Global Scans · Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure · Weekly Summary

In September 2015, 193 world leaders agreed to 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development. If these Goals are completed, it would mean an end to extreme poverty, inequality and climate change by 2030.
Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.

• [New] Government initiatives encouraging industrial innovation and smart manufacturing are expected to support continued robotics deployment across the country's expanding manufacturing sector through 2033. Persistence Market Research
• [New] Continuous innovation in AI-integrated robotics, machine vision, and collaborative automation is expected to sustain Japan's leadership in industrial robotics technology and adoption. Persistence Market Research
• [New] China understands that vulnerability and has been building greater industrial self-reliance while seeking ways to reduce its dependence on dollar finance. Armstrong Economics
• [New] Researchers at PNNL are working to unlock its remaining energy potential through nuclear fuel recycling, a suite of chemical and physical processes that recover materials for reuse as reactor fuel or other industrial applications. AZOM
• [New] Industry pushback focused on economic hits-e.g., CII-driven slow steaming could add 5-10% to voyage times, inflating costs amid volatile fuel prices. Searoutes
• [New] When benchmarked against other global expat centers, Dubai is still more affordable than Hong Kong, Singapore, London, or New York, while offering comparable quality of life, infrastructure, and career potential. April International - International Health Insurance
• Industry research identifies AI as one of the major forces expected to reshape luxury over the coming years. Kalkine
• AWS will deploy 2 million more NVIDIA GPUs across its global infrastructure in 2027 and 2028. Fintech Singapore
• AWS and NVIDIA will build secure AI infrastructure for US federal and national security workloads. Fintech Singapore
• NVIDIA's phenomenal Q2 results have helped remove a key uncertainty about the durability of AI infrastructure demand, potentially supporting a more risk-on environment. Seeking Alpha
• Swiftly implementing the proposed regulatory measures could unleash significant economic momentum without requiring additional funding and strengthen Germany's position as an innovation hub over the long term. Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
• Taurus, a leader in digital asset infrastructure, is enabling financial institutions to connect to Swift's blockchain-based shared ledger, with the first live clients expected in a couple of days. FinExtra
• In 2026, AI infrastructure spending is projected to reach $450 billion, with inference workloads accounting for over 70% of AI compute demand - marking a structural shift from training-dominated to inference-driven AI. ODG Electronics
• AI infrastructure spending is projected to reach $450 billion, with inference workloads accounting for over 70% of AI compute demand. ODG Electronics
• As data center developers compete for a cut of the hundreds of billions of dollars flowing into the artificial intelligence industry, the queue to join the UK's power grid has become jammed with projects that will likely never get built. Wired
• Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday issued a decree that granted his government powers to temporarily manage critical infrastructure facilities if their owners cannot protect them against security threats. Just Security
• Full development of alternative fuel bunkering and charging infrastructure would generally take five to 10 years, while some projects could stretch as far as 2050. gCaptain
• Connecting Canada's fragmented grids east-west-north through new and expanded transmission lines: Consultations will address barriers to interprovincial interties, including duplicative infrastructure and wasted power that affects reliability and affordability. Torys LLP
• Building the infrastructure needed to double Canada's electricity generation: Consultations will consider how to finance the build-out, spread costs over time, and keep electricity affordable. Torys LLP
• The global construction industry is projected to grow by USD 4.5 trillion, or 42%, reaching a total value of USD 15.2 trillion by 2030. Straits Research
• The short-term goal of the Net-Zero Industry Act aims to achieve net-zero manufacturing capacity to meet at least 40% of the EU's annual deployment needs by 2030 (Regulation 2024/1735, 2024). Scientific Advice Mechanism

Last updated: 27 September 2026