Industry Stakeholders are ready to take the lead in digital construction
Date
23 Feb 2018
Sections
Innovation & Enterprise
Industry Stakeholders are ready to take the lead in digital construction
- Top class digital construction event held during the EU Industry Day
- More than 100 attendees (from the entire value chain)
BRUSSELS 22nd February 2018 - The European construction industry has moved closer to its vision of a common European digital construction strategy.
“As this will be crucial to master the digital transformation of the industry along the value chain, I am really satisfied with the course and the outcome of today’s pilot event”, said CECE President Enrico Prandini.
For the first time, four organisations of major industries (CECE, Construction Products Europe, FIEC and EBC) got together on this topic at the highest political level and invited their respective members and other partners to attend a digital construction seminar on February 22, 2018 in Brussels, as part of the European Industry Day.
“Having a collaborative and inclusive strategy for the European construction industry will help us to figure out where our industry wants to be” said Kjetil Tonning, FIEC President Elect. “We need to work together with existing players in the value chain, public and private, large firms and SMEs, new market entrants, researchers and clients as well as investors.”
With their approach on digitization, the sectors are contributing to the fine-tuning and concrete implementation of the European Industrial Policy Strategy.
"We need a strategic approach towards digital construction" said Fulvia Raffaelli, Head of Unit, DG GROW, underlining that DG GROW supports the vision of the construction value chain working together with the European Commission towards the common goal of developing a digital platform for the construction sector.
“As digitalisation will transform the whole construction industry, it is important that the main actors come together to discuss the various options and look for synergies. Yesterday’s successful event will surely be followed by many other such exchanges as the European construction industry strives to lead the world in all these technological developments”, stressed Construction Products Europe Director General, Christophe Sykes.
The digital seminar was opened by Emil Karanikolov, Bulgarian Minister of Economy, the country currently holding the EU presidency.
In his opening speech the Minister underlined that digital innovation was key for the European construction sector to remain competitive, a global leader and to achieve the EUs ambitious targets.
In their discussion, the panel of experts and representatives of the industries made clear that the construction sector is ready to embrace digitization, whether it be Building
Information Modeling (BIM), IoT, big data, drones, or autonomous driving. Especially in view of climate change commitments, the motto must simply be to do more with less.
“The event has shown the strong commitment of participants, all key European players of the construction industry, to support the digital transformation of the sector” said Philip van Nieuwenhuizen, EBC Director. “In doing that, we need to make sure that construction SMEs and craftsmen keep up in the definition and in reaping the benefits of digital tools, by facilitating their accessibility and use with the support of the whole construction value chain”
One of the major challenges of the sectors will be to develop and standardize digital networking solutions to enable cooperative, safe and efficient collaboration of all decentralized parties on a construction site.
The digital seminar was attended by more than 100 representatives from companieshttp://www.ebc-construction.eu/, organizations, politics and the press. The organizations announced that they would continue their path and create more opportunities to discuss these issues with the value chain representatives and the policy makers in Brussels.
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Picture caption: From left - Cédric de Meêus (LafargeHolcim, Construction Products Europe), Maria Ribeirinho (McKinsey), Kjetil Tonning (FIEC), Enrico Prandini (CECE), Philip Van Nieuwenhuizen (EBC)
Source: CECE
About CECE
CECE, the Committee for European Construction Equipment, represents the interests of 1,200 construction equipment manufacturers through national trade associations in 13 European countries: Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland, The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Russia and Turkey. CECE manufacturers generate € 40 billion in yearly revenue, export a sizeable part of the production, employ around 300.000 people overall. They invest and innovate continuously to deliver equipment with highest productivity and lowest environmental impact. Efficiency, safety and high-precision technologies are key. See also www.cece.eu.
About FIEC
Created in 1905, FIEC is the European Construction Industry Federation, representing via its 30 national Member Federations in 26 countries (23 EU & EFTA and Turkey) construction enterprises of all sizes, i.e. small and medium-sized enterprises as well as “global players”, carrying out all forms of building and civil engineering activities. See also www.fiec.eu.
About Construction Products Europe
Construction Products Europe is an international non-profit making association made up of national and European associations that represent small and medium-size enterprises and world-leading companies. We promote the European construction industry, share information on EU legislation and standardisation and provide input in all European construction-related initiatives. See also https://www.construction-products.eu.
About EBC
EBC is the European Builders Confederation, representing national associations of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and craftsmen working in the construction sector since 1990. As a member of UEAPME (the European association of micro-enterprises and SMEs) and SBS (Small Business Standards), EBC chairs both the UEAPME and SBS Construction Fora. See also www.ebc-construction.eu.