The Growing Focus On Infrastructure Redevelopment Will Drive Demand For Vendors To Provide Innovative Tech Solutions for Worker And Asset Risks

The Growing Focus On Infrastructure Redevelopment Will Drive Demand For Vendors To Provide Innovative Tech Solutions for Worker And Asset Risks

Growing global challenges from climate risk have prompted lawmakers to shift their focus towards redevelopment and construction projects to help build resiliency into an aging and dated infrastructure system found in the United States. With the US Congress expected to pass a $1 trillion infrastructure bill – the largest in a century – the coming years will bring unprecedented construction work to overhaul America's infrastructure and increase its resilience to climate-related risks. With this increased and sustained investment in infrastructure development, the US should expect to see a rise in construction related injuries and fatalities with higher potential for critical events.

The construction industry in the United States continues to face high rates of fatal and non-fatal injuries and accidents among its workers. For example, 20 percent of worker deaths in the United States are in construction, but construction workers make up only 6 percent of the total U.S. labor force. Ultimately, The total annual cost of all construction injuries in the United States is more than $11.5 billion. Couple this with the billions of dollars of costs associated with asset-related damage and the picture becomes clear that solutions need to be adopted to combat these risks. Luckily, firms have begun to answer the call and develop innovative digital solutions to help curb these potential events and protect the construction workforce.

Witness Urbint, an AI platform for predicting and stopping threats to critical infrastructure and workers, which announced a $60 million Series C investment round led by Energize Ventures, with participation from American Electric Power, OGCI Climate Investments, and existing investors Energy Impact Partners, National Grid Partners, Blue Bear Capital, and Salesforce Ventures. Urbint’s platform provides energy and infrastructure firms with AI to identify and prevent risks ranging from fires, outages, explosions and worker accidents. This latest round has now brought Urbint’s total funding to $109 million, signaling the increased need for these types of technology solutions in near future. Technologies like AI, exoskeletons, wearable devices and digital training will have to continue to develop to meet expected demand to keep construction sites and workers safe.