The infrastructure conversation has shifted in 2026. What used to be a story about pipelines, ports, and power plants now reads more like a story about data, decarbonization, and the messy work of pulling capital into private deals across emerging markets. That shift is where Enzo Carpanetti has been spending his time.
Enzo Carpanetti, a global infrastructure development executive whose work spans OECD countries and emerging markets, has spent two decades helping shareholders invest in, own, and operate major infrastructure assets. His career started in Panama, where he took his first job, and the country has remained a fixed point ever since. He lived there for several years and still operates an office in Panama today. In 2026, his focus is on the Mega Forces reshaping where capital flows and how operations actually run on the ground. AI sits at the top of that list, alongside the transition to a low-carbon economy and a sustained push into private infrastructure across emerging markets.
What separates Carpanetti’s approach from the typical executive playbook is his refusal to operate at altitude. His work fits what could be called a Practitioner-Leader model, an executive who stays fluent enough in the technical layer to make calls without waiting for a five-deck briefing. His training in electromechanical engineering and artificial intelligence gives him a working vocabulary for both the asset and the algorithm, and he treats that as a strategic requirement rather than a hobby.
Private infrastructure is where this fluency tends to matter most. Deals in the space cut across energy systems, transport corridors, mobility platforms, and digital backbones, often in jurisdictions where local context shapes outcomes more than any model predicts. Panama is a useful example. The country sits at one of the world’s most consequential trade chokepoints, and its infrastructure decisions ripple through global supply chains in ways that don’t always show up on a spreadsheet. Carpanetti’s continued presence there gives him a working view of how emerging-market infrastructure actually behaves, which is harder to come by than most pitch decks suggest.
The low-carbon transition complicates the picture further. Capital is being asked to underwrite assets that have to perform on traditional financial metrics while also carrying the operational complexity of new energy systems, intelligent transport networks, and digitally enhanced grids. The pattern suggests that executives who can read both the income statement and the operational systems are the ones positioned to actually deliver. That’s the bet Enzo Carpanetti has been making for most of his career.
AI is the throughline. Carpanetti’s view is that AI functions as a catalyst for human potential rather than a replacement for it. In an infrastructure context that translates into automation that frees operators from low-value tasks, predictive systems that change how maintenance and capital planning interact, and decision tools that compress the distance between insight and action. He’s spent enough time in the digital trenches to know where the technology delivers and where it’s still just an investor pitch deck.
The cross-cultural dimension of his work shapes the rest. Enzo Carpanetti speaks more than five languages and uses business travel as a way to engage with the communities his projects touch, from his base in Panama to capitals across the OECD. That habit reflects something he’s been consistent about for years, that infrastructure decisions land on real people, and the people making those decisions ought to understand the context they’re operating in.
The 2026 roadmap, in his telling, isn’t about predicting which sector wins. It’s about being technical enough, present enough, and adaptable enough to execute when the macro picture moves. You can follow more of his work on his website, on LinkedIn, and on X.
