Autodesk, Inc. has announced the Singapore findings from its annual State of Digital Adoption in the Construction Industry report. Jointly conducted with Deloitte, this is the third edition of the annual survey which explores digital adoption trends in the construction sector.
The 2025 report is based on insights from 894 construction businesses from six markets across Asia Pacific (APAC), which include Singapore, Australia, Japan, India, Malaysia, and Hong Kong.
The findings indicate that the pace of digital adoption is accelerating across the construction industry, continuing a trend observed in the past year. Construction firms in APAC are today using an average of 6.2 technologies, a 20% increase from the previous year (5.2).
Importantly, the share of businesses viewing technology as integral to their growth strategy continues to increase. Since the first State of Digital Adoption survey in 2023, the share of businesses identifying ‘new technology assisting project work’ as a source of growth has increased from 38% to 47% and the share using new technologies to ‘improve internal processes’ has increased from 37% to 44%.
Businesses with higher rates of digital adoption are reporting better project outcomes, stronger financial performance, and at a time where worker safety is quickly coming under the spotlight, a reduced number of safety incidents.
Findings suggest that firms with higher levels of digital maturity stand to reap an average of 1.5% more projects delivered under budget and 1.1% more projects completed on time. For an average business with S$100 million in revenue, this would also lead to S$1.14 million more in revenue growth and a 50% reduction in the likelihood of safety incidents, justifying investment made into technology.
Setting the standard: Singapore as a regional leader in digital tool adoption
Singapore’s construction firms are using an average of 7.3 technologies today. This places Singapore second in the region (after India which used an average of 8.6 technologies) in terms of number of technologies adopted, and a considerable distance ahead of the regional average (6.2).
More significantly, this represents a substantial uptick of nearly half (46%) the number of technologies used just a year ago (5.0).
Reaffirming the importance that industry players are placing on digitalisation, 28 cents of every dollar within the Singapore construction sector is being invested into new technology. This represents a considerable rise of 30% from the previous year, where industry players invested 21% of their expenditure into technology.
The continued focus on digitalisation among Singapore construction firms is likely to have been driven by government-led digital transformation programs over the past few years. This includes industry specific initiatives like the Building and Construction Authority’s (BCA) Built Environment Industry Transformation Map, which has prioritised the adoption of common data standards and digital tools such as BIM as a requisite for construction contracts.
The BCA is also encouraging the implementation of Integrated Digital Delivery (IDD) into construction projects, which can contribute to reduced waste and rework, improved site safety, and optimised costs.
Singapore’s local construction industry is poised for further growth. According to the BCA, the value of construction contracts to be awarded in 2025 stands at approximately S$47 billion to S$53 billion.
Data from SingStat also indicates that the total industry revenue is expected to increase from approximately S$31 billion to S$38 billion over the next three years.
“A challenging business environment, coupled with the increasing digital proficiency of competitors, escalating operational costs, and government-mandated technology adoption, necessitates immediate and decisive action,” said Jeff Larrick, Senior Director of APJ Construction Cloud at Autodesk. “It is highly encouraging to see construction businesses in Singapore continue accelerating their investment into technology over the last few years, positioning them well to capitalize on opportunities arising from the slew of major local infrastructure projects on the horizon.
This commitment reaffirms the effectiveness of digital tools in the construction space, and is precisely what the industry needs to pave the way for a future of digital-led growth.”
