Thank you to all who attended last week’s event – Why Smart Buildings: Deciphering Hype from Reality.  Our biggest take away from the event?  The future is collaborative, not proprietary; we will transform buildings and cities by partnering and working together. Thanks to our incredible line-up of speakers!  Bert Van Hoof, Microsoft; Ash Awad, McKinstry; Jake Oster, Amazon; Kim Zentz, Urbanova; Curt Kirkeby, Avista; Brett Phillips, Unico Properties; and Zachary Gentry, View Dynamic Glass.

Here are 5 other key insights from the event:

1. Kim talked about the importance of designing buildings and communities/cities that meet the actual needs of the community/individual. They are doing research to understand what those needs are and to refine demos/pilots of ideas based on the feedback they’re getting.  Smart doesn’t just mean advanced technologies but also from the perspective of people’s behavior, community or district inclusiveness.
2. Brett talked about how he cares about making buildings more efficient to improve the air quality/world, but that he can only do that if it makes economic sense, which it does. He doesn’t spend more money to do it, he looks for trade-offs that can make the project funding work. He also shared that by simply getting data on their building performance, they were able to save 8% on costs. They did nothing other than get the data and make behavior and operational tweaks as a result of seeing the data.
3. Bert talked about digital transformation through smart buildings. Azure IoT at Microsoft is a fascinating technology that would make buildings smarter with highly advanced technologies for modern meetings, spatial intelligence and workplace design.
4. Ash spoke about value of unlocking the data to serve building owners, managers and occupants through artificial intelligence (AI), advanced analytics and automation, which is a crucial forward stepping pathway. It is important to understand value of visualizing data to make informed decisions and opt for sustainable options. An effort to utilize the large amount of building energy data available to make the right decisions and ability to share data within the industry can reap beneficial outcomes.
5. Ash also noted the need for us to continue pushing smart building technologies/design innovation here in the PNW to the importance of supporting and passing I-1631 since we will likely see continued inaction at the Federal level.

Look for video highlights of this fantastic event soon!  We would also love to hear your feedback, and any other ideas you have for future events or ways to work together!  Contact Brittany Quigley at [email protected] or 206-624-7570.