Earlier this week, LEDs Magazine reported that the inaugural Smart Buildings Technology virtual event, SmartConnect, kicked off its day-long program on Nov. 17, 2021. The presentations are available to registrants for free for 90 days. Check out the lineup at the link below this blog to explore topics such as market pressures and drivers, integration challenges and solutions, networking technologies, and more for the deployment of smart buildings.
Spur-of-the-moment conversations with local colleagues are one thing I do miss with remote working, but I did get the chance to attend Smart Buildings Technology editor Patrick McLaughlin’s Keynote presentation, titled “A 3D Look at the Smart Buildings Market: Directions, Drivers, and Dynamics.” So I’ve been ruminating over some key points.
In terms of “direction,” McLaughlin cited data from research firm Verdantix on the “proptech [property technology]” investment activity that took place in 2020. According to those findings, certainly there was a downturn in the US$M invested in proptech after January 2020 as the COVID-19 crisis grew into a pandemic and began to impact all markets. However, McLaughlin countered, there was a significant upturn in November 2020. “I think it’s fair to say that operational management coming in at $432M and workplace management coming in at $538M are the segments that most closely relate to the smart buildings space,” he said. All told, nearly $1B in proptech investment occurred in the first 11 months of 2020 that could in some way be associated with smart buildings.
Turning to the dynamics and drivers for the smart buildings market, McLaughlin summarized some of the findings from Endeavor Business Media’s recent joint business intelligence report with Strategies Unlimited, “Smart Building Technology Adoption.”
As McLaughlin explained, the study “surveyed a cross-section of the professional ecosystem that serves the smart building market” — including real estate owners and investors, general contractors, architect and engineering trades, facilities management, property management, and construction trades that work within smart buildings.
You can see I’ve developed an infographic above to capture some findings of interest. But here’s a highlight of related threads:
- According to those surveyed, HVAC and energy management were the systems most commonly equipped with smart technology, while lighting controls and lighting were ranked individually at #2 and #3.
- In terms of importance of incorporating smart technology, on a scale of 0–5, participants ranked HVAC and energy management as most important, with life safety systems labeled as “fire protection/security” at second most important.
- While energy efficiency is still a consideration for what prompts investment in smart building systems, “the onset of COVID taught us all that the health and wellbeing of building occupants is a paramount concern,” observed McLaughlin.
I found it rather telling that the top five factors influencing investment in smart technology were more about the feel-good (occupational safety and wellbeing) factors… but the survey question about what is hindering adoption yielded this statement from McLaughlin: “The cost of the initial investment to adopt smart technologies is […] head and shoulders above all other considerations in terms of what gives potential investors pause, what gives potential end users of smart technologies pause.”
So, what gives? What does it take to value the investment in equipping properties with smart technologies? How will end users quantify the costs versus the benefits? What does industry need to do in order to mitigate these inconsistencies and enable this market to thrive?
Additional resources
Register for on-demand access to SmartConnect event
Visit Verdantix website for proptech report information
Learn more about “Smart Building Technology Adoption” and purchase report
Explore research on the cost of connectivity for lighting
Read what a Bluetooth SIG specialist had to say about connected lighting market barriers and strategies
CARRIE MEADOWS is associate editor of LEDs Magazine, with 20 years’ experience in business-to-business publishing across technology markets including solid-state technology manufacturing, fiberoptic communications, machine vision, lasers and photonics, and LEDs and lighting.
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