World Summit on Digital Built Environment WDBE 2018 takes place on September 11-12 in the capital of Finland, Helsinki. If you want to give a presentation or do a workshop at the international event, submit your proposal right away.
Finland is an apt location for an event of this kind. As an EU country of 5.5 million inhabitants, it is a laboratory and testbed for digitalization. The government is actively working with businesses to enable digitalization of built environment processes through open flow of data.
Building an Ecosystem for the Built Environment
The strategic partner of the event is Finland’s Ministry of the Environment. They’ve launched KIRA-digi, a spearhead program with a mission to create an open and interoperable information management ecosystem for the built environment.
The 16 million euro KIRA-digi program consists of three parts:
1 – Harmonization of information management
2 – Work related to legislative changes and amendments in public administration
3 – Experimental projects and pilots, with 40% government funding
At WDBE 2018, the program showcases some of its over 100 experimental projects. I wrote about one of them, Monitoring Building Moisture with RFID.
Great keynote speakers
The keynotes from Finland, Denmark, USA, Norway, and the UK, each bring a new perspective on digitalization. Here are the already confirmed keynote speakers, three of whom I’ve featured on my blog/podcast:
- Kimmo Tiilikainen, Finnish Government Minister
- Lene Espersen of Danish Association of Architectural Firms
- Forest Flager of Katerra, USA
- Brett Young, BuildingSP, USA
- Torben Klitgaard, BLOXHUB, Denmark
- Paul Doherty, the Digit Group, USA
- Kjetin Tonnong, FIEC, Norway
- Andrew Watts, Newtecnic, UK
A plethora of presentations
The submitted presentation proposals cover topics, such as machine learning, smart buildings, open data, platforms, project management, BIM, digital Big Room, AR/VR, and smart cities.
The organizers extended the submission of presentation proposals. The new deadline is March, the 26th. Note that this event is not scientific, so non-academics are welcome to present. Possible formats ar keynotes, presentations, demos, workshops, and pitches.
The AEC Hackathon and site visits
Over the preceding weekend, there will be an AEC Hackathon. On Thursday following the event, you’ll have a chance to do site visits.
The Venue
The venue of the event is Finlandia Hall, a conference center designed by world-renowned Finnish architect, Alvar Aalto.
Welcome to Helsinki!
As a member of the Organizing Committee of WDBE 2018, I welcome you to Helsinki. The program will be awesome and you’ll get plenty of opportunities to connect with thought leaders, developers, and practitioners of the digital built environment.
Early bird registration is open until June 1, 2018.
Looking forward to seeing you here in Helsinki!
Responses