Keynote speakers
Jaan Saar
Tuesday September 24
9.00
Head of Digital Construction, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, Estonia
Topic: Defragmenting the construction industry with a digital platform
Abstract:
Named ‘the most advanced digital society in the world’ by Wired Magazine, Estonia has built an efficient, secure and transparent digital ecosystem that saves time and money. The numbers speak for themselves: Taxes are completed online in under 5 minutes, 99 percent of the Estonia's public services are available on the web 24 hours a day and nearly one-third of citizens vote via the internet.
Despite the advances in e-government, the productivity of the Estonian construction sector has remained much below the EU average. The strategic goal of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications is to increase productivity at least three times by 2030. One of the key prerequisites for achieving productivity growth is the improvement of work processes and information flows. That is why the government has started developing the e-construction platform – a digital integration platform to connect data and services throughout the building lifecycle.
An integral part of the e-construction platform is the 3D visualization of the “digital twin” that combines real-time data (including GIS/BIM) about the natural and built environment from public registries and databases. This will be the main interface for the e-construction platform.
Biography:
Jaan has managed processes and IT in the construction industry for over 15 years. He joined the public sector in 2018 with the goal to digitally transform construction in Estonia. He is currently working on developing the "e-construction platform" which will provide the digital infrastructure for collaborative data sharing and integrate innovative services related to the planning, design, construction and maintenance of built assets.
Eric Baczuk
Tuesday September 24
9.15
User Experience Lead, Google / Sidewalk Labs, USA
Topic: Gardeners in the City of the Future
Biography:
As a founding member of Alphabet's urban innovation company, Sidewalk Labs, Eric's work explores the relationship between digital technologies, design and the the human experience. Through a combination of experimental research and entrepreneurship, his work seeks to humanize the complex underlying social, economic and biologic forces that shape our urban environments.
Toni Luhti
Tuesday September 24
9.45
Chief Executive Officer, Platform of Trust, Finland
Topic: Why it's time to start using that data you have been collecting
Biography:
A digital difference maker combined with 20 years experience from IT and latest research knowledge of economics. Toni has worked across multiple global and local technology companies on top leading positions. With the demystification of technology as his core skill, he is able to transform any technological possibilities to a business case and digital solutions to value capturing machines. As an ambitious learner with endless amount of questions, he is reading towards PhD at University of Jyväskylä about the factors that are preventing companies from transforming their business models and so on losing their competitive advantage
Martin Bishop
Wednesday September 25
9.00
TechBD Manager EMEA, Amazon Web Services, UK
Topic: Driving Successful Digital Transformation in the Public Sector
Abstract:
In a public sector setting, the expectations of an increasingly digital citizenry are high, yet all levels of government face budgetary and human resource constraints. In these circumstances, why are some organisations able to quickly deliver value and respond to change whilst others really struggle to do so? In this session we’ll cover the cultural, business, and technical aspects that help drive successful digital transformations and look at a real world example of how those have been employed and the resulting business value realized. We’ll explore the transformative impact of cloud computing and highlight practical strategies being deployed by organisations worldwide.
Biography:
Martin leads Technology Business Development for AWS in EMEA, with a focus on Public Sector customers in particular. He’s been with Amazon Web Services for over 3 years and helped many organisations get to grips with the benefits that cloud could bring in terms of increased agility and resilience. Martin is a “builder” at heart, happiest when working with customers to apply technologies in interesting ways to address challenges. Having been through the transformation with many organisations, Martin will share some best practice around the cultural, architectural and organisational impact. He’ll also be talking about how Amazon innovates and scales that innovation across the business. Prior to AWS, Martin was in the Utilities sector for 15 years, primarily focussed on energy delivery and measurement. From pre-payment electricity projects in East Timor to smart metering in Spain.
Salla Palos
Wednesday September 25
9.30
Director of Transformation Services, Microsoft, USA
Topic: Empowering people with inclusive environment
Biography:
Salla is the new Director of Transformation Services for Microsoft Global Real Estate and Security - Center of Innovation. In her new role based in Microsoft headquarters, Salla directs and manages the delivery of a complex, future-oriented, digital transformation strategy. Excited for the challenge, Salla is looking forward to collaborating with the AEC industry entering into the digital frontier and reimagining what the digital built environment can be in terms of physical, social and virtual space.
Salla is a frequent public speaker in national and international industry forums evangelizing innovation strategies in digital construction, and their impact on people, business and technology. She holds a Master of Science degree in Architecture from Tampere University of Technology, Finland.
Lu Ying
Wednesday September 25
10.00
Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer, Future Urban Living, China/Finland
Topic: Urban Innovation Pockets - and their role in enabling innovation for future ecosystems
Lu is an impact-driven leader who believes that asking ‘why’ is in the core of everything. With Finnish-Shanghainese origins, she has a broad range of experiences acquired across 8 cities and 3 continents, from startups to C-level executions in the most innovative organizations ranked by Forbes.
Wildly curious about systemic shifts and urban ecosystems, Lu recently co-founded Future Urban Living to explore sustainable solutions for businesses and cities in the Circular Economy through design thinking.
Cross-collaborating across sectors, intergovernmental organizations and bridging her experience on blockchain technology, Lu’s on a mission to re-imagine how value is being created in our economies.
Blending industries to be at her ideal intersection of business, impact and arts, Lu is also in the leadership team for the World Economic Forum Gobal Shapers and chairs Strategic Alliances on the board of Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) Shanghai.
Randy Deutsch
Wednesday September 25
15.20
AIA, LEED AP
Topic: Learning from Superusers: What to expect in the next year and beyond
Biography:
Randy Deutsch AIA, LEED AP is an architect, educator, author and speaker. Randy is a licensed architect having designed +100 large, complex sustainable projects for which he received the AIA Young Architect Award Chicago. Since 2011 Randy has authored four books, most recently Convergence: The Redesign of Design (AD, 2017) and earlier this year, Superusers: Design Technology Specialists and the Future of Practice (Routledge, 2019.) In addition to teaching at University of Illinois at Chicago starting in 2001 and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign starting in 2012, where he teaches Design Studio, Urban Design, Professional Practice, Building Construction, Construction Management, Building Technology and Digital Technology, for the past three years Randy served as Associate Director for Graduate Studies in the School of Architecture. Randy previously served on Chicago Architectural Club's Board of Directors; AIA Chicago Board as Director and Vice President; on ARCHITECT Magazine’s 2018 R+D jury; and led an annual Executive Education program at Harvard GSD. Randy delivers 30 keynotes and workshops worldwide each year to the larger AEC community, including to firm leadership in architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, and for owners, regulators, and software developers. In the past year, among other events, Randy has been an invited speaker at the Design Futures Council Summit on Leadership, the Global Design Alliance, the Design Colloquium, MADE Expo in Milan, Italy, the Manchester School of Architecture, at Harvard GSD, and in the coming months will be keynoting in Australia, Spain, and London.
Shajay Bhooshan
Wednesday September 25
15.45
Senior Associate, Zaha Hadid Architects, UK
Topic: Home, communities and games
Interview with Shajay Bhooshan
Ulrik Branner
Wednesday September 25
16.10
Board & Executive, LetsBuild (formerly GenieBelt), Denmark
Topic: What does the wave hitting the construction industry look like?
Biography:
Ulrik Branner - Boardmember and Executive of LetsBuild (formerly GenieBellt). After more than 20 years working with technology from a commercial angle, Ulrik entered Construction in 2014. He forms part of the executive management of LetsBuild - a 5 years old ConTech company delivering an end-to-end digital platform for the build phase. With the responsibility for Thought Leadership, Professional Services and Construction Digital Maturity Ladder, Ulrik spends a significant amount of time with major Clients and Contractors, going through fundamental changes in how they do business.
Cristina Savian
Wednesday September 25
16.35
Managing director, BE-WISE, UK
Topic: Digital Twin – A launchpad to inform the user experience of today’s and tomorrow’s generations
Abstract:
Digital Twin has the ability to be the multi-generational story-teller that can relay the attributes of our built environment to all members of society.
An artist does not chose the materials they will work until they understand the canvas to which it is to be applied. A digital twin is that canvas, combined with the integrated inherited understanding and record of assets and its human interaction within.
As society develops the cycles of what is good or fashionable ‘User Experience’ looks like decreases. Digital Twins provide us with the ability to adapt to the rapidly changing needs of society and the environment.
Biography:
Cristina Savian is the founder and managing director at BE-WISE, a London based consultancy firm specialised in helping start-ups and SME to scale-up and bring new technology into the construction market.
Cristina has over twenty years' experience in the civil engineering and technology industries, working from small-scale traffic calming and parking schemes in UK and Italy, through to planning major events such as playing a key role as transport manager of the Greenwich Park venue during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. She then moved to work for a multinational leading technology company, Autodesk, covering several global roles as technical and commercial lead across Europe and America.
Cristina started her career in 1998 as Land Surveyor in Italy, and holds an MBA from the University of Cambridge, a joint degree in Transport & Business Management from Imperial College London and UCL and a first class degree in Environmental Economics from the University of Turin. Cristina is a regular guest speaker at industry events and holds judge and board positions on engineering and construction panels. She recently joined the built environment industry panel and the Institute of Engineering Technology, she co-leads the business case streamed at the UK BIM Alliance as well as being a technology scout for the Process Innovation Forum in UK.
Cristina is also an official Ambassador for gender diversity and inclusion programs and due to publish a white paper on "Tackling Gender Diversity in the Construction Industry" with the Wo+Men's Leadership Centre at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge.
Interview with Cristina Savian
Minna Perähuhta
Wednesday September 25
17.00
Ministerial Adviser, Ministry of the Environment, Finland
Topic: Open, fair and agile, challenges for public-private partnership
