Submitted by Angela Walters on Fri, 05/03/2021 - 10:06
The Centre for Digital Built Britain’s International work stream has championed the foundation of successful collaborations between international governments and regional public sector communities resulting in the forthcoming launch of a Global BIM Network for the public sector. Ahead of the CDBB-convened inaugural Global BIM Summit on 17 March 2021, which officially launches the Global BIM Network, a number of representatives from partner countries share the in-country experience of collaborating to implement a national programme of digital change, starting with Carolina Soto, President of the Latin American Governments' BIM Network from the BIM Network of Latin American Governments.
Collaboration in the Latin American region began at our first meeting, organised by Chile, in 2018 – almost three years ago. This initial meeting marked the startin g point of the Red BIM Gob Latam, the BIM Network of Latin American Governments, with the aim to foster ongoing collaboration between the participating countries, which currently are eight Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay.
Our main objective is to increase the productivity of the construction industry through digital transformation and accelerating implementation of BIM national programmes through collaborative work that promotes common guidelines and supports trade and knowledge exchange throughout the region.
Collaborating has borne fruit. One of our biggest successes as a result of having a formal network has been securing funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) for three years. Our organisation is currently one of only two regional BIM networks in the world, the other being the EU BIM Task Group.
There are challenges too. Given that all the participants in the Red BIM Gob Latam represent governments, we must be able to work together to convince decision-makers from each country of the benefits of adopting the shared language that is BIM while accommodating the different governmental restrictions that inform each of our individual countries.
That said, the opportunities outweigh the challenges and we continue to bring our combined strategic focus to driving progress by:
- Promoting learning about the benefits of implementing BIM
- Demonstrating the benefits of BIM to win the support of decision-makers
- Agreeing on a common conceptual basis that promotes regional alignment for the adoption or creation of BIM standards and protocols
- Boosting the use of tools that encourage transparency and traceability in public projects
- Maximising resources of each member country through collaboration and knowledge transfer between participants.
While there are currently eight countries participating in our network, we have regular contact with other Latin American countries. These are not yet formally part of our group, but the governments of these countries look to our network to secure help and support for their own BIM programmes. We look forward to receiving these countries as members soon, which will bring additional strength, experience and knowledge to our shared purpose.
As a regional network, we welcome the launch of the Global BIM Network. We hope an established global collaboration will help all of our countries and public procurers to accelerate their own programmes by creating a hub where we can all learn from each other’s experience.
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"As a regional network, we welcome the launch of the Global BIM Network. We hope an established global collaboration will help all of our countries and public procurers to accelerate their own programmes by creating a hub where we can all learn from each other’s experience." |
• The online Global BIM Summit on 17 March 2021 will connect investors, the public sector and industry to mark the launch of a global public sector policy and procurement network which will accelerate digital change across global construction. The Global BIM Summit, which is expected to attract attendees from more than 40 countries worldwide, will officially launch the Global BIM Network. The Global BIM Summit will take place online at 11.00 (GMT) and 15.00 (GMT) to account for time differences globally.
See full details and event programme at www.globalbimsummit.org
• A Global BIM Summit pre-event series of webinars featuring public sector representatives leading national BIM initiatives from across the world will take place throughout early March. Register interest at https://www.globalbimsummit.org/#register-your-interest
• The Global BIM Network is supported by the Construction Innovation Hub (CIH) and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)