Sydney, Australia-based Global Infrastructure Hub has
released its Infrastructure Monitor 2022 report,
which examines private investment in projects,
infrastructure investment performance, availability of
private capital for infrastructure and the role of
multilateral development banks. Among its findings: Private
investment in infrastructure projects grew by 8.3% in
high-income countries in 2021, but it fell for a third year
in middle- and low-income countries, by 8.8%. “Dry powder –
that is, available but uninvested private capital – has
quadrupled since 2010, to US$298 billion,” said GI Hub CEO
Marie Lam-Frendo. “It is unacceptable that we aren’t
investing in badly needed infrastructure when we have the
capital, and we know investments in infrastructure exhibit
strong performance compared with investments in other asset
classes.”
In the Loop, start your morning at one of a dozen airy boutique cafés
and watch the kayakers on the Riverwalk from behind the window. Turn 90
degrees and choose which billion-dollar startup you want to explore that
day.
This 150,000-sq.-ft. expansion to circuit breaker and electrical panel
board production is expected to be operational in early 2023 in the
capital city of Tlaxcala, the smallest of Mexico’s 31 states. The name
Tlaxcala is believed to have originated from the Náhuatl word meaning
“Place of corn bread,” says Indigenous Mexico. Schneider Electric’s
investment is part of more than $146 million in ongoing investments in
North America that now include projects at plants in Lexington,
Kentucky; Lincoln, Nebraska; El Paso, Texas; and Monterrey, Mexico,
where the company will employ around 325 workers to build and ship
customized switchgear products used to transmit power most often in
commercial buildings.
Founded in Geneva in 1895, Firmenich, the world’s largest
privately-owned fragrance and taste company, last week inaugurated its
new headquarters campus there, where it will be home to 1,450 employees.
“This investment of nearly CHF 200 million is the most important one
Firmenich has ever made on a single site,” said Patrick Firmenich,
chairman of the Firmenich Group. “This site significantly raises the bar
of excellence within our industry, and we are proud to be setting a new
global benchmark in Geneva, the heart of the global fragrance and taste
industry. This site integrates leading-edge technologies, nurtures
innovation and seeks to push the boundaries of scientific research.” The
new campus, located across the two communities of Satigny and La Plaine,
includes “three technologically advanced production plants with adjacent
lab capabilities for Perfumery, Taste & Beyond and Ingredients creation;
a logistics hub and automated warehouse; an R&D biotech pilot plant; and
a pavilion for work and social gatherings where people can also enjoy
meals.”
Photo by Moreno Maggi courtesy of CRA-Carlo
Ratti Associati
Within a former gasholder structure on the Gazometro Ostiense site at
Rome’s Maker Faire, CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati, Italo Rota and energy
company Eni illustrate magnetic confinement fusion power with a
conceptual model of a Tokamak reactor. The location is considered a
symbol of Rome’s modern industrial heritage, is three kilometers from
the Colosseum. “With the project, we wanted to start an open-design
process to imagine how fusion power plants will be integrated in
sub-urban areas,” said Carlo Ratti, founder of CRA and director of the
MIT Senseable City Lab, “prompting makers and architects alike to join a
discussion on our future energy landscape.”
