At Fiera Milano from November 22nd to 24th, an extensive programme of events featuring highly skilled partners. Trends, regulatory and technology overviews and expert insights: a wide range on offer to both train and provide market operators with concrete tools and answers.

 Milan, 4 November 2021 – SMART BUILDING EXPO, the home and building automation and technological integration event organised by Fiera Milano and Pentastudio, at Fiera Milano from the 22nd to the 24th of November, is gearing up to offer unprecedented training opportunities.

Broadband, digitalisation, a growing focus sustainability, saving energy and TV switch-off. These are just some of the major changes that are revolutionising the market and creating new development opportunities. This is the context in which the training is offered, organised by working in close collaboration with key industry players and by identifying leading partners to play key roles in high-level events at the expo, many of which will provide installers, designers, engineers and experts with training credits.

SMART BUILDING REPORT:

THE POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF MILAN PRESENTS NEW DATA

Organised in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Milan’s Smart Building Observatory and specialist publisher Nii progetti, the Smart Building Report: figures and market trends workshop will be held on the morning of the 22nd of November and will be the exhibition’s opening event. Based on research conducted by the Polytechnic’s Energy Strategy Group as well as the construction market annual survey conducted by Nii progetti, an up-to-date and unpublished snapshot of the smart building market in Italy will be revealed, featuring, for the first time ever, a specific in-depth study, which will be discussed by the main industry stakeholders in a talk.

MILAN SMART BUILDING CONFERENCE: INNOVATION AT ITS CORE

After the first edition’s success, the Milano Smart Building Conference is back on for the SMART BUILDING EXPO. A day and a half, on the 23rd and 24th of November, focused on urban resilience technologies and services.

Organised by Smart Building Italia in collaboration with the Smart Buildings Alliance for smart cities, the first session, Building vs City, scheduled for the morning of November 23rd, addresses how smart buildings can contribute to smart city development, exploring aspects such as ultra-broadband connectivity, big data management and processing, the transformation from energy consumer to energy prosumer, references to electric mobility infrastructure and, last but not least, the core innovative services, such as e-health, e-learning and smart working.

In the second session the following day, City vs Building, the viewpoint is reversed as the services typically dedicated to the urban environment, its local area and their contribution to a building’s intelligence is examined. Among the topics covered are platforms for participating at an urban level, indoor and outdoor connectivity, predictive systems based on city digital twins, monitoring systems and organising mobility, logistics and security.

The third and final workshop, Space vs City, takes place in the afternoon of November the 24th and focuses on applications from space: Earth observation technologies using increasingly fine-tuned data processing systems that allow urban area managers and administrators to act with unprecedented knowledge of the state of things, often ensuring the predictive action that makes all the difference. Monitoring the environment, infrastructures, water control, georeferencing and telecommunications. These are just some of the many applications that are available today through using satellites.

SCENARIOS

Expert eyes are needed to witness the evolution taking place. At SMART BUILDING EXPO, various trade associations will offer their point of view through discussions on the “hottest” issues in the industry, from building energy management to TV switch-off and plant safety.

Organised by ANIE-CSI, the association which, within the ANIE Federation, represents the plant components and systems industry, the Building automation in energy management of buildings: tools and prospects seminar, scheduled for November 22nd, aims to highlight how building automation and using “intelligence” in management processes, a vital resource for significantly improving both new and existing building’s stock energy performance, contribute.

The seminar, What market and skills for plant engineers post-Covid, organised by Confartigianato Impianti for November 22nd, will shine a light on a burning issue: the training and skills required to, on the technical installation side, approach the new plant engineering market, radically transformed by the pandemic. While NRRP goals, digitalisation and green economy, appear well defined, these require largely new know-how and acquiring this will be the sector’s real challenge in the near future.

Organised by ANFOV, the Italian Association for Convergence in Communication Services, the Switch off in the middle of the ford: the new dimension of television workshop (November 22nd) aims to present initial data on the progress of the second TV switch off, which began in September and will end in July 2022. A technological change that goes hand in hand with the transformation taking place in the means of television used, less and less linear, increasingly on demand and markedly hybridised with the OTT world, which also poses network and domestic systems problems which are still little known.

On the third day of the event, the last leg of the Smart Building Roadshow 2021, organised by ANITEC-Assinform in collaboration with Pentastudio and promoted by ANCE, will take place both in person and via live streaming. The themes of 2021 were recovery after pandemic-related standstills, with the focus on the two keywords in the NRRP: Digitalisation and Environmental Sustainability. At Fiera Milano, after a recap of the issues that have emerged in the six previous editions, a major round table will be held discussing the data and themes that have emerged, with top-level participation.

Also on the 24th of November, Prosiel, an Italian association whose sole purpose is to promote safety in the electrical field, proposes a workshop on plant safety. Whilst we are witnessing a historical change in home equipment and services through digitalisation, unfortunately we often forget that this revolution is grafted on old electrical systems, for which regulations provide nothing on mandatory maintenance and, through general indifference, still lead to many deaths every year.

TECHNICAL ASPECTS:

UNMISSABLE REGULATIONS AND INFORMATION

Comprehensive insights into some of the technical aspects that are of greatest interest to system design and installation professionals are offered by associations, companies and academic institutions.

Held on November 22nd and organised by Smart Building Italia in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Milan’s chair of Management of Built Environment and the Energy Manager Association, will be the seminar Measuring the efficiency of buildings: The Smart Readiness Indicator and the UNI EN 15232 standard, which aims to outline features of the European index for measuring building intelligence and cross-referencing it the UNI standard’s contents, which classifies the impact of automation on building energy performance, focusing in particular on the impact these indicators have on the real estate market.

Taking place on the same day is the Designing multimedia rooms for study and work workshop, organised by the magazine Connessioni in collaboration with associations Avixa and SIEC. This event is one of the AV playground area activities, bringing the world of professional Audio Video together at Fiera Milano. The theme, made extremely topical by the pandemic, is creating multimedia spaces practical for the “new normal” in work and study. Key interventions for capitalising on a devastating experience that has opened up a world of opportunities, which numerous businesses in training sector are seizing.

On November 23rd the BACS systems: the new frontier of building intelligence workshop, organised by  AIBACS, a recently founded association that unites companies in the sector as well as system integrators, aims to raise awareness of the nature and potential of BACS (building automation control systems), i.e., platforms for managing and controlling the main functions of a modern building, as a synthesis of systems that were once clearly distinct from each other but are now integrated through sophisticated solutions that allow different protocols to communicate with each other.

On the 23rd, the Interoperability according to KNX seminar will be held, organised by KNX Italia itself: the concept of interoperability has become more central than ever to developing complex systems of building automation, and KNX presents its ethos and the added value of KNX-branded products, which can be selected from over 8,000 on the market.

TRADES: CERTIFICATIONS AND NEW SKILLS

Professional certifications and strengthening skills are goals shared by operators all across the smart building industry. Throughout the exhibition, there will be plenty of chances for enhancing different profiles and responding to the needs of rapidly evolving sectors.

Meeting Smart Installer: towards certification, the Smart Building Italia event dedicated entirely to installers registered as “smart installers” aims to enhance industry technicians’ professionalism, preparation and training. The meeting, scheduled for November 23rd, will focus on presenting the Smart Building Italia training 2022 catalogue and the aim of certifying skills, an increasingly determining factor for market choices, organised in collaboration with APAVE Italy, one of the largest certification and training institutions in Europe.

On November 23rd, ANACI, the main trade association in the condominium administrator sector, addresses the issue of smart building management, made much more complicated by the fact that, even now, condominiums seem much more like complex machines than simple works of architecture. With the Managing intelligent buildings: a new professional challenge workshop, the association highlights the currently changing role of the administrator who is progressively becoming a facility manager, surrounded by technicians specialised in different system types, and who must also play a role in monitoring the building’s proper functioning, particularly in terms of consumption.

 A CROSS-DISCIPLINARY OFFER

SMART BUILDING EXPO, at Fiera Milano from November 22nd to 24th, 2021, confirms its modern attitude by coinciding with SICUREZZA, the biennial international security&fire exhibition, as well as, for the first time ever, being held alongside MADE expo (opening on November 22nd and running for four days, as usual, until November 25th). Over the same visit, operators will have a chance to discover an even more comprehensive offer, ranging from materials, windows, doors and casings to plant engineering, building automation and security systems.

To find out more, visit https://smartbuildingexpo.it/

The pandemic has profoundly changed the way many of us think about how we live and work. Health, safety and sustainability – powerful concepts reflected at the Smart Building Conference at ISE 2022 – are driving the global smart building market toward $265.37 billion (https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/smart-building-market-101198) by 2028. Thanks to the combination of smart sensor technology and the expertise of integrators, homeowners and building managers can create smart systems enabling their buildings to be increasingly intuitive, adaptable and responsive.

Connected homes

In the home, specific devices like surveillance cameras and smart light bulbs are contributing to spend on smart home solutions exceeding $100 billion by the end of 2021, according to Strategy Analytics.

“Consumer demand for connected systems and services in the home is increasing by the day and has been accelerating as a result of the global pandemic,” says Matt Nimmons, MD, CEDIA EMEA. “In the past eighteen months, we’ve witnessed a real expansion in the trend for technologies to facilitate working from home, or as some are calling it, living at work. Many CEDIA members have worked with developers on delivering robust and secure wi-fi connected spaces that can serve as the home office, complete with the high-quality audio and video performance to match.”

As such, the home is now a multi-functional space that provides a place of comfort, rest and relaxation as well as a secure and practical home office, a learning environment, a cinema, gaming room and fitness suite.

“The biggest developments are not so much in new smart tech, but more in the deployment of it,” says Stuart Tickle, MD at custom integration distribution company, AWE. “Now that people are spending more time at home, things previously thought of as luxury have become more standard.”

He cites smart security cameras to keep an eye on kids playing in the garden, and convenient control of energy efficient lighting and heating. Lighting control systems integrated into the wider home automation system can bring other benefits in terms of ease of use, ‘scene’ setting and even deliver human centric lighting.

“There are no signs of this trend stopping with growth looking set to continue throughout 2022,” he adds. “We are in a rare time when supply is outstripping demand, so integrators have long pipelines of work scheduled in too.”

In turn, this demand has driven investment “in the technology that can deliver the services, comfort and convenience that people now see they need,” advises Peter Broome, Director at UK smart lighting controls manufacturer Rako. “Homeowners have turned to integrators to help make the technology experience as easy to use, reliable and enjoyable as possible.”

Well-tech

Health and wellness remain in sharp focus as we approach the end of 2021. Whether through lights that sync to a home-owner’s circadian rhythm to help them sleep better or proper air filtration that offers relief for their allergies, ‘Well-tech’ is creating new ways for people to achieve their desired health outcomes.

“Well-tech is one of the fastest growing technology trends in the residential market, and integrators are the best equipped to implement these products into the home,” says CEDIA Senior Director Strategic Partnerships, Ian Bryant. “Well-tech fits right into the consultative model embraced by many in the CI industry, as they pivot from ‘selling tech’ to improving and enhancing customers’ lives in their homes.”

Giles Sutton, CEDIA Interim CEO, even calls these technology solutions “truly lifechanging… and they are no long reserved for early adopters or the ultra-wealthy.”

There are calls for integrators to develop their relationships with related trades – lighting designers, HVAC installers, plumbers – in order to become the ‘general contractor’ or coordinator of a holistic wellness solution.

Walt Zerbe, Senior Director of Technology & Standards, CEDIA explains, “Integrators need to spend more time on the discovery side to really understand what the customer’s needs are – who the family members are, what each of them require, is anyone working or learning from home – and it takes an increased amount of study to prescribe a wellness solution for each customer. It’s very personalised. There’s no doubt that wellness is a giant opportunity for integrators to capitalise on.”

Media management solutions

The increased time people spent watching TV and online video in 2020 has resulted in an uptick in demand for dedicated cinemas or media rooms with bigger screens and powered up audio. Similarly, our collective home time is generating demand for cabling that enable outdoor lighting and entertainment systems, in turn helping people to be sociable with garden spaces for wellness and mental health.

The convenience and sanitary nature of voice control is further driving demand for smart appliances. “In particular the growth of dedicated control systems that bring all these devices together and make it easy for customers to navigate and operate via a single platform across multiple control methods, automated, voice and button,” says Tickle.

In this context, remote monitoring and management (RMM) has become more critical for integrators than ever. RMM is one of the key industry evolutions in recent times and, increasingly, becoming a necessity for today’s smart home installation business, says Mark Reynolds, Senior Director, EMEA, Snap One.

To put this into context, remote management platform OvrC by Snap One currently has over 1.5 million devices registered at around 350,000 locations with 15,000+ dealers.

“The ability to access the right tools (Control, Notifications and Monitoring) and having these fundamental resources available in the convenience of one location only enhances the pre and post installation experience,” says Reynolds. Aside from saving the cost of a site visit, the ability to resolve tech issues remotely, often without even the need to visit the site, is a bonus during a pandemic. “Throughout the past eighteen months, more and more clients have understandably wanted to keep any intrusion from tradespeople into their homes to an absolute minimum,” he says.

There’s an opportunity here for vendors and integrators who can pull together media management alongside the networking, audio, video cores. “With so many different content providers, most of us have issues in easily accessing what we want to watch content,” Zerbe says. “So, the next big wave is going to be getting someone in who can manage your media for you and make it simple to use.”

Technologies for working life

The seismic shift for many organisations from on-site working to remote working was an enforced one, but the return to work is unlikely to be a simple reversal of this. Companies are instead looking at long-term ways they can use their buildings more intelligently.

“To battle meeting fatigue, more and more companies are providing dedicated meeting devices that can be used at the home office,” says Stijn Ooms, Director Product Strategy AV and Digital Workplace at Crestron. “Businesses need to make sure that the IT department can track everything and is able to keep the products working and updated no matter what, or where. That can be done through the cloud.”

Frost & Sullivan reported that, before Covid-19, out of the nearly 90 million meeting rooms worldwide, only 7.8 percent are video-enabled. That is quickly changing: with hybrid work becoming more dominant. Adding video conferencing and collaboration technology to every space, large or small, is now a requirement.

“If companies want to retain their workforce and keep them productive, it’s key to make them feel equal and connected whether they are at the office or working from home,” Ooms says. “The right technology, for instance intelligent video and audio, can help with that.”

According to Gartner (https://www.gartner.co.uk/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-10-29-gartner-survey-reveals-47-percent-of-organizations-will-increase-investments-in-iot-despite-the-impact-of-covid-19), 47% of businesses are planning to increase their investments in the Internet of Things (IoT). These organisations are using smart technology to optimise everything from occupancy to energy use, improving sustainability and wellbeing and ultimately reducing costs.

ISE 2022

The Smart Building Conference (SBC) produced by ISE is the must-attend pan European conference for professionals working in the smart buildings industry. It is being held on 31 January, the day before ISE opens, at the Fira de Barcelona. Covering commercial, residential and office opportunities, SBC 2022 will explore how the unfolding new technology landscape facilitates the deployment of smart technology within buildings.

On the show floor of ISE itself, visitors will find plenty to inspire them in the Residential and Smart Building Zone in Hall 2. You’ll find systems for designing lighting that responds to changes in ambient light levels during the day alongside the latest developments in connectivity standards, unified communications (UC) and technologies for improving the visual impact of loudspeakers and so much more.

Mike Blackman, Integrated Systems Events Managing Director explains: “As a physical, in-person event, we are in a unique place to bring all elements of the industry together under one roof and we cannot wait to see you all. In the build up to Barcelona we have worked hard to ensure that ISE 2022 offers a safe, enjoyable and very worthwhile experience for the industry to showcase innovation, be inspired by some of the brightest in the business. We look forward to seeing you there.”  Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2022 will take place at the Fira de Barcelona, Gran Vía, on 1-4 February 2022.

For more information, please visit www.iseurope.org