Unique Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Construction at the Technical University of Munich (TUM)

With the TUM Georg Nemetschek Institute Artificial Intelligence for the Built World (GNI), the Technical University of Munich is getting a globally unique institute for AI in construction. It is being funded with 50 million euros by the Nemetschek Innovation Foundation.

State-of-the-art computer technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning hold enormous potential for innovative solutions and processes in an almost limitless range of applications. In order to tap this potential for ecologically and economically sustainable design, shaping and maintenance of the built environment, the Techinal University of Munich launched the globally unique TUM Georg Nemetschek Institute Artificial Intelligence for the Built World (GNI) in November 2020. In the future, this institute will serve as an interface between research, teaching and innovation for the application of AI in the entire life cycle of buildings and infrastructure. It will receive significant support over the next ten years from the Nemetschek Innovation Foundation with around 50 million euros in funding.

The GNI will develop and promote next-generation technologies that will be of strategic importance both for digitalisation in general and for the AECOM industry in particular. In particular, it will contribute to solutions for the major societal challenges of our time in the areas of environment and climate, information and communication, and mobility and infrastructure. By using Big Data, extracting information from data analysis and creating machine learning insights, AI is expected to establish itself for the built environment as a key technology in the design, planning, construction, operation and management of buildings and infrastructure.

The research and teaching institute is located under the umbrella of TUM and the Munich Data Science Institute (MDSI), which was also recently founded as part of TUM AGENDA 2030. The Nemetschek Innovation Foundation will support the GNI over the next ten years with basic funding of 20 million euros. In addition, it will provide a further 30 million euros in project-related funding. The funding includes both smaller research projects with up to six researchers as well as larger ones with research groups of over ten scientists. Overall, the Foundation will thus make a significant contribution to accelerating the Technical University of Munich's development strategy, which was defined within the framework of the Excellence Strategy of the federal and state governments.

"The ecologically and economically sustainable design and maintenance of a built environment worth living in for all people is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century," explains Prof. Dr.-Ing. André Borrmann, Professor at the Chair for Computational Modeling and Simulation, Technical University of Munich (TUM). "The use of artificial intelligence and machine learning offers us completely new ways to meet this challenge. Thanks to a generous grant from the Nemetschek Innovation Foundation, we can conduct research on this technological focus under internationally unique conditions."

From 20 to 22 April 2021, a kick-off symposium for the GNI will be held on three afternoons in a row with internationally leading researchers from the field of AI. The aim is to provide a broad overview of the current state of research and, in particular, to discuss potentials, visions and the expected influence of AI on the construction sector. The event will take place as an online-only event. The symposium is freely accessible. Click here to register:GNI Symposium on Artificial Intelligence in the Built World