Data and information for critical infrastructure management and maintenance
An October 2025 report – Deep dive on data and information for critical infrastructure management and maintenance – from the Alan Turing Institute examines the role of data and information in managing and maintaining critical infrastructure in the UK. It focuses on four sectors with large networks of physical assets: energy, transport, water, and communications. An earlier study report had highlighted the need for a deep dive on the role of data and information.
According to the report’s foreword by Ruth Boumphrey, chief executive of the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, “Data-driven approaches are the route to ensuring our infrastructure doesn’t fail.” The report provides a framework to ensure decision makers in the infrastructure sector are collecting the right data, using it to make evidence-based decisions, and unlock the potential of data-centric engineering for infrastructure management in the United Kingdom. It says:
To realise the vision of a truly data augmented management of critical national infrastructure, four key areas must be tackled:
- Improved capture of data and information at point of inspection
- Improved management and retention of digital data, information and knowledge
- Improve shared understanding of asset degradation, and
- Maximise utilisation of non-asset management data.
The report’s authors (Graeme West, Francisco Gómez Medina and Domenic Di Francesco) present a roadmap outlining the actions required to address those areas. (Thanks to Karen Alford of the Environment Agency for alerting nima to this report)
