From May 15th to 17th 2019, BUILDS gathered different stakeholders from the field of biology and architecture with the objective in mind to empower them with the necessary knowledge about business courses setting-up, business thinking and start-ups development to allow them to face the transdisciplinary students’ programs. 

Hosted at Vienna University of Economics and Business, this event was also made possible with the collaboration of diverse partners such as Université de Lorraine (France), Ersilia Foundation (Spain), ECONICK (France), Plant-e (Netherlands), City Facilitators (Denmark), GreenTech Challenge (Denmark) and IAAC which is leading the partnership for this Erasmus co-funded project.

As the positive impact of a resource-smart architecture is no longer to prove, why are products based on intelligent living solutions not yet used to address both local and global challenges? A resource-smart architecture could indeed generate energy, clean water and purify our air. What are we waiting for to make biotechnology and information technology converge more and be applied to urban design and planning to solve various issues such as city planning, population growth or housing problem?

Advances in science and technology are indeed creating new types of biological and living materials, processes and systems which are turning a growing number of buildings and other urban artefacts into metabolic, breathing organisms. These artefacts are not just efficient and ‘do less harm’, but are actually restorative and ‘give back’ to the environment.

BUILDS is an Erasmus – European funded project dealing with these issues. As coordinator of this programme, IAAC has taken up its task to connect stakeholders from the industry, the market and the academic field to enhance more cohesion and find together new ways of filling the gap that exists in the biotechnology sector when applied smart architecture and design by bringing intelligent living solutions for cities to the market through research, education, entrepreneurship and industry leaders cooperation.