Matt Gough is an innovation catalyst reshaping construction – from London skyscrapers to Saudi giga-projects. Formerly Mace’s director of innovation, he championed digital delivery, industrialization and carbon reduction, urging the sector to adopt “construction-to-production” thinking. In 2022 he moved to NEOM as director of digital innovation for Design & Construction, taking that mission to one of the world’s most ambitious construction programs where he led the largest planned deployment of construction robotics – ARCA. A regular advocate for change in the construction industry, he argues technology must serve people and planet – not hype – using data to cut waste, accelerate delivery and decarbonise at scale. A pragmatic optimist, Matt ranges across Industry 4.0, modular platforms and the skills shift needed for tomorrow’s workforce – translating big ideas into practical playbooks teams can use on Monday.
He sums up his approach simply: he’s “here for acceleration and change.” If you want teams to experiment faster, partner smarter and scale what works, Matt’s the person who turns bold ideas into measurable, market-making outcomes.
AI-led automation has solved design. The hard problem – the fragmented, sequential, risk-multiplying delivery machine that consumes half the value before a building is complete – remains untouched. This talk makes the case for virtual vertical integration: how data, intelligence, and a fundamentally reorganised value chain can finally deliver what every previous wave of construction technology has promised and failed to achieve.
