Autodesk has always been committed to interoperability. We have always believed that seamless and open connections between people and software lead to seamless collaboration, fearless and limitless innovation, and an open AEC software ecosystem.
Along with 12 other global companies, Autodesk is a co-founder and member of the strategic advisory board of buildingSMART International, which drives the creation and adoption of open international standards for infrastructure and buildings.
Driving digital transformation
As the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry continues its digital transformation, a growing ecosystem of computer-aided design (CAD) and building information modeling (BIM) software presents both challenges and opportunities. The growing flow of digital data connects tools, people and processes at all phases of design, construction as well as operation and maintenance phases. Gains in collaboration and innovation lead to better project outcomes for teams and owners and new creative and business horizons for designers, tech experts, construction companies, owners and engineers.
Nevertheless, a growing body of research suggests that inadequate software interoperability can hinder project success and become a source of frustration for project teams and pose a real risk for owners. A 2018 study by FMI and Plangrid investigated digitization in the construction industry and found that 52% of all changes were caused by poor quality data as well as poor communication, leading to increased costs for the construction industry of about $31.3 billion for companies located in the United States alone. In an average week, « construction workers will spend 14 hours, or about 35% of their time, searching for project data or information,
Ensuring the availability, access and interoperability of project data, whatever its source, is therefore essential to reaping the full benefits of digital transformation.
An uninterrupted commitment to open standards
As BIM requirements mark the transformation of the AEC industry, the prospects of working to eliminate data sharing bottlenecks and help create more fluid ways of collaborating are increasingly becoming a reality.
Since its creation, Autodesk has been developing more open ways of working through BIM, in particular through the adoption of open data standards for better software interoperability and project team collaboration.
In 1994, Autodesk was already part of a founding group of companies (IAI – International Alliance for Interoperability which later became buildingSMART International) that prioritized creating an industry collective to define and rapidly advance open standards, vendor-neutral data platform to work collaboratively in CAD at first, then in BIM later.
Today, buildingSMART International® supports and promotes the evolution of openBIM® and the implementation of open standards through a targeted set of services and programs, ranging from advocacy and awareness to training and software certification to intellectual and technical leadership.
Now, as a member of the buildingSMART International® strategic advisory board, Autodesk is active in the technical debates shaping the evolution of openBIM® from a file-based data exchange method to an infrastructure management modern cloud-based data platform.
In addition to this involvement with the international chapter, Autodesk is active at regional and local levels and provides technical and financial contribution and assistance to certain local chapters. Autodesk has thus just reaffirmed its support for the French and Spanish chapters as well as the Portuguese one which has just been created.
In addition, this support is also reaffirmed for the German, British, Italian, Japanese, American, Brazilian chapters, and many others…
Long live openBIM and open standards!