IJ Unplugged – Digital Infrastructure


IJGlobal yesterday (30 July) hosted a webinar – the latest in our IJ Unplugged series of online interviews – with long-time partner M&E Global Inc to discuss the findings of a survey into investor appetite and preparedness for digital infrastructure.

The survey was run earlier this summer by IJ and M&E Global and was targeted at an international audience of 242 infrastructure professionals ranging from developers through to lenders, the entire advisory community and right through to systems engineers.

IJGlobal will publish the full findings of the survey early next week, but for now you can access the IJ Unplugged webinar by CLICKING HERE…

To access the webinar, you will have to fill out a brief form and a link will be emailed to you. 

A foretaste of some of the key points from the survey showed that the majority of respondents came from Europe (59%) with the next largest regional response from North America (19.4%) and Asia Pacific with the third most enthusiastic response (10.1%).

Of those survey participants, the most active response came from lenders who accounted for 27.3% followed by financial advisers on 24.2% and equity investors with 21.7%. This is broadly representative of the IJGlobal subscriber base.

The key take-away from the survey is that 63% of respondents believe the Covid-19 pandemic will give digital infra a significant push, as people become increasingly dependent on connectivity.

Key data points from the survey include:

  • 50.7% – digital infrastructure is key to re-booting economies post coronavirus
  • 63% – actively involved in financing/delivery of digital infrastructure
  • 52.7% – already integrating digital infra into their current projects
  • 22.2% – digital infra will support resilience of current infrastructure
  • 59.2% – failure to invest in digital infra will drive down countries’ competitiveness
  • 32.4% – government support is key to unblocking digital infra investment
  • 29.8% – PPP structures need to be re-structured to allow for digital infra investments
  • 18.1% – lack of technical skills will hold back digital infra investment
  • 41.3% – cyber security is greatest concern in deployment of digital infra
  • 63.6% – benefits of digital infra outweigh risks