From 26 to 28 July, the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre will host the 12d Tech Forum 2026, the flagship event for civil design, surveying, water engineering, and project collaboration professionals using 12d Model and 12d Synergy software.

The timing is notable: infrastructure firms across the region are under growing pressure to manage larger, more complex projects on tighter timelines, and many are turning to digital engineering platforms and common data environments (CDEs) to do it. This year’s 12d Tech Forum, with a string of software updates and a packed technical program on the agenda, offers a useful read on where that shift is heading next.

Now an established fixture on the infrastructure industry’s calendar, the 12d Tech Forum has built its reputation as the primary meeting point for 12d Model and 12d Synergy users. The three-day program is structured to serve a wide range of attendees – from new users still finding their footing to long-time “super users” refining advanced workflows. The schedule mixes core technical training with discipline-specific breakout sessions, alongside community events including a welcome reception and a gala dinner. It’s a format that has pushed the event beyond a typical user conference into something closer to an industry summit, where software roadmaps, peer knowledge-sharing, and recognition of standout project work all share billing.

Three Trends Shaping This Year’s Program

A handful of threads run through the 2026 program, each pointing to broader shifts in how civil and survey teams work.

Platform modernisation is front and centre. The headline development is the release of 12d Model 15 C1u, timed to launch before the Forum so attendees can work with the new feature set from day one. Aligning a major release with the event is a deliberate move – it gives 12d Solutions an opportunity to showcase the new features, and gives users all the insights needed before going back to live projects.

12d Synergy and CDE capability continue to mature. Updates to 12d Synergy will also be unveiled, reflecting sustained investment in project information management. This tracks with a wider industry trend: as firms formalise document control and information management practices – often in step with frameworks like ISO 19650 – CDE platforms are shifting from a “nice to have” to core infrastructure for project delivery.

Specialisation and automation are both deepening. The return of “Birds of a Feather” breakouts across Design, Surveying, Water, and Information Management points to increasingly specialised use cases within the same software ecosystem. The addition of a new Special Interest and Training Room is arguably the more telling signal – it feeds a growing appetite among users to customise and automate their own workflows rather than rely solely on out-of-the-box functionality.

What’s New for 2026

The standout announcements for this year’s 12d Tech Forum include:

• 12d Model 15 C1u – launching ahead of the Forum, with sessions built around its new capabilities.
• 12d Synergy Updates – new features to be revealed live to delegates.
• A New Special Interest and Training Room – dedicated to training and other specialty topics, expanding the breakout program beyond its usual four streams
• 12d International Innovation Awards Ceremony – held as part of the Gala Dinner, recognising standout work from the global 12d community.
• An Expanded Exhibition Space – with featuring a variety of industry favourites, supporting the event.

The Innovation Awards in particular signal a maturing professional community that increasingly treats technology adoption as a visible differentiator – not just a back-office efficiency play, but something firms actively want recognised and benchmarked against peers.

What It Means for the Industry

For civil engineering, surveying, and infrastructure firms, the agenda has a variety of practical takeaways. Teams running 12d Model will ideally plan for the transition to version 15 C1u, including any internal training required to get full value from new features quickly. The 12d Synergy updates reinforce that CDE and information management capability is no longer a peripheral IT concern – it’s increasingly tied to how firms win and deliver work, particularly as compliance expectations around structured project information continue to tighten.

The new focus on macros also suggests firms that invest in workflow automation skills internally stand to gain an efficiency edge over competitors. And for firms competing on talent, the visibility of the Innovation Awards offers a tangible way to showcase technical capability beyond the project itself.

The 12d Tech Forum is an event that acts as a direct line between 12d Model and 12d Synergy teams and the practitioners using their tools daily, with the broader goal of helping delegates leave with skills they can apply immediately. It speaks to a wider expectation in the sector: that software vendors increasingly need to demonstrate real-world workflow value, not just feature releases, to keep their user base engaged.

Taken together, the 2026 agenda reflects an industry where software platforms, information management practices, and professional recognition are becoming more tightly intertwined. For civil and survey professionals, the Forum is as much a signal of where the toolset is heading as it is a training event – and for firms weighing how much to invest in platform upgrades and workflow automation this year, it’s a useful barometer.

Registration for the 12d Tech Forum 2026 is open, with full event and day passes available through the official event website 12dtechforum.com