ED Group is investing in a new Software as a Service (SaaS) company, “InfinityStudio.AI”, primarily aimed at the geotechnical and natural hazard markets.
In the words of Dr Tim Fisher, ED Group Managing Director, “This is an exciting and dynamic development and the next step in our digital strategy implementation. Infinity will enable a step change in how we deliver our market leading geotechnical and natural hazard expertise. Through Infinity, we will be able to offer more value to our clients and the community we serve.”
InfinityStudio.AI is being led by Dr Sjoerd van Ballegooy QSO and Rekha Kharbanda.
Sjoerd and Rekha’s vision for InfinityStudio.AI is to build a platform that enables Engineers, Scientists and Advisors to digitally integrate their tools, designs, and datasets, unlocking opportunities such as:
- Realised productivity gains
- A reduced environmental footprint
- Increased resilience to natural hazards; and
- Climate change adaptation support
Improving productivity, sustainability, resilience, adaptability and reducing risk is a complex problem. These issues cannot be meaningfully solved in isolation and are inherently intertwined.
Infinity brings together a platform-based solution that will enable professionals to address these issues in an integrated way.
In order to dedicate their time to this exciting new opportunity, both Rekha and Sjoerd have stepped away from their previous responsibilities for ED Group. Sjoerd has most recently held the roles of Expertise Director – Geotechnical and Rekha as Executive Leader – Digital. Their responsibilities will be taken up by others from across the ED Group, with the appointment of Mike Jacka QSM as the Expertise Director – Geotechnical and Dr Brett Ogilvie as Executive Leader – Digital. Sjoerd will continue to consult with ED Group, and provide his specialist skills and expertise.
Mike Jacka QSM has worked across ED’s offices over the past 20 years, initially focusing on major infrastructure and building projects before taking on a key role as a technical advisor to Government for Canterbury’s recovery efforts following the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. An important part of Mike’s work is meeting with communities and professional groups to promote natural hazard risk management through good land use planning and design.
Mike worked closely with Sjoerd in developing ED’s Centres of Technical Excellence and will keep the momentum going: “My mission as Expertise Director is to foster technical excellence at ED, empowering our people and harnessing their skills and enthusiasm to make a real difference for our clients and their projects – now and into the future.”
Dr Brett Ogilvie has held many roles at ED in the past 20 years with the most recent being Executive Leader – Sustainability and a Board Director of Everything Digital. Brett now adds the Digital portfolio to his responsibilities.
“I’m excited about the future success of Infinity, as it provides a new vehicle for ED to support its clients and communities, and the wider engineering sector, while tapping into our traditional strengths in geotechnical and natural hazards,” shares Brett. “When combined with ED Group’s broader digital and global strategies, Infinity can help us create a huge amount of value for clients, communities, and colleagues around the world. Recent flooding and landslip events in New Zealand clearly illustrate the need for Infinity – it will drive faster, more accurate and efficient responses to natural disasters than the sector has been able to deliver before.”
To find out more about InfinityStudio.AI visit Infinity.ai – Changing Engineering for Better (infinitystudio.ai)
