BuiltWorlds 4th annual list of 50 Global Innovators
Welcome to the 4th annual Global Innovators List. BuiltWorlds recognition of a Global Innovator is a tribute to the industry-advancing role that leading global AECO organizations play in preparing the built environment for the future. The technology that these world-building giants are fully embracing is at the heart of the digital takeoff this sector has been experiencing in recent years.
Legacy construction conglomerates, building technology pioneers, and captains of commercial real estate across the globe are fueling innovative initiatives from the foundation of the industry propelling it toward an inflection point of perpetual growth and adoption.
The AECO tech startup ecosystem is brimming with opportunities for investors, entrepreneurs, and adopters as a direct result of the rise of strategic funds in this space. New Corporate Venture Capital initiatives (CVC), accelerator programs, or incubators continue to emerge from among the top engineering, construction, and real estate firms in the world. BuiltWorlds’ 2023 Global Innovators Top list illustrates 50 of the most influential players driving the built environment into the future.
CATEGORY:
Global Design & Engineering Innovators
Thornton Tomasetti optimizes the design and performance of structures, materials, and systems for projects of every size and level of complexity. TT is an independent organization of engineers, scientists, architects, and other professionals who collaborate from offices worldwide to help you achieve your goals.
Thornton Tomasetti has been an active investor and incubator for early-stage built world innovations through its TTWiiN subsidiary. TT is also an active participant in the AEC Angels involved
Arcadis's 36,000 architects, data analysts, designers, engineers, project planners, water management, and sustainability experts help create and manage places where people can live, work, and thrive. Arcadis works across every phase of asset creation and management for projects all around the world.
WSP Global is a Canadian design business employing 66,200 professionals providing management and consultancy services to the built and natural environment across 40 countries. WSP generated over $8B in revenue in 2022 and is poised to continue driving forward with its technology-advancing startup initiatives.
Growspark is WSP's accelerator program for the earliest-stage startups building innovative future-ready solutions. WSP curates an ecosystem of leading building technology and industry experts to enable the rapid development of new solutions through innovation and collaboration to solve the biggest problems facing this industry today.
This globally recognized design & engineering firm employs 16,000 specialists working across >90 disciplines on projects in more than 140 countries and produced over $2B in revenue in 2021 with sustainability at the core of its value proposition.
Arup Ventures, launched in 2001, invests in ideas and organizations that have a transformative impact on the built environment and help us further our goal of shaping a better, more sustainable world.
CATEGORY:
Global Building Materials Innovators
The leading provider of building materials solutions that build, connect, and improve our world.
CRH officially announced the launch of CRH Ventures' $250M investment fund shortly after BuiltWorlds 2022 Global Innovators list was released and has since invested in three startups focused on decarbonizing the built world. This past summer the CRH Ventures team also launched its first accelerator program focused on innovative water systems.
Headquartered in Chicago, we serve construction markets around the world with wall, ceiling, flooring, sheathing, and roofing products that enable our customers to build outstanding spaces where people live, work, and play.
Innovation is in the DNA of USG—remaining an industry leader for over a century would not be possible without it. Developing new solutions to the problems customers face is a core tenet of USG's business and, like all company values, it must be nurtured to ensure continuous growth. The driving force of USG's innovation acceleration can be found within the walls of its Corporate Innovation Center (CIC). The CIC campus is a state-of-the-art workplace with multiple buildings and laboratories utilized in the research, testing, and analysis of USG products and systems.
Cemex is a leader in construction materials (specifically cement, concrete, & aggregates) with a presence in over 50 countries. This globally leading concrete giant has 41,000 employees, generating $13B in annual revenue.
Cemex Ventures is the open innovation arm and the Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) of CEMEX. Cemex invests in innovative construction startups aiming to foster industry-advancing innovations. Cemex's Accelerator competitions focus on Pre-Seed and Seed stage initiatives at the forefront of next-generation AEC tech.
Holcim builds progress for people and the planet, employing close to 70,000 who operate across 70 countries, with $30B in revenue. As a global leader in innovative and sustainable building solutions, enabling greener cities, smarter infrastructure, and improving living standards around the world.
Holcim is becoming corporate captain in the net-zero materials space and its Accelerator program is looking to optimize the building value chain with sustainability at the core of its strategy.
Owens Corning is building a sustainable future through material innovation.
Owens Corning employs the phrase “global in scope, human in scale” to describe the positive duality of an enterprise that is present with resources in markets across the globe while maintaining a personal nature – 19,000 people working together – that makes our company so special. OC partners and invests in early-stage innovations to support this industry's global maturation.
Saint-Gobain designs, manufactures, and distributes materials & solutions which are key ingredients in the well-being of each of us and the future of all. They can be found everywhere in our living places and our daily lives: in buildings, transportation, infrastructure, and in many industrial applications.
NOVA by Saint Gobain was one of the earliest corporate venture arms in the building ecosystem. Having launched in 2006, NOVA has been involved with the development of more than 150 "transformational innovations".
Daikin
Employee Count: 96,000
Annual Revenue: $29.4B
Operating Countries: 170+
Osaka-based Daikin Industries is the largest air conditioning manufacturer in the world.
In November 2019, Daikin established the CVC Office in the Technology and Innovation Center as an organization to promote collaborations with startup companies to develop new technologies and provide advanced solutions.
Based on Daikin's Group-wide strategic management plan FUSION, the company is working toward the transformation of our business models together with upfront investments in closely related domains.
CATEGORY:
Global Commercial Construction Innovators
Operating on every continent, Bouygues Construction is responsible for large-scale projects in building, civil works, and energy. This global conglomerate employs over 130,000 who service markets in more than 80 countries (followings its acquisition of Equans), generating an annual topline of around $40B.
Bouygues' latest acquisition of Equans (75,000 employees) help create its new sustainability-focused Energy & Services arm which is expected to generate $17+ billion in annual sales.
Each of Bouygues' business segments operates individualized venture investment funds focusing on early-stage innovations raising Seed or Series A funding.
VINCI external accelerator program, Leonard, has been supporting digitization in the built environment for more than 6 years, with mission-critical resources to support startups in this niche.
In the past 12 months, Leonard worked closely with 19 startups across its Seed & Catalyst Programs (early-stage & growth-stage support, respectively), and 10 teams of internal innovators in the Intrapreneurs Program. Leonard has also launched its 6-month AI Program to elevate the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning in the AEC sector.
EllisDon is a leading construction services company delivering projects in every market sector around the world. Having started from humble beginnings over 70 years ago, today EllisDon completes over $5 billion worth of construction volume annually across a wide spectrum of projects and locations.
EllisDon Launched its ConTech Accelerator in 2023, accelerating promising startups globally through unparalleled support and guidance. This program is now preparing to announce its second season.
Kajima Corporation, founded in 1840 with headquarters in Motoakasaka, Minato, Tokyo, operates both domestically and internationally as a general contractor. They specialize in constructing a wide range of buildings, including: commercial, residential, and institutional structures all utilizing advanced technologies and techniques for high-rise and earthquake-resistant construction. They also undertake notable civil engineering projects such as nuclear power plants, highways, and airports. Kajima also engaged in real estate and office automation equipment ventures alongside its construction endeavors.
In early August 2023, Kajima officially launched The GEAR: Kajima Lab for Global Engineering, Architecture, and Real Estate. This lab will serve as a regional headquarters for the company in Singapore, along with a hub for research, development, and innovation.
This family-owned business group works on the philosophy "conceive, construct, care" and therefore counts to the moving spirit in the commercial construction industry. The client receives integral solutions from one source.
Goldbeck not only invests heavily in internal R&D in its efforts to "design the future of construction systematically", but is on of two leading partners in the leading European construction accelerator Futury.
Futury is a platform for sustainable innovation with the goal to connect market leaders, young talent, and start-ups to find new solutions to current sustainability challenges based on UN's Sustainable Development Goals.
Osaka-based Takenaka Corporation, is one of five major general contractors in Japan, with a global presence that spans much further than its own Island country.
This more than 410-year-old organization continues to drive the innovative curve with its Open Innovation programs, which include Takenaka Corporation's Accelerator Program, LP investments into VC funds, and more.
The Casais Group is currently one of the largest in the construction sector in Portugal, with a wide range of businesses, asserting itself in areas as diverse as Engineering, Commerce, Industry, Tourism, Real Estate, Environment, Energy and Services, presenting “turnkey” solutions suited to the expectations of customers and business partners.
Since first going into action in 1909, the BESIX Group has over the years grown into a multidisciplinary company with a leading position in its markets: construction, property development, and concessions. BESIX Contracting specializes in construction, infrastructure, and marine works, often in contracts with a high level of complexity.
BESIX's innovation initiatives are both internal and external. They provide the group's clients with cutting-edge technical, technological, and sustainable solutions, both for the design and construction of their projects and for long-term operations and maintenance, making a difference in the client's journey and experience.
The Company operates in five segments (domestic construction, overseas construction, real estate development, and green energy) employing 15,470 across 16 countries, with its 86 subsidiaries and 26 affiliated companies.
Obayashi's Silicon Valley Venture Laboratory (SVVL), actively tests new startup technology in its state-of-the-art Bay Area facility, in its highly-active due diligence heavy venture investment approach.
SafeAI, a developer of autonomous solutions for heavy equipment, in partnership with Japanese construction giant Obayashi, has hosted nearly 150 visitors to view its retrofitted autonomous Caterpillar 725, operating on a construction site in Japan for the first time ever.
Skanska AB is a Sweden-based construction and project development company. The Company's operations are divided into four operating segments: Construction, Residential Development, Commercial Property Development, and Infrastructure Development.
Skanska has been at the forefront of tech adoption and partnered with the Innogy Innovation Hub in 2019 to further develop its ties with early-stage startups in the PropTech and ConTech ecosystems.
With its long-established corporate culture, experienced human resource and equipment pool, Doku Construction Company, which has made substantial contributions to Turkish construction and contracting industries, and has excellent references in its field of activity, has furnished Turkey with modern facilities by successfully completing various important projects such as school, hospital, penitentiary, exhibition building, industrial building, and luxury residential projects.
CATEGORY:
Global Infrastructure & Energy Innovators
Siemens is a technology company focused on industry, infrastructure, transport, and healthcare.
From more resource-efficient factories, resilient supply chains, and smarter buildings and grids, to cleaner and more comfortable transportation as well as advanced healthcare, Siemens creates technology with purpose adding real value for customers.
Founded in 2020, Siemens Energy Ventures' focus is on investing, building, and piloting ventures that will transform energy systems and help fight climate change.
Siemens Xcelerator takes an easy, open, and flexible approach to solving challenges. This open innovation platform is the foundation to facilitate co-creation and collaboration between partners, customers, developers, and Siemens.
Ferrovial, SA, previously Grupo Ferrovial, is a Spanish multinational company involved in the design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of transport infrastructure and urban services.
Ferrovial Venture Lab's mission is to design and build new business models in areas where, due to the high degree of uncertainty, it is necessary to apply an agile focus based on market exploration and experimentation before the model can be scalable.
Quanta Services is a US Fortune 300 corporation that provides engineering, procurement and construction services for electric power infrastructure and oil and gas infrastructure industries, telecommunications and formerly broadband cable.
Quanta is investing in the future to meet the needs of its customers and take advantage of the visible opportunities ahead of us.
Acciona SA is a Spain-based holding company primarily engaged in the renewable utilities sector. The Company’s activities are divided into five business segments: Energy, Infrastructure Construction, Water, Facilities Services, and Other Activities, including fund management, stock brokerage, wine production, activities related to Acciona Trasmediterranes business, and other investments.
Acciona's I'mnovation Programme, Acciona's open innovation platform, has worked with over 120 startups across over 60 challenges and is on its 6th edition.
Aramco (aka Saudi Aramco) is one of the largest companies on earth with over $500B in annual revenue, ~70,000 employees, and operations in more than 50 countries.
Aramco's savvy management team knows that its fossil-fuel-driven wealth is becoming increasingly transitory every year leading to its sizable $1.5B strategic venture fund focused exclusively on sustainability, in an attempt to hedge its current operations against the accelerating oil & gas phase-out of the future. Aramco Ventures has an additional $500M fund focused on digitizing its own industrial operations, and another $1B Prosperity7 fund focused on disruptive tech outside its own scope of business.
GS Group is a major conglomerate operating in diverse industries including energy, retail, and construction. The group is known for its leading subsidiaries like GS Caltex, one of South Korea's largest oil refiners, and GS Retail, a prominent player in the retail sector. GS Engineering & Construction, another key subsidiary, is renowned for its expertise in civil and architectural engineering projects globally.
GS Group's commitment to innovation and sustainable development has positioned it as a key player in South Korea's economic landscape. With a focus on future growth, the conglomerate continues to expand its influence in various sectors both domestically and internationally.
GS Futures is an early-stage venture fund tackling hard problems, supported by the GS Group, investing in the futures of Climate & Energy Transition Tech, Construction & Real Estate Tech, and Consumer Tech.
Founded in 1995, American Tower Corporation, one of the largest global Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), is a leading independent owner, operator and developer of wireless and broadcast communications real estate. Our global portfolio includes nearly 225,000 communications sites, including nearly 43,000 properties in the United States and Canada and nearly 182,000 properties internationally.
American Tower develops strategic partnerships with select vendors, who can prove they have the products, skills, and drive to support American Tower's goal of exceeding customer expectations.
Sacyr is a global group, listed in the Ibex 35, Spain's stock market index. The company has activities in more than 20 countries on four continents, where it undertakes innovative, high-value projects.
Sacyr channels innovation through an open model that aims to pick up on any innovative initiative with the potential to make a significant impact on our businesses and activities. The company has invested €13.3M, involving 346 employees in its innovation initiatives
CATEGORY:
Global Equipment & Machinery Innovators
Headquartered in the USA, Stanley Black & Decker provides the tools and innovative solutions you can trust to get the job done – and we have since 1843.
Stanley Ventures invests in innovative startups developing technologies that redefine industries. This CVC team puts Stanley's assets to work to help companies scale their businesses by providing industry expertise, supplier relationships, access to millions of customers, and Stanley Black & Decker’s vast network of brands.
Stanley Black & Decker is also partnering with Techstars in an accelerator partnership focused on Electrification: STANLEY+Techstars Accelerator.
Bosch operations are divided into four business sectors: Mobility, Industrial Technology, Consumer Goods, and Energy and Building Technology. As a leading IoT provider, Bosch offers innovative solutions for smart homes, Industry 4.0, and connected mobility.
The Bosch Startup Harbour (the German manufacturer's incubator program) has been held in high regard among the European community with the EU itself funding this early-stage initiative. This incubator has 9 distinct categories with sustainability seemingly seeping its way into most of them (arguably all).
Caterpillar Inc. is an American Fortune 100 corporation that designs, develops, engineers, manufactures, markets and sells machinery, engines, financial products, and insurance to customers via a worldwide dealer network. It is the world’s largest construction equipment manufacturer.
Cat Ventures and affiliate HOLT Cat Ventures (Caterpillar Dealer) have increasingly robust built-world venture portfolios with an innovation-enabling focus on the earliest stages of innovation.
Komatsu Ltd. is a Japanese multinational corporation that manufactures construction, mining, forestry, and military equipment, as well as industrial equipment like press machines, lasers, and thermoelectric generators. Its headquarters are in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Ever since Komatsu's founding days, harnessing technology to grow with society has been ingrained in its corporate culture. Komatsu understands that partnership is vital to innovation, so the company is working through partnerships to create value for our customers and society. Komatsu's innovative efforts reflect its core values, ambition, and collaboration.
Volvo Construction Equipment – Volvo CE is a major international company that develops, manufactures, and markets equipment for construction and related industries.
Volvo Group has been involved in strategic investments for 25 years, creating value for startups and the industries they serve. Volvo's Venture arm has had a growing penchant for built-world innovations.
CATEGORY:
Global Commercial Real Estate Innovators
Globally integrated real estate and investment group with core expertise in shaping cities. Creating places that leave a positive legacy. Focusing on safety innovation & sustainability. This international construction giant generations an annual topline of more than $10B, with 11,000 employees operating across over 40 countries.
Lendlease recently announced its partnership with UC Berkeley's globally renowned startup accelerator program, SkyDeck, launching its first European hub in Milan.
Prologis, Inc. is a multinational logistics real estate investment trust headquartered in San Francisco.
Merger with Duke, which was valued at $26B, positions the new Prologis as the world's largest logistics real estate company.
Prologis Ventures, launched in 2016, invests in Series A to Growth-Stage innovations in the supply-chain sector, building the future of built-world commerce.
Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) is a global leader in the commercial real estate sector. JLL engages in the full gambit of traditional CRE from property management to real estate investment management.
JLL Spark (founded in 2017), JLL’s appropriately named strategic venture arm, is dedicated to transforming the real estate industry through technology-based innovation, and it's doing so with highly active vigor. JLL Spark provides the nimbleness of a startup backed by JLL’s expertise and resources. Led by experienced Silicon Valley entrepreneurs with successful track records building and investing in tech companies, JLL Spark’s strategic PropTech investments offer JLL the ability to provide innovative products to real estate owners and operators, while providing this end-of-the-building value chain segment with a running start on tech adoption.
Brookfield Properties develops and operates real estate investments on behalf of Brookfield Asset Management — one of the largest alternative asset managers in the world. From office to retail, logistics to multifamily, and hospitality to development, we work across sectors to bring high-quality, sustainable real estate to life around the globe every day.
The Brookfield venture investment scope is a synergizing combination of PropTech & ConTech, and it utilizes a global network of knowledge derived from the many partnerships established in real estate, infrastructure, renewable power, private equity, and credit ecosystems. Brookfield’s venture investment fund was created to optimize the real estate sector with which this group operates, with its investment scope properly aligning to the upstream value chain digitalization that is slowly but surely becoming an industry-wide survivorship necessity.
Cushman & Wake is a global leader in commercial real estate services with 52,000 employees in over 400 offices and approximately 60 countries.
The strategic Global Emerging Technologies (GET) capability at Cushman & Wakefield ensures our clients and colleagues direct access to the best and brightest technology and venture capital firms specializing in emerging technology. Cushman & Wakefield leverages technology market knowledge to create operational innovation at scale and be at the forefront of technologies like generative AI.
CATEGORY:
Global Built World Technology Innovators
The Nemetschek Group is a leading global software provider for the Architecture, Engs administration of complex commercial properties. The Media and Entertainment segment operates through Maxon Computer and develops three-dimensional (3D) modeling, painting, animation and rendering applications.
With its innovative solutions, the Group is the only company in the world that maps the entire workflow in the lifecycle of a building or infrastructure project – from the architect’s first sketches to construction to managing and operating the building. Nemetschek software is guiding architects, engineers of all stripes, building contractors, developers, general administrators, and building managers into the future of digitalization.
Bentley Systems is an American-based software development company that develops, manufactures, licenses, sells, and supports computer software and services for the design, construction, and operation of infrastructure.
Bentley iTwin Ventures is a $100 million corporate venture capital fund (CVC) that fosters innovation by co-investing in startups and emerging companies that are strategically relevant to Bentley Systems' objective of advancing infrastructure through going digital (like the LP with Touchdown Ventures). The fund prioritizes Seed through Series B investments in transformational digital twin solutions supporting the design, simulation, construction, or physical infrastructure operations.
A pioneer in computer-aided design that was spun off from Dassault Aviation, 3DS has expanded into a diverse range of software categories and industries.
This cutting-edge design enterprise fosters innovation through its 3DExperience Lab, which hosts startup challenges and embraces open innovation in its accelerator program.
Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational software corporation that makes software services for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, and entertainment industries. Running the whole 3D digital visual market from building design to a fully immersive VR experience, this business has since elevated its AEC focus, represented by its timely purchase of PlanGrid in 2018, and its recent launch of the Construction Cloud.
Autodesk is one of the most active CVCs in the ConTech space as of late and every time they show up on a cap table there seems to be a waterfall of follow-on investments. Autodesk is undoubtedly directing innovation in the built environment as entrepreneurs and investors alike look to this industry leader for guidance.
Swedish-based industry innovator Hexagon has been picking up industrial tech businesses on discount amid the recent valuation compressions.
Hexagon's Industry 4.0 portfolio has been extended in recent quarters with a string of strategic startup acquisitions like Avvir, Projectmates, LocLab, and iConstruct.
Trimble is developing technology, software, and services that drive the digital transformation of construction with solutions that span the entire AEC industry. Empowering teams across the construction lifecycle, Trimble’s innovative approach improves coordination and collaboration between stakeholders, teams, phases, and processes. Trimble’s Connected Construction strategy gives users control of their operations with best-in-class solutions and a common data environment. By automating work and transforming workflows, Trimble is enabling construction professionals to improve productivity, quality, transparency, safety, and sustainability and deliver each project with confidence.
Glodon Company Limited, as a digital building platform service provider, has been dedicated to data application and technology innovation in the construction industry for over 20 years. We provide professional digital solutions covering the entire lifecycle of buildings with systematic digital capabilities and an open ecosystem connecting partners and clients along the supply chain. We continue expanding our global outreach and have served over 360,000 enterprises in over 6 million completed projects in around 100 countries and regions, including the US, UK, Finland, China, Singapore, Indonesia, etc.
Johnson Controls
Employee Count: 102000
Annual Revenue: $23.7B
Operating Countries: 150+
Johnson Controls International (JCI) is a $20+ billion global diversified technology and industrial leader serving a wide range of customers in more than 150 countries. We are focused on creating intelligent, energy-efficient, and secure buildings and building environments for the next generation of smart cities and communities.
JCI Ventures partners with and invests in startups whose solutions, technologies, and intellectual property contribute to that purpose.
BuiltWorlds Global Innovators 50 Qualifications:
- Must be a recognized global leader in the built environment with market-guiding expertise in one or more of the following AECO areas:
- Architecture
- Engineering
- Commercial Construction
- Tools, Equipment, & Machinery
- Building Management & Operations
- Infrastructure & Energy
- Market Driving Technology
- Involvement in advancing the built world through innovation-driving initiative(s):
- Corporate Venture Fund
- Accelerator Program
- Demo Day Competitions
- Internal incubators
- Innovative Spinouts
- Synergizing M&A Activity
- Presence in at least 10 countries
- Generates annual revenue of >$500M
- Employee count >1,000
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