Fraunhofer ItaliaThe concept of BIM was mentioned into the Italian Procurement Code (Legislative Decree 50/2016) to announce its gradual mandatory roll-out in public procurement tenders. At the present time, the use of BIM is fast gaining ground. From 1 January 2016 to the end of 2018, in just two years, the number of procedures requiring the use of the BIM methodology grew by a factor of five[1]. It is clear that the digital revolution, declared mandatory by the government, will have an increasingly significant impact on public authorities in the near future, as well as on construction companies. In this context, public authorities play a key role: on the one hand they are called to equip themselves with the latest working methods and technologies, and on the other, they are promoting an innovative digital culture among contractors and professionals.
Fraunhofer Italia is helping public authorities to face this revolution, with R&D efforts aimed at improving the exchange of information from the design and construction phases through to the management and maintenance of public works, as well as collaboration between the various stakeholders in the process.
Fraunhofer Italia’s research efforts are focused on:
- Optimizing technical processes and the exchange of documents, data and information with Data-Sharing Environments;
- Developing, prototyping and implementing software applications to validate BIM models and check their compliance with technical regulations (Code Checking);
- Developing, prototyping and implementing Facility Management applications.
[1] OICE, Report on 2018 BIM public works tenders. Analysis of the market and tenders: www.oice.it, 2018.