch!

   

SAVE THE DATE 


Innovating in times of crisis, and after it

   

28.04

The investment opportunities are worth billions of dollars. But innovation in the construction sector had to wait until halfway through the 2010s to attract interest in the venture-capital ecosystem. Large companies promptly set up innovation departments when the tide started turning. Investment in Construction Tech alone rocketed from $3 billion in 2017 to $6 billion in 2018 and probably reached $8 billion in 2019. Now, the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting every link in the value chain, from design to supplies and on to operations and maintenance. How will it impact the startups and venture-capital investments that ultimately depend on the ability of organisations to adopt new solutions at worksites and in design departments?

We welcome for this talk Ray Levitt (Blackhorn Ventures) and Darren Bechtel (Brick & Mortar Ventures), two of the leading investors in Construction Tech inthe United States.


This videoconference will be broadcast live - in english

   
   
   
   

B-Side

Infrastructure for the crisis


Just like good old vinyl records, our newsletters now have two sides: the A-Side provides a choice of articles revolving around a central theme that is changing the way we design, build and operate cities and infrastructure, and the B-Side provides suggestions for further reading on the same topic.  


This month, as the health crisis seems to be settling in for longer than we’d expected, we look at infrastructure and how it can cope with, cushion and adapt to emergencies.

   
   

Business

Superstar infrastructure

It’s been making headlines these past few weeks: how was it going to adapt once country borders closed, when the people working on it were forced into lockdown and when demand shrivelled? Infrastructure has adapted in good times and bad. That’s what makes it such a revealing barometer of our societies’ ability to adjust. It mirrors our knack for bouncing back as much as our dumbfounded feeling in those first few das when we had to start grappling with the unforeseeable. 

   
   
   

RADAR

Our selection of innovative businesses #12

We zoom in on the most promising Construction Tech segments on the road to 2025.

Video applications enable remote worksite inspections. So they are one of the answers to the question about business continuity in the construction sector.

In France, the construction industry is getting organised to gradually restart worksites. 

   
   
   

Agenda

We have adjusted to keep our conversations interactive and creative – and are now online every day

We will be holding short live conferences with the Fondation VINCI pour la Cité and Fabrique de la Cité at 2:00 every afternoon this week.

24.04

2:00-2:30 pm - ONLINE

LA FONDATION VINCI POUR LA CITE

Smart city: will tomorrow’s urban areas be quarantined too? 

DIGITAL JOURNEYS

Even though they are sometimes presented as futuristic models that streamline and optimise just about everything in urban areas, smart cities are being hit just as hard as other cities by the coronavirus.This health crisis is shedding light on their wide variety of achievements so far, and at the same time suggests that a one-size-fits-all model for smart cities may not be the way to go. Raphaël Languillon-Aussel, a senior research manager at La Fabrique de la Cité, provides an initial overview of smart cities’ limits and what they have accomplished so far.

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27.04

2:00-2:30 pm - ONLINE

LEONARD

Health crisis management in Asia’s metropolises 

PREPARING TOMORROW

Mathieu Duchâtel, the director of  the Institut Montaigne’s Asia programme, explains how Japan, South Korea and Taïwan managed to avoid countrywide lockdowns and even citywide ones.

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29.04

2:00-2:30 pm - ONLINE

FONDATION VINCI POUR LA CITÉ

Schooling and staying in touch with young people during the lockdown

ENTERPRISING FOR GOOD

How can we help youths in vulnerable situations with their schoolwork, when their circumstances are taking a turn for the worse due to isolation? 

Mathieu Alesi is head of innovation and social entrepreneurship at the Fondation VINCI pour la Cité, Geoffray Goulet is HR project manager at VINCI and runs the Give Me Five programme, and Asha Gurhan is in charge of partnerships at JobIRL, a non-profit that works with VINCI’s Foundation to provide career guidance for middle school students.

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30.04

2:00-2:30 pm - ONLINE

LA FABRIQUE DE LA CITÉ

Public spaces: the key to closing and then reopening them

PREPARING TOMORROW 

Public spaces are typically seen as agorae that keep social connections and community spirit alive, and valuable forums for city life and interaction. Chloë Voisin-Bormuth, head of studies and research at La Fabrique de la Cité, speaks about how the coronavirus, which affects the respiratory system and you can catch from someone with no symptoms, has changed our perceptions of public spaces, the way we use them and the role they play.

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Leonard est la plate-forme de prospective et d'innovation de VINCI. Nous rassemblons des entrepreneurs, penseurs et esprits créatifs de tous horizons. Ensemble, nous cherchons à inventer les services, équipements et infrastructures qui feront la ville et les territoires de demain.


Prospective, rencontres et échanges, entrepreneuriat et accélération… Bienvenue chez Leonard ! C’est ouvert.