The skills innovation hub – Systems demonstration of sustainable transition in ecosystems through digitalisation and business development

Research Project, 2022 – 2025

The construction and real estate industry is at the beginning of a systems shift.The accelerating development of powerful digital tools enables disruptive business innovation to the extent that we can already discuss the advent of the digital economy in construction.
The construction and real estate industry is at the beginning of a systems shift. The accelerating development of powerful digital tools enables disruptive business innovation to the extent that we can already discuss the advent of the digital economy in construction. It will soon be a hygiene factor for each player to contribute to an accelerated transition to sustainability. Increased complexity will require increased ability to collaborate and to innovate rapidly. There are many indications that digitally driven innovation in ecosystems - innovating together - is the coming new normal in our sector. This project is a test of such an ecosystem, in order to be able to accelerate and gradually scale up that method to welcome the entire sector.The project will contribute to a digitally and sustainably driven renewed business logic in the construction industry. The concrete purpose is to test in practice whether an interdisciplinary innovation hub can accelerate such a sustainable industry change, and to describe the conditions for upscaling. The project´s two main results are a report describing the foundations for a national hub, and one prototype from each need-owner of a new product, method or service.In the fragmented construction sector value chain, each player normally innovates within their own business, based on their own value chain. In conflict with this approach, society´s need for rapid change rather requires collaboration within innovation ecosystems - with different partners and also outside the normal network. The project is a system demonstrator for such innovation in cooperating ecosystems. Five need-owners (property developers, technology consultants and project managers) meet four enablers (process, cultural transfer, software and data-driven business innovation). The encounter with new technologies takes place through the facilitators´ extensive experience of working with digital startups. Needs owners in the project are Akademiska Hus, Hemsö Fastighets AB, Bjerking, WSP and PQ Project Management. The higher education institutions are Luleå University of Technology and Chalmers University of Technology. Facilitators are Yoin Technologies, LTU Business, Symetri and the consulting company Plan B, which also leads the project.Together, the participants will work on a problem-based basis with concrete cases for simple prototypes, and thereby develop their ability and drive to break established patterns. Further development can then take place on commercial terms with similar players, outside the project. The project´s two participating universities draw conclusions about the project´s hypothesis that this approach can be developed into a new best practice.A large number of evaluations of existing innovation hubs and test beds strongly indicate that there is a lack of opportunities for business support for collaboration in the early stages of innovation processes. The focus of this project is therefore on these stages, when the innovation threshold is greatest for the fragmented construction sector. Thematically, the focus is on the meeting between sustainable conversion, digitalisation and business development from the industrial economy to larger elements of the digital.