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Women in BIM (WIB) has entered into a strategic partnership for 2023 with Autodesk Research Community (ARC) and All Voices Heard.
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Women in BIM (WIB) has entered into a strategic partnership for 2023 with Autodesk Research Community (ARC) and All Voices Heard.
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BIM4Water is partnering with Women in BIM (WIB) to drive change together, for diversity and inclusion across the Water Sector.
Growth mindset behaviours and innovative thought leadership are attainable through optimised diversity. Digital transformation allows human resources to maximise their potential through new ways of working, change management challenges and horizon scanning. Despite this, the Water Sector digital landscape remains a majority male environment. A new partnership between BIM4Water and Women in BIM aims to address this challenge by ensuring inclusion-driven decision making is at the heart of business digital initiatives.
WIB was founded with the intention of creating a dedicated network for women working in BIM and digital construction. From the beginning, diversity and equality have always been part of the core principles of WIB. As a Membership group, WIB strives to integrate and nurture the talent and capabilities of our Members as well as taking positive action to increase respect, fairness and inclusion throughout the construction industry. Fostering cultural, ethical and social diversity is high on our agenda, with a particular focus on gender equality.
WIB works with many women globally to support career development and well as attracting young women into the industry. WIB acts as mentors to grow personal and professional skills, encouraging our Members to enter into BIM and digital-related roles in the future. WIB equips its Members with the tools and confidence they need to create a more diverse industry.
The three main objectives of Women in BIM are:
BIM4Water is an unfunded, voluntary UK Water Industry forum that consists of a cross industry group open to all organisations involved in the management and delivery of water and wastewater assets. Focussed on the digital space, it undertakes activities in all aspects of “Better Information Management” including, but not limited to: open data sharing, data quality, security and governance, 4D construction and beyond, asset data, data classification and hierarchies, and, most importantly, the human element with respect to skills, people and changes required to drive digitalisation.
The group’s make-up is reflective of the sector, comprising clients, contractors, consultants, suppliers, subcontractors and other bodies, with work organised into a number of streams. Bringing these streams together, the group has identified that successful digitalisation depends on the management of change, that addresses human and machine elements hand-in-hand.
As BIM4Water nears it 10-year anniversary and as WIB celebrates achieving this milestone last year, it is time to connect efforts in achieving a new normal – a changed landscape of human resources.
Clare Kovacs, Chair of BIM4Water and Rebecca De Cicco, Chair of WIB, explain the partnership plans and the difference it could make to the Water Sector.
Clare Kovacs, Chair of BIM4Water said: “I am personally very supportive of this partnership. There is real opportunity to educate the sector in how to retain female employees, how to elevate and support other females in the sector to promote a diverse workforce and how to stand strong in developing an inclusive considerate culture and diversity mindset in organisations.”
Sharing a common vision, the aim of the BIM4Water and the WIB partnership is to promote cognitive divergence in the Water Sector through inclusive and diverse recruitment, creating the right environments that put people at the forefront of digital technological development and implementation. Through this new partnership, BIM4Water will gain access to an international community with a network of over 60 regional leads across 50 different countries. BIM4Water aim to be pioneers in international collaboration, having already had great success with Water Industry Classification and Hierarchies Group and Water Services Association of Australia.
Rebecca De Cicco, Chair and Founder of Women in BIM, said: “Women in BIM is excited to partner with BIM4Water to support growth in diversity across digital in the water sector. Personally, I am very excited about this partnership as we are starting to see real growth in water clients globally, as well as interest from our members in digital applications and process across sectors wider than Building and Infrastructure. I am excited about where we can progress in this space, and it is our vision to enable a more diverse and innovative space for Water clients.”
For more details of the work, contact Clare Kovacs.
Women in BIM (WIB) has launched its Mentor Scheme for a fourth year to support its Members with the aim of achieving true collaboration and encouraging the exchange of knowledge and skills.
One of WIB’s core goals has always been to support and inspire as well as engage women into taking on building information modelling (BIM) and digital construction related roles.
With the launch of the 2023 Mentoring Scheme, WIB aims to provide the structures needed to lead more women in the exciting and growing world of BIM, helping them climb the ladder to reach the roles they have set their eyes on and see them succeed.
WIB Founder and Global Chair, Rebecca De Cicco commented on the new scheme: “As leaders in BIM, we are seeing that globally there are still issues with skills shortages and resources for digital construction. Our Mentor Scheme has been developed to unite people with a passion for technology and construction to support with filling these skills gaps. One of the biggest obstacles to BIM adoption is the lack of in-house expertise. Therefore our mentoring is a direct response to this, positioned to make a positive impact on the much needed growth of BIM skills in our industry.”
WIB Mentor Scheme Lead, Natalia Olivera said: “We invite anyone who shares our passion for digital skills growth to join the Scheme this year. Over the past few years, we have seen many women excel from the new found knowledge they have gained from their mentors. This is a truly empowering process which has transformed the careers of our Members worldwide.
“Application is a two-step process, firstly completing the online registration and secondly we invite you to attend a (virtual) interview with our Core Team to ensure we understand your experience, motivations and requirements, this will allow us to establish the most appropriate Mentor-Mentee matches.”
If you are interested in becoming a mentor, or receiving mentorship, visit the Mentor Scheme pages on the WIB website here for more details.
On September 9, organized by the Regional Lead in Portugal Cláudia Antunes, the first national meeting of the group Women in BIM was held in Lisbon.
The aim of this meeting was to establish solid foundations among the members of the group and to become a reference for the exchange of ideas and experiences among its participants.
Included in the 10th anniversary of women in BIM international group, this networking event brought together about 50 participants in a relaxed moment of friendliness and sharing. After a brief WIB presentation, each participant had the opportunity to introduce themselves and share great insights into their personal career journey and progression, covering topics such as the role of BIM and being a woman in construction industry and it was followed by a networking lunch.
Cláudia says that “It was really existing to witness the growing presence of female digital leaders at this event that celebrated the achievements of diverse industry professionals.”
Special thanks to the sponsors of this event, REVIGRES, GYPTEC IBÉRICA and BIMobject, and all the partners and supporters of Women in BIM Portugal.
A few days after, great feedback and positive things happened, such as jobs opportunities, partnerships between companies and new businesses. Taking advantage of the momentum and willingness to repeat this experience, let´s keep in mind the message of Rebecca De Cicco, Founder and Global Chair of Women in BIM, “Why not support each other? Why don’t we grow together?”
Emilia Cardamone, Programme Manager for Digital Construction at BSI Group and a member of Women in BIM, discusses with PBC Today Magazine how to move beyond a tech-only approach to build sustainable, resilient cities and communities of the future.
As of December 2, Vicki Reynolds will be stepping down as Global Vice Chair and Core Team Member of Women in BIM.
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Lindsay Prichard-Fox moves from her role as a Women in BIM Regional Lead to a new position in our Core Team as US and Canada Regional Lead Coordinator.
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The Brazilian charter for “smart cities” is a milestone for the regulation of the smart cities segment by creating a standard for the public and private spheres in relation to the rights and duties of each one in the requalification of their cities, it was launched during the Smart City Session in December 2020, and its ideal is to make Brazil look for improvements and innovations for its cities, making them more and more modern and a firm step towards better cities for people.
The construction of the text had a collaborative aspect, by the most varied sectors and was carried out within the scope of the Brazil x Germany cooperation project to support the National Agenda for Sustainable Urban Development in Brazil (ANDUS). The initiators and coordinators of the process are the Ministry of Regional Development (MDR), the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MCTI), the Ministry of Communications (MC), and the German agency GIZ.
According to the Federal Government, there were more than 200 professionals involved in the process of creating the charter, presenting eight strategic objectives for the construction of a public, common, and articulated agenda. One of the main concerns is regarding the population’s accessibility to technologies and the establishment of systems with transparency, security, and privacy.
The main points covered were:
New relationships are confusing the concepts and boundaries of the urban, so it is necessary to understand what changes are imposed on urban space by digitalization and in what ways it responds to this.
Internet access is a right of all people through the Marco Civil da Internet in Brazil, but it is important to develop and implement policies, programs and infrastructure projects, and other aspects related to digital inclusion.
The document provides for the establishment of data governance systems and technologies with transparency, security, and privacy. Information needs to be presented in inclusive language, in an easy-to-use form, and systems must ensure the preservation of personal data.
The Charter prioritizes the adoption of innovative and inclusive models of urban governance to strengthen the role of public authorities in managing the impacts of digital transformation in cities. The objective is to build political-legal-institutional environments that are favorable to innovation and adapted to the territorial context and the level of activity of the institutions.
The document plans to promote local economic development and encourage models and instruments for financing sustainable urban development in the context of digital transformation. To do so, financial resources will be needed to implement environments that encourage innovation, research, and the implementation of infrastructure.
A massive and innovative movement in education and public communication is needed for greater engagement of society in the process of building smart cities. The actions must serve people of all ages, genders, races, and social classes, strengthening their autonomy.
The entire process must be constantly evaluated, and for this to happen it is necessary to build ways to understand the impacts of digital transformation in cities. The analysis must include sociocultural, urban-environmental, economic-financial, and political-institutional aspects.
This is how the definition of “Smart Cities” remained:
“These are cities committed to sustainable urban development and digital transformation, in their economic, environmental and socio-cultural aspects, which act in a planned, innovative, inclusive and networked manner, promote digital literacy, governance, and collaborative management and use technologies to solve concrete problems, create opportunities, offer services efficiently, reduce inequalities, increase resilience and improve the quality of life of all people, ensuring the safe and responsible use of data and information and communication technologies.”
If you are interested in the letter and would like to read it in its entirety, please click on the link: http://www.andusbrasil.org.br/images/ANDUS_Factsheet_ENG.pdf
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