Effectiveness and short distances - driving targeted technology transfer
June 2019 marked the beginning of a new chapter: At the Center for Building and Infrastructure Engineering (CBI) – a center in the RWTH Aachen Campus construction cluster – work had begun. At the beginning of November, the members met again in Aachen to exchange ideas. The number of companies actively participating in the center had already grown considerably in the last few months.
Four RWTH Aachen University institutes in the fields of construction research, structural concrete, steel construction, and highway engineering founded the center with the intention of setting new trends and making existing innovations and technologies in the construction industry more efficient and faster to implement.
The CBI's work focuses on the research, development, and market introduction of innovative, tailor-made, application-optimized materials, construction techniques, processes, and concepts– also in the context of the digitalization of structural engineering and transport infrastructure construction. Furthermore, the CBI aims to simplify both the development of standardized rules and requests for approval so that innovations can be implemented more quickly in the future. This needs to be addressed because it is mainly the complex standardization and approval processes that hamper the transfer of technology from the laboratory to the construction site. "Innovations and technology transfer are to be implemented faster and more efficiently in six to twelve-month long consortium projects. This can only be achieved with strong partners at our side, however," says Dr.-Ing. Carl Richter, Managing Director of CBI. The first meaningful results could already be presented at the first CBI meeting on June 18 and 19, 2019.
Companies joining the CBI will be actively involved:
Whether your company wants to implement innovations more efficiently and quickly in the field of structural engineering and transport infrastructure, or needs support in bringing to market new construction products or techniques – for instance to request project-related construction technique approval (vBG), general construction technique approval (aBG), general building supervisory approval (abZ), or approval in individual cases (ZiE) – you have come to the right place at the CBI. At the Center for Building and Infrastructure Engineering, you can sign up for a membership of up to five years and, depending on the type of membership (Basic, Business or Premium), receive different benefits within the five categories: Membership, Research & Development, Community, Continuing Education, and Services.