From 13 to 15 March 2023, EBC travelled to Denmark for 3 productive days of meetings and exchanges on digitalisation, artificial intelligence (AI),and robotics in the construction industry.
The mission started on 13 March at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), with the second General Assembly of the Horizon Europe project BEEYONDERS “Breakthrough European technologies yielding construction sovereignty, diversity & efficiency of resources”, coordinated by the Spanish contractor ACCIONA. The 21 partners from 9 countries (Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Turkey) were hosted at the DTU university campus in Lyngby, in the greater Copenhagen area.
The 2-day project meeting began with technical discussions on the latest advances in the diverse innovative worker-friendly technologies developed by the project (exoskeletons, wearables, autonomous vehicles, collaborative robotics, digital twins, 3D printing, etc.) and on the planned testing of these technologies in the 6 construction pilot sites in the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, and Finland. During the second day, when discussing the dissemination, communication and training activities foreseen by the consortium, EBC presented the activities where it will have a leading role, namely liaison activities with stakeholders from the whole construction value chain and other similar initiatives; and the training activities, aimed at improving skills and competences of the construction workforce through easy-to-use learning material on the Beeyonders solutions and technologies.
On 15 March, EBC travelled to Odense, to participate in the European Robotics Forum 2023, the largest annual meeting of the robotics community in Europe. Organised by the organisation euRobotics, this conference gathers engineers, researchers, industry leaders, innovators and public officials to discuss all aspects related to the field of robotics and AI.
The EBC Secretary General was invited to speak at the workshop “AI and Robotics in Construction”, jointly organised by the Horizon Europe projects Beeyonders and HumanTech, of which EBC is both a partner, in collaboration with their sister project Robétarmé. The workshop, which was attended by a full room of around 100 delegates, began with the presentation of the concepts and ambitions of the three projects, followed by a real-life perspective from end-users in construction, and a panel discussion on the added value of robots and AI on construction projects.
Our Secretary General presented the perspective of construction SMEs & crafts, providing an overview of the day-to-day reality of our companies when dealing with digitalisation and construction 4.0, and highlighting which perceptions, challenges and opportunities lie ahead when it comes to the application of robotisation and artificial intelligence at SME level in the construction sector. Finally, he illustrated all the EU-funded initiatives currently being carried out by EBC with the aim of bridging the gap between innovation and construction SMEs.
 | To know more about the Horizon Europe project Beeyonders, visit the website: https://beeyonders.eu/ |
 | To know more about the 2023 edition of the European Robotics Forum, visit the website: https://erf2023.sdu.dk/ |
 | This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement N° 101058548. |