Advancing construction innovation through industry partnerships, tested solutions, and a bold post-IPO strategy.
ALEC Holdings used its annual Innovation Day 2025 to reinforce its position as a leading platform for construction technology, demonstrating how its post-IPO strategy continues to transform the company into a global engine for innovation. Guided by its Innovation Roadmap, ALEC has built an environment where ideas are tested on live projects, refined through rapid feedback loops, and scaled to deliver maximum value across the industry.
The event comes at a pivotal time. With the GCC construction market forecast to reach US$2.7 trillion by 2033, regional developers face increasing pressure to build faster, safer, and more sustainably. According to Imad Itani, Head of Innovation at ALEC, this momentum demands more than isolated breakthroughs. “The region is a fertile ground for innovation, but this cannot thrive in isolation. It needs an ecosystem that enables technologies to be applied to the most ambitious projects, investors to access validated solutions, and innovators to secure fast-track funding. At ALEC, we have intentionally built that ecosystem. Today, we are the epicenter of construction innovation.”
A Culture Built for Experimentation
ALEC’s transformation is powered by a culture that rewards experimentation and cross-functional collaboration. Innovation champions are embedded across departments, driving the evaluation and scaling of new technologies. Many business units within ALEC now develop their own solutions, bringing new tools, platforms, and services into the market.
The company also continues to invest heavily in partnerships. Fifteen external companies showcased their technologies at Innovation Day, highlighting ALEC’s role as a launchpad for emerging solutions. These partners collaborate closely with ALEC specialists to refine their platforms, validate performance on active projects, and build commercial models that support industry-wide adoption.
Among the standout participants were TENDERD, the AI-driven equipment management platform that recently closed a US$30 million Series A, and SOLUT, whose workforce productivity analytics technology has delivered around 30 percent increases in labor efficiency across several pilot sites.
“The credibility afforded by ALEC’s validation has been transformative for us,” said Aleksander Belousov, Founder of SOLUT. “Since collaborating with ALEC, we have seen stronger engagement from developers and contractors, as well as customers in other sectors. It has significantly shortened our time to market and accelerated our ability to refine and scale our technology.”
Strengthening Collaboration Across the Supply Chain
A major theme of the 2025 event was ALEC’s commitment to subcontractors—an often-overlooked group that plays a critical role in project delivery. “Subcontractors are vital to how we execute projects, which makes their involvement in our innovation journey essential,” Itani said. This year marked the first expansion of ALEC’s innovation initiatives to select subcontractors, with plans to extend opportunities across the full supply chain. By fostering shared learning and joint problem-solving, ALEC aims to build a more resilient and capable ecosystem.
Introducing the Collaboration Awards
To celebrate outstanding partnerships, ALEC introduced a new set of Collaboration Awards, recognizing organizations that have helped strengthen the company’s innovation network. Awards were presented in four categories:
- Innovative Subcontractor of the Year
- Technology Collaboration of the Year
- Start-up Engagement of the Year
- Client Collaboration of the Year
Each award reflects ALEC’s commitment to collective progress and industry-wide advancement.
ALEC Holdings, part of the Investment Corporation of Dubai, is a leading diversified engineering and construction group operating in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The company delivers turnkey solutions across construction, MEP, fit-out, modular construction, marine, oil and gas, solar, energy efficiency, heavy equipment rental, technology systems, and asset maintenance. ALEC serves a broad range of sectors including airports, hospitality, high-rise developments, retail, and large-scale themed projects.