2014 NU's Now & Next Recap

2014 NU's Now & Next Recap

On Wednesday, August 13 through Friday, August 15, Northwestern University hosted their annual Symposium for Technology for Design and Construction at their downtown Chicago campus.  Amidst the buzz from overhead F-18s and B-52s preparing for their weekend air and water show, there was a buzz of excitement surrounding the speakers and technology debuting at this year’s conference.

The keynote speakers for this year’s event were David Ivey from HOK and Jordan Brandt from Autodesk, with closing remarks by Deke Smith from buildingSMART Alliance.  The main sponsors were Assemble, Autodesk, Blue Book, Burnham Works, Chicago Tube & Iron, Hard Hat Hub, Hayward Baker, Graycor, Lend Lease, Pepper Construction, Trimble and Walbridge.  Between the speakers and sponsors alone, the backbone of information shared amongst affiliates and attendees greatly overshadowed the nominal price of attendance.

The topics of conversation this year revolved around the changing climate of the built environment.  As technology quickens pace and innovation adoption is the only way to stay competitive, companies are searching for new information on the latest technologies as well as the knowhow to apply it.  The symposium itself structured it’s focus on the application and integration of BIM technology, with additional emphasis on Construction-Operations Building Information Exchange (COBie).

Burnham Works will provide more coverage of this event in upcoming posts.  If you are a member and would like a more detailed breakdown of the event, please contact Karl Sorensen at Burnham Works at ksorensen@burnhamworks.com.