Technology has never been more capable of transforming the highways sector. From artificial intelligence and advanced analytics to digital twins, automation and increasingly sophisticated asset management systems, the tools available today would have been difficult to imagine only a few years ago.
But as new technologies continue to emerge, the industry’s challenge is becoming less about what’s possible and more about what can be successfully adopted, embedded and scaled.
That question sat at the heart of the Using Technology to Drive Efficiency: From Design to Delivery panel at Highways UK 2026, expertly moderated by Ollie Teall, Global Lead for Intelligent Mobility at WSP.
Joining the discussion were:
- Vicki Hillier, Director of Business Improvement & Change, National Highways
- Lydia Brand Williamson, Senior Account Manager, Bentley Systems
- Nick O’Donnell, Director of Growth & Place (Traffic), London Boroughs of Wandsworth & Richmond
- Darren Hudson, Technical Director, AGD Systems
- Chris Founds, Founder & Director, Founds Group
Bringing together perspectives from across the highways ecosystem, the discussion explored how technology can help the sector deliver greater efficiency while responding to increasing demands, constrained budgets and growing expectations from road users and communities.
While viewpoints naturally differed, a clear theme emerged throughout the conversation. Technology is undoubtedly important, but technology alone is rarely the answer.
The real challenge lies in how we adopt it, integrate it, share knowledge around it and ultimately use it to deliver lasting value. These are at the heart of the question “how do we scale these initiatives?”
The highways sector is not short of innovation
Across the country, organisations are using AI to identify highway defects, drones to inspect complex structures, digital platforms to manage highway assets and increasingly sophisticated datasets to inform investment decisions. New technologies continue to emerge at pace and there is no shortage of organisations keen to demonstrate what is possible.
This panel session opened with a question that would prove to be one of the defining themes of the discussion: are we fully realising the value of the innovations we have already embraced?
As Chris Founds noted:
“We haven’t mastered this and really embedded and adopted all of the initiatives that we set out and delivered quite a few years ago. The industry is moving at pace, technology is moving at pace. My concern a little bit is that we’re lurching from one shiny thing to the next without actually fixing, adopting and embedding what we’ve done.”
Across the industry, there are examples of successful pilots, proof-of-concept projects and innovative initiatives that have demonstrated clear benefits. Many never achieve widespread adoption. Instead, attention often shifts to the next opportunity, the next platform or the next emerging technology.
The challenge is not a lack of ideas. It is how to scale success.
Delivering efficiency requires more than identifying a promising solution. It requires organisations to commit to implementation, embed change, build confidence and ensure that innovation becomes part of everyday practice.
In many cases, the greatest opportunity for improvement may not come from discovering something entirely new, but from making better use of innovations that have already proven their worth and have a clear business and commercial case.
Better Data, Better Decisions
The conversation also highlighted how data is increasingly becoming the foundation of effective decision-making.
Highways authorities have access to more information than ever before. Condition data, inspection records, performance metrics, traffic flows and asset intelligence can all contribute to a more complete understanding of network performance.
Used effectively, this information allows organisations to move away from reactive decision-making and towards a more strategic, evidence-led approach.
The benefits are significant. Better data can help authorities understand risk more clearly, prioritise investment more effectively and demonstrate value with greater confidence. It can support long-term planning while helping organisations make more informed choices about where resources should be directed today.
Crucially, however, data is only valuable when it informs action.
Collecting information is not the end goal. The goal is creating the insight needed to make better decisions, improve outcomes for users, residents and use limited resources more effectively.
As budgets continue to face pressure across the sector, that distinction becomes increasingly important.
Innovation Needs the Right Environment
Technology may create opportunities, but the environment in which it is deployed often determines whether those opportunities are realised and ultimately scaled and adopted by others.
This led to an interesting discussion around procurement and the role it can play in enabling innovation.
“I’m going to talk about procurement being the innovator and the mechanism or vehicle to be able to bring forward efficiencies, initiatives and all the best practice that everybody probably in this audience has on offer”, said Chris Founds at Founds Group.
Too often, innovation is viewed as something that happens after a contract has been awarded. In reality, procurement can be one of the earliest and most influential levers available to organisations seeking better outcomes.
When procurement focuses solely on compliance or short-term cost reduction, the space for innovation can become restricted. Conversely, when procurement is structured around outcomes, collaboration and long-term value, it can encourage suppliers to bring forward new ideas and different approaches.
“If you can’t define and measure the outcomes, don’t even start” said Darren Hudson, at AGD Systems
This is not about innovation for innovation’s sake.
It is about creating delivery models that allow organisations to challenge established thinking, test better ways of working and continuously improve performance.
The discussion reinforced the idea that technology and innovation do not exist in isolation. They are heavily influenced by the commercial and organisational frameworks that surround them.
People, Skills and Organisational Memory
Despite the focus on technology, the discussion repeatedly returned to a simple but important truth.
Transformation is ultimately about people.
Digital tools can improve efficiency, automate tasks and generate valuable insights, but they still require skilled individuals to implement them, interpret them and make decisions based on them.
Developing those skills remains a significant challenge across the sector.
Alongside the need to strengthen digital capability, there is also a growing conversation around succession planning and knowledge retention.
Many organisations depend on experienced professionals who have built up decades of technical expertise, operational understanding and local network knowledge. As parts of the workforce approach retirement and recruitment pressures continue, there is a legitimate concern about how that knowledge is retained and transferred.
Some of the sector’s most valuable information are not recorded in databases or asset systems, they exist in the experience of people who understand why decisions were made, what has been tried previously and what lessons have been learned over time.
Technology can undoubtedly support knowledge retention through improved information management, digital records and shared platforms. However, organisational memory is about more than storing and sharing information.
It is about creating environments where knowledge is actively shared, where experienced professionals have opportunities to mentor others and where succession planning is treated as a strategic priority rather than an operational afterthought.
As the industry continues to evolve, maintaining that continuity of knowledge may prove just as important as adopting the latest technology.
Collaboration as a Force Multiplier
The challenge of knowledge retention naturally leads to a broader question.
How effectively does the sector share knowledge between organisations?
Across highways and transportation, remarkable work is taking place every day. Authorities, contractors, consultants and technology providers are developing new approaches, overcoming familiar challenges and generating valuable learning.
Many organisations continue to tackle similar problems independently.
One of the strongest themes emerging from the panel was the opportunity to share knowledge more effectively across the sector. Learning from successful projects, understanding what has not worked and making experience more accessible could help accelerate innovation far more quickly than any individual technology.
The idea is simple.
If a solution has already been proven elsewhere, organisations should not have to start from scratch.
Greater collaboration offers the opportunity to reduce duplication, improve decision-making and increase confidence in adopting new approaches.
In that respect, knowledge sharing may be one of the industry’s most underappreciated tools for improving efficiency.
A Message Heard Across the event
Interestingly, many of these themes were echoed elsewhere at Highways UK.
On the National Highways stage, a separate discussion focused on designing better highways. While the subject matter appeared different on the surface, many of the conclusions felt remarkably familiar.
One comment from the discussion captured this perfectly:
“Good design is actually cheaper than bad design.” – Wolf Mangelsdorf, Buro Happold
While made in the context of infrastructure design, the principle extends far beyond engineering. Whether designing a road, procuring a service or adopting a new technology, understanding the problem properly at the outset often delivers the greatest long-term value.
The conversation explored how projects can become overly focused on delivering predefined solutions rather than fully understanding the underlying challenge. It highlighted the importance of collaboration between different disciplines, the value of diverse perspectives and the need to focus on outcomes rather than simply outputs.
In many ways, that mirrors the discussion around technology.
Whether considering digital innovation, procurement, infrastructure design or service delivery, the same principle applies. Success begins with understanding the problem before choosing the solution.
Both discussions also highlighted something broader.
The best outcomes rarely emerge from a single technology, discipline or organisation working in isolation. They come from bringing together different perspectives, challenging assumptions and creating environments where collaboration can flourish.
That consistency was perhaps one of the most encouraging observations from the event.
Despite approaching the sector’s challenges from different directions, many industry leaders appeared to be arriving at similar conclusions.
Rethinking How We Define Success
For many years, infrastructure projects have understandably been measured against familiar metrics such as cost, programme and technical performance.
Those measures remain important.
However, conversations across Highways UK suggested the industry’s understanding of value continues to evolve.
Increasingly, organisations are also considering factors such as resilience, knowledge retention, user experience, social value, collaboration and long-term outcomes.
This does not replace traditional measures of success. Rather, it broadens them.
The most successful projects are not simply those delivered on time and on budget. They are the ones that create lasting value for the organisations, networks and communities they serve.
That shift in thinking may prove just as important as any technological advancement.
Looking Beyond Technology
Technology will undoubtedly continue to shape the future of the highways sector.
Artificial intelligence, automation, advanced analytics and digital platforms all have significant roles to play in improving efficiency and supporting better decision-making.
One of the strongest messages to emerge from Highways UK was that technology is only part of the story.
Real progress depends on people as much as platforms. It depends on sharing knowledge as much as generating data. It depends on creating the right commercial environments, nurturing future talent and maintaining a relentless focus on outcomes.
Perhaps most importantly, it depends on asking the right questions before rushing towards answers.
If there was a common thread running through many of the conversations at Highways UK, it was this: better technology matters, but better thinking matters just as much.
What made the discussion particularly valuable was not that everyone agreed on every point. Rather, it was the opportunity to bring together different perspectives from across the highways sector, challenge assumptions and explore common challenges through open and constructive debate.
That ability to share knowledge, experiences and ideas remains one of the industry’s greatest strengths.
Events such as Highways UK provide an important forum for those conversations. They create opportunities for infrastructure owners, local authorities, consultants, contractors and technology providers to learn from one another, exchange experiences and identify the themes shaping the future of the sector.
As many of the discussions throughout the event demonstrated, some of the most valuable innovations do not emerge from a single organisation or technology. They emerge when people come together, share what they have learned and build on each other’s experience.
The highways sector already possesses many of the tools required to improve efficiency and deliver better outcomes. The challenge now is ensuring those tools, insights and lessons are shared, adopted and scaled in ways that create lasting value for organisations, networks and the communities they serve.
