Just my top 3 from my Day 2 here at Autodesk University, in chronological order. We can dive in later.
1. Diverse Subcontractors and Where to Find Them
With a focus on subcontractor selection, Wissam Akra started off by highlighting how, at least in the US, supplier diversity is a requirement by government law, and of course diversity brings more efficiency, more profitability, and it’s the right thing to do. Not meeting the diversity requirements might result in finacial penalties, disqualification from bids, withholding payments and an impact on the stakeholder.
Supplier Diversity was here defined starting with a certifications they might qualify for, such as LGBTBE (LGBTQ Owned Business) or WOSB (Women Owned Small Business), and these certifications are either issues by the government and by State Agencies, or by private institutes such as the WEBNC. Of course the subcontractors need to be doing actual work, and sometimes it’s possible for companies to present a self-certification.
Positive impacts of meeting the requirements though include a higher innovation level and more creativity, more efficiency and overlooked aspects such as local support and alignment of your project goals with local goals, which is pretty awesome.
So, how do you achieve that?
The proposed strategies for implementation involve, of course, Tough Leaf solutions and this is where the talk got salesy, which I never particularly enjoy. They propose their own database with information collected from the different official sources and verified directly (and for free) with the suppliers themselves. The database can then be used on the search engine.
The engine makes sure you only see companies who meet the requirements and does the outreach for you. The subcontractors on the other side only are invited to jobs they actually have a chance of getting, because they meet the requirements, and they only work on bids that have a realistic chance of going somewhere. Which is a lot.
They also connect subcontractors with Capacity-Building Partners who will support these minority-owned businesses in being successful for the project, which of course is needed for the whole thing to work.
2. Kids are going to space
Tobias Jäger and Theresa Schmitt from the Technical University in Munich showcased their Elara project: the first student rocket with bi-liquid methalox engine which will soar to a 100 km altitude, in the upper atmosphere.
They showed us ambition, design principles and their usage of Fusion.
3. BIM and GIS
Olivia Melazzo from /slantis showed us her proof of concept for analysis in ArcGIS and interoperability with Revit on a neighborhood in Buenos Aires that’s affected by a lack of public spaces and no accessibility to public green areas, virtually no connection with other areas of the city and no access to healthcare facilities.
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