1st VDI Conference – AI in Construction – Potentials, Use Cases, and Trends & AI for climate and sustainability

The 1st VDI Conference on AI in Construction, which took place between March 25th and 26th, 2025, in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, was a dissemination activity.

This conference, titled "AI in Construction – Potentials, Use Cases, and Trends" (KI im Bauwesen – Potentiale, Anwendungsfälle und Trends), was organized by VDI Wissensforum GmbH in collaboration with the University of Rostock (UROS) and IBM Research (IBM). This event served as a dissemination activity within the NATURE-DEMO project and aimed to showcase the latest AI technologies and their applications in the construction industry. It highlighted practical examples from both research and real-world projects, demonstrating how AI can improve building design, construction, and management. Experts shared strategies for leveraging these technologies to boost efficiency and productivity in businesses.

The conference, a type of dissemination activity involving conferences, reached a target audience that included industry, business partners, innovators, regional authorities, local authorities, research communities, and investors. The objective was to showcase AI applications in construction, demonstrating its potential to enhance efficiency and productivity.

The two-day conference featured a wide range of key themes:

• AI in Design and Planning, with Prof. Dr. Thomas Wortmann from the University of Stuttgart discussing AI as a generator and supporter in design and construction planning.
• Generative Design, where the merging of human expertise and AI in early planning was explored, featuring examples from Annerose Bierer, M.Sc. of Ed. Züblin AG.
• AI for Existing Buildings, including AI for needs analysis and space management by Dr. Matthias Standfestfrom Architwice GmbH, and Scan2BIM using AI for reality capture, presented by Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Blankenbach from RWTH Aachen University.
• KI for SMEs, focusing on AI in offer preparation and CO2 balancing (with Felix Kretschmann from elevait GmbH & Co. KG).
• Legal Aspects of AI, where Dr. Lisa Käde from JBB Rechtsanwälte discussed the EU AI regulation and copyright issues.
• Learning from Mechanical Engineering, with insights on applying AI and machine learning from this sector, presented by Dr.-Ing. Kai Lindow from Fraunhofer IPK.
• Digital Twins, covering their use in new and existing buildings, including integration with AI and robotics, and predictive maintenance, with contributions from Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kay Smarsly from the Technical University of Hamburg and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörn Plönnigs from the University of Rostock.
• Sustainability, a major focus with presentations on KI-based CO2 balancing, intelligent planning for calculation (Gérard Sidoun from SIDOUN International GmbH), and AI for analyzing building potentials and renovation plans (Matthias Zühlke from syte GmbH). A keynote on AI for climate and sustainability was given by Dr.-Ing. Thomas Brunschwiler from IBM Research Europe.
• Construction Robotics, exploring the potential of 5G, AI, and robotics, with experts like Prof. Dr. techn. Sigrid Brell-Cokcan from RWTH Aachen University and Jun.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Anja P. R. Lauer from the Institute for Building Materials Science.
• Decision-Making in Serial Production, discussed by Dr. techn. Haris Isakovic from GROPYUS AG.

The conference also featured a pre-conference workshop on "Sustainability in Project Management" on March 24, 2025, led by Daja Goesmann from Hitzler Ingenieure.

The organization of the conference involved Jörn Plönnigs (UROS) as a co-organizer, and a keynote talk was delivered by Thomas Brunschwiler (IBM). The event aimed to demonstrate how AI can improve efficiency and productivity in the construction sector.