The Smart Buildings Alliance has opened a new branch in Luxembourg to support stakeholders across the local construction ecosystem to incorporate smart technologies into buildings.
The Smart Buildings Alliance (SBA) was founded in France in 2012 and has since opened branches across Europe. The Luxembourg chapter launched in May 2022.
The alliance promotes technology that enhances the development of smart buildings, i.e., technology that is interoperable across different systems with APIs that enable users to access services regardless of the operating system. As Delphine Desgurse, Secretary General of SBA explains, “The objective is to enhance the ability to be free about technology and not locked into using a specific vendor’s operating system.”
Smart technology that scales
The most commonly used smart building technology is heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. However, as internet of things (IoT) technology advances, and the use of sensors increases, smart technology can support other areas of building maintenance, such as security, contactless entry and remoteless control of windows and lighting. This has led to an increase in smart building technology suppliers.
But the independent approach they take is hard to scale. It requires multiple subscriptions to different systems which restricts uptake to large buildings with one main tenant who can afford to make these strategic decisions. And even if one supplier could provide all the smart technology, very few building owners want to lock themselves into a single supplier. Technology evolves so fast, that it becomes outdated quickly. As a result, flexibility to choose different suppliers whose technology is interoperable is key.
Building a technological framework
According to Desgurse, the SBA’s objective is “to develop a technological framework, coming from the IT culture so that the building industry can understand and adopt the right technology and ways of working.” Because the building industry is not tech focused, their timelines are longer. And technology challenges, such as cybersecurity, are not something that they usually need to consider.
The SBA has therefore developed a certification to support the adoption of smart technology within the commercial construction industry. The Luxembourg branch of the SBA is focused on adapting this existing framework to make it relevant for Luxembourg, and will work with their members to do this. To date, members include Smartcube, Dovit, Siemens, Schroeder & Associés, IKO Real Estate and Neobuild, but they are looking to onboard new members from the Luxembourg construction and smart building industry.
This article was first published in the Silicon Luxembourg magazine. Get your copy.
