INDIANAPOLIS, IN — Indiana Construction Roundtable (ICR) kicked off 2020's educational programming with a session on the future trends driving construction. Matt Will, Ph.D., from the University of Indianapolis and Jay Bowman from Fails Management Institute (FMI) led the learning.

More than 140 attendees joined the educational session. Highlights of the event include Will sharing his understanding of some of the most influential happenings over the last few years. When it came to forecasting, Will explained his view of the recent trade wars, the national deficits, and the increase in the favorability of socialism as areas of potential economic concern in the near future. Will also informed participants that the U.S. is in its 129th month of economic recovery, and no data suggests a recession in the next year.

Bowman followed Will and connected the macro economic data to the construction industry. Bowman had three primary takeaways:

No matter what the economy looks like, there is always good and bad markets.

Take note of the changing composition of what is being built locally, nationally, or globally.

The market's current positive nature means there is time for planning and preparing for when it is not.

Bowman highlighted that the strongest growth sub-segments in the industry are retail- and restaurant-filled airports, intelligent transportation systems like electronic tolling along highways, mass transit like light rails, pharma/biotech, data centers, cold storage centers, pulp and paper production, ministorage units, and performance arts centers.