Construction is one of the largest industries globally and is responsible for 10% of the economy. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the least digitised industries and relies heavily on traditional business models. Although various software exists for workplace management, i.e. Remato, Bauhub, and Werk to name a few local examples, there are still many challenges to be solved. For example, how to digitally solve issues around deadlines, safety, supply chains, availability of skilled labour, design management or quality of work? Not to mention the environmental impacts that come from poorly chosen materials, the construction process, rework and waste. These are the topic areas that the participants of Digital Construction 2022 took on during the hackathon.
All the pitches we heard have the potential to solve real problems in the industry. I hope to see some teams come back again in the next years and eventually see them at the Estonian Startup Awards accepting the title of best newcomers.
- Madis Lehtments, CEO and Co-Founder of Remato
The Digital Construction hackathon was organised by Garage48, Remato and the Digital Construction Cluster in cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communication, Bauhub, Werk, EAS, Woodhouse Estonia and in further partnership with WDBE2022 and the Estonian Academy of Arts.
We couldn’t have done it without our mentors: Madis Lehtmets, Teet Parts, Marko Leek, Ergo Pikas, Jaan Saar, Siim Puskar, Uku Pattak, Henri Trees, Helen Kokk, Triin Preem, Mario Käära, Martin Verrev, Triin Lepand, Tarmo Saidla, Ege Netse, Martin Melioranski, Kaisa Hansen and Annika Kadaja.
Meet the teams:
OVERALL WINNERS & FAVORITE OF THE AUDIENCE: Lodestar
Lodestar built a tool to visualise the carbon footprint of buildings in the design phase. The tool takes into account building material, size and number of stories, which can be easily edited to see which parameters produce a building with the smallest footprint.
Lodestar’s team lead Anni is a Building Lifecycle Assessment Expert who used to calculate the carbon footprint of building manually after asking them a lot of questions.
I would like to become jobless and want my clients to calculate their carbon footprint themselves. Lodestar offers the user the possibility to first spot and then eliminate building design solutions that are carbon intensive.
- Anni Oviir, Lodestar team lead
Lodestar won tickets to Latitude59, a straight pass to the TOP50 of the Prototron fall program, and the opportunity to pitch their idea at the WDBE2022 conference.
Team members: Anni, Kris, Aleksei, Natalie, Sara, Talshyn, Maia, and Anton.
FIRST RUNNER-UPS: Dobu
Dobu build a digital technical passport for construction that replaces the need for 100+ page paper manuals handed to new building owners.
DoBu had an excellent pitch, a very attractive business model, many use cases that even the judges said they want to buy, and already had many next steps planned in their roadmap.
- Marion Kallakas, Co-founder of Werk and member of the Jury
The team won post-hackathon mentoring sessions with Madis Lehtmets, Co-founder and CEO of Remato to support the further development of the idea. In addition, they got an opportunity to pitch their idea at the WDBE2022 conference.
Team DoBu
Team members: Rasmus Merirand, Siim Viilukas, Fred Kuiv, Villem Madisson, Olena Stoliarova, Pavlo Hermanov
SECOND RUNNER-UPS: Rexplorer
Rexplorer is a startup that analyses roofs and land plots to find space for solar parks. They came to the hackathon to build and validate a new feature – automated projections of rooftop solar parks. With this feature, an architect only needs to upload a 3D model of the building and their algorithm does the layout design!
Rexplorer won post-hackathon mentoring sessions with angel investor Lauri Antalainen to support the further development of their startup. In addition, they got an opportunity to pitch their idea at the WDBE2022 conference.
Team Rexplorer
Team members: Hendrik, Natalja, Katja, Arne, Killu, and Sten.
Special prize for BEST PITCH: HausAR
HausAR is an augmented reality app for marketing real estate. The tool allows users to view buildings from both the outside and inside on their phone screen – just as if the building was in front of them.
The team won tickets to the WDBE2022 conference alongside an opportunity to pitch their idea on stage.
I remember the first time I pitched, I was telling my teammate "you know this is really bad". I had a vertical slide and was finicky. I'm super super excited and honoured for this award and will try to do even better next time.
- Toshi, HausAR Team Lead
Team HausAR
Team members: Toshi and Shiraz.
Team Ensa.ai
Ventilation systems in buildings don’t currently take into account how many people are in the room, so they’re always working at full power, or have to be adjusted manually. Ensa.ai provides efficient control of air ventilation systems with an AI algorithm for Intelligent Building Automation companies. So, you won’t have to worry about remembering to turn down the ventilation to save energy anymore.
Team members: Sander Tsõbulski and Sanan Suleymanov
Team Super-vision
A lot of rework has to be done in construction because of human mistakes. This wastes a lot of time, money and resources. Super-vision built a prototype of a tool to help perform quality control checks during the construction phase to limit the amount of rework that will have to be done later on.
Team Super-vision
Team members: Artjom Melnikov, Kenet Kroon, Sander Sink, Ragnar Rebase, Diar Shyrymbek, and Martti Kiisa.
Team Re-material
Due to supply chain issues, construction companies buy extra materials to avoid having to wait for materials to ship in case they need them later on. Finally, they have to pay the waste companies to get rid of unused materials. Re-material turns these costs into earnings by selling construction leftovers to private customers.
Our goal is to help construction companies become more sustainable while also benefiting from it with profit.
- Elina, Re-material team lead
Team members: Elina, Mart, Asta, Alar, Georgi and Jana.
Team Qual-IT
Qual-IT built a prototype for quality-controlled software for tracking defects during construction using computational vision and AI. Using an app and a phone’s camera, the app detects issues instantaneously.
Qual-IT is in the eye of the beholder.
- Leo, Qual-IT team lead
Team members: Leo, Ivo, Vadim and Lelda. They're the most international team in the hackathon representing Portugal, Ireland, Latvia, Moldova and Estonia.
Team Nameless Automation
Nameless Automation is making road rollers automated so everyone can control 3-4 vehicles from one tablet. Their goal is not to build those road rollers but rather to create a platform to manage the automation of them all in one place. The person managing them all will see which ones have errors, which ones are stuck etc.
Team Nameless Automation
Team members: Robin, Markus and Moshin.
Team Ganda
Ganda built a platform where a contractor can stay in constant communication with the construction team and check on progress. The contractor will be able to see what stage the construction is in, send links to interior design choices, ask questions etc.
Team Ganda pitching at the finals.
Team members: Jevgeni and Dmytro
Huge thank you to all everyone who took part! The next edition of Digital Construction will take place in 2023. Keep an eye on the Garage48 web and social media to see when registration opens.
If you want to see more of Digital Construction:
👉🏻 Check out the whole photo album.
👉🏻 See all the teams in the Favorite of the Audience photo album.
👉🏻 Rewatch the finals.