Building Design+Construction launches Accelerate Live! AEC innovation conference

How should AEC firms—and their clients—prepare for the coming AI revolution? Will machine learning disrupt the design and planning processes? Is it possible to transform the complex, disjointed construction jobsite into a neat, orderly factory setting?

These are among the game-changing topics that will be explored at Accelerate Live!, a new AEC innovation conference from the editors of Building Design+Construction. This high-energy forum and networking event—May 11, 2017, in Chicago—will pack into a single day 18 high-impact talks from business and tech leaders from the nation’s largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms. Each speaker will have 15 minutes and up to 10 slides to present a radical idea, solution, project, or innovation related to the future of the AEC industry or the changing built environment.

“Technology is reshaping practically every aspect of the AEC marketplace and the built environment,” says David Barista, BD+C’s Editorial Director. “This innovation conference will bring together some of the AEC industry’s best minds to explore how their firms and their clients are innovating and winning in this era of radical transformation.”

Firms that have committed to speak include:
• Aditazz (data-driven design)
• Gensler (preparing for AI)
• Gilbane Building Company (gaming in construction)
• Proving Ground (the future of computational design)
• Thornton Tomasetti (creating an R+D culture)
• Turner Construction Company (the jobsite as a factory)
• WeWork (applying machine learning to workplace design).

Also, building materials expert and author Blaine Brownell, Associate Professor with the University of Minnesota School of Architecture, will speak about next-generation building products and materials, including “smart” and biotech-driven materials.

The Accelerate Live! presentations will be divided into four tracks:
AEC Tech Breakthroughs—gaming, machine learning, computational design, reality capture, BIM/VDC, VR/AR, drones;
AEC Business Innovation—emerging business models, the rise of the innovation culture, the future of the AEC firm;
The Changing Built Environment—the connected city, sustainability, building science, material breakthroughs, IoT; and
Project + Process Innovation—jobsite as a factory, modular/prefab construction, game-changing projects, novel design/construction methods.

Tickets start at $125 (early-bird pricing) for the full-day conference. Attendees can earn up to 8 AIA CES Learning Units or Professional Development Hours.