Artificial Intelligence agents to solve civil engineering productivity challenges
Researchers are joining forces with companies in the AI Champion project. The project is coordinated by the Tampere University, which is contributing to an approximately 5 million research budget.
“The application process and preparation for this unique AI project, which will revolutionise the civil engineering, took 20 months. I am very pleased that we have secured funding that will enable Tampere University to conduct interdisciplinary research and build an AI hub in Finland. The project is one of the most significant data economy pilot projects of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland”, says Piia Sormunen, Associate Professor and project coordinator at Tampere University.
The project investigates the challenges of productivity in civil engineering design and construction, as well as the reasons for project delays and cost overruns. Researchers know that one reason for this is data discontinuities in the various building services engineering supply chains and believe that artificial intelligence can be used to transform fragmented data flows into unified ones. Sormunen gives an example of this.
”Design documents are usually always in PDF format, which the contractor prints out at the construction site. The big question here is why the data is not transferred electronically from one party to the next, but instead usually causes an information gap between the parties at some point in the process.”
The AI Champion project is developing 100 "human-like" AI agents that improve automation and information flow in civil engineering supply chains. When an interface where information does not flow is identified, the information goes to the GPT laboratory, a virtual AI laboratory in Tampere University. The task of AI researchers is to combine the information and develop AI agents to assist in processes and operating models. Sormunen believes that AI agents have the potential to solve many challenges in the field.
“Certain work stages will disappear in the processes, but new ones will be created at the same time. More data-driven and AI-controlled processes and services will be developed during the project, improving the competitiveness of the consortium companies both nationally and internationally. In addition, Finnish companies focusing on artificial intelligence, can find new business opportunities in the construction industry”, Sormunen notes.
Multidisciplinary team with high expectations
The project emphasises user-centeredness and close cooperation between all parties involved. New information and new AI agents generated in the project are continuously tested in real working environments in companies' own projects.
The project consortium covers all parties involved in the building technology supply chain and data flow lifecycle, from design to maintenance. Tampere University is participating in the project with multidisciplinary research teams from the faculties of Built Environment, Management and Business, and Information Technology and Communication Sciences. The research focuses on construction, information management, and the development of artificial intelligence agents from the perspective of civil engineering.
The University of Oulu contributes expertise in product management and business digitalisation under the leadership of Professor Harri Haapasalo.
“The project is extremely important and involves many interesting stages. Our main expectation is that we will be able to achieve genuine data flow. Data flow means more than just transferring data from one system to another. Our expectation is that data will flow continuously, automatically, and in the right format through different processes and systems so that it can be utilised in real time without manual intermediate processing. Once we can link this to the master data of builders, we can start talking about enriched product data and big opportunities for the future”, says Haapasalo.
In the project, Granlund, Fira, and Koja Chiller, which receive funding from Business Finland, are working closely together on research into artificial intelligence agents for supply chain management and the development of joint services and products. The research is also funded by ETS Nord, Kiilto, GF BFS, QMG, LVI-Info, STK, and Airlyse. The project, funded by Business Finland, began at the end of this year and will end in June 2028.
More information:
Piia Sormunen
Associate Professor and leader of the project
Tampere University
piia.sormunen [at] tuni.fi
tel +358 50 4766 731
Harri Haapasalo
Professor
Oulu University
harri.haapasalo [at] oulu.fi
tel +358 40 5182 275
