A Joint NAIOP-ULI-GSD event:

Real Estate, Construction, and the Internet Conference 2001

Thursday November 15, 2001 Harvard University

Information Technology provides the tools to facilitate the execution of tasks in the building industry: brokerage lists, market research, computer-aided design, scheduling, cost estimating, structural analysis, financial calculations, etc.

However, Information Technology has an even larger impact in the coordination of tasks in the building industry and suggests new business models. The new tools: information networks, extranets, component-based design, knowledge management, marketplaces, make us rethink the existing processes and the relations among the different parties in today’s processes. This conference will address the new tools, their current use, the opportunities, and the potential for change in segments of the industry.

However, as we examine the impact of Information Technology in the main large processes: finance, brokerage, design, construction, we should also consider the relations among these processes. With the physical artifact, the building, at the center of all these activities, a comprehensive approach based on Information Technology and focused on the building’s lifecycle becomes inevitable.