I attended the Infrastructure 2009 Conference held in Washington D.C. last week. This was an unexpected joy after a career that has brought me to hundreds of industry conferences around the world. This niche conference was extremely well developed in spite of being only in the second year.
IONA College, a suburban NYC school located in Westchester Country, was the sponsor of the conference along with TEREX Corporation. While those of us working in the electric energy field may not be aware of TEREX, it is a large, $10 billion U.S.-based manufacturer of utility and construction vehicles and related capital equipment. IONA College has gained a reputation for outstanding student achievement and graduate successes. While a small college with fewer than 4,500 undergraduate and graduate students, its reputation is strong, and its undergraduate business school is ranked highly on a national basis.
The conference theme is focused on the longer term requirements to rebuild America’s infrastructure for global competitiveness. Several key aspects of our aging infrastructure (energy, roads and bridges, ports, rail, public transport and others) were discussed with an eye to determining common approaches to smartening up our entire infrastructure. It was an eye-opener to hear experts on transport topics discussing the very same issues highlighted in the electric power industry, including congestion pricing, demand management and automation of field devices.
The morning sessions were focused on transport as well as some information on energy infrastructure and smart grid topics. Following a luncheon talk by IBM’s General Manager for Global Government and Education business, the afternoon energy session I attended featured excellent give and take by a small panel comprised of Federico Pena, the former U.S. Secretary of Energy (and of Transportation) and Tom Casey, who heads up CURRENT Group, a leading firm in the downstream side of smart grid activities. The session was moderated by Neil King, International Energy Reporter for the Wall Street Journal.
What made this industry conference unique and memorable from hundreds of others attended over the past 30-plus years was the interaction of senior industry and government people with a large group of undergraduate IONA students, all of whom had inquiring minds and an appetite to learn the key issues for sustainable redevelopment of the country’s (and the world’s) infrastructure.
I hope to be invited back for the Third Conference on Infrastructure Renewal next year.
-Chuck
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