CII Idea Generation for the 2023 Initiatives

Selecting topics for new CII initiatives is one of the most important steps CII can take to provide value to members. This year, we launched our initiatives idea-generation process at the Annual Conference and, since then, we have collected more than 300 ideas. Thank you to all individuals, CBAs, and committees that have been participating in the process.

The generated ideas provide both tactical insights on topics to be considered for funding and an excellent overview of what is currently important to CII members. While they are, in general, aligned with the direction set through our existing focus areas, they also provide insights to allow us to adjust the focus areas and priorities.
 
CII formed an idea Prioritization Task Force, a group formed from leaders of CII's standing and leadership committees (SLC, SPC, and XC) to help with the prioritization of ideas. With the Task Force’s input, CII created a high-level plan for funding ideas across key strategic areas in 2023. The plan and prioritized ideas were reviewed and improved at the CII Board of Advisors meeting in early November.

Areas of Priority

Deployment

The strongest demand across members is for deployment support, understood as the dissemination of practices and their implementation. In the dissemination category, we have ideas regarding the onboarding (and re-onboarding) of CII members and assessment of their maturity, and the updating of the existing Value of Best Practices report. Both of these idea areas are important to help members understand where they stand and what they could consider implementing going forward. But the most promising idea related to deployment is the creation of the Implementation Champion Network, an initiative currently being pursued by the Deployment Committee.
 
Regarding the implementation of practices, we have observed a desire to learn from success stories, and this has led us to consider a new type of funded project for 2023: Case Studies.

Case Studies 

There has been significant interest in learning from case studies, both in terms of the implementation of practices and of technologies. The Prioritization Task Force recommended that CII explore the development of such case studies. These are anticipated to be short, standalone initiatives (rather than case studies that are part of research projects) that should provide insights and lessons learned from the actual implementation of practices or technologies. This would allow CBAs, committees, and individuals to submit requests for specific cases. 

Technology

Many ideas are related to technology, or refer to technology-enabled problem-solving. Data management seems to be the primary challenge expressed in these ideas, and the concept of data integration/standardization is a recurrent theme. In line with this theme, the Technology and Innovation Committee submitted a request for a project to review and evaluate international data standards, which received support across the Task Force.
 
Another important idea that emerged in the last few months was the idea of refreshing CII's Annual Conference Innovation Showcase to bring more demonstrations of technologies – hardware and software. The Technology and Innovation Committee will lead this initiative and engage companies that are interested in demonstrating technologies. 
 
Many other technology-related ideas appear to be good examples for case studies and, in 2023, CII may pilot case studies for specific technologies.  

Energy Transition / Decarbonization

There is significant interest in understanding the impact of decarbonization across different industry sectors and the search for available alternatives. These ideas came from members across sectors (power, downstream, manufacturing) and have strong support for further consideration for funding next year.

Safety and Workforce

Recruiting and retention were frequently mentioned, and many of the ideas suggest initiatives relating to working on CII's and the industry's image. Such initiatives could expand the pool of people interested in pursuing careers in our industry - both management and craft. Also, these initiatives could offer CII opportunities to partner with organizations that are more focused on workforce for the capital projects industry.
 
Another common idea area related to the workforce is training - whether training related to safety, AWP, or other specific areas. In this area, CII has an opportunity to expand its offering related to the dissemination of its Best Practices, and two ideas stand out: 1) a webinar on the implementation of best practices; 2) training for AWP.
 
On the topic of safety, there are two main threads that emerged as priorities. The first is the opportunity to refresh CII’s Zero Accidents Techniques Best Practice to include more contemporary implementation guidance. The second is a set of ideas related to the use of technology to improve safety in construction sites, particularly with the use of virtual or augmented reality. We are looking into how CII can play a role in creating knowledge that supports these ideas while collaborating with other organizations to develop and maintain the solutions.

Supply Chain

Supply chain ideas came from a diverse set of CII groups including The Supply Chain CBA; Power, Utilities, and Infrastructure Committee; and Downstream and Chemicals Committee. In many cases, the ideas refer to the basic issue of understanding the challenges and opportunities related to supply chain. The Prioritization Task Force agrees that this is a critical area to drive efficiency in capital project delivery, and we currently expect to fund at least one research topic in this area. We are working with the leaders of the Supply Chain CBA to further refine the supply chain initiatives to be proposed for funding.

If you have any questions, please contact Daniel Oliveira.