Bentley Systems, Incorporated, has announced the opening of submissions for its 2026 Year in Infrastructure (YII) event and YII Awards program, inviting infrastructure professionals worldwide to showcase innovative projects designed, built, and operated using Bentley software. The company said nominations will be accepted until May 3, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. EDT.

Bentley said the awards programme continues its two-decade legacy of recognising digital advancement and engineering excellence across the world’s most critical infrastructure assets. Over the last 20 years, more than 5,500 major infrastructure projects have participated in the initiative.

“Originally, the Bentley awards recognized designers who used 3D technology to drive efficiency,” said Monica Schnitger, founder, president and principal analyst of Schnitger Corporation. “Now they assess how massive projects are building and leveraging rich data assets to create value throughout the entire lifecycle of a project — from initial financial decision-making through design and construction.”

Past winners have included notable global developments such as the digital twin for structural monitoring of St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, the Seine Nord Europe Canal in France, the Thames Tideway Tunnel in the UK, Siemensstadt Square in Germany, Sydney Airport in Australia, the Fairmont Udaipur Palace in India, the Beijing Zhangjiakou highspeed railway in China, the Ontario Line subway in Canada, and EchoWater, one of the largest agricultural water recycling facilities in the United States.

Cate Lochead, chief marketing officer at Bentley Systems, said: “Around the world, infrastructure professionals rely on Bentley software to design, build, and operate infrastructure that is more resilient, efficient, and sustainable. The YII Awards celebrate real world results from teams that are innovating in areas that include ground informed design, connected data, and AI. It is important to promote this work as best practice as these achievements set a new standard for what’s possible across the infrastructure ecosystem.”

Submissions will be evaluated by independent panels of industry experts based on digital advancement and measurable outcomes, including improvements in efficiency, cost performance, resilience, and sustainability.

The YII Awards 2026 will recognise excellence across multiple categories including Bridges and Tunnels, Cities and Facilities, Construction, Energy Production, Geospatial and Reality Modeling, Project Delivery, Rail and Transit, Roads and Highways, Structural Engineering, Subsurface Modeling and Analysis, Transmission and Distribution, and Water and Wastewater.

Finalists will be announced in August 2026 and will be invited to present their projects at the Year in Infrastructure event in Singapore on October 6-7, 2026, where category winners will be revealed.