Professor Georg Nemetschek, founder and major shareholder of Nemetschek SE (aka: the Nemetschek Group), has established a non-profit Nemetschek Innovation Foundation based in Munich.
The new foundation will focus on promoting competence and excellence in the construction industry in areas of research, teaching, innovation, and academic life.
AI and Foundation
The Nemetschek Innovation Foundation will place a particular focus on artificial intelligence (AI) as one of the pillars of the future of the construction industry. The goal is to develop German leadership in AI in the building industry.
To fund the new foundation Prof. Georg Nemetschek has transferred 350,000 privately held shares of Nemetschek SE to the foundation. As of today’s writing, Nemetschek SE shares are EUR 71.80, making the funding transfer worth EUR 24,850,000 ($27.7 million USD).
The fact that I have succeeded in this not only as a scientist but also as an entrepreneur has prompted me to ensure the continuation of this important research activity through the Innovation Foundation. Moreover, it should be a matter of course in our country that wealthy people give back part of their assets to society.
The foundation will financially support strategic and university research as well as research-oriented teaching and innovation. To ensure a solid supply of resources, the fund will finance endowed professorships and institutes at universities and colleges.
Prof. Georg Nemetschek
Prof. Nemetschek is regarded as one of the pioneers of the digital transformation of the AEC (Architecture, Engineering, Construction) industry worldwide. He founded the Nemetschek Group in 1963. It has been listed on the stock exchange since 1999. Today Nemetschek SE is one of the leading global providers of software solutions for the AEC industry, covering the entire lifecycle of buildings.
“My professional life has always been characterized by the ambition to achieve technical progress for the benefit of people through creative and practice-oriented research and development in the field of designing, building, using, and managing buildings”, says Prof. Nemetschek. “The fact that I have succeeded in this not only as a scientist but also as an entrepreneur has prompted me to ensure the continuation of this important research activity through the Innovation Foundation. Moreover, it should be a matter of course in our country that wealthy people give back part of their assets to society.
The Nemetschek Innovation Foundation is already the third foundation of Prof. Nemetschek. The “Professor Georg Nemetschek Foundation” was established in 1996 for the benefit of the Faculty of Civil Engineering at Munich University of Applied Sciences. Among other things, the foundation made possible the establishment of the iabi Institute for Applied Building Information Technology.
n 2007, he and his family set up the “Nemetschek Foundation”, also a non-profit organization, whose work contributes to a democratic culture in Germany.
Architosh Analysis and Commentary
The McKinsey Global Institute has ongoing research on AI that says that every occupation includes multiple types of activities and each has a “different requirement for automation.” We noted this in our Xpresso newsletter in issue #7.
“Almost all occupations have a partial automation potential. And so, almost half of all work done by humans can eventually be taken over by a high intelligence computer.” With PWC estimating that the global construction industry will reach USD 15.5 trillion by 2030, and with nearly half of all human activity having the potential of being automated, the market potential artificial intelligence (AI) in the building industry is substantial. In fact, a recent projection for AI in the construction industry forecast its value at USD 4.51 billion. Germany is already a globally leading mass manufacturer coming out of the 20th century. AI combined with robotics and pre-and parallel manufacture in building construction will ultimately transform the AECO industry.
In our Xpresso issue #4, we showed a map of all the robots located in the world used in architecture. We also noted the global leaders in construction robotics, with TopTech Spezialmachinen GmbH in Germany being among an elite list of leaders who are mostly from Sweden. The combination of emerging technologies in robotics and AI and 3D computer vision constitutes an innovation ensemble for AEC. This fund aims to help Germany remain in a pole position throughout the 21st-century race to automation dominance in AEC.
About the Nemetschek Group
The Nemetschek Group is a pioneer for digital transformation in the AEC industry. As the sole corporate group worldwide, Nemetschek covers the entire life cycle of building and infrastructure projects with its software solutions and guides its customers into the future of digitalization. With intelligent and innovative software solutions, the Nemetschek Group increases quality in the building process and improves the digital workflow of all those involved in the building process. This revolves around the use of open standards (Open BIM). The innovative solutions of the 16 brands in the four customer-oriented divisions are used by around six million users worldwide. Founded by Prof. Georg Nemetschek in 1963, the Nemetschek Group today employs more than 2,800 experts.
Publicly listed since 1999 and quoted on the MDAX and TecDAX, the company achieved a preliminary revenue amounting to EUR 556.9 million and an EBITDA of EUR 165.7 million in 2019.