New digital skills, such as cyber security, digital design and AI, will be in high demand, according to new research from Autodesk.
The second annual State of Design and Make report from Autodesk suggests that respondents are “more optimistic about the global landscape, as well as their companies’ resilience, preparedness, performance, investment, and level of digital transformation” than a year ago.
Among the 5,399 respondents, 2,002 were in construction, with the rest in manufacturing and entertainment. Overall among construction companies, the top three skills of the future are: the ability to implement/work with AI; digital design skills; and digital project management.
The knowledge of data security and safety is most important to building owners, while digital project management is most important to civil infrastructure owners.
In interviews with Autodesk, construction business leaders and experts cited specific job roles that will become more important in the future:
- AI strategists, who can help companies to maximise the potential of the technology; and
- Data librarians, who can help organisations to organise and manage the vast quantities of information they store.
Digitally mature
65% of construction respondents described themselves as ‘digitally mature’. “These organisations are far ahead of others in the use of cloud services and platforms, digitalisation of project delivery, BIM, and other processes that drive success within the sector,” Autodesk said.
Mining, oil, and gas leads other construction segments in the use of digital visualisation tools, with 66% of respondents identifying their companies as “very mature” in this area, while civil infrastructure leads in the use of cloud platforms, with 62%.
Utilities and telecommunications companies are relatively weak in BIM, with only 29% of respondents saying their companies are “very mature” in this area.
Data management and analytics – as well as sustainability – is a top three future investment priority for respondents in architecture, building owners and civil infrastructure owners.
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