Building Smart for Smarter Cities

Vienna, 10^th & 11^th June 2015 - Representatives of 240 construction sector companies from 27 European countries came together for the large event run by Advantage Austria under the motto: "Building Smart for Smarter Cities". The interdisciplinary exchange of views revealed the wide range of interpretations of the term “smartness”.

“Most think that you can only create a Smart City with technology. But that isn’t enough. Technology is a good tool. Before this, however, the key is to understand a smart building as a networking task and to simplify communication within the building process.” ATP CEO, Professor Christoph M. Achammer stated this opinion in his keynote lecture before adding that, “the design process, as we knew it up until now, was a system with many interfaces and an infinite number of potential sources of errors. BIM will make it possible for everyone to speak a single language. This means that the operation of buildings and such issues as facility management and even demolition can be incorporated into design and cost calculations.”

Heinz Walter, Austria‘s Trade Delegate in Berlin spoke of the huge potential for Austrian building specialists in the Germany construction industry. The excursions on the second day of the event to buildings including “aspern IQ”, which was designed by ATP Vienna, were fully booked.

The event took place as part of go-international, the export support initiative of the Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy and the Austrian Economic Chambers (WKÖ).