immo!nvest – Die Plattform für Standorte und Immobilien

Tag: künstliche Intelligenz

  • EPFL researches new crack detection for concrete

    EPFL researches new crack detection for concrete

    Cracks in reinforced concrete structures are normal and are regularly checked using conventional methods. However, according to a press release, researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne(EPFL) are currently working on methods to digitise these inspections and verify them using an algorithm. Hugo Nick, a Master’s student at the Laboratory for Structural Concrete (IBETON), has developed two methods for this. In the first step, concrete structures are reconstructed in a laboratory and digitally photographed under load until a resulting crack causes the structure to break. The data set is saved and processed into an algorithm using artificial intelligence.

    In the second step, digital images of real buildings are taken. These images of cracks occurring in nature and under load will be compared with the algorithm. The researchers hope that this will enable them to draw conclusions about crack behaviour and predict possible hazardous situations.

    “A detection algorithm then analyses the image with the help of artificial intelligence,” Hugo Nick is quoted as saying in the press release, “The algorithm is actually a neural network that has been trained on thousands of images and can predict crack detection. Inspectors are beginning to test this method in the field, and it has several advantages. By using automatic crack detection systems, we can reduce the number of errors and inaccuracies and make inspections faster and more accurate.”

  • Scandens is successful with software for refurbishments

    Scandens is successful with software for refurbishments

    Scandens, a spin-off of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH), launched a software solution in June 2023 that optimises remediation planning. According to a press release, the first seven months have been successful. It has been used to analyse and optimise 274 properties. Housing cooperatives, planning offices, real estate companies, architects and insurance companies are expected to save CHF 42 million in costs and 116,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide over a period of 25 years.

    The web-based software combines artificial intelligence with building modelling and life cycle cost calculations. It can be used to automate data collection, feasibility checks, component planning and component design as well as profitability calculations and CO2 balancing, including grey emissions.

    The software has been well received by energy consultants and building owners. They use the tool for holistic, rapid planning of refurbishment projects. These can be implemented more efficiently and cost-effectively, which contributes to an increase in the renovation rate, as Diego Sigrist, co-founder of Scandens, is quoted in the press release.

    The ETH spin-off is supported by the Migros Pioneer Fund and was founded with the aim of making energy-efficient building refurbishments simpler and more cost-effective, thereby promoting the shift towards greater sustainability in the construction sector.

  • Adaptation strategies for property professionals in a changing world

    Adaptation strategies for property professionals in a changing world

    The effects of the global pandemic are still being felt years later and have led us into a new reality. This requires property investors to re-evaluate their strategies in order to position themselves in a balanced way while remaining disciplined and flexible in responding to changing market conditions.

    The pandemic led to unprecedented, globally synchronised economic shutdowns, followed by a rapid restart. This resulted in a return of inflation, labour market bottlenecks and rising interest rates. At the same time, geopolitical upheavals, including conflicts in oil regions and the emergence of national industrial and environmental policies, are reshaping the global landscape.

    Against this backdrop, property investors should expect subdued growth in the USA, moderate growth in Europe and an adjustment to a new economic normal in China in 2024. These developments favour a focus on quality stocks, including in the technology sector, and a cautious stance towards government bonds as central banks are expected to start cutting interest rates.

    Political developments will also play an important role and could harbour both opportunities and risks for the global markets. Investors should therefore be prepared to adjust their market strategies accordingly and consider capital protection strategies.

    The next decade will be characterised by the ongoing development of artificial intelligence, a changing Chinese economy, the energy transition and persistently high levels of debt. These factors will have a far-reaching impact and offer investors new opportunities, particularly in sectors that benefit from technological innovation.

    In this new world, it is more important than ever for investors to have a clear plan, invest in a balanced way and remain flexible. Lessons from the past emphasise the value of diversification and the importance of patience and adaptability in an ever-changing environment.

  • LEDCity wins Green Business Award

    LEDCity wins Green Business Award

    LEDCity has won the Green Business Award 2023. The Zurich-based company, founded in 2017, has developed an intelligent lighting system that uses around 50 percent less energy than conventional LED lighting with motion sensors. This year, 28 applicants competed for the most important sustainability prize in Switzerland. In addition to LEDCity, Haelixa with its DNA marker for raw materials and namuk with its high-quality children’s outdoor label also reached the final, the organisers of the Green Business Award informed in a statement.

    “LEDCity’s solution convinced us because it shows how we can use technology and artificial intelligence to tackle the challenges in the energy industry,” jury president Doris Leuthard is quoted as saying in the release. For LEDCity CEO Patrik Deuss, the award shows “that we are on the right track with our energy-saving and at the same time quickly amortisable lighting system”. In addition, the win underlines “our commitment to sustainable innovations”.

    LEDCity uses up to five sensors per light source. In addition to brightness and movement, humidity, temperature and CO2 concentration are measured. The data obtained can be used, for example, by security systems or for planning cleaning work.

    The Green Business Award is being presented for the fifth year by the cooperation Green Business Switzerland. It honours “solutions that combine ecological innovation with economic success”, according to the press release. Green Business Switzerland is made up of actors from business and environmental protection. The cooperation was initiated by the Swiss Environmental Foundation and the Go for Impact association.

  • Reputation Study Construction and Real Estate analyses 42 companies

    Reputation Study Construction and Real Estate analyses 42 companies

    In the new 2023 benchmark study on the reputation of construction and real estate companies in Switzerland, Implenia from Opfikon ZH is in first place among construction companies, followed by Halter AG from Schlierem. Steiner from Zurich, Allreal based in Baar ZG and Frutiger in Thun BE follow in the other places, achieving good results overall.

    Mobimo from Küsnacht ZH leads the real estate category rankings according to the survey. It is true that second-placed Swiss Prime Site, based in Zug, has significantly greater visibility than Mobimo and achieves similarly good scores. However, due to the lack of statements on the topic of employers, it was not enough for the top spot, according to the statement. Avobis and UBS Asset Management (both Zurich) as well as Fundamenta Group in Zug follow in the other ranks.

    The reputation rankings were compiled by the consulting firm swissreputation.group together with the Institute for Management and Economic Research(IMWF). According to the statement, 42 construction companies, general contractors, real estate service providers and real estate owners were examined for this purpose. A total of around 17,500 statements in Swiss media and social media from 1 June 2022 to 31 May 2023 were identified and analysed using artificial intelligence.

    The factors product & service, innovation, profitability, sustainability, management and employer shape the good reputation of companies, according to the study. Media-mediated information and communication play an important role in forming opinions.

  • Artificial intelligence makes its way into caretaking

    Artificial intelligence makes its way into caretaking

    Facility management is an industry that has been little digitised for a long time. Caretaker services are still planned manually and the result is not recorded anywhere. There is already a lack of recording of the services provided. ImmoTrack founder Ofer Becker explains: “Today, caretaker services are still planned with paper and pen. No one has an overview of maintenance work, much to the chagrin of tenants.” The result is dissatisfied customers and expensive maintenance costs.

    To solve these problems, ImmoTrack has developed new software that uses artificial intelligence to digitise the entire process. In the future, ImmoTrack will optimise and automate the entire process, resulting in significant efficiency improvements. The new product represents more than 3.5 years of development work and a total investment of CHF 2.5 million, making ImmoTrack a pioneer in this field. According to Becker, caretakers were initially sceptical about artificial intelligence, but ImmoTrack is currently benefiting greatly from the ChatGPT moment and caretakers are open to new solutions that automate repetitive work and optimise results.

    However, according to Becker, caretakers do not have to worry about running out of work in the future due to artificial intelligence: “We have found that in the facility management industry, around 40% of planned work is not carried out. By going completely digital, caretakers have more time for pending work, which benefits tenants, property managers and homeowners. This is in line with the recently published study by Amosa, the cantonal labour market authority, according to which low-tech industries, such as caretakers, are less negatively affected by digitalisation. Caretakers are not expected to be replaced by artificial intelligence or robots in the future.

    At the moment, ImmoTrack is conducting a fundraising campaign to further develop the product. For example, weather data is to be networked directly with the system in the future in order to optimise maintenance work. The fundraising campaign is taking place on the new Arcton platform, and investors can invest in ImmoTrack until 30 June.

  • Artificial intelligence to achieve gas reduction by 15%

    Artificial intelligence to achieve gas reduction by 15%

    Die meisten Energie-Sparmaßnahmen verursachen einen erheblichen Kapitalaufwand – die KI von Arloid kann dagegen kostenlos implementiert werden, bis notwendige Einsparungen erzielt werden. Dies macht die KI-Lösung zu einer der günstigsten und einfachsten Möglichkeiten für EU-Staaten, den Energieverbrauch ohne Vorabkosten erheblich zu senken. Sobald Einsparungen festgestellt werden – dies ist üblicherweise nach 30 Tagen der Fall – kann eine prozentuale Gebühr berechnet werden.

    Eine Reduzierung des Energieverbrauchs lässt sich durch eine Reihe einfacher Schritte erreichen: Zunächst wird ein virtuelles Gebäude erstellt, das zu dem identisch ist, in dem Einsparungen erzielt werden sollen. Der digitale Gebäude-Zwilling verfügt dabei über gleiche Baumaterialien, Lage, Klima und Personal-Eigenschaften. Die KI erstellt daraufhin eine Reihe von Simulationen auf Grundlage der Live-Daten des realen Gebäudes. Der komplette Vorgang benötigt rund einen Monat.

    Die KI reguliert daraufhin selbstständig und kontinuierlich die Heiz-, Lüftungs- sowie Kühleinstellungen und führt so zu direkten, realen Einsparungen. Bisher wurden dafür notwendige Einstellungen von Gebäudetechnikern oder Hausverwaltern vorgenommen, was im Vergleich deutlich mehr Zeitaufwand erfordert. Die Automatisierung durch KI spart damit nicht nur Energie und Geld ein, sondern verbessert zugleich auch die Steuerung und den Bedienkomfort.

    Die KI von Arloid nutzt Deep Reinforcement Learning, um den Betrieb von HLK-Systemen in einer Vielzahl von Gebäuden über ein sicheres Virtual Private Network (VPN) automatisch zu verwalten. Die von der KI ausgeführten Regulierungen basieren dabei auf der Grundlage von Verstärkungsverhalten und Echtzeitdaten, um eine schnellere Optimierung und bessere HLK-Leistung zu erreichen. Durch die Steuerung jedes HLK-Geräts im System und die Aufteilung des Gebäudes in Heiz- und Kühlmikrozonen stellt arloid.ai mehr Kontrolle über die Umgebung und besseren Benutzerkomfort bereit.

    Die Technologie gewinnt nicht nur in Europa, sondern weltweit an Bedeutung, mithilfe der sich direkte Einsparungen auf schätzungsweise über 56 Mio. qm2 Fläche erzielt lassen. Dazu zählen Immobilien und Geschäftsgebäude wie u.a. Einzelhandel, Hotels, medizinische Zentren bis hin zu Lagerhäusern. Durch die Reduzierung des Gebäude-Energieverbrauchs kann so unmittelbar den Auswirkungen von Energieversorgungsproblemen, höheren Preisen und Inflation entgegengewirkt werden.

    KI sollte deshalb EU-weit weit oben auf der politischen Agenda stehen, um die Mitgliedsstaaten dabei zu unterstützen, ihre freiwilligen Gasreduktionsziele von 15 % zu erreichen. Es ist nicht so schwer zu erreichen, wie es zunächst erscheint, weil neue Technologien mit sehr wenig Aufwand eine wichtige Rolle dabei übernehmen können. In jeden Fall ist es ein offensichtlicher und erreichbarer erster Schritt in Richtung EU-Ziele und bietet jenen Ländern eine bessere Option an, die gedimmtes Licht und kürzeres Duschen empfehlen.

    Weitere Information unter: arloid.com

  • Siemens launches AI-based suite for carbon-neutral buildings

    Siemens launches AI-based suite for carbon-neutral buildings

    Siemens Smart Infrastructure is launching an open, interoperable and fully cloud-based smart building suite, the Zug-based Siemens subsidiary announced in a press release. The various interest groups such as building users, real estate investors, real estate companies and facility managers can digitally combine their building data from different sources on Building X. The smart building suite can integrate third-party software, has a range of applications based on artificial intelligence and has built-in cyber security.

    “We can now bring together all the data generated by systems in intelligent buildings in a single data pool,” Matthias Rebellius is quoted as saying in the statement. According to the board member of Siemens AG and CEO of Smart Infrastructure, this would allow “intelligent buildings to be implemented more quickly”, bringing the “vision of autonomous, climate-neutral buildings” closer. “Building X creates measurable data-based results in terms of efficiency, performance and user experience.”

    An energy manager, an operations manager, a security manager and a 360° viewer are currently available on Building X. The suite can be obtained in the form of software as a service on a subscription basis. In addition, Siemens offers the Xcelerator Building Services, a program based on Building X, in which Siemens assumes responsibility for achieving customer goals. The report mentions the reduction of energy costs and the optimization of systems as examples.

  • Popety.io is expanding into German-speaking Switzerland

    Popety.io is expanding into German-speaking Switzerland

    Popety.io specializes in digital solutions for real estate acquisition. Specifically, the PropTech based in Plan-les-Ouates has developed a digital tool for collecting and processing real estate data. After successfully establishing itself in French-speaking Switzerland, Popety.io now also wants to open up the German-speaking Swiss market. To this end, Popety.io has already set up its first office in Zurich.

    The Vaudoise Insurance Group supports Popety.io in its expansion plans. “Popety.io is revolutionizing the Swiss real estate market with the help of artificial intelligence,” says Stefan Schürmann, Head of Corporate Development and M&A at Vaudoise, in a statement by the insurance company. “We keep a close eye on innovations in the real estate sector and are convinced of the development potential of the young company in the German-speaking Swiss market.”

    Two years ago, Popety.io won first prize at the Real Estate & New Technology Awards, the statement said. “With Vaudoise Insurance, we can develop further and gain credibility,” Popety.io founder Thibault Clément is quoted there as saying. The PropTech also takes part in The Big Handshake . The congress for real estate professionals will take place on June 21st in Schlieren ZH.

  • Artificial intelligence analyzes CO2 emissions from traffic

    Artificial intelligence analyzes CO2 emissions from traffic

    An analysis method developed at the Eidgenössische Materialprüfungs- und Forschungsanstalt ( Empa ) can make statements about how the consumption of a country’s vehicle fleet changes from year to year. This new method is based on math and deep learning techniques. According to a communication , it is able to show where politicians and car buyers could start to reduce CO2 emissions.

    Analyzing this has become increasingly difficult in recent years. Because vehicles can no longer be divided into classic segments such as small, medium and luxury classes due to technical innovations. In addition, new vehicles are getting bigger and heavier. In addition, the cubic capacities would decrease, while the efficiency of the engines would get better and better at the same time.

    That is why the Empa Vehicle Drive Systems department describes its analysis technology as an “important breakthrough”: It enables “CO2 emissions to be assessed separately and an accurate automatic vehicle classification to be carried out by analyzing large databases,” explains researcher Naghmeh Niroomand. “This makes it easier to analyze changes in fleets in a country or a large company.” Thanks to this new method, “subjective and expert-based factors” would be eliminated and databases from all over the world would be comparable.

    For Switzerland, the team was able to calculate the average CO2 emissions of newly registered cars. If less heavy vehicles such as SUVs were on Swiss roads, this would be the most effective way of promoting decarbonization, says Niroomand. It would also be helpful to buy vehicles with lower performance in the same vehicle class.

  • ETH robots build hanging gardens for Zug

    ETH robots build hanging gardens for Zug

    The Tech Cluster Zug will have hanging gardens based on ancient models. The planted architectural sculpture intended for this purpose bears the name Semiramis. It is 22.5 meters high and consists of five differently sized and geometrically complex wooden bowls that are placed one on top of the other. A video presented in a media release from ETH shows how these are supported by eight slender steel supports.

    Researchers from the group of ETH architecture professors Fabio Gramazio and Matthias Kohler design and create Semiramis together with Müller Illien landscape architects , the timber construction engineers from Timbatec and other partners from industry and research. The design options come from a machine learning algorithm that was developed in collaboration with the Swiss Data Science Center .

    “The computer model enables us to reverse the conventional design process and to explore the entire scope for designing a project,” Matthias Kohler, Professor of Architecture and Fabrication at ETH Zurich, is quoted as saying. In the Immersive Design Lab , an ETH laboratory for augmented reality, the researchers were able to explore the designs in three dimensions. A software developed jointly with the Computational Robotics Lab at ETH allowed the designs to be modified. According to Kohler, this lighthouse project in architectural research is driving “key research topics such as interactive architectural design and digital fabrication”.

    The Semiramis sculpture is currently being built by four cooperating robotic arms in the robotic production laboratory at ETH Zurich. An algorithm prevents collisions if you each lift one of the wooden panels and place them in the room at the same time. The robots relieve humans of the heavy lifting and precise positioning. They also make complex scaffolding unnecessary.

    The individual shell segments each consist of 51 to 88 wooden panels. When one of them is ready, it is transported to Zug by truck. Semiramis is to be erected and planted in spring 2022.

  • EPFL exhibits Design Brain in Seoul

    EPFL exhibits Design Brain in Seoul

    The Media x Design Laboratory of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne ( EPFL ) is currently exhibiting a larger-than-life design brain in the South Korean capital. The exhibit called Artificial Swissness can be seen until October 31 at the Seoul Biennale for Architecture and Urbanism .

    According to a communication from EPFL, Artificial Swissness aims to extend the epistemology of computer science to the cultural field. “Our design brain is an experiment on the question of whether machines can design structures,” laboratory director Professor Jeffrey Huang is quoted as saying. “That means whether they can not only recommend music or drive cars, but also create meaningful cultural artefacts, such as architecture with distinctive Swiss characteristics.”

    As the message goes on to say, the exhibit should be a constantly changing spatial interface that represents the inner thoughts of an artificial intelligence machine that has been trained on 10,000 images of Swiss chalets and alpine architecture. “We make the visual interferences in these layers of the neural network visible,” say the two EPFL students Frederick Kim and Mikhael Johanes. “This gives us an insight into the inner workings of our generative artificial network that creates architectural images.” The two of them set up the installation in Seoul after a 14-day quarantine.

    The digital screens of the installation show the machine-generated images of typical Swiss architecture. At the same time, an LED projection reveals the constantly evolving learning process that the machines go through while they sift through thousands of images of alpine architecture in order to distill the essence of “Swissness”.

  • Artificial intelligence recognizes the type of land use

    Artificial intelligence recognizes the type of land use

    Thanks to a student at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne ( EPFL ), the regularly necessary classification of land use is now much less time-consuming than before. According to a press release from the university, she has developed and trained her own machine learning algorithm that can not only distinguish forests from other types of land. Instead, Valérie Zermatten's algorithm also recognizes rivers, lakes, camping and sports fields, cemeteries, water treatment stations, public parks, airports and dams. This makes it clearly superior to the algorithm developed by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) called Areal Statistics Deep Learning, or ADELE for short.

    The results produced by their program as part of a master’s thesis are similar to the official data published by the FSO. According to the announcement, this suggests that it could be used for land use classification in the future. The big advantage lies in the processing time for aerial photos, because their classification into around 40 different categories is still largely done by hand.

    All of Switzerland is photographed from the air every three years. Because manual categorization takes so long, the results are only published every six years. With this mapping, land consumption can be better tracked, soil permeability can be monitored and urban sprawl can be combated.

    “Our goal is not to replace humans with artificial intelligence,” says Devis Tuia, one of Zermatt's doctoral supervisors at EPFL. “Although Valérie's algorithm will reduce the amount of tedious work that has to be done manually.” But even then there is still enough for people to do – for example, to recognize whether it is a house or a school, a football field or a football field Wiese act.

  • MLP evaluates real estate with software from PriceHubble

    MLP evaluates real estate with software from PriceHubble

    In the future, MLP Finanzberatung SE will work with the digital solutions for live analysis of the real estate market from PriceHubble . According to a media release, the Zurich technology company is providing MLP with its headquarters in Wiesloch near Heidelberg with the software and extensive real estate data integrated into the MLP website. PriceHubble builds digital products based on the analysis of large amounts of data and artificial intelligence, with which current market trends and the development of real estate can be observed.

    "Our consultants can quickly and efficiently respond to the needs of their customers, assess the market value of a property for purchase or sale and, based on this, develop the best strategy for real estate investments," says Marc-Philipp Unger, Head of Financing at MLP and Executive Board member at the subsidiary Deutschland.Immobilien, quoted in the media release. Real estate investments are often the largest and most emotional asset in a private finance portfolio. Therefore, they should be carefully considered and based on reliable data.

    According to the press release, existing customers who already own a property will soon receive regular evaluation dossiers for their investment. Following on from this, MLP employees can talk to their clients about investments or a sale. The program is also intended to be used in discussions with potential customers who are just thinking about buying or selling a property, financing or converting a residential property and who just want to find out more.

  • What does artificial intelligence have to do with facility management?

    What does artificial intelligence have to do with facility management?

    The topic of artificial intelligence has definitely left its “laboratory status ” behind. AI-based solutions are increasingly being integrated into everyday work. In essence, it is not about the “ learning ” technology itself, but about the data behind it. The technological solution takes over the collection, storage, processing and use of the data entered. The interplay between human and artificial intelligence will be decisive for future innovations. Those companies that use AI sensibly will be prepared for the challenges of the future and will gain decisive competitive advantages.

    AI-based solutions have also found their way into facility management. Building cleaning is a very expensive subject and cleaning agents, energy and time are often used more than necessary – this is not only unecological, but also uneconomical. With the help of artificial intelligence, the use of resources can be optimized and costs can be significantly reduced.

    The Swiss startup Soobr offers a usage-oriented AI solution here. The existing performance and building data are read into the software, whereupon the AI plans the daily tours based on factors such as room distances, room priority, number and duration of cleaning. The occupancy of the individual rooms can also be integrated into the operational planning via room sensors, so that cleaning can be carried out precisely where it is really necessary. The cleaning staff are guided through the respective tours by means of an app on mobile devices, whereby you can feed the AI with feedback and documentation. Dynamic route planning increases efficiency, saves time and money in route planning and increases transparency for data evaluation.

    You can find more about digital helpers in the real estate and construction industry at: https://proptechmarket.net/solutions

  • 3 needs-based facility management solutions

    3 needs-based facility management solutions

    Soobr on artificial intelligence. The existing performance and building data are read into the software, whereupon the tour planning takes care of the planning of the daily tours based on factors such as room distances, room priority, number and duration of cleaning. The occupancy of the individual rooms can also be integrated into the operational planning via room sensors, so that cleaning can be carried out specifically where it is really necessary. The cleaning staff performing the work are guided through the respective tours by means of an app on mobile devices, whereby you can feed the AI with feedback and documentation. Dynamic route planning increases efficiency, saves time and money in route planning and increases transparency for data evaluation.

    Thingdust also relies on sensor-based data for its Smart Office product. With this simple plug & play solution, companies can measure the definitive utilization of their office space and analyze what will be a great need after returning from the home office. The anonymous data collected by sensors at the workplace is transmitted via an independent LoRa network and is displayed on the dashboard for analysis and statistics. At the same time, the flow of people is directed by means of a real-time display on a monitor placed at the entrance and the distribution of people in the building is optimized. In addition, reservations can be made quickly and easily using QR codes in order to increase the occupancy of meeting rooms, for example.

    The Service on Demand devices, which facility management only call for use when required, also ensure that personnel are deployed as required. Planned tours to filled water dispensers and empty file containers, intact coffee machines or functioning printers are a thing of the past. The service-on-demand devices can be installed in any number of locations and devices in order to report faults, events or services quickly and easily. Instead of these points being constantly checked, the building users report that there is a need for a service at the push of a button.

    You can find more about digital helpers in the real estate and construction industry at: https://proptechmarket.net/