Ever since I've been in construction, technology and innovation along with general process and product improvement have been hot topics. Judged strictly by productivity standards our industry has made next to no progress. Other facets of our industry and service like quality and safety have improved, though. That being said, the next big construction technology is always a hot topic. ENR recently shared an in depth article (https://www.enr.com/articles/48249-construction-techs-startup-scramble) on construction technology, its progress and its struggles. Interestingly, the article notes that there have been difficulties because construction is more of a service industry than anything else. While this may be true, the medical field is largely a service industry and it has seen significant successful advances in technology usage and deployment. Our medical professionals have figured out how to crack the nut, so we can too. Does this difference in advancement point to poor construction technology development, poor jobsite implementation, wrong customer, some of all or something different?
Another interesting discussion point in the article is that the right technology needs to be developed for the right customer or client. I am thinking this discussion is along the lines of trying to sell ice to an Eskimo. It might be great ice but the sell won't work. In addition to selling to the right customer, the tech industry should start looking at their innovations as tools and not technologies. Technologies seem to have a bit of fluff associated with them whereas tools are evaluated strictly on whether or not they help improve the process or end product in some way. While this can be a tough nut to crack, success can be more easily identified and measured. Check out the link above for more in depth discussion on the state of technology and startups in our industry.
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