Infrastructure investment challenges: Reconciling competition, decarbonisation and digitalisation

• Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies

FSR Annual Conference is a yearly event with the involvement of the four areas of the Florence School of Regulation, coordinated by FSR Transport. It takes an interdisciplinary look at the most recent developments and future challenges for the network industries, covering energy, transport, climate and communication sectors. This year’s FSR Annual Conference, which will take place on 10th and 11th June 2021, will focus on ‘Infrastructure Investment Challenges: Reconciling Competition, Decarbonisation and Digitalisation’.

Investment has always been a challenge in the network industries. Since the 1990s liberalisation has exacerbated this challenge, owing to the different time horizons between the interests of the private sector, the long-term nature of the infrastructure assets and their public service nature. Climate change and the need to decarbonise the infrastructures, as well as the recent focus on digitalisation have only added to the investment challenges in the different network industries.

How can we ensure investments in the context of competition, decarbonisation and digitalisation? What should be the role of governments and that of the private sector? How should the right incentives be set? These are some of the questions that the 10th FSR Annual Conference will seek to discuss.