Real estate is big business in Atlanta, but the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) fields that support the Built Environment have been slow to adopt technology advances. Atlanta innovators from both inside and beyond traditional AEC sectors are starting to find new ways to use digital technology to capitalize on change, create new businesses, and address opportunities in the rapidly evolving landscape of smart building and infrastructure.
KP Reddy, co-founder of intellectual property-focused innovation incubator The Combine and founder of seed investing firm Shadow Ventures, says that the $30 trillion Built Environment (property and construction industries), or “BuiltTech” industry, has yet to be tapped.
“We see the BuiltTech market as one of the emerging leaders in technology entrepreneurship” said Reddy. “There is a pent up demand for innovation and disruption in this space and a growing startup community pursuing new ventures to disrupt aspects of this large industry”.
Reddy is spearheading a BuiltTech meeting of the minds — the first annual BuiltTech Week, in partnership with Georgia Tech, ATDC, SuperNova South, and the Metro Atlanta Chamber. From October 2-6, 2017, hundreds of AEC and technology professionals will attend over 15 BuiltTech-focused events in Atlanta, spanning lessons from investing to urban design to corporate innovation.
BuiltTech Week will also host sessions in partnership with Georgia Tech during its annual 2017 Digital Building Lab Symposium, which aims to position Atlanta as a hub for AEC innovation.
“Atlanta has all the ingredients necessary to become a leading center in high-tech applications to the built environment” says Director of the Georgia Tech Digital Building Lab Dennis Shelden. “The Atlanta real estate market is booming, particularly in Midtown, and this growth is being driven by the intersection of technology development and real estate investment to serve high tech. Atlanta is also the economic capital of the southeast, where both Fortune 500 companies and building product and construction innovators have set up their headquarters.”
“By tapping into all of these resources and bringing them together, we can make BuiltTech an important part of the regional innovation economy,” says Shelden.
Notable BuiltTech Week speakers include Reddy; Tom Scarangello, Chairman/CEO of Thornton Tomasetti; Brian McGowan, President of the Atlanta BeltLine; and Hans Utz, co-founder of The Combine and former deputy COO of the City of Atlanta.
Grab your tickets here!
BuiltTech Session Topics Include:
Investing in BuiltTech: Technology & Investment Trends in the BuiltTech Ecosystem
BuiltTech startups are creating new applications and tools that are changing how Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) companies design, plan and execute projects. With the role of BuiltTech growing so rapidly, and new use cases emerging constantly, companies that are placing the right bets in BuiltTech have an opportunity to become industry leaders in the years ahead.
Taking Cities to the Skies: Why Urban Density Matters?
In order to accommodate urban density, vertical growth is the most efficient way to deliver services to the most people with the least amount of financial cost. New technologies are now helping city planners leverage this virtually endless vertical space, but what does this mean for the future of urban development and why does it matter today?
Building Trust & Transparency in AEC Payments with Blockchain Technology
Within the construction industry there is a lack of transparency within the customer/contractor payment framework. Blockchain’s secure, decentralized, and tamper-proof ledger has the ability to seamlessly establish trust and transparency at scale within the construction industry.
Corporate Innovation: How BuiltTech is Transforming the Art of the Possible
AEC firms must be forward thinking and innovative not only in their approach to architecture and design, but also in the way they manage complex projects, people and resources. Will these corporations embrace a digital workplace to manage complex challenges and customer demands or will their resistance to change
Check out the full #BuiltTechWeek schedule here!
BuiltTech Week is part of SuperNova South. View the full SNS schedule here.
