Autodesk最近同意以10亿美元的现金购买Innovyze，这是一种水基础设施建模，模拟和预测分析技术公司。Innovyze由当时的MWH工程师保罗·布洛斯（Paul Boulos）成立于1996年，是MWH Global Inc.的子公司。MWH后来被设计公司Stantec收购。EQT Partners在2017年以2.7亿美元的价格从Stantec购买了Innovyze，后来将其卖给了Autodesk。新利luckEnr最近与Digital Water Works Inc.的创始人Boulos和最近的首席执行官Boulos遇到了谈论收购，管理水基础设施的持续挑战以及鼓励工程创新。
ENR: Congrats on the company you founded back in 1996, Innovyze, being sold for $1 billion to Autodesk. You said this was a great example of why engineering firms should invest in intrapreneurship and invent new companies to solve the problems their projects and work processes present. Can you elaborate on that?
Paul Boulos:领域知识和人才可能不会出现在the balance sheet, but they are the most valuable assets ENR top-ranked firms possess. They’re also key drivers of new, profitable growth. As it turns out, most ENR firms—especially large ones—are actually awash in creative ideas that never get monetized or used beyond the initial project application. The surprises that lead to new business ideas often come from front-line engineers working on real projects and solving real customers’ problems.
通过寻找更好的做事方式和积极培养组织中的进步是一个明确而目前的机会，将其在工作中的优先考虑是优先的。企业家精神是将其创新栩栩如生并促进新的有利可图增长水平的工具。企业家是为企业创新做的员工，企业家为其创业公司所做的事情。
从本质上讲,一个企业开拓者就像一个innovative entrepreneur, but within the ecosystem of a larger, more traditional organization. Innovyze (initially MWH Soft) is a quintessential example of intrapreneurship success. The company parlayed a loan of $50,000 from MWH Global (now part of Stantec) into uninterrupted double-digit profitable growth, becoming the single largest contributor to MWH Global profits. What’s more, its profit-per-employee was greater than the revenue per employee of any top ENR-ranked firm.
Firms that master intrapreneurship will be able to create an unfair advantage, expand many times faster, generate stronger margins, command significantly bigger valuation multiples, and define the scope and shape of the industry’s future. They will also ring up impressive profits, revenue growth and gains in stock performance year after year, regardless of economic or industry circumstances. Just as importantly, they will become a powerful magnet for top talent—the investment that keeps on giving.
Was it rewarding to see the company you founded be sold for that much?
作为Innovyze的董事长兼首席执行官，我在2017年以2.7亿美元的价格将公司出售给了一家私募股权公司[EQT Partners]，这是AEC行业的多重记录。四年后，它打破了另一个记录。这清楚地表明了强大的企业内精神可以实现多少。
Did you have any involvement with Innovyze after its sale by Stantec to EQT Partners in 2017?
I have always seen myself as a growth-oriented, innovation-driven leader, not a great operator. It was time for me to pioneer the development and use of digital twins within the water utility industry and usher in the new era of smart water modeling 4.0. I left after the Innovyze sale and established Digital Water Works. I subsequently sold that company to Bentley, which expanded that firm’s transformative water infrastructure digital twin (Water365) growth portfolio.
You were still working on problems involved with designing and maintaining water, wastewater and flood-control infrastructure with Digital Water Works. Do you think water modeling, analysis and engineering can make a difference for officials, planners and engineers because they have these tools, including digital twins?
The world of water infrastructure modeling, analysis and engineering has dramatically changed from on-premise static solutions to today’s cloud-based dynamic cognitive Digital Twin 4.0. That platform lets water utility staff, from finance and plant managers to engineers, planners, and field operations, gain real-time access to the data they need to do their work, and better operate, manage, and sustain their water infrastructures. It also makes it possible to share detailed information in real time, integrate and coordinate activities, and “experiment with the future” by exploring what-if scenarios, identifying potential problems, and testing out solutions safely and economically. By helping them gain operational, financial and business continuity resilience, it represents a real breakthrough in value—one that could revolutionize the way water utilities plan, manage and operate their water infrastructure systems.
Systems like Innovyze and Digital Water Works’ produce seem to be in a better place today when it comes to interoperability than they were in the past. That was always the goal to have these systems able to communicate and access data with those of companies such as Autodesk, Bentley, Esri and others, right? Was it challenging to connect the various ecosystems?
All our products at Innovyze were database-driven and able to easily share data with leading technology vendors like Autodesk, Bentley and Esri. This was a first for the industry. Digital Twins work through server-based technology and enable seamless interoperability across enterprise technologies. They represent the future across all asset-intensive industry sectors. For example, integrating them with BIM and GIS will help optimize the way all civil engineering infrastructures (e.g., buildings, facilities, roads, bridges) are managed and enable the design of more resilient infrastructure. Clearly, they put us on the cusp of a new era in business decision-making and value optimization.
The situation in Texas shows how water infrastructure needs to be better designed and maintained. We’ve seen this happen with recent floods and other situations when it looks as if there is a lot of momentum to change infrastructure regulations, but it just gets forgotten when the national news moves on to the next thing. Do you think this situation is bad enough that lawmakers and state leaders will take notice to require more resilience?
州和联邦政府必须优先考虑在美国水基础设施中进行更严格的投资。洪水是美国最常见的危害之一，造成比任何其他与恶劣天气有关的事件造成的损害。它可能发生在热带风暴，飓风，河流肿胀，大雨，潮汐潮，春天融雪，堤防或大坝故障，当地排水问题和水分配主断裂。对水公用事业的影响可能包括失电，资产损失和人员危险条件。随着暴风雨变得越来越频繁和激烈，随着海平面的上升，洪水将成为这些公用事业的持续挑战。
水电图通过实施缓解措施，例如紧急响应计划，设备修改或升级或新的资本投资/建筑项目来建立弹性。18luck官网环境保护局提供了增加水电图在洪水紧急情况下的准备和弹性的工具。联邦应急管理机构提供的地图显示将受洪水影响的区域。它们可用于了解威胁并制定缓解危害计划（包括可能的项目）来减轻其影响。18luck官网为了帮助支付减少洪水措施，水电工具还可以申请联邦灾难缓解资金。
