Full episode details can be viewed on the Future Distributed website.

Can construction software be designed in such a way that it is so easy to use, no training is required to operate it? Torben Dalgaard, CEO of Dalux, believes so. 

Torben took over Dalux as CEO in 2009 and manages the company with his
brother, Bent. Dalux is a BIM software that allows companies to manage the process of design, construction and even operations, digitally.

In this episode, we’ll be answering some big question.
- How can you build software so user-friendly that the users don’t need any training?
- Why is the whole development team at Dalux based in one room?
- How do manage a company that’s growing at over 100% growth every year?

This show comes from Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Estonia has a really incredible reputation for being the ‘most digital society in the world’ and for this reason alone, it’s a place I’ve been wanting to visit for a long time. 

I sat down with Virgo Sulakatko. Virgo has a really interesting background. He currently sits on the Board at Novarc Group, one of Estonia’s leading AEC consultancies. 

He is also the Vice-Chairman of the Estonian Digital Construction Cluster and you’ll hear more about what that is in the show. 

In this episode, we’ll be answering some big questions, like:

- How is the most digital society in the world approaching the digitalisation of their construction sector? 

- How can innovation thrive in a country where ‘everyone knows each other’? 

- What benefits can be sought when you have your national digital construction platform in the same system as your digital healthcare, digital taxes, digital voting? From a data perspective the opportunities are just mind-blowing! 

See full story on the Future Distributed website. 

Solibri are the market leaders in Quality Assurance and Quality Control software for the construction industry.

Back in late 2019, I sat down with their Product Director, Juan Rodríguez. I really enjoyed our conversation about all things construction technology and product management. 

In this conversation you can expect to hear about: 

• what the future of product development looks like at Solibri, 
• which countries are advanced on their digital construction journeys.

Managing BIM in one of Norway's leading architectural offices is no easy task. 

This week’s interview is with Margarida Barbosa, BIM Manager at A-lab Architects in Oslo, Norway.

Margarida has a PhD from the Technical University of Lisbon which focussed on As-Built Building Information Modelling workflows and, since completing her PhD, Margarida has worked mainly in Oslo, but also Dallas Texas with Beck Group - an experience which we talk about in the show.

In this interview we talk all about how A-lab are innovating, specifically around Building Information Modelling and Computational Design.

Until recently, construction planning had been done the same way for decades. 

However, the last few years has seen a number of startups and smaller companies implement technology to try to gain more clarity over the planning and management of the construction process. 

In this interview, I speak with David Nash, Partner and Co-founder at Laminar Projects, a consultancy-turned-software house focussing on construction planning.

Links

• Laminar Projects
• Book Recommendation: Man’s Search for Meaning
• LinkedIn ( David Nash | Will Needham )

Managing building information modelling on a large-scale infrastructure project is not an easy task. 

In this episode I spoke with Armin Khagebahri, BIM Manager at WSP, working on the client-side of the New Slussen Project in central Stockholm. 

It was great to hear about the innovative methods they are using to manage cost and risk on the project. 

Full details available on the Future Distributed website.

Discussing the Future of Mobility with an expert in the field, Raphael Cavalcanti. 

We spoke while Raphael was in between roles, but he’s now started his new role as an Urban Mobility Strategic Advisor for Nova Mobility Consulting. 

So as you might’ve guessed, this episode is all about Future Mobility and the impact this might have on our cities. 

In this episode, we’ll be answering some big question. 

• Is there a one-size-fits-all solution for urban mobility in our cities? 
• How can cities prepare for the changing demand for new mobility modes?
• Which startup in the Future Mobility space has caught Rapha’s eye?

Links

• Book Recommendation: Guns, Germs and Steel
• LinkedIn [ Raphael Cavalcanti | Will Needham ] 

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I want to start this week’s show with a big thank you to everyone that’s listened to any of the episodes so far. We are now on episode 16 of Series 1 and it’s fair to say I’ve learn a lot! Both about podcasting but more importantly about how different built environments operate across the Nordic countries. I hope you’ve enjoyed listening and I hope you’ve got something useful out of the episodes so far, and if you have I would be really grateful if you could leave a 5 star review on whichever podcasting application you use as it really helps other people find the show. 

Now onto this week’s show which was recorded late in 2019 when I was in Helsinki, Finland. I spoke with Sami Sahala, who focuses on Smart Cities and Smart Mobility at Forum Virium, the City of Helsinki’s Innovation Department. As you will hear, Helsinki has always been a leader in future mobility solutions and as such, Sami is a busy man, often presenting their work to other global cities that visit Helsinki to learn from their expertise. 

In this episode, we’ll be answering some big questions, like. 

• What are the most important considerations when launching a city open data platform? 
• Is open data of lower quality useless?  Or can it still be useful for decision-making? 
• What is Helsinki, the city that gave rise to the Mobility-as-a-service concept,  focusing on now?

Did you know Stockholm produces more Unicorns* per capita than any other region in the world after Silicon Valley? 

* Unicorn - privately held startup company with valuation over $1 billion. 

So what makes Stockholm so special? 

Well, this week's guest is certainly in a great position to answer these questions. I sat down with Anna Gissler, the CEO of Invest Stockholm. Anna has worked closely with the City of Stockholm for nearly 20 years. 

Listen again here! 

In her current role, she works to promote Stockholm as a world leading innovation hub for foreign investors. 

In this episode, we’ll be answering some big question. 

• What makes Stockholm one of the best cities in the world to start a startup? 
• What makes Stockholm one of the leaders in Smart Cities? 
• And what do people mean when they say Stockholm is ‘A Woman’s Place’?   

If you would like to explore business opportunities in this hot-bed of innovation in the heart of the Nordics, feel free to contact myself or Anna who will be happy to help out. 

Links

• Invest Stockholm
• Article: Why Does Sweden Have So Many Startups? 
• Article: Beyond Spotify and iZettle: How Sweden became Europe’s capital of startup exits
• LinkedIn [Anna Gissler, Will Needham] 

Stockholm won the 2019 Smart City Award for it's role on the GrowSmarter project. Before receiving this award, I interviewed Lisa Enarsson, a Project Manager who has been working on the GrowSmarter project since it started, over five years ago. 

The project testing the roll out of 12 smart solutions which are discussed in the interview, and was funded my the European Commission's Horizon 2020 funding call.

In this episode, we’ll be answering some big question. 

• How can existing buildings be retrofit to be ‘smarter’ and much more energy efficient? 
• What are some of the outcomes of this flagship smart-cities research project in Stockholm? 
• What are the next steps in scaling the lessons learnt from this project to new cities around the world to maximise the impact.  

Links

• GrowSmarter Project 
• Final Report: Recommendations for Policy Makers and Practitioners
• Final Brochure
• Fact Sheets
• LinkedIn [ Lisa Enarsson | Will Needham ] 

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Note: intro music by Vidian.