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How to implement digital twins

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Digital Twins 101

A simple overview and exploration of a Digital Twin and what it means for those working to create the built environment. What is a Digital Twin? What can a Digital Twin do? How does a Digital Twin work? How much does a Digital Twin cost? What is the ROI?

Wissam Hijazi, VP Innovation - MENA, EllisDon

How to start implementing a Digital Twin

How to build a business case that allows operators to create sustainable impact from the data and respond to its goal. How to start implementing a minimum viable twin through the right analysis, planning, execution, training and change management.

Wissam Hijazi, VP Innovation - MENA, EllisDon

Lessons learned in Digital Twin implementation

Real-life experiences and lessons learned in implementing Digital Twins across multiple case studies to help avoid costly mistakes and provide realistic expectations on return of investment.

Wissam Hijazi, VP Innovation - MENA, EllisDon

Close of How to implement digital twins CTF 101 talks

Registration and networking

Opening

Rob Jones, Partner, b2b Connect | Ventures Connect

Keynote address

Abdulmajid AlRashoudi, Governor, Saudi Contractors Authority

CIO | CTO Panel: State of digital adoption 2024 | 2025

This senior group of realists talk candidly on the latest digital maturity in the Kingdom and what has really been adopted as business-as-usual. A recent digital market intelligence report reveals that companies are frequently applying BIM and PMIS on day-to-day projects, but that even for the front runners, drones, robotics, IoT lag far behind. Discover what the industry has invested in and why vs. the distant future, and once applied – what is their next frontier?

Led by:

Dr. Anas Bataw, Chairman of Technology Committee, United Nations, Strategy and Innovation Director, KEO International Consultants

In conversation with:

Amin Aljaber, Chief Information Officer, Nesma & Partners

Anastasios Dimas, Regional Technology Director, AtkinsRéalis

Jayesh Maganlal, Group Chief Information & Digital Officer, ROSHN Group

Richard Abboud, Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, AMANA Group

Scott Henshaw, Group Head of Design & Engineering, Red Sea Global

Panel: Can technology beat the supply chain crunch?

The speed and ambition of the Kingdom’s projects will outpace global supply and lead time of materials and equipment most likely leading to shortages and competition between projects. To achieve Saudi’s vision, all stakeholders must collaborate. How can technology help beat the supply chain crunch by empowering collaboration, efficient sharing of resources as well as provide visibility and predictability on supply chain planning at macro-level to ensure that everybody gets their assets on time.

Led by:

Edward Surgeon, Enterprise Lead, Procore

In conversation with:

Faisal Butt, Group Head of Planning & Controls, Red Sea Global

Hassan Alassafi, GM - Engineering and Construction, National Housing Company

Dr. Mansour Al-Otaibi, ConTech and AI Expert, Saudi Arabia

Theofanis Fanourakis, Digital Design and Delivery Director, Confidential

Keynote: Smart construction platform for Saudi giga projects

Sherief Elabd, Director of Industry Strategy and Innovation, Oracle Construction and Engineering

CIO Talks

The lack of integration between disparate sources of data in project development and delivery is limiting the true value of ConTech in the industry. Integration between office and site, integration between processes like procurement, contract management, scheduling and claims, and next level integration between applications at organisational level such as marketing, sales and post sales. This inefficiency can lead to poorly substantiated claims, delays in identifying key project issues, and ultimately, unmanaged risks that escalate costs and erode profit margins. This session explores key challenges and success stories from the simple to the market leading that drive certainty and value at organisation level.

Talk 1: A framework for technology integration across the construction lifecycle

This session explores key challenges and success stories from the simple to the operational readiness across P6, Aconex, BIM 360, Cost Management, SAP, Maximo to drive certainty and value at organization level.

Umashanker Achyutun, Executive Director - Business Applications Design & Delivery, Saudi Entertainment Ventures

Talk 2: A journey in digital transformation & integration

Ashraf Alameria, Chief Operation Officer, El Seif Engineering Contracting

Talk 3: Fragmented data: the trillion-dollar loss

Salpie Kechichian, Director of Product Strategy, WakeCap

Talk 4: Data integration success stories that drive organisational efficiency and productivity

Integration between C-level executives and project teams, integration between processes like contract management, operations, design management, scheduling and claims is critical to effective decision-making, ensuring project and company success. This session explores key challenges and opportunities, as well as the success stories of contemporary platforms and AI driven solutions that are transforming the industry.

Vladimir Milovanovic, Chief Executive Officer, Lupa Technology

Morning networking break

Navigating digital transformation and change management

Edward Surgeon, Enterprise Lead, Procore

Panel: Digital twin strategies 2024 | 2025

As the digital twin concept gains maturity, many tier 1 projects in the Kingdom are executing a digital twin strategy. This session reviews the latest digital twin strategy developments in Saudi and use-case scenarios in Saudi Arabia’s mega projects from construction to operations and customer experience.

Led by:

Daniel Pifko, Chief Product Officer, WakeCap Technologies

In conversation with:

Abdullah AlSalem, IT Director, Soudah Development

Attila Vidra, Regional Digital Lead – Planning, Design & Engineering, AtkinsRéalis

Amr Saad, MENA Vice-Chair, QSI, Executive Director BIM, Confidential

John Seed, Group Director, Strategy & Development, Dar Al Riyadh Consulting

Short Talks: Journeys in digital twin implementation

Digital twins are the key enabler to achieve efficient, connected and sustainable assets of the future – be it infrastructure, buildings or cities. This session explores real journeys in digital implementation and benefits realisation, across varying assets and scale. How have these early adopters defined and implemented them and what have been the key issues on the road to data integration.

Talk 1: Value of digitalisation in transportation

Andrew Smith, Solutions Executive, Bentley Systems

Talk 2: Journeys in digital twin implementation

Roger Wahl, Chief Technology Officer, Innovo Group

Talk 3: Journeys in digital twin implementation

Mohyeddine Al-Khatib, Manager and Senior Consultant, Khatib & Alami

Short Talks: Reality capture and progress tracking for time & quality certainty

Talk 1:

Zak MacRunnels, CEO, Reconstruct

Talk 2:

Khader Dastagir, Vice President & Country Head, Shapoorji Pallonji Group

Talk 3:

Eng. Anas Alshamrani, Senior Director – DevCo Operations, Awj Holding Company

Avoiding costly surprises with early stakeholder engagement

Rune Vandli, CEO, Vrex

Implementation services and best practices

Todd Hay, Consulting Sales Manager Middle East & Africa, Oracle

Digitising construction paperwork

Arsen Safaryan, Director BIM & GIS, Saudi Entertainment Ventures

Networking lunch

Panel: Smart by design - what needs to be in place now for a smart city of the future?

Easy to claim, but complex to achieve. Designing now, for something later, in a rapidly changing technological landscape is a challenge. Smart needs to be the ethos of a truly intelligent, sustainable or cognitive community or district. This panel will explore how to ensure the pieces for a smart city are in place from the concept phase that will deliver value during operation, as well as which city technologies are influencing design.

Led by:

Patrick Sheldon Wee, Vice President, Strategy & Innovation, Confidential

in conversation with:

Abdurrahman Arruhaily, Deputy Director EPMO, Madinah Regional Municipality

Aliuddin Aquil, Chief Engineer Infrastructure, SAUDCONSULT

Mohammed Shah, Smart City Director, Knowledge Economic City

Short Talks: Tangible uses in AI

As AI becomes more structured and intuitive, most serious companies are embedding dedicated strategies and budgets to explore and make use of how AI can benefit their business. But what use-cases and values are really being seen at the corporate level? This session delves into real life experiences in AI implementation with benefits realisation and lessons learned.

AI and BIM enabled cost estimating, a practical approach

Tolis Chatzisymeon, CEO and Co-founder, Nomitech

AI in schedule optimization & creation

Wissam Hijazi, VP Innovation - MENA, EllisDon

AI in real estate investment and financial modelling

Michael Slage, Real Estate Development Executive Director, Soudah Development

AI in construction procurement and tender stages

Abdurrahman Arruhaily, Deputy Director EMPO, Madinah Regional Municipality

AI in cognitive cities and smart destinations

Ahmad Almontshery, Digital Architecture and Delivery Director, ARDARA

Panel: What’s real in AI?

With maturity and scalability an issue for AI in the industry – what can really be done with AI (Llm vs. small bespoke interfaces) and how long do these solutions take to be created and trained to bring about good results?

Led by:

Rob Jones, Partner, b2b Connect | Ventures Connect

In conversation with:

Dr. Anas Bataw, Chairman of Technology Committee, UN & Strategy and Innovation Director, KEO International Consultants

Bandar Al Shahrani, Executive Director of Technology, Rua Almadinah Holding Company

Mohammed Shah, Smart City Director, Knowledge Economic City

Roger Wahl, Chief Technology Officer, Innovo Group

Panel: How to connect, integrate and leverage data for competitive edge

How are organisations starting to better leverage engineering data from disparate sources (BIM, GIS, Drones, IOT etc.) so that they are not isolated verticals but part of the bigger picture. This session explores the next steps in connecting and integrating different applications to improve cross-organisational processes and business edge.

Led by:

Christos Emmanouilidis, Chief Customer and Commercial Officer, Danaos Projects Software Solutions

In conversation with:

Andrew Smith, Solutions Executive, Bentley Systems

Reda Bin Abdoun, Information Technology Director, Ajdan Real Estate Development

Rishad Khalid, Associate Director, Digital, AtkinsRéalis

Selim Edde, Associate Director, GIS, ROSHN Group

Shadi Alghanim, Vice President of Information Technology, Al Ayuni Trading & Contracting Co.

Networking lunch

Panel: Making modular mainstream - the business case for offsite methods

Despite the increased talk and excitement around offsite solutions, scratch below the surface and general knowledge and capability in the region, remains thin – with the majority of projects limited to temporary builds. This debate reveals actual benefits to business and when to go offsite and when not.

Led by:

Hassan Alassafi, GM - Engineering and Construction, National Housing Company

In conversation with:

Bandar Alkahlan, General Director: Advanced Manufacturing Technologies Institute, KACST

Graham Petty, Operations Manager, LINQ Modular

Hattan Nazer, VP KSA, AMANA Group

Mashael Bin Saedan, Founder & CEO, MASS Holding Group

Muntaser Kalahji, President & COO, Shurfah Holding

Rayan Algarawi, Founder & CEO, Arka Modular

Unlocking the power of productisation by DuBox

Alaa Basamh, Business Development Manager, Group Amana - DuBox | DuPod</p>

Panel: Hosting data now and in the future – exploring the latest demand & plans for in country data

Understand how to host data now and in the future and the implications on project delivery, data and energy usage. Where can you currently host data and what types of data centres are still required? What are the latest hyperscaler commitments and what makes a market attractive from compliance, technology, incentives & investment perspectives?

Led by:

Alan Coary, Regional Data Centre Lead, Turner & Townsend

In conversation with:

Amr Saad, MENA Vice-Chair, QSI, Executive Director BIM, Confidential

Kristin DeSha, Director of Global Product Strategy, Oracle

Shadi Alghanim, Vice President of Information Technology, Al Ayuni Trading & Contracting Co.

Zainab Alamin, Vice President, National Digital Transformation, Microsoft

CxO Panel: Innovation in Saudi mega project delivery

This session explores key digital delivery and innovation needs and initiatives underway in the Kingdom’s Giga projects that are leading to faster, greener and better outcomes. As project demand heats up, how will competing programmes react to planning, resources and supply chain barriers and what kind of technologies/new approaches/solutions will help the kingdom deliver these projects? Which ones are being invested in/pursued and what efficiencies do organisations expect?

Led by:

Dr. Ehab Abdo, Chief Delivery Officer,

Saudi Downtown Company

In conversation with:

Abdulghafoor Abdulhaleem, Counsel Member, Leaders Society

Abdullah Allohaidan, Project & Construction Management Executive Director, King Salman Park Foundation

Hatem Salaheldin, Chief Executive Officer, Kabbani Construction Group

Close of conference

DesertBoard’s PSB®
Pioneering circular economy in construction

Kamal Farah, Director, DesertBoard (ECC Group)

Digitally powered construction sustainability

Zakaria Osman, Senior Manager Digital Construction, El Seif Engineering Contracting

Panel: Extending value and sustainability through smart asset management

This future of asset management panel discussion embarks on astute journeys through the realms of digital infrastructure, showcasing how organizations can leverage predictive data insights through centralised asset management platforms, to unlock the full potential and value of their assets.

Led by:

John Seed, Group Director, Strategy & Development, Dar Al Riyadh Consulting

In conversation with:

Irfan Soneji, Digital & Asset Information Director, AMCL

Junaid Abdussalam, Director of Operation Excellence, City Operations, Emaar the Economic City

Umashanker Achyutun, Executive Director - Business Applications Design & Delivery, Saudi Entertainment Ventures (SEVEN)

Revolutionising project management in construction for sustainability and competitive edge

Zeeshan Panjwani, Business Solutions Manager, Zoho Corporation

Building a digital ecosystem from scratch for cost, time and sustainability

Eng. Khaled Alkolfat, Director, Planning, Cost Control and Performance, Shibh Al Jazira Contracting Company

Close of conference

Awards networking reception

Awards ceremony & gala dinner

Close of Construction Technology ConFex & Awards KSA