Today we're delighted to announce that Infrastructure Policy Advancement, Bentley Systems has joined the Association for Consultancy and Engineering. It's a partnership that brings together the voice of the UK's consultancy and engineering sector and one of the world's leading infrastructure software companies, at exactly the moment the sector needs it most. 

Both ACE and Bentley are crystal clear of the challenge ahead. AI is no longer a conversation for the fringes of our industry. It's reshaping how projects are designed, how firms compete and what skills the next generation of engineers will need. The firms in our sector that thrive over the next decade will be the ones that understand early the AI challenge and are prepared for it. 

There is only one problem: we can't be entirely sure what's coming next. The government can only speculate. That's why the Government Office for Science published five scenarios for how AI could develop to 2030, ranging from runaway capability to outright disappointment, and has explicitly invited industry to stress-test its plans against them. 

Nobody has done that for consultancy and engineering. So together ACE and Bentley we will. 

Engineering 2030 

Our first joint project is going to be a white paper, ‘Achieving AI in Engineering 2030, mapping each of the government's five AI scenarios against the realities of our sector. What does each future mean for the workforce and the graduate pipeline? For project delivery? For liability and professional standards? For the new opportunities each future could open up? It poses the critical question; is the sector ready to exploit and meet those scenarios by 2030?  

We won't be answering those questions from behind a desk. The paper will be built on interviews with senior leaders from across the ACE membership, from the largest multidisciplinary firms to specialist SMEs, testing each scenario against the real decisions firms are making today. 

The aim is simple: to give the sector a qualitative reference on what AI means for the future of consultancy and engineering and the practical no-regrets moves every firm should be making now. 

This is an exciting partnership where ACE brings the convening power of around 300 member firms in a sector employing more than 420,000 people and a track record of shaping the policy debate, evidenced in our upcoming Responsible Use of AI Framework. Infrastructure Policy Advancement, Bentley Systems’ Infrastructure Policy Advancement brings deep technology expertise and a global view of how AI and digital twins are already changing infrastructure delivery on the ground. 

Put those together and you get something neither of us could do alone: a sector-wide, evidence-led picture of the AI decade ahead, built by the people who will live it. 

This is the start of the conversation, not the end of it. If you lead a member firm and want to take part in the interviews, or you want to be in the room this autumn, we want to hear from you. 

The future of our sector won't be decided by the technology. It will be decided by how we respond to it. 

To get involved, contact the ACE public affairs team.