The construction and real estate industry suffers from numerous problems, including inconsistent communication between different stakeholders due to a lack of unified communication standards. This leads to delays, misunderstandings, and increased costs. Moreover, existing data and information are not available in the required standard formats in many cases, hindering their efficient use and transmission.

Researchers at Fraunhofer IIS/EAS are working to develop uniform, formalized communication standards based on GAIA-X and are contributing their expertise in the area of building information management (BIM) to the iECO project. BIM can deliver added value for construction project stakeholders ­– not only at the planning and construction stages, but also in the commissioning and operating phases of a building.

The use of automatic generation of simulation models prior to construction can increase the accuracy of system design, reducing investment costs. The construction process can also be simplified and accelerated by automatically determining of the current work status of the tradespersons involved. Likewise, simulation models can analyze measurement data for finished buildings in order to detect optimization potential with regard to energy use.