Intelligent Infrastructure: A Primer

Infrastructure is in transition. No longer is it about how well a country builds and connects physical assets, but how intelligently those assets can sense, communicate, learn and act. Intelligent infrastructure is more than a technology investment – it is a determinant of national competitiveness. The aim of this report is to help policy-makers and business leaders steer this transformation in a structural system-wide way rather than as an isolated technology shift.

Intelligent infrastructure is the ability to embed system-level intelligence and autonomy into the systems that power economies. It spans industrial production, energy systems, urban services, supply chains and national security. As such, it requires coordinated action across policy, investment and governance.

This report, developed with global leaders, presents the DNA+ framework – a practical architecture comprising Devices, Network, Artificial intelligence + cyber resilience – to make the concept of intelligent infrastructure concrete. Grounded in real-world experience from expert communities including advanced manufacturing, energy and materials, cybersecurity and urban transformation, the framework maps intelligent infrastructure across four levels: Company, Cluster, City and Country. And it offers deployment pathways to translate potential into systemic value. Intelligent infrastructure is not a destination but an evolving capability: one whose strategic value will compound over time.