DTERBIM presented at ISC 2026 workshop on Digital Twins and AI
On 26 June 2026, DTERBIM was represented at the workshop "Digital Twins for Science & Industry: From Data Scientist to Data Center", held as part of ISC High Performance 2026 in Hamburg, Germany.
During the workshop, Dimitrios Rovas, Professor of Building Simulation and Optimization at University College London (UCL), delivered the presentation "The Building of the Future: Digital Building Twins and AI Agents for Smart Operations."
His talk explored how Digital Building Twins and AI can support smarter building operation and management, contributing to the digital transformation of the built environment. The workshop brought together participants from academia, industry, research centres, startups, and SMEs.
Learn more about the workshop on the official event website.
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Ane Ferreiro (CYPE): "Our goal is to create a robust environment that enables smooth data exchange, reliable model validation, and efficient collaboration throughout the entire building lifecycle"
Digital collaboration in construction depends on more than powerful tools. It depends on whether those tools can communicate with one another. Interoperability is essential for creating reliable digital workflows, reducing inefficiencies, and enabling better decision-making throughout a building's lifecycle. We speak with Ane Ferreiro, Product Owner and Project Manager at CYPE, about the company's role in developing DTERBIM's openBIM framework.
She explains how her team is helping create a collaborative environment where data, software, and stakeholders can work seamlessly together, laying the foundations for more efficient and interoperable renovation processes.
Tell us a bit about yourself. What path led you to your current role at CYPE?
My name is Ane Ferreiro Sistiaga, and I’m an architect working as a Product Owner and Project Manager in the Development Department at CYPE. My background is architecture, with a strong focus on digitalisation, BIM and interoperability. Currently, I am involved in managing and coordinating software development projects, such as CYPE Architecture (BIM modeller) and CYPE Validation (Digital Building Permits).
What do you find most rewarding about your work? What keeps you motivated?
What I enjoy most is working at the intersection of technology and the built environment. It is very rewarding to see how digital tools can make complex processes simpler and more efficient. I am especially motivated by collaboration—working with multidisciplinary teams and international partners to solve real challenges in the construction sector and contribute to innovation that has a tangible impact.
"It is very rewarding to see how digital tools can make complex processes simpler and more efficient."
What is CYPE's role within DTERBIM, and what challenges are you helping to solve?
Within DTERBIM, our team leads Work Package 6, which focuses on developing an interoperable openBIM framework. Our responsibility is to ensure that all tools, data, and processes within the project can work together.
The main challenge we address is interoperability—how to connect different software, data formats, and stakeholders in a unified workflow. In construction projects, information is often fragmented, which leads to inefficiency and errors. Our goal is to create a robust environment that enables smooth data exchange, reliable model validation, and efficient collaboration throughout the entire building lifecycle.
"The main challenge we address is interoperability—how to connect different software, data formats, and stakeholders in a unified workflow."
What progress has your team made so far, and what comes next?
As our work has just started, these first months have been focused on preparing the groundwork for the activities ahead. One of our key priorities has been to ensure that pilot partners share their project information through the BIMserver.center platform and make it accessible to all project partners, enabling a transparent and collaborative environment.
To support this, a dedicated collaborative account has been created in BIMserver.center for DTERBIM, where all partners can work together, share information, and access project data. Roles and permissions have been defined and assigned to ensure that each participant can contribute efficiently while maintaining proper data management and control.
Looking ahead, what impact do you hope DTERBIM will have on the construction sector?
I believe the most significant impact of DTERBIM is its potential to improve how data is managed and shared across the construction sector. By enabling interoperability and integrating dynamic and static data, the project can help reduce inefficiencies, minimise errors, and support better decision-making.
"I believe the most significant impact of DTERBIM is its potential to improve how data is managed and shared across the construction sector."
This is the third in a series of interviews with DTERBIM partners, highlighting the people, expertise, and innovations driving the project forward.
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DTERBIM Newsletter #3: DTERBIM Voices, latest updates, and upcoming opportunities
The third edition of the DTERBIM newsletter includes our most recent milestones, partner activities, upcoming events, and selected news from across the digital, circular, and energy-efficient construction sector.
What’s inside this third edition?
This newsletter features the launch of DTERBIM Voices, our new interview series highlighting the people, expertise, and ideas driving our work forward. The first interviews feature Dimitrios Rovas (University College London) and Stathis Stamatopoulos (ICCS/NTUA), who share how their teams are contributing to the development of solutions for smarter building renovation.
It also contains updates from our partners, highlights from our first periodic meeting in Brussels, details of upcoming events, such as the webinar on 9 July, where our coordinator, Sonia Álvarez (CARTIF), will present our work and discuss how Digital Twins and AI can help build more climate-resilient cities, and a curated selection of insightful resources on construction innovation.
Read the DTERBIM newsletter #3
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Stathis Stamatopoulos (ICCS/NTUA): "I enjoy when something abstract (a model, a forecast, an algorithm) becomes a decision that improves how a real building runs"
What does it take to make a building "smart"? For Stathis Stamatopoulos, researcher at the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS/NTUA), it comes down to turning data into decisions; forecasts that lower energy bills, simulations that improve comfort, and tools that help design better buildings before construction even begins.
In this interview, Stathis tells us about his work leading the development of AI-based operation tools and an early design tool for DTERBIM, and why he believes digital twins should one day be as common as central heating.
Could you briefly introduce yourself? What is your background, and what kind of work do you focus on currently?
I am Stathis Stamatopoulos, researcher at the Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS), the research arm of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineers of the National Technical University of Athens.
I hold an Engineer Master's degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and I am currently a doctoral candidate in decision support systems utilising machine learning techniques in buildings. Today, I work mainly on Horizon Europe projects, managing technical project teams but also supporting research and technical developments.
In DTERBIM, I lead Work Package 5 (WP5), "Digital tools for optimal Operation & Maintenance and Deconstruction." WP5 is, in a sense, where DTERBIM meets the real world: it covers everything that happens after a building is designed and built.
On one side, we develop the tools that keep a building running well day to day, while on the other, WP5 also looks at the end of a building's life. ICCS leads WP5 as a whole and is directly responsible for the AI-based energy profiling and the indoor environmental quality simulation and optimisation.
What do you enjoy most about your work? What keeps you motivated?
I enjoy the moment when something abstract (a model, a forecast, an algorithm) becomes a decision that improves how a real building runs. Energy bills drop, comfort improves, and a maintenance issue is caught before it becomes a failure. That tangibility is rare in research, and it keeps the work grounded. I'm also motivated by the dynamic environment of European research and innovation: every year brings new challenges to tackle, new partners to work with, and new ideas to test, and that constant movement is what keeps the work exciting.
"I enjoy the moment when something abstract (a model, a forecast, an algorithm) becomes a decision that improves how a real building runs."
Now let's zoom in on your role within DTERBIM. What is your team responsible for, and what challenge are you addressing?
In WP5, the ICCS team directly leads two of the most data- and AI-intensive tasks. Our team is building the scalable workflows and AI models that turn raw energy data into operational intelligence.
We work with deep learning architectures alongside gradient-boosting trees to produce high-resolution energy profiles and forecasts at device, room, and whole-building levels.
We also address the fact that "comfort" is multidimensional: it includes thermal conditions, as well as acoustics, lighting, and visual comfort, and these dimensions interact. We are building a simulation and optimisation framework that fuses static BIM data with real-time sensor streams and evaluates operational plans against established references.
We are also developing dynamic thermal simulation models that predict indoor temperature and humidity, and predictive algorithms that model occupant behaviour and interactions with the spaces they use. In collaboration with the IEQ optimisation service, our aim is to achieve adaptive comfort: HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) setpoints that adjust automatically to actual preferences and usage patterns rather than a fixed schedule.
Beyond operational methodologies and tools, ICCS also leads the development of the "Early design tool supporting efficiency, circularity and inclusiveness", which sits at the opposite end of the building lifecycle. ICCS develops a decision-support tool that helps designers, owners, and investors compare design and renovation scenarios on energy, cost, environmental, sustainability, circularity, and accessibility indicators before a building is built or refurbished.
"We are developing a decision-support tool that helps designers, owners, and investors compare design and renovation scenarios on energy, cost, environmental, sustainability, circularity, and accessibility indicators before a building is built or refurbished."
What has your team achieved so far, and what are your main goals for the next phase of the project?
In this first year, our most visible progress as ICCS has been on the early design tool. It is one of the first tasks to deliver tangible technical output in DTERBIM. It started early in Month 2 and, as a result, has already moved beyond specifications into a working interface and a first set of functionalities.
We have designed the user interface, implemented the first functionalities that allow designers, owners, and investors to compose and compare early designs, and put those early versions in front of relevant stakeholders to gather structured feedback.
For the next phase, our priorities are clear. First, we will deliver the early design tool, refined based on stakeholder feedback and ready to support the design-stage release of the DTERBIM Toolkit. Second, we push our other activities from their methodological foundations into running implementations.
In your view, what is the most significant impact DTERBIM could have on the construction sector? What changes would you like to see as a result of your work on the project?
From the work that ICCS leads in DTERBIM, two concrete shifts matter most to me. First, better decisions earlier: design tools that put energy, cost, environmental, circularity, and accessibility indicators in front of designers and owners when changing course is still cheap. Second, buildings that are operated proactively rather than reactively: AI services that anticipate inefficiencies, comfort issues, or failures before they happen, and that close the long-standing trade-off between energy performance and occupant comfort.
The change I want to see is cultural: digital twins moving from a technology buzzword to a piece of everyday infrastructure that owners, facility managers, ESCOs (Energy Service Companies), designers, and even occupants rely on without thinking about it.
If five years from now, a mid-sized building owner in Europe expects to operate their building with a digital twin the same way they expect to have heating, then DTERBIM will have made a real difference.
"If five years from now a mid-sized building owner in Europe expects to operate their building with a digital twin the same way they expect to have heating, then DTERBIM will have made a real difference."
This is the second in a series of interviews with DTERBIM partners, highlighting the people, expertise, and innovations driving the project forward.
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DTERBIM at the 28th International Passive House Conference
DTERBIM partner Hellenic Passive House Institute (HPHI) took to the stage at the 28th International Passive House Conference, where researchers Ilektra Mancini and Dimitris Pallantzas presented HPHI's study on energy poverty in metropolitan cities.
The ongoing research combines district energy and comfort simulations with extensive fieldwork, including questionnaires, monitoring, energy studies, and thermography, across more than 100 buildings in Greece. The aim is to calibrate digital modelling with real-time data to build a more accurate picture of how energy poverty manifests at the urban scale.
At DTERBIM, we will play a key role in the next stages of this research. Our early design and assessment tools, together with our BIM models, will provide guidance to decision-makers and policymakers.
Here is the presentation that Ilektra Mancini and Dimitris Pallantzas delivered at the event: "District-level solutions: From modelling to 100 buildings monitoring - How to tackle energy poverty".
About the Hellenic Passive House Institute
The Hellenic Passive House Institute supports stakeholders across the building sector and the wider public by providing impartial, comprehensive information on the design and implementation of Passivhaus buildings.
Its activities include producing informational materials, conducting seminars and scientific research, and certifying completed Passivhaus projects. HPHI also delivers advanced training, supports the design and construction of new and existing buildings, and actively contributes to national and EU policy dialogue, promoting energy efficiency as a cornerstone of climate action.
In DTERBIM, HPHI leads the Greek pilot in Pallini, Athens, which will house a kindergarten and an elementary school, both designed and built as certified Passivhaus and Positive Energy Buildings.
Working closely with Greek partners Urban Soul Project and SmartFlex, HPHI bridges digital design and real-world construction by integrating BIM and Passive House methodologies. Under its coordination, approximately 80% of the pilot's design will be developed through BIM and DTERBIM digital tools. HPHI also contributes to the development of our Early Design Tool, supporting data-driven design optimisation and digital innovation for educational buildings.
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Dimitrios Rovas (UCL): "The wider ambition is a built environment in which good data quality is the foundation for lower-carbon, lower-cost, and more circular renovation"
How can we ensure that digital building models contain the information needed to support better renovation decisions? In this interview, Dimitrios Rovas, Professor of Building Simulation and Optimization at University College London (UCL), explains how his team is helping establish the BIM-based process, data requirements, and quality assurance methods on which DTERBIM relies, and reflects on the challenge of making digital building models more reliable.
Let's start with you. Could you briefly introduce yourself? What is your background, and what work do you focus on currently?
My name is Dimitrios Rovas, and I am a Professor of Building Simulation and Optimization at UCL, within the Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources. My background is in mechanical engineering, but for more than a decade, my work has centred on information management: specifically, how digital building information can be made reliable enough to support decisions across a building’s whole life. This spans BIM-based data modelling, semantic sufficiency, and the enrichment of models to ensure they are fit for simulation and analysis. I have pursued these questions through a series of European projects, including COGITO, BIMERR, BuildON, CBIM, and DigiBUILD.
What do you enjoy most about your work? What keeps you motivated?
What I find most rewarding is working where research meets practice. The questions are genuinely difficult, yet the answers have to survive contact with real buildings and real project teams. I am motivated above all by the gap between what digital models could do and what they currently do; closing it means the information we produce becomes something practitioners can trust and reuse, rather than a model that is built once and then set aside. Watching a method move from a paper to a pilot site, and seeing it hold up there, is the part I enjoy most.
"Watching a method move from a paper to a pilot site, and seeing it hold up there, is the part I enjoy most."
Now let's zoom in on your role within DTERBIM. What is your team responsible for? What challenge are you addressing?
UCL leads Work Package 3, which defines the integrated, BIM-based process on which the rest of DTERBIM is built. In practice, this means we are responsible for establishing how information should flow across a building’s lifecycle, from early design through to eventual deconstruction, and for ensuring that the digital models and tools used along the way share a common, open language.
We coordinate the partners who specify what data each stage requires, who define the openBIM tools and standards that carry it, and who prepare the pilot building models so that they are fit for the analyses the project depends on.
UCL’s own technical contribution lies in two areas in particular:
- assessing whether each pilot model holds enough information for its intended use,
- and developing the methodology for checking, correcting, and enriching those models where it does not.
The challenge is a long-standing one in the sector. Building models are usually produced for a single purpose, such as design or visualisation, and are then reused for tasks they were never prepared for, such as energy simulation, automated compliance checking, or lifecycle and circularity assessment. When information is missing or inconsistent, whether incomplete heating and cooling data, undefined space boundaries, or weak links between static and sensor data, those analyses become unreliable or impossible. Our work establishes how to systematically identify these gaps and close them, so that the pilot models become dependable digital assets for the whole project.
"Building models are usually produced for a single purpose, such as design or visualisation, and are then reused for tasks they were never prepared for."
What has your team achieved so far? And what are your main goals for the next phase of the project?
The work has started strongly, and much of this first year has gone into understanding the problem and beginning to build the foundations on which the rest of the project will stand. This remains very much an ongoing process. We are working with the partners to understand what information and data each stage of a renovation actually requires, and to express those requirements in open, machine-readable standards; in parallel, we have started to examine the existing models for the three pilots in Spain, Poland, and Greece, gradually building a picture of where they are complete and where they fall short.
For the next phase, our priorities are to consolidate the data sufficiency analysis and to develop a practical enrichment methodology; this is a clear set of guidelines that partners can follow to raise the quality of their models, improve geometry and semantic consistency, and add the information needed for reliable energy and circularity analysis. Because these outputs feed into the design, construction, and operation tools developed elsewhere in DTERBIM, establishing the underlying process carefully now matters a great deal for what follows.
In your view, what is the most significant impact DTERBIM could have on the construction sector? What changes would you like to see as a result of your work on the project?
The most significant impact, in my view, would be to make high-quality, information-rich building models the norm rather than the exception. At present, a great deal of effort across the sector is wasted because digital models cannot be trusted to support the analyses we want to run on them; people fall back on manual checks, re-enter data, or forgo the more advanced assessments altogether.
"The most significant impact, in my view, would be to make high-quality, information-rich building models the norm rather than the exception."
If DTERBIM succeeds, I would like to see two changes in particular. First, that checking and enriching a model against clear, shared information requirements becomes a routine, semi-automated step rather than a bespoke struggle each time. Second, that this reliability unlocks better decisions across the building lifecycle: more confident energy renovation, genuine material reuse, and digital twins that practitioners actually depend on. The wider ambition is a built environment in which good data quality is the foundation for lower-carbon, lower-cost, and more circular renovation.
This is the first in a series of interviews with DTERBIM partners, highlighting the people, expertise, and innovations driving the project forward.
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DTERBIM appears in the PTEC 2025 Projects Yearbook through partner CEMOSA
DTERBIM has been featured in the Spanish Construction Technology Platform (PTEC) 2025 Projects Yearbook, a publication that brings together leading national and European initiatives driving innovation in the construction sector.
The publication includes projects organised around key thematic areas shaping the future of construction, including digitalisation, sustainability, circularity, and energy transition. DTERBIM is included among the European projects contributing to a more digital, interoperable, and resource-efficient built environment.
Recognising CEMOSA’s contribution to innovation
This edition features 23 European projects, 11 of which involve our partner CEMOSA, including DTERBIM alongside initiatives such as BEGONIA, OMICRON, SARIL, DeCO2, INHERIT, MOVEO, openDBL, and EBENTO.
CEMOSA is also involved in several national projects focused on strategic areas such as sustainable cities and mobility, digitalisation of river basins, and energy transition.
This recognition reflects CEMOSA’s ongoing commitment to developing innovative solutions that contribute to a more sustainable, digital, and efficient construction sector.
DTERBIM’s vision for digital and circular renovation
As presented in the publication, at DTERBIM we are developing an open, interoperable and adaptable BIM-based collaborative methodology — the DTERBIM process — to improve the management of construction and renovation projects across the entire building lifecycle.
Through our DTERBIM Toolkit, a suite of user-friendly, cost-effective digital tools, AI-powered services, and Digital Twins integrated within an openBIM ecosystem, we aim to support more efficient workflows, stronger stakeholder collaboration, and better management of materials, energy, time, and costs while embedding circularity principles from the beginning.
Explore the PTEC 2025 Projects Yearbook to learn more about the many innovation projects helping shape the future of construction.
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DTERBIM holds its first periodic meeting in Brussels
The DTERBIM team came together in Brussels for its first periodic meeting, an important milestone in the project's first phase. Hosted by the Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE) on 28 and 29 April 2026, the two-day meeting brought together representatives from the project's 18 partner organisations to review progress, address challenges, and align on the next steps.
The meeting started with a welcome by BPIE and a project overview from the coordinating partner, CARTIF, followed by a review of progress across project management and coordination.
The session offered a valuable opportunity to reflect on the progress achieved so far and clarify priorities for the months ahead, as well as time to reconnect in person and coordinate across technical and pilot activities.
The discussions also highlighted a shared understanding across the consortium: innovation is not only about developing advanced digital tools, but about making them practical, efficient, and adaptable to the everyday realities of the renovation sector. Keeping solutions simple, useful, and shaped by the people who will use them will be an important focus in the months ahead.
Technical progress across the board
A significant part of the first day was dedicated to updates from the project's core technical areas. Partners presented progress on the integrated BIM-based process definition, covering topics such as the development of circular energy renovation workflows, data needs and collection methodology based on openBIM standards, and approaches to BIM quality checking and enrichment.
Teams working on digital tools for efficient, circular and sustainable design and construction shared advances in several areas, including an SRI-aligned catalogue of energy conservation measures, early design tools integrating circularity and inclusiveness, semi-automatic upgrade of BIM models based on the DTERBIM catalogue, and a Building Material Passport for tracking construction products across their lifecycle. Updates on digital tools for operation, maintenance, and deconstruction (reuse and recycling) concluded the first day’s technical sessions.
Partners then presented progress on the DTERBIM interoperable openBIM framework, a key aspect of our mission to create a connected, standards-aligned digital ecosystem for the built environment.
The communications and dissemination team also reported on activities from the first phase, covering outreach, communication channels development, and early exploitation and innovation management planning.
Workshops: getting into detail
Two dedicated workshops gave partners the space to work collaboratively on some of the meeting's most substantive topics. The first focused on the workflow for circular energy renovation supported by participatory approaches, a thread that connects technical development with real-world stakeholder engagement. The second centred on defining use cases for scenario-based process validation, a critical step towards ensuring that DTERBIM's tools and methodologies hold up under real conditions.
Pilots take centre stage
Day two opened the floor to the project's real-life and virtual pilot teams. Representatives from the Spanish, Greek, and Polish pilot sites, covering buildings in Valladolid, Athens, and Warsaw, respectively, presented their progress on data collection and preparation, a reminder that all the technical work ultimately lands in real buildings, with real obstacles and opportunities.
The meeting closed with a session on conclusions and open questions, giving the DTERBIM team an overview of key next steps. With pilots progressing, tools taking shape, and the openBIM framework advancing, DTERBIM is entering an exciting new phase.
Over the coming months, the consortium will focus on deepening the technical work, advancing pilot validation, and continuing to engage the wider sector, while demonstrating how digital tools can accelerate circular and energy-efficient renovation across Europe.
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DTERBIM Newsletter #2: Women driving innovation, project updates, and pilot insights
The second edition of the DTERBIM newsletter is now available, bringing together the latest updates and insights from across the project. In this issue, we spotlight the women driving innovation at DTERBIM, share recent progress, and introduce how our pilots are advancing digital and circular renovation across Europe.
What’s inside this second edition?
The newsletter features the stories of six women from DTERBIM who are contributing to transforming the construction innovation sector. They reflect on their career paths, the challenges of working in traditionally underrepresented fields, and the importance of diversity in driving innovation.
It also highlights recent developments, from our Tools & Services Workshop, where we reviewed the full suite of DTERBIM tools and defined the use cases guiding the upcoming validation phase, to our feature on the cover of Materiały Budowlane, showcasing one of our pilot buildings in Poland.
The edition introduces our Brand Book, designed to ensure consistent and effective communication about the project, and our pilots, where we are validating our approach both virtually and through three real-life demonstrations in Spain, Poland, and Greece.
It also includes a selection of events and resources on digital twins, AI, and construction innovation, helping readers stay up to date with the trends shaping the sector.
Read the DTERBIM newsletter #2
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Building the future: Celebrating the women driving innovation in DTERBIM
Innovation thrives on diversity. International Women's Day 2026 reminds us that building more inclusive industries is not just a matter of fairness; it is essential for progress. In construction, women represent only 10% of the workforce in Europe, with even lower representation in technical and leadership roles. In STEM fields, women comprise just 34% of graduates across the EU, and in artificial intelligence (AI), only 22% of professionals are women. These are not just statistics. They represent missed perspectives, untapped talent and innovation left unrealised.
At DTERBIM, we are working to change that narrative. Our mission to develop an open, interoperable BIM-based ecosystem powered by AI and Digital Twins sits at the intersection of construction, technology, and sustainability, sectors where diverse perspectives are essential.
Research consistently shows that diverse teams produce more innovative solutions, make better decisions, and deliver stronger results. The European Commission's work on gender equality in research and innovation demonstrates that when women participate fully in STEM fields, entire industries benefit from fresh perspectives, creative problem-solving, and more inclusive design thinking.
This International Women’s Day, we are spotlighting six women from the DTERBIM consortium who are helping shape the future of digital construction. Their stories highlight both the progress being made and the work that still lies ahead to achieve greater gender balance in the field. We asked them about their role in DTERBIM, their career journeys, what motivates them despite the challenges in the sector, how projects like DTERBIM can help create a more inclusive ecosystem, and the advice they would give to future generations.
Meet the women shaping DTERBIM
Across our team, women are contributing to DTERBIM from different disciplines, from architecture and engineering to research, innovation management, and digital technology. Here are six of the professionals helping drive the project forward.
Ane Ferreiro Sistiaga (CYPE)
An architect at CYPE's Development Department, Ane contributes to DTERBIM by providing a BIM project management platform that connects with various tools and services throughout a project's lifecycle. "Our role is to enable interoperability and coordination among multiple software solutions within an open BIM ecosystem. The objective is to create a collaborative digital environment where different tools can exchange information during both project design and long-term asset management.
What excites me most about DTERBIM is precisely this collaboration between different software companies. It gives us a direct understanding of the real needs and challenges professionals face when working in a connected digital environment. Contributing to the creation of an open and useful collaborative framework—where interoperability is not just theoretical but practical—is extremely motivating. It is about shaping how digital workflows in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) can become more efficient and integrated."
Sonia Álvarez Díaz (CARTIF)
Sonia brings expertise in BIM-based modelling, energy simulation, and digital interoperability. "In addition to my technical contributions, I'm the Project Coordinator of DTERBIM, which is both a major responsibility and a motivating challenge. My role is to guide the project toward its objectives while fostering strong collaboration among its 18 partners."
Elzbieta Borun (Contecht GmbH)
CEO at Contecht, Elzbieta participates as a technical partner providing software solutions for the Digital Twin and BIM environment. "My role focuses on administrative management and internal coordination on our side, ensuring structured processes, clear documentation, and effective collaboration within the consortium.
What excites me most is contributing to a Digital Twin ecosystem where software, structured data, and BIM methodologies come together to enable smarter infrastructure management and long-term sustainability."
Carmen Alonso del Caño (CARTIF)
From CARTIF's R&D Programmes Department, Carmen coordinates the administrative and financial aspects to ensure the project runs smoothly. "We act as the main interface with the European Commission, ensuring partners' compliance, consolidating reporting, and monitoring progress to ensure milestones are met and payments are released.
What excites me most about DTERBIM is having a strategic, cross-project view, working with diverse international partners, and the satisfaction of helping complex research collaborations translate into real impact."
Gloria Calleja-Rodríguez (CEMOSA)
Research & Innovation Deputy Director at CEMOSA, Gloria leads the team responsible for developing the Building Digital Twin and Sustainable Twin, the application for smart quality control, and the pilot preparation and data collection. "My role involves coordinating the technical strategy, guiding the development of digital tools, and ensuring their integration supports sustainability and efficient asset management while adding value to CEMOSA engineering services.
What excites me most is the opportunity to merge cutting-edge digital technologies with real-world engineering processes to create solutions that transform traditional engineering services towards sustainability and digitalisation."
María Romero López (Geoter)
Head of R&D&I at Geoter, María is involved in the research, sizing, and installation of the geothermal system (boreholes and heat pump) for the Spanish DTERBIM pilot, and collaborates on the project's BIM developments, "an area in which I have a lot to learn, and I believe will be very positive for our company."
What inspired their career paths
Their journeys into architecture, engineering, research and innovation were shaped by curiosity, passion for technology, and a desire to contribute to a more sustainable built environment.
Ane has been working in architecture linked to BIM and software development for the AEC sector since 2018:
"I chose architecture because it uniquely combines artistic sensibility with technical rigour. Since I was young, I was fascinated by visiting buildings while travelling—understanding how spaces shape experience and how technical decisions influence aesthetics and functionality. Architecture allowed me to bring together creativity, structural logic, environmental performance, and social impact.
Regarding software development for architecture and engineering, I often say that it chose me. I have always been deeply interested in new technologies. Architects, perhaps more than many other professionals, use an extraordinary variety of digital tools in daily practice: office software, 3D modelling platforms, rendering engines, energy simulation tools, structural calculation software, image editing programs such as Photoshop, and many others. This constant interaction with diverse technologies gives architects a unique perspective on usability, interoperability, and workflow integration. That perspective naturally led me toward working in software development for the built environment."
Sonia found her path through an early interest in technical subjects and creativity:
"From a young age, I was interested in technical drawing, technology, and mathematics, and when the time came to choose my studies, I decided to pursue Architecture because I saw it as a field combining technical knowledge with creativity. Over time, my interests shifted towards digital technologies and research, a direction reinforced by my Master's degree in Technologies for the Protection of Immovable Cultural Heritage, where I worked with GIS applied to heritage conservation and started working with BIM.
Later, I combined my work as a researcher at CARTIF in the field of energy efficiency with my PhD in Architecture, focused on the use of BIM and advanced digital technologies for building renovation, which allowed me to integrate architecture, digital innovation, and sustainability into my career."
Carmen chose a career in administration for its strategic impact:
"My field is administration, and I chose to work in it because I am interested in optimising processes, coordinating resources, and supporting strategic decision-making within organisations. I am motivated by contributing to projects running efficiently and sustainably, combining analysis, planning, and people management. Additionally, it is a versatile field that allows adaptation to different sectors and professional challenges."
Gloria was drawn to engineering through a combination of passion, purpose and curiosity:
"My career choice was shaped by a combination of three key factors:
- A strong passion for technical subjects: I've always enjoyed mathematics, physics, and technology.
- A desire to contribute to sustainability: I wanted to apply this technical knowledge to improve how we design, build, and maintain our world, making it more sustainable.
- A wish for continuous learning: research and innovation allow me to explore new ideas, solve complex problems, and avoid routine. No two days are ever the same.
María pursued engineering driven by her interest in renewable energy:
"I work in the area of geothermal research, and I chose to study an engineering degree related to energy due to my strong interest in renewable energies."
Facing gender imbalance and staying motivated
Ane reflects on the gender imbalance she has observed throughout her career and the progress she has witnessed in European projects:
"When I studied architecture, the number of male and female graduates was already balanced. However, in professional practice—especially in construction—the environment remains predominantly male. Many of the most internationally recognised architecture studios are still led by men. During my studies, female architects were rarely presented as references, and their contributions were often overshadowed.
For that reason, I collaborated with the platform Un día | Una arquitecta, whose goal is to publish biographies of women architects and make their work visible online. I also helped place posters around the school highlighting major female architects whose contributions had often been hidden or attributed to male figures. Visibility matters: representation shapes ambition.
In software development, the gender imbalance is even more striking. It can be intimidating to enter a field where women are still significantly underrepresented. There is still a strong collective perception that technology and programming are predominantly male domains. If you look at gender statistics in technical university degrees, the imbalance is evident and concerning. We are, in many ways, leaving one of the most critical fields for defining our technological future largely in male hands.
I clearly remember my first European projects around 2018. In meeting rooms of 20 people, there might have been only two women—if that. It was impactful and, at times, made me feel 'lucky' just to be there. Over time, however, I have seen positive change. European gender equality policies have contributed to increasing female participation, and DTERBIM itself reflects that progress.
"European gender equality policies have contributed to increasing female participation, and DTERBIM itself reflects that progress."
What keeps me motivated is precisely the awareness that representation matters. Being present, contributing technically, and participating in decision-making spaces is already part of the change. I am motivated by the possibility of helping shape more inclusive technological and construction environments—where diversity is not an exception, but the norm."
María also shares an honest perspective on the barriers women still face in the sector, while recognising the progress being made:
"I believe that it is harder for us as women to get to do tasks that are considered 'men's work' because society doesn't assume that we should do them. We have to show more motivation than men to go to construction sites, do fieldwork, etc. And it is more difficult to reach high-level positions in the company because power has been historically associated with men. However, in my day-to-day life with my colleagues, I don't feel there is any inequality, and I am treated very well by everyone. I am motivated because we are making progress step by step and aiming higher and higher."
"I am motivated because we are making progress step by step and aiming higher and higher."
How digital innovation creates inclusive environments
Beyond individual experiences, digital transformation itself is helping reshape the culture of the AEC sector.
Sonia highlights how DTERBIM itself demonstrates the potential for change:
"Projects like DTERBIM promote the adoption of collaborative digital technologies in the construction sector, an approach that opens up broader fields of work, fosters multidisciplinary collaboration, and helps reduce traditional barriers by integrating diverse expertise and professional profiles.
Our multidisciplinary team at CARTIF, contributing to the DTERBIM project, reflects this evolution. It is predominantly composed of women with strong expertise in energy efficiency, combining backgrounds in architecture and engineering with advanced knowledge of BIM and artificial intelligence. This illustrates how digital innovation can naturally foster more diverse and inclusive professional environments."
Advice for the next generation of women in innovation
Elzbieta offers reassurance about a universal experience:
"You will probably doubt yourself at some point—that's normal. Don't let it stop you. Stay curious, keep learning, and remember that your perspective is valuable, especially in digital innovation where new thinking truly matters."
Carmen emphasises the importance of community and confidence:
"My advice to young women considering a career in administration is to embrace leadership opportunities confidently, seek continuous learning, and actively participate in projects that challenge the current situation. Most importantly, support and network with other women, helping to strengthen our presence and influence in specialised fields traditionally related to men."
Gloria gives a powerful message of self-belief:
"Never underestimate your abilities. You are capable of achieving anything you set your mind to. Trust your skills, stay curious, and surround yourself with people who support your growth."
Building a more inclusive future
The interviewees' experiences in this article highlight both the challenges and the opportunities ahead. They speak to persistent barriers—from underrepresentation in meeting rooms to the difficulty of accessing what is still predominantly considered as “men’s work”—but also to tangible progress: more balanced European project teams, multidisciplinary environments where women lead technical innovation, and a growing recognition that diversity drives better outcomes.
The European Union's commitment to gender equality in research and innovation has created structural support for change. Horizon Europe requires gender balance in project teams and gender considerations in research design. These policies are working: participation of women in EU-funded research has increased steadily, and projects like DTERBIM benefit from that progress.
But policy alone isn't enough. As Ane notes, “Visibility matters: representation shapes ambition.” When young women see female architects, engineers, and technology leaders doing groundbreaking work, they can imagine themselves in those roles. When hiring managers actively seek diverse candidates, teams become stronger, and when organisations create inclusive cultures, talent thrives.
DTERBIM's work—building open, interoperable digital systems for sustainable construction—depends on diverse perspectives. The challenges we face in decarbonising Europe's building stock, improving energy efficiency, and creating circular renovation processes are complex. They require technical excellence, creative problem-solving, and an understanding of how buildings serve different communities. That work is better when everyone can collaborate as equals.
This International Women's Day, we celebrate the women of DTERBIM and commit to continuing the work of building a construction industry and digital innovation ecosystem where everyone can contribute fully. Because the future we are building—one where data becomes insight and insight becomes action—requires the talents and voices of everyone.
About DTERBIM
DTERBIM is a Horizon Europe project developing an open, interoperable BIM-based ecosystem powered by AI and Digital Twins to accelerate Europe's transition to circular, energy-efficient building renovation. The consortium brings together 18 partners across Europe working to create user-friendly digital tools, open standards, and validated solutions demonstrated through pilots in Spain, Poland, and Greece.
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