The first-ever BuiltWorlds Tokyo Summit was a great success--with a fascinating panels, jobsite tours, a Demo Night, and opportunities for top AEC thought leaders from around the globe to connect. We heard key perspectives from some of the industry's leading groups within the APAC region, along with perspectives from different regions, to facilitate an agnostic global view of the built world. Below, we will highlight two key themes that were heavily discussed within the Tokyo Summit.

1. Nurturing Innovation in Japan's Distinct Market

Jun Hibbard, CEO of Smart Innovation, discussed the craftsman-like approach utilized within the Japanese workforce. This approach makes workers meticulous in everything they do-- providing a high level of care to their work.
Japan leads the way in automation. Due to their population and workforce crisis, Japan has become a leader in this realm. We saw examples of this on the Kajima jobsite tour specifically.
Japan's government is more likely to subsidize/foster innovation and startups than in the US:

“You need to have incentivisation for adoption and incentivisation for company buildings” - Scott Kaplanis, Managing Partner, GroundBreak Ventures

The U.S. does not offer the same benefits and flexibility, and North America utilizes space in different ways:

"Walking around Tokyo and seeing how the space is utilized. We are approaching 30% vacancy rates. ok so how can we use that creatively, and more efficiently" -Scott Kaplanis, Managing Partner, GroundBreak Ventures

Tokyo Summit attendees connecting during a Networking Break

2. Streamlining Strategies: Embrace Efficiency, Don't Reinvent the Wheel

Artificial Intelligence (AI) can play a pivotal role within the successful implementation of construction technology. Project teams can utilize AI's knowledge retention and management tools to gain invaluable insights when planning out a future build. This helps to optimize and streamline AEC strategies, which boosts a project's efficiency and promotes innovation within the AEC ecosystem.

Di-Ann Eisnor, CEO of Crews by Core, presented at the Takenaka jobsite. She noted that while the construction industry has a view that every project is unique, they are now working with a philosophy that every project they work on has a 90% overlap and the 10% is working with the contractors or stakeholders to address the 10% differences like different verbiage/ slight changes in workflow.

“Assume that 70% of the project has already been done within another project. Reuse what exists and don't reinvent the wheel.” - Sharique Husain, CEO & Founder, CONXAI

The BuiltWorlds Team would like to take a moment to thank our wonderful sponsors for the Inaugural Tokyo Summit, pictured below. This distinguished list of AEC leaders features Kajima Corporation, Takenaka, and Xpanner.