At Reincarnate, we are working to develop the technical and social means to give new opportunities to buildings, construction products and materials — thus maximising their life cycle and determining if they are suitable for reuse. This will only be possible thanks to the work of the Reincarnate team, made up of 16 partners present in 8 countries. From leading research institutes and universities to highly acclaimed SMEs and large companies — with expertise in robotics, wearables, artificial intelligence (AI) and social sciences.
Over the next few months, we will introduce our team members through the “Behind Reincarnate” interview series. On this occasion, we have asked Karl Grün, Director of Standards Development at Austrian Standards, to tell us about his work in Reincarnate. He is responsible for making partners aware of which standards might be relevant for the success of our project. Take a look at what he has told us:
Austrian Standards (ASI) is an internationally recognized standardization body, member of the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) and European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI). ASI uses innovative methods, such as co-creation and open innovation, to prepare standards within the framework of the existing open development processes. They introduce new topics and technologies into the standards development as early as possible to improve their market prospects right from the start.
ASI is a key contact for obtaining standards from all over the world. In the Reincarnate project, it is responsible for implementing the work package related to the Demonstration and Standardization. This package aims at demonstrating how construction waste can be reduced, both on the level of single buildings, as well as across regional markets, as well as providing business process models and standards to allow for the widespread implementation of the concepts of the project.
As optimized model solutions developed by experts and across sectors, relevant standards or best practices are essential to achieve Reincarnate’s objectives. Innovations within the entire construction value chain need the development of sustainable business models that must be demonstrated, documented, and standardized.
To support the innovations of Reincarnate’s project, ASI will develop a Standardization Plan and update it regularly. Major findings will be communicated to the relevant standardization communities for the revision of existing standards or as contribution to ongoing standardization work.
Since Reincarnate contributes to relevant standards or best practices, the project will engage with relevant standardization bodies, specifically CEN, CENELEC and ISO, IEC, along with their regional members. Therefore, ASI is identifying standards and standardization activities being relevant for the project outcomes and facilitating their uptake. Once they are selected, these standards will be evaluated against project findings developed in other tasks and especially the 11 demonstrations.
In case, there is a substantial gap identified in the standardization landscape, ASI will evaluate and take measures by elaborating a standardization deliverable, for example, a CEN Workshop Agreement. To accomplish their mission in the project, they will need the input and contribution of all the members of the team.
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