“Sustainable built environment and maximum user benefits through efficient information management and industrial processes” is the guiding vision of the emerging Swedish Smart Built Environment Programme.

The Smart Built Environment was developed on the initiative of IQ Samhällsbyggnad and Sveriges Bygguniversitet, in close collaboration with Lantmäteriet, as well as the OpenBIM and Bygginnovationen organizations. IQ Samhällsbyggnad is a cross-sectoral organization with approximately 120 members from companies, organizations, authorities and academia.

The first step will be to establish a consortium of key stakeholders from various companies in the sector, the Swedish Universities of the Built Environment and the National Transport Administration. This consortium will be the beneficiaries and also, in partnership with academia, the main implementers.

”Attractive sustainable cities, a robust and reliable infrastructure and more housing are some of Sweden’s policy objectives. These are considered essential prerequisites for growth, employment and competitiveness, hence built environment is a central political issue.

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The European Commission has awarded the European Capital of Innovation (”iCapital”) prize to Barcelona (Spain) ”for introducing the use of new technologies to bring the city closer to citizens”. Barcelona was chosen by a panel of independent experts in a close competition with Grenoble (France) and Groningen (The Netherlands). The €500,000 iCapital prize (IP/13/808) will be used to scale up and expand Barcelona’s efforts on innovation. Barcelona was announced as the winner today at the closing ceremony of the Innovation Convention 2014, Europe’s premier innovation event (#EUIC2014).

Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, said: ”Barcelona is a deserving winner of the first iCapital award, for its dedication to using new technology for the benefit of its inhabitants. Still, there were many other great initiatives and proposals, and I want cities and regions to join together and share their experiences. Outstanding initiatives at the local level will contribute to keep turning the European Union into an Innovation Union.”

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Esko Kilpi writes in his blog about emergence of the platform company – and about the logics which are also behind the Urban Mill Open Innovation Platform development:

Gap between network-economy companies and traditional asset leverage driven companies is widening

”The effects of Moore’s law on the growth of the ICT industry and computing are well known. A lesser-known but potentially more weighty law is starting to replace Moore’s law in strategic influence. Metcalfe’s law states that the cost of a network expands linearly with increases in the size of the network, but the value of the network increases exponentially.

When this is combined with Moore’s law, we are in a world where at the same time as the value of the network goes up with its size, the average costs of technology are falling. This is one of the most important business drivers today. The implication is that there is an ever-widening gap between network-economy companies and those driven by traditional asset leverage models. Traditional business economics focus on economies of scale derived from the capital base of the company, which tends to scale linearly.”

A platform company should be as open, as accessible and as supportive as possible, to as many users as possible

”What used to be called “public goods” is today called “platforms”. A new form of a company is being born! Lue loppuun →