CLIENTS DRIVING INNOVATION: MOVING IDEAS INTO PRACTICE

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1 CLIENTS DRIVING INNOVATION: MOVING IDEAS INTO PRACTICE Keynote Address ADOPTING INNOVATION: BUILDING INFORMATION MODELS IN THE FINNISH REAL ESTATE AND CONSTRUCTION CLUSTER VTT Technical Research Centre, Finland ABSTRACT Finland has been one of leading countries in the research and development of building product models since late 1980s. In 1996 Finland joint the activities in International Alliance for Interoperability to develop an international standard, IFC, for Building Information Models. In 1997 Finland started a large national technology programme, Vera Information Networking in the Construction Process , which aimed to the implementation and deployment of these technologies in the Finnish Real Estate and Construction Cluster. This paper presents briefly the main results of the Vera Programme and the major activities in Finland after the Vera Programme. The conclusion part discusses about the main reasons of the success in the implementation and deployment of BIM in Finland and in the end also the main problems and challenges in the future. Keywords: BIM, Building Product Models, IFC, Interoperability Clients Driving Innovation: Moving Ideas into Practice (12-14 March 2006) 1

2 BACKGROUND In early 1990 Finland s economy suffered from a deep recession, which affected especially strongly the Real Estate and Construction Cluster (RECC). When the economy started to recover in mid 1990 the Finnish technology policy and industry leaders agreed about the need to develop the cluster and identified some key problem areas in the industry. One of these key areas was information sharing and management in all processes during the lifecycle of the buildings. Together with the realization of the importance of the RECC in the national economy (Figure 1) this led into preparations for a large national technology programme to develop information and communication technologies for the management of lifecycle information of the buildings. Figure 1: Finnish RECC s role in the national economy TEKES TECHNOLOGY PROGRAMMES Tekes, Technology Agency of Finland, is the main funding source for all applied technological research and development in Finland and its main instrument to influence in the development are pro-active technology programmes. Tekes uses technology programmes to allocate its financing, networking and expert services to areas that are important for business and society. Programmes are launched in areas of application and technology that are in line with the policies in Tekes strategy. Technology programmes consist of research projects by companies, universities and research institutes, plus services that support companies business operations, such as shared visions, seminars, training programmes and international visits. Technology programmes provide opportunities for companies to network and develop business expertise and skills in international operations. In the programmes they receive Tekes financing for developing products, production, service concepts and business expertise and also the very latest information about different areas of technology and business. (Tekes ). Clients Driving Innovation: Moving Ideas into Practice (12-14 March 2006) 2

3 PROBLEM ANALYSIS FOR THE RECC ICT TECHNOLOGY PROGRAMME The starting point for the planned RECC ICT technology programme was to analyse the assumed problems together with the industry in a study, which provided bases for the decisions about the goals, content and volume for the programme which would address the identified main problems. The identified main development areas for a new programme were (Kiviniemi et al ): 1. To raise the quality of information management between project participants The participants must be able to deliver the right information to the right persons at the right time. The main goals are interoperability and data sharing. 2. Information management over the building lifecycle First requirement to fulfil this is, that all information produced in the design and construction process is interoperable and that as-built information can be delivered after the delivery of the building. 3. Wide utilisation of IT in building industry The current processes in building industry include much overlapping and repeated work, because the processes and methods are still mainly the same as they were before implementation of IT. Information networking could reduce this overlapping, but it is not possible before all participants use IT widely and the data is interoperable. 4. Re-engineering of building process The building process must develop into a user and product orientated, flexible process supporting networking and sustainability. IT can be used as a tool to change the processes. The process must be changed before the full benefit of IT can be achieved. 5. Use of information networks The use of network in data sharing will enable new and faster processes and make revision control easier decreasing problems to find the latest information in the changing situations. The basic strategy was to move from the application specific data and data integration on company level towards industry wide data integration and shared models (Figure 2). Vera Auth Owner Arch User User User Auth Auth Owner Arch Arch Contr Hvac Hvac Eng Eng User User Auth Auth Owner Arch Arch Contr Contr Hvac Hvac Eng Eng Contr Contr Hvac Hvac Eng Eng Kari Karstila EuroSTEPsys Oy Figure 2: Technological steps from application specific data to industry wide integration Clients Driving Innovation: Moving Ideas into Practice (12-14 March 2006) 3

4 EARLY BUILDING PRODUCT MODELLIN RESEARCH AND CONNECTION TO IAI VTT started the research of product model technologies already in late 1980s in RATAS projects (Björk ), but at that time the Finnish industry did not adopt these technologies. The main reason was the lack of suitable, existing software applications and Finnish market was not large enough for successful commercial implementation of the early product model ideas. However, the early efforts created world-class knowledge of the product model technologies in Finland and emphasized the importance of international collaboration and standards as enablers of adoption of new technologies for information sharing. During the preparations of the national RECC ICT technology programme in 1996 started also a new international building product model standardization effort; Industry Alliance for Interoperability which started in USA in 1994 demonstrated advantages of the interoperable product models. In 1996 the Alliance transformed into International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI) which had the first meeting in London in May. This organization provided an obvious international platform for the Finnish activities, and IAI Nordic Chapter was founded in August 1996 in Helsinki together with Denmark, Norway and Sweden. VERA INFORMATION NETWORKING IN THE CONSTRUCTION PROCESS In May 1997 Tekes made the formal decision to start a national technology programme called Vera Information Networking in the Construction Process However, in fact some Vera projects, such as IAI Forum Finland, started already in late The duration of the programme was decided to be six years, , and the original budget was defined to be 28 million euros, which made the programme one of the largest construction ICT development efforts in the world at that time. The programme vision and goals were ambitious; to affect, not only in the RECC, but the whole society (Figure 3). In the beginning of the Vera Programme some people in Finland criticised that the programme volume was too high, because about 50% of the funding must come from the private sector and the critics said that RECC is not willing to invest that much in the ICT related R&D. However, soon the industry was even more active than Tekes estimated based on the pre-study, and thus Tekes increased their funding part according to the demand. The final budget of the Vera Programme was almost 47 million euros, 67 % over the original budget (Table 1). A noteworthy issue is also the large percentage of industrial development projects in the Vera Programme; 70% of the projects and 82% of the budget was used in those. This is exceptional in the Finnish technology programmes, but matches exactly in the Vera Programme s strategic goals; to make the change in the industry. Table 1: Final budget distribution of the Vera Programme Total Tekes Number Average Tekes budget funding of budget funding M % M % projects % k Research Projects % 4 18% 48 30% % Industrial Projects % % % % Total % Clients Driving Innovation: Moving Ideas into Practice (12-14 March 2006) 4

5 Figure 3: Vision and Goals of the Vera Programme As shown in the Table 1, Vera Programme consisted of 161 projects. Thus, it is not possible or relevant in this context try to cover all details of the programme. It consisted of five main types of projects: 1) Software Products, 2) Service Products, 3) Process Development, 4) Basic Technologies and Know-how, and 5) Surveys and Reports. In most categories the projects consisted of both research and industrial development projects (Vera ). Software products and basic technologies were crucial enablers for the first tests of the ideas. The basic technology development was mainly focusing on the development of the IFC specification. Some times Finland s contribution in this area paid for almost half of the international IFC modelling group. Software development was focused on commercial products, and several projects created world-class applications, for example, COVE by YIT, Model Checker by Solibri, IFCtoolbox by Eurostep, MagiCAD by Progman, and BS-PRO and BS-LCA by Olof Granlund, just to mention few of them. Also two of the existing three IFC model server applications in the world were developed in projects of the Vera Programme: IMSVR by Secom (Japan) and VTT, and Model Server for IFC by Eurostep (Vera ). In the service products and process development categories companies developed their own processes and abilities to utilize the new technologies. One of the main driving forces in the early phases of the Vera Programme was YIT, the largest construction company in Finland. Their example and results were crucial to show the potential of the BIM technology for the other construction companies. Later in the program also Skanska activated and in the ProIT project they have caught up, if not passed YIT. One of the important companies for success of the Vera Programme was also Olof Granlund, an engineering office for building services, which has developed unique software and processes moving from traditional HVACE design to lifecycle information management offering also advanced and powerful simulation and analysis tools and partnering with leading technology developers around the world. Clients Driving Innovation: Moving Ideas into Practice (12-14 March 2006) 5

6 HUT-600 PROJECT, SENATE PROPERTIES However, in my opinion, the most important single project in the Vera Programme was the new main auditorium for Helsinki University of Technology (HUT). HUT campus is located in Otaniemi, city of Espoo, Finland. The masterplan and the main buildings of the HUT campus were designed by Alvar Aalto ( ), widely regarded as one of the most prominent architects of the twentieth century. Aalto s bond with HUT was forged in 1949, when his competition entry was awarded as the masterplan for the Otaniemi campus. Dominated by the striking form of the two main auditoriums (Figure 4), the main building was completed in In 1997, the shortage of multipurpose auditorium space prompted HUT to conduct a feasibility study to evaluate possible locations for a new auditorium. The study concluded with a decision to build a new multipurpose auditorium as an extension that was to be linked to the northern end of the existing Aalto main building. Since the new auditorium the largest on the HUT campus is capable of accommodating 600 people, the construction project was named to HUT-600. The project started in October 2000 with an initial budget of about 5 million euros. Construction commenced in April 2001 and was completed in February, 2002 (Fischer and Kam ). Figure 4: Helsinki University of Technology main auditoriums, Alvar Aalto 1964 Because of the importance of the building, the requirements and expectations for the building design was very high. The owner, Senate Properties, wanted to use the best available design, analysis and evaluation methods and increased the challenges for the architect and engineers by making a decision to use interoperable product modelling techniques in the project. The project was the first project in the world using IFC data transfer in wide scale between the project participants. In addition, the owner decided to make a public, international report of the project. The report was written by Martin Fischer and Calvin Kam, and it is published as CIFE Technical Report #153 in Stanford University (Fischer and Kam ). This excellent report records all the details of the process, problems and benefits. Thus, I present here only to the main activities and some conclusions directly as they are documented in Executive Summary of the CIFE Technical report #153 (the text in Italic). Clients Driving Innovation: Moving Ideas into Practice (12-14 March 2006) 6

7 The HUT-600 project team constructed and maintained object-oriented product models with explicit knowledge of building components, spatial definitions, material composition, and other parametric properties. Only with this product modeling approach could the team leverage the object intelligence from the 3D models for data interoperability. These product modeling and interoperability approaches eliminated the inefficiency and risks of data reentry in conventional practice. The PM4D approach was crucial for generating reliable and quick cost estimates, construction schedules, comfort designs, energy analyses, environmental reports, and lifecycle cost studies. Furthermore, the approach allowed the project team to utilize visualization tools to review spatial designs in virtual walk-throughs, compare lighting schemes in photo-realistic renderings, and comprehend construction sequences in 4D animations, all leveraging the same electronic design information. Figure 5: HUT-600 design and analysis tools CIFE/Stanford University PM4D Final Report Major Benefits During the early schematic phase, object-oriented modeling software and IFC s allowed the project team to shorten the time for design iteration, develop a reliable budget for effective cost control, and eliminate the need to re-enter geometric data, thermal values, and material properties as different disciplines contributed to the design progress. Additionally, visualization tools such as photo-realistic rendering software, Virtual Reality-Experimental Virtual Environment (VR-EVE) fostered early communication among the end-users, owners and the project team, who then captured valuable inputs and effectively translated the client s intent into long term values. Building on the resulting efficiency and time-savings, the project team was able to conduct a variety of in-depth life-cycle studies and alternative comparisons on thermal performance, operation costs, energy consumption, and environmental impacts (Figure 5). Compared to a conventional approach, these relatively seamless data exchange and technology tools substantially expedited design and improved the quality of interdisciplinary collaboration. The PM4D approach empowered the building owners to better align the long-term facility values with their strategic plans. Clients Driving Innovation: Moving Ideas into Practice (12-14 March 2006) 7

8 Major Barriers to Extending PM4D Benefits As desired, most PM4D benefits occurred during the early design phase. Even though the PM4D approach improved upon conventional practices in terms of design quality, project risks, and life-cycle values, we encountered technological, cultural, and business barriers to extending the benefits of PM4D approach. Project participants in the HUT-600 project could have enjoyed further benefits if product modeling tools supported revision-handling, two-way exchanges, simpler mapping of data formats from exporting to importing applications, and if IFC-compliant software tools were extensible and robust. Culturally, 4D technology could have introduced additional analytical benefits beyond its current utilization if it had been conducted earlier during the preconstruction phase. The online project extranet (also called project databank in this report), if developed optimally, would have made information exchanges more efficient during the construction documentation phase. At the same time, building owners and designers could have exploited business opportunities for the architects role in developing and coordinating a sharable product model. Conclusions and Recommendations Based on experiences from the HUT-600 project, we [Fischer and Kam] conclude that the PM4D approach helps expedite conventional design practices and promote life-cycle approaches. Project examples demonstrate that owners could choose among comprehensive life-cycle alternatives, end-users could provide input to the facility design in a timely manner, and project team members could differentiate themselves from their competitors with higher efficiency, quality, and more effective application of their expertise. Most participants in this project were surprised by the large number of design, engineering, and analysis tasks that can be supported productively with product models today. Figure 6 shows that many software tools were able to import IFC-based and/or non IFC-based product models for many different disciplines and diverse criteria. However, Figure 6 also shows that the exchange of product model information based on an open standard like IFC is not yet as mature and widespread as needed in practice. One should also note that the use of IFC-based product models worked quite well in the schematic design phase of the project. However, in the later project phases, IFC-based product models were not as effective a means as proprietary information formats to exchange data between software tools. On this project, the IFC standard was used; recently published standards 2.0 and 2.x address some of the shortcomings of IFC-based product models found in this research. One would also expect that some of the software-based limitations have been ironed out by the vendors by now. The product modeling and information standards community has long touted the advantages of supporting the many software tools used on projects with a common core model. However, we are still lacking a validated specification for the content of such a core model. Therefore, one of the specific goals of the research was to study whether such a core model exists, i.e., emerges through the team s experience in using product models to share data, and if it exists, what type of information is part of the core model. Figure 6 and the experience from this research show that the building geometry, material types, and space identifier (or ID) are part of a core model. On the other hand, the architect had to expend significant effort to adjust the core model to support the different needs of the various disciplines. Furthermore, Figure 6 also shows that, in addition to the 3D core model, there appear to exist discipline-specific models, such as the thermal model. To exploit the potential benefits of the PM4D approach further, we recommend that researchers and software developers focus their efforts on partial model exchanges, product model servers, better defining core versus discipline-specific product models, and developing more reliable and extensible tools. Clients Driving Innovation: Moving Ideas into Practice (12-14 March 2006) 8

9 Figure 6: Snapshot of product model applications used by the project team in the HUT-600 project (middleware and internal database omitted) CIFE/Stanford University PM4D Final Report The main result of the HUT-600 project was its enormous impact to the knowledge of the potential and problems in processes based on interoperable software. The project was a proof of concept in reality and because of the publicity of the report, both in Finland and internationally, it started a new phase in the Vera program. Although the process exposed many technical problems and limitations in the IFC implementations and data exchange, it convinced the owner of the potential of the modelling and that it is worth continuing to test the different possibilities and options in other projects. Since HUT-600, Senate Properties has tested the use of product models in 10+ projects covering different phases and design domains (Figure 7) and is currently considering the timeframe when to start demanding models as a part of their standard process. Figure 7: Product model projects of Senate Properties Clients Driving Innovation: Moving Ideas into Practice (12-14 March 2006) 9

10 THE USE OF BUILDING PRODUCT MODELS IN FINLAND TODAY CONFEDERATION OF THE FINNISH CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRIES When a large effort ends the immediate reaction is often that the activities in that area stop at least for a moment before people can find the new platform to continue their work related to the issue. When Vera Programme ended in December 2002, this was luckily not the case. The Finnish industry had already picked the ball and continued to carry it forward. The leading role was taken by the Confederation of the Finnish Construction Industries (RT). The results of several projects in the Vera Programme, especially HUT-600 and some projects by the large construction companies, such as YIT and Skanska, convinced RT about the benefits of the modelling and potential of the interoperability. Thus they defined the development and deployment of product models and interoperability as the key elements of their new technology strategy in January 2002 (RT 7 ) and started to implement the strategy immediately in the ProIT development project (Figure 8). ProIT Product Model Data in the Construction Project The ProIT project developed the construction process and its procedures with a building product model concept serving as a common source of information for the various parties involved in the process. The scope of the project covered modelling the product-modelbased process and its data exchange, compiling the design guidelines needed in product modelling, and creating product structure libraries. The project was supported by the member companies of RT, performing the piloting and testing with the help of real projects and products. The work was done in cooperation with Tekes, designers, construction clients, consultants and other interest groups and created as one of the results public, industry-wide product modelling procedures and guidelines (ProIT 8, the following text is almost directly from the same source). Figure 8: ProIT vision of the product-model-based design and construction process Clients Driving Innovation: Moving Ideas into Practice (12-14 March 2006) 10

11 When the ProIT project was launched in 2002, the Finnish construction industry s processes were highly fragmented. Design input data were frequently inadequate, and there was no common language among the various participants. It was difficult to check plans, and errors piled up at the worksite, causing unexpected costs and schedule problems. The main investment decisions were made purely on the basis of construction costs. All these eroded the development of construction productivity. Product modelling was seen as one solution to the problems and in the ProIT pilot projects have already shown evidence of significant improvements. The experiences from four ProIT pilot projects in 2005 have been collected in a report (ProIT 9 ). The main advantages of modelling include 1) the integration of plans and reduction of errors with clash detection analysis, 2) faster and more accurate quantity surveying and cost estimation, 3) the clarity of three-dimensional plans, and 4) generation of marketing materials and drawings directly from one source; the product model. New ways of using models include also precast panel design and indoor condition simulations. One the goals of the ProIT project was to create a common practice for modelling in Finland and to ensure that product models could be used for design, quantity surveying, cost estimating, and other applications. For these purposes, specific product modelling guidelines were created for both architectural and structural design (ProIT 10 ). Another of the key goals of the ProIT project was to make data exchange more fluent. The data exchange development was based on the IFC standard, with which all the product models of the various designers could be linked together. During the project, there was an attempt to introduce information management through product model servers, but this plan was not done. However, the feedback from the latest product model projects and news from other countries indicate that there has recently been significant progress in applying the IFC standard. ProIT project developed also some product libraries with a standardised structure, presentation and classification, which enable reliable and easy recognition of structures and components for quantity surveying and cost estimating. However, there is still much work to be done on product libraries. In particular, only very few companies have produced compliant libraries for individual products such as doors, windows and fittings. Other important future development targets are quality of data exchange in software applications and improvements in modelling complex details and joint components. In addition, product model servers are not yet on the level which could be used in real construction projects. The Pro IT project was brought to conclusion at the end of 2005, but its work continues through the Building Information Foundation s ProIT committee as well as in the companies which have adopted modelling as the result of the ProIT project. VBE - VIRTUAL BUILDING ENVIRONMENTS In 2002 VTT, CIFE/Stanford University and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) agreed about the concept of so called Virtual Building Environments (VBE). The basic idea is to provide a collaboration platform for the research, development, implementation and deployment of building product model technologies. The first VBE effort in Finland was done as a collaboration project between VTT and Tampere University of Technology (TUT) in parallel with ProIT project, and it created 1) a framework for development of methods to measure the benefits of the use of interoperable models and data sharing, and 2) identified some bottlenecks in the current processes and technologies (Laitinen et al ). In August 2005 VTT and TUT started the second phase of VBE project,, VBE2 together with 18 leading Finnish companies. Clients Driving Innovation: Moving Ideas into Practice (12-14 March 2006) 11

12 VBE2 goals 1) Goals for the participating RECC companies are that the use of VBE methods will provide clear competitive advantage: Useful methods to evaluate the potential benefits and measure the achieved benefits of the VBE methods Clear understanding of the possibilities and problems of the existing and emerging VBE technologies combined to the defined strategy how to implement the new technologies Advanced decision making support for building projects and company processes 2) Goals for the participating research organizations are significant research results and new research areas: Development of methods to measure and benchmark VBE benefits Development of data transfer and sharing technologies Development of VBE based decision support methods and measuring their efficiency Development of model based real estate and facility management processes 3) Goals for the Finnish RECC are to affect the whole industry in Finland: Measurable evidence of the efficiency of the VBE methods Establishing a critical mass of organizations that are able to utilize Virtual Building Environment efficiently VBE2 work packages WP1 Company Strategies and Benefits: The main focus of the WP1 is in the company strategies: how to use the VBE technologies to achieve competitive advantage. WP1 will evaluate (1) the state-of-theart of VBE tools and skills in the participating companies, (2) the goals and (3) a feasible way to move towards those goals with measurable steps. WP2 Data Transfer Technologies: Crucial part of developing VBE technologies further is to move from IFC file exchange to shared data utilizing IFC model servers as stated in the PM4D report. VBE2 project will test and demonstrate the possibilities of model server technology by developing some end-user application interfaces. One special element for the iroom and other visualization purposes is the development of a 3D component, which can be used in client applications using the specified visual interface to the data (Figure 9) WP3 Decision Support Technologies: WP3 focuses in utilizing decision support technologies in RECC processes, and validating their benefits. One of the main technologies will be iroom; a multi-screen presentation technology enabling synchronization of presentation of data from multiple software applications, and thus providing multiple simultaneous views to the complex project data and helping project participants to understand and create a shared view of the problems and solutions. WP4 Model-based RE/FM Business Processes The current VBE technologies are based on the IFC model specification. It has not been used in the real estate and facility management business processes in Finland. However, RE/FM use would be crucial to create market demand for the models from clients owning and operating the buildings. WP4 focuses in 1) capturing these processes and data needs for the models, 2) recognizing RE/FM business cases to demonstrate the possible benefits, and 3) possible needs for extensions of the current IFC specifications. Clients Driving Innovation: Moving Ideas into Practice (12-14 March 2006) 12

13 Figure 9: : Interface development within the VBE2 project WP5 International Activities International co-operation started already in the first phase of the VBE project through the International VBE Network with CIFE and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The collaboration has expanded with CIFE and CSIRO in the International iroom network. Additional co-operation has been prepared with the University of Salford (UK). The VBE2 project will continue, foster and expand the international VBE network, and develop international methods to benchmark the VBE results. WP6 VBE Strategy and Communication The goals of WP6 are 1) to develop the VBE strategy in collaboration with the Steering Committee and all WP leaders, 2) ensure sufficient and frequent communication between all project participants, and 3) ensure sufficient publicity of the project results on the international scientific forums. WP7 Project Management The goal of WP7 is to ensure sufficient communication between the Steering Committee and all work packages, and that the project results fulfil the goals set in the project plan. In general VBE2 projects goal is to make a major contribution by leveraging the use of VBE technologies to the next level by changing the current processes and establishing a critical mass of Finnish organizations that are able to utilize Virtual Building Environment efficiently. CONCLUSIONS HOW TO ADOPT INNOVATION? In the beginning of the Vera Programme Tekes expectation was that the real impacts would be visible 10 years after the programme, which shows unusual farsightedness and patience in the modern world, but also realism; it is not possible to change an industry paradigm rapidly. In this perspective, Vera Programme has surpassed the expectations; the impact Clients Driving Innovation: Moving Ideas into Practice (12-14 March 2006) 13

14 has been much faster and wider than most people expected. The crucial question is naturally what are the reasons for this success; just a coincidence, good timing, luck? Looking at the situation globally, I dare to claim that it was not just coincidental luck. Good timing, definitely; the timing connected to the international IAI effort to develop interoperable software was one of the key elements in the success. However, it was not the only reason. In my opinion, there are several key elements behind the change which has happened and is still happening in Finland. STREGTHS Long term vision, focused investment in development and critical mass Several international studies have proven that the Finnish innovation system has been among the most successful platforms for technological development in the world. Finland has changed from a country suffering from strong recession and unemployment in early 1990s to the most competitive economy (Global Competitiveness Report ) and one of the leading high-tech countries (Figure 10) in one decade. Tekes creates the national technology strategies together with the industry and the technology programmes enable the long term investments and critical mass of the development both on public and private sector. Especially in an area, where the development of several elements at the same time is needed the critical mass is crucial. If only few companies develop their products, the change is not only slow, it can be totally impossible for those companies to survive unless the demand and supply are developed at the same time. Modelling and interoperable data sharing are not only technological steps; they also require process and business development. Figure 10: Share of high tech exports in some OECD countries Clients Driving Innovation: Moving Ideas into Practice (12-14 March 2006) 14

15 Willingness to collaborate combined with small market Finland is still a country where trust and collaboration are easily established. Competitors, such as contractors, can agree about collaboration in developing a technology platform which serves everyone, and still compete how to utilize that platform in their internal processes. Agreeing about a standard creates new market possibilities. A classical example is the early NMT (Nordic Mobil Telephone) system. It created the early market for mobile phones in the Nordic countries in early 1980s and created the basis for Nokia s success with the following global mobile phone systems. Something similar, although in much smaller scale, has happened in Finland with the early RATAS product model development which created the basis for adoption of IFCs. Small market makes the collaboration easy, agile and functioning; one can collect all opinion leaders around one table, agree what to do and trust that everyone acts accordingly. In general, this and the wide commitment and willingness of the Finnish RECC has been the main reason for the successful implementation and deployment of Building Information Models in Finland. Education and interest in technology According to PISA research (PISA ) Finns were among the OECD top in mathematical, science and reading literacy and in problem-solving. PISA measures how well young people have mastered important knowledge and skills needed in future society, on the changing labour market and in quality adult life, rather than learning attainment in terms of the school curriculum. This reflects in the society; people accept and adopt the changes relatively easily and are also interested in technology, which means that the resistance to change is lower than in many other countries. International collaboration and communication The lessons from early RATAS projects proved that Finland is too small to develop any software products for local market only and even less our own standards. International collaboration in developing the industry practices regardless of the domain is a crucial element for successful research and development. Another crucial element is the communication during the R&D activities. The traditional way to communicate with the larger industry audience in the Finnish technology programmes has been one yearly seminar presenting the results of last year. Based on the experiences of the Vera Programme, this might not be the best method; industry is not necessarily interested in the programme itself but rather on some specific area of the programme, such as in Vera s case, software development, architectural design, ecommerce, construction process or FM activities. In addition, the content of one seminar is very limited and time between yearly seminars is too long for efficient communication. Thus, I changed the practice in the Vera Programme and arranged several seminars on specific themes every year; instead of having 6 general seminars during the whole programme, we had 28 specialised seminars, in average almost 5 seminars per year each having normally participants. This was obviously one of the reasons for the programme s success, according to the final Vera Programme evaluation report Most of the people interviewed mentioned these seminars as being highly beneficial as one of their primary sources of information about the related technologies. (Froese ) The importance of the success stories in a technology programme cannot be overestimated. Very few companies want to be the guinea pigs, the first ones who try something new. Most companies are cautious and stand back and wait for the results. Only the published success of their competitors can generate their interest to join and start implementing similar processes and tools. Envy and fear are powerful drivers also in the business world. Clients Driving Innovation: Moving Ideas into Practice (12-14 March 2006) 15

16 Important part of the communication is also the active role of the Programme Manager. As the Finnish technology programmes consist of project initiated by the individual companies, universities and research institutes, the Programme Manager has to be able, not only to select suitable project for funding, but also to activate and steer potential ideas into projects which can contribute towards the programme goals. This was another strength identified in the Vera Programme evaluation report (Froese ) Also a later evaluation of Vera Programme in the context of other RECC technology programmes supports Professor Froese s findings: In the larger evaluation framework of this study, Froese s main findings concerning the Vera technology programme are supported by data derived from the questionnaires regarding the thirteen technology programmes in the field of real estate and construction. Almost without exception, Vera was considered to be among the most successful technology programmes carried out in the cluster. (Uusikylä et al ) POTENTIAL PROBLEMS, WEAKNESSES AND FUTURE CHALLENGES If the Finnish innovation environment is so great, how comes that all technology programs are not successful? One reason is that it is not easy to affect all the above elements; platform for international collaboration is not always available, the timing can be wrong either too early or too late and the communication is a demanding effort. If the message does not reach the industry well enough, the critical mass will be missing and the impact of the programme can be a lot weaker than expected. In the adoption of ICT for RECC one of the big problems is the lack of specific education for the new tools and processes. Although the average education level in Finland is high as stated earlier, the education of architects and engineers in the universities is not based on the current or future modelling techniques, but mainly on traditional drafting. This has created a strange, reverse situation, where the research and companies in Finland are globally on the leading edge, but the education lags behind. Correcting this situation will be one of our main challenges in the near future. In general the final evaluation of the results of the Vera program stated in 2003 However, according to the interviews carried out in the context of this study, more emphasis should be put on the concern that as the internationally pioneering work undertaken in the Vera technology programme has already opened, and will continue to open, several global opportunities and new strategic directions in the further development within the cluster, the present ability and mental readiness to utilise the tools developed is limited, taking into consideration the fragmented nature of the Finnish cluster overall. Moreover, the edge now achieved in R&D is hard to maintain in the increasingly competitive global market. Thus, the requirements for efficient commercialisation and international marketing are tough. (Uusikylä et al ) The results of the ProIT project in 2005 and on-going work in Finland clearly challenge the first statement about the ability and readiness in Finland. However, the second statement of the difficulty to maintain the leading position and to achieve strong position on the international market is still absolutely valid and maybe even challenging than the domestic education. Clients Driving Innovation: Moving Ideas into Practice (12-14 March 2006) 16

17 References: 1 Tekes Internet pages: 2 Kiviniemi, Arto; Lautanala, Mika; Kaitainen, Kari: VERA - Information Networking in the Construction Process. CIB conference proceedings 208, ISBN X, p Cairns July 1997, available at 3 Björk, Bo-Christer: The RATAS project - developing an infrastructure for computer integrated construction, ASCE Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, vol 8, no. 4, 1994, p , available also at 4 Vera Programme Internet pages, projects: 5 Fischer, Martin; Kam, Calvin: PM4D Final Report, CIFE TR #143, p. 9, Stanford University 2002, available at 6 Fischer, Martin; Kam, Calvin: PM4D Final Report, CIFE TR #143, Stanford University Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries: Construction Industry Technology Strategy, 2002, 8 ProIT project Internet pages: 9 ProIT pilot project report (only in Finnish): Some of the material in English in the ProIT News Nov 2003-Jan 2006: 10 ProIT guidelines for architectural modelling (only in Finnish) and ProIT guidelines for structural modelling (only in Finnish 11 Laitinen, Jarmo; Kähkönen, Kalle; Fox, Stephen: Virtual Building Environments, Research and Development Project , Final Report 12 Global Competitiveness Report Reports/ Reports/GCR_05_06/Executive_Summary 13 PISA 2003: Programme for International Student Assessment 14 Froese, Thomas: Final Programme Evaluation Report, Vera Information Networking in the Construction Process - A Tekes Technology Programme, p. 17, Tekes 2002, available at: 15 Froese, Thomas: Final Programme Evaluation Report, Vera Information Networking in the Construction Process - A Tekes Technology Programme, p. 16, Tekes Uusikylä, Petri; Valovirta, Ville; Karinen, Risto; Abel, Enno; Froese, Thomas: Towards a Competitive Cluster An evaluation of real estate and construction cluster technology programmes, p. 24, Tekes 2003, available at Clients Driving Innovation: Moving Ideas into Practice (12-14 March 2006) 17