On 5 and 6 October EBC joined 22 other organisations in Madrid for the two-day Kick-off meeting of the new EU-funded project BEEYONDERS – Breakthrough European tEchnologies Yielding cOnstruction sovereigNty, Diversity & Efficiency of ResourceS. As anticipated earlier in July, the project falls under the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, and it is coordinated by the Spanish contractor Acciona Construcción.
Beeyonders will run for a period of 42 months, with a total budget of EUR 8 million, developing and integrating pioneering worker-friendly technologies – such as exoskeletons, autonomous vehicles, human robot collaboration – into real construction scenarios in the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, and Finland.
The project aims at demonstrating the positive impact of these new technologies in terms of improved safety in construction environments, efficiency of resource use, reduced waste and embodied CO2 emissions, tackling at the same time the challenging demographic trends that the European sector is currently facing, such as a persistent labour shortage, the aging of the existing workforce and the limited participation of women in construction.
The projects’ scope fits into the trend towards a greater and inclusive digitalisation of the construction sector, with EBC being mainly involved in the assessment of the impact of the identified technologies on construction SMEs, the development of training material addressing the green and digital skills needs of construction companies. EBC will also play a key role in the EU-wide dissemination of the main projects’ findings in the European Construction community and in building partnerships and synergies with other relevant EU initiatives and projects.
EBC’s participation aims also at bridging the gap between the innovation and Research and Development communities and our construction SMEs.
 | For more information on BEEYONDERS visit the official website and to do not miss out any updates follow the project on LinkedIn, Twitter. |
 | This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement N° 101058548. |