Infrastructure finance has a very long history, starting with the first known large-scale construction site in Göbekli Tepe in Upper Mesopotamia in 9000-7000 BC, or the walled towns and sanitation of the Roman Empire (44 BC- 476 AD) to the first private water supply, London Water in 1582, and the railroads all over Europe and the USA in the 19th century.

As a water expert having worked for more than 20 years for the EIB, Hugh Goldsmith, now with JASPERS, is passionate both about history and infrastructure. Building upon an EIBURS research project (The history of European infrastructure finance, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Germany), he supervised, he showed how infrastructure services have evolved according to the socio-economic environment, from concession contracts and slave labour used by the ancient Greeks and the Romans to 18th and 19th century infrastructure (canals, railways, telegraphs, water supply, gas, electricity) built using private capital and mechanization.

Click here for presentation.