Japan's Onestruction and IISc Bengaluru's DataKaveri Systems are collaborating to enhance urban planning by improving data exchange and integration for smart city applications.
Key Points
- Onestruction and DataKaveri Systems collaborate to improve urban planning through enhanced data exchange.
- The partnership aims to integrate openBIM construction data with the IUDX platform for smart city applications.
- The collaboration seeks to address the lack of digitisation and siloed datasets in urban construction and infrastructure.
- The initiative supports the Japan-India AI Strategic Dialogue, fostering cooperation in AI and data infrastructure.
- The partnership will explore AI use-cases for smart city and urban infrastructure scenarios.
Japan's Onestruction Inc, a construction technology company, and DataKaveri Systems, the commercial entity of IISc Bengaluru's Centre of Data for Public Good, have signed an MoU to establish a framework for strategic and technical collaboration in urban and built environment data exchange.
Enhancing Urban Planning with Data Collaboration
The collaboration will combine Onestruction's expertise in construction data with DataKaveri's data exchange capabilities to support urban planners with high-quality, accessible and interoperable data for informed decision-making, IISc said in a statement on Friday.
According to the institute, the MoU was signed at IISc Bengaluru in the presence of representatives from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and India's Ministry of External Affairs, on the sidelines of the inaugural Japan-India AI Strategic Dialogue, a bilateral initiative to advance cooperation in artificial intelligence and data infrastructure.
Addressing Data Challenges in Construction
IISc explained that construction and infrastructure data remain among the least digitised and most siloed datasets in urban environments globally.
While openBIM standards such as IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) have improved interoperability within the construction project lifecycle, the infrastructure needed to govern, exchange and use such data at city and national scale remains underdeveloped.
Much of this data -- including floor plans, utility layouts and asset histories -- is often lost or inaccessible once a construction project closes, it said.
Integrating OpenBIM with IUDX Platform
Onestruction specialises in openBIM and DataA-AIA-Construction workflows, while DataKaveri provides the Intelligent Universal Data Exchange (IUDX), deployed across 55 smart cities in India, covering urban mobility, utilities, environment and public services, the Institute said.
The two organisations offer complementary solutions to structuring construction data and enabling it to be shared and used at scale.
"Under the MoU, they will explore integrating openBIM-based construction data (IFC-compliant) with the IUDX platform, collaborate on AI use-cases for smart city and urban infrastructure scenarios, and jointly identify bilateral funding and development opportunities," the IISc stated.
Global Momentum for Open Data Standards
Lucas Haywood, VP of Global Strategy, Onestruction Inc, said open data standards for the built environment are gaining momentum globally, driven by government mandates and recognition that interoperable data formats can preserve and transfer the value of construction information across an asset's lifecycle.
"The next frontier is making that data useful in the context of everything else that describes a city- mobility, environment, utilities, services," he said.
Ashok Krishnan, VP of Commercial Business & Revenue, Centre of Data for Public Good and DataKaveri Systems Pvt Limited, said integrating Onestruction's openBIM capabilities with the IUDX exchange layer would allow globally standardised construction data to flow into AI applications, digital twins, and city management systems.
"India and Japan share the ambition and institutional foundations to make this a global model," he said.
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