About

ITU’s BUILD lab has gained experience in connecting industry with academia – that means teaching and research throughout the last years. BUILD lab understands itself as platform to bridge between academia and industry to learn more from data.

We are continuously strengthening competences in quantitative data analytics echoing the all-apparent rationale of value creation from data.

Who?…
ITU’s BUILD lab has gained experience in connecting industry with academia – that means teaching and research throughout the last years.  

…What?…
To take the experience forward, BUILD lab understands itself as platform to bridge between academia and industry to learn more from data.

…Why?
Which is why, we are strengthening competences in quantitative data analytics echoing the all-apparent rationale of value creation from data.

Let's BUILD a relationship

Student
Collaborate as an ITU student

Throughout your studies you accumulate a lot of theoretical knowledge and methods that are quite fruitful once applied in a practical setting.

BUILD lab gives you an opportunity to collaborate with the industry and apply your knowledge in a meaningful way. Conducting a project within an organization or with organization’s provided data and communicating its outcome will give you the best practical experience and significant gratification, whether you have qualitative or quantitative backgrounds.

Business
Collaborate as a member from the industry

Building up a relationship with BUILD lab will establish your presence within the ITU: allowing students to know your business and ambitions.

BUILD lab brings your business together with students to work along your current challenges and jointly create valuable innovations. Whether it is enhancing your business data through applied ML and AI methods. Or to suggest process improvements through generating data from exploratory field work.

Coact
Getting in touch with the BUILD lab will allow you to co-act on either of these joint activities:
  • Case collaborations
  • Semester projects
  • Bachelor thesis
  • Master thesis
  • Guest lectures
  • On-site visits
  • Internships
Database
What is the BUILD lab’s database?

To promote innovation with quantitative data, BUILD lab is hosting a database where different ITU individuals can access and work with data. In doing so, students are able to use it for their projects and theses, researchers for research purposes, and teachers can use it as case examples for their courses.

All data related projects are thus expected to be open and stored on BUILD lab’s GitHub. Findings and data learnings would then be communicated to teachers, industry and future students wanting to take the project further.

The sources of the data can be segmented into 3 categories: project, open, and licensed. The database can be accessed through our front end. Contact build@itu.dk or drop by if you are interested in acquiring access.

1. Project Data

Case specific data that has been accumulated from extant data analytics projects.

Private and public sector data cover well-maintained sets from previous cases with specific purposes.

BUILD stores current cases in cleaned and standardized datasets that are available on request and downloadable for further use.

2. Open Data

Public data provided by various entities and governmental institutions that is available online.

Both quantitative and qualitative data exist with various degrees in quality and completeness depending on the source.

BUILD aggregates a non-exhaustive collection linking to valuable open sources you can access for your purpose.

3. Licensed Data

Private sector data providing commercially serviced insights on small, medium, and stock companies world-wide.

These numerical and textual sources triangulate firm success, organizational structure, and corporate statements, in Europe, Asia, USA.

BUILD provides access to continuously updated data for every member of ITU within our internet network via mergent.itu.dk.

Thesis Days

These are the cases BUILD lab would like you to collaborate in the upcoming thesis semester. 

If you are interesting in collaborating with any case, or interested in learning more, reach out to the BUILD lab! 

Green Transition of Transportation Through Intelligent Allocation with FleetOptimiser

One of the biggest challenges in the green transition is managing personal transportation in an intelligent way. It’s about replacing fossil-fuelled vehicles with climate-friendly alternatives at an appropriate pace, balance the cost and emission of the fleet, changing transportation patterns and habits – and making the right choices at the right times. Droids Agency has through an IT signature project funded by the Digitalisation Agency collaborated with more than 10 different authorities across municipalities, regions, and the state to create an intelligent AI solution for optimizing the fleet of vehicles – we call this solution FleetOptimiser. 

The thesis project is concerned around a part of the solution when a vehicle is intelligently allocated to a trip. An allocation algorithm has been developed and used in simulations but is yet to be operationalised as a planning tool in connection with the authorities’ booking of vehicles. In the thesis-project we want the student(s) to work both analytically and practically with the implementation of the feature. It is necessary to analyze the workflows, requirements of the feature, UX and the needs in the integration with fleet management systems. If the project team possess the right technical skill, there is an opportunity to further develop the algorithms and the solution. 

Read more about the project here:
https://smart.aarhus.dk/cases/intelligent-flaadestyring/  https://digitallead.dk/innovation/projekter/intelligent-flaadestyring/  https://ifkk.syddjurs.dk/da/ 

Keywords: AI, Software Development, REACT, Green Transition, Transport, Fleet Management, Integration 

Group Size: 1-3

End-to-end automation with intelligent agents

The battle for the future workforce is on. The additional workforce demand in 2030 is approximately three times greater than the growth in the labor force in Denmark. This means that in the future, we need to use resources even more efficiently while making it meaningful to go to work. 

At Droids Agency, we are involved in the Technology Partnership (Teknologipartnerskabet), where the Association of Local Governments (KL) and 33 municipalities have joined forces to innovate processes and scale new technological solutions that can free up time and enhance welfare in Denmark. Part of the project also involves exploring how modern IT solutions using Artificial Intelligence (AI) can contribute to efficiency and meaning for employees in their daily work. 

The thesis project involves development of methods, analyzing and mapping selected end-to-end processes and then investigating how these processes can be reimagined and supported with new technological solutions, including AI and other automation methods, such as ChatGPT. This could include processes like Onboarding, Building Permit Processes, and planning citizen visits, among others. There is an opportunity to develop prototypes in the project using technology from companies like Microsoft, OpenAI etc.

Learn more about the project:
https://videncenter.kl.dk/viden-og-vaerktoejer/digital-transformation/kommunernes-teknologipartnerskab/
https://co-pi.dk/aktuelt/nyheder/2023/januar/kl-lancerer-teknologipartnerskab-skal-frigive-tid-og-loefte-velfaerden-i-kommunerne/

Keywords: Business Process Management, Power Platform, Azure, Service Design, AI, ChatGPT, OpenAI.

Group Size: 1-3

Ørestad - the future Silicon Valley of Denmark

 

Ørestad Innovation City Copenhagen (ØICC) is an innovation partnership that exists with the purpose of further developing Ørestad as the sustainable innovation district of Copenhagen. ØICC is a member-based association of educational institutions, business companies and public sector organizations located in and/or interested in developing Ørestad. To maintain such climate – initiation and coordination partnerships across stakeholders in Ørestad and across sectors is essential. Innovation and solutions to complex challenges demand cooperation between organizations that do not naturally meet. ØICC creates platforms that enable this collaboration and helps facilitate it. However, the impacts can only be attributed if the current perception is what it is expected to be.

The thesis project involves uncovering and understanding how do people view Ørestad as an innovation district, in the larger Copenhagen area and in Denmark, which includes in determining what are the characteristics of such a district bringing various groups of people and organizations in participating in the closely tied culture.

Keywords: Mixed Methods, Ethnographical Study, Interviews, Surveys, Business Innovation Culture, Entrepreneurship

Group Size: 1-2

Ørestad - starting point for a pioneering urban development model

 

There are large amounts of data available when municipalities or urban developers have to plan urban development. In fact, the quantities are so large that it is difficult to get an overview of which data is relevant – and even if it is possible, it is so expensive to find and buy data from several providers that it rarely happens in practice. Therefore, much urban development, despite the best intentions, is based on a relatively narrow data base, which is often even so generic that it does not satisfactorily answer the questions it is procured to answer. It is precisely this challenge that the Urban Insights Data Lab takes on.

Urban Insights is very comprehensive and involves both cases, data providers, municipalities from all over the country and universities, who in the coming year will collaborate to develop an economically sustainable model that can benefit both municipalities and urban developers when data needs to be obtained for a new project . Concretely, the starting point is six cases, where the Urban Insights Data Lab will map which types of data providers can together provide the necessary data to create the best conditions for developing green, healthy and vibrant cities.

What is consumption and what does it mean for a district like Ørestad?

 

Copenhagen Municipality’s ‘Climate Plan 2035′ covers all global CO2 emissions and thus also the CO2 that comes from Copenhageners’ consumption. In order to reach the climate target, it is necessary to focus on some selected concrete measures that can make a significant difference. In this connection, the municipality needs data on the citizens’ consumption behavior and how CO2-intensive and non-intensive behavior patterns possibly relate to each other. With the help of this data and the subsequent analysis, the municipality can design efforts and communication that can be tailored to different segments of the population, so that Copenhagen’s CO2 emissions can be reduced sufficiently.

Through the Urban Insights Data Lab, the City of Copenhagen gains insight into how citizens and visitors use a district. It will be clarified whether activities that are not CO2-intensive, such as cycling, are related to other non-intensive activities such as shopping in thrift stores and buying plant-based food – or whether there is no CO2 connection in people’s behavior patterns. It is also being investigated whether people with low CO2-intensive consumption habits and people with high-intensive habits use different social media. The case will contribute to a deeper understanding of how a district like Ørestad functions in relation to consumption, and also shed light on how the term ‘consumption’ should be understood in general. In addition to the resulting data helping Copenhagen Municipality’s climate action, knowledge about consumption patterns in Ørestad will be valuable for anyone interested in the district’s further development.

How do we measure initiatives in sustainable tourism?

Every year, thousands of congress delegates visit Copenhagen. In 2019, Copenhagen was the world’s 12th most used congress city, and the congresses generated a turnover of over 1.3 billion. DKK. A congress delegate spends significantly more money than the average “ordinary” tourist, and congresses are often located outside holiday periods. Therefore, congresses are obviously a very important segment for Copenhagen’s tourism. 

The longer a tourist stays at a destination, the more sustainable the tourist is, just as a longer stay gives space and time to visit more parts of the city than the inner city and perhaps even destinations outside Copenhagen. This helps to spread tourism and ensure Wonderful Copenhagen’s goal of a more balanced and sustainable tourism. In addition, congresses are often held in the low season and help to fill the hotels in the periods when there are fewer ordinary tourists. The congresses thus also contribute to creating an evenly distributed tourism, which is more sustainable for Copenhagen in the long term. 

The Urban Insights Data Lab will enable Wonderful Copenhagen to find out whether the delegates visit other parts of Copenhagen while attending a congress, how long they stay around Copenhagen, whether they stay in the city longer than the duration of the congress, as well as what their spending patterns are while they are in the country. On the basis of this information, Wonderful Copenhagen can prepare a data-based plan for how they can encourage visitors to Copenhagen to stay longer and thus create a more sustainable form of tourism.

Urban biodiversity, citizens and urban nature, measuring biodiversity

 

There is no consolidated data-driven approach that specifically aims to develop and measure the effect of urban nature – especially the species-rich, biodiverse urban nature and near-urban nature. There is therefore a need for tools to inform urban planning in the early stages and to follow developments over time. 

The purpose of the case is to develop a model that can measure the effect of biodiversity in an urban context, as well as to form an overall overview of the data sources that can be used for this work. It can, for example, concern how biodiversity changes over time, for example before, during and after a building is constructed. In addition, the case must clarify which derived biodiversity effects – such as happier or healthier citizens – make sense to look at and follow, so that the model does not just become a theoretical desk project, but a tool that can be used in reality. 

Fælledby, which is expected to be built in conjunction with Amager Fælled over the coming years, has a vision of contributing to greater biodiversity than there was before the district was built. The case will investigate the relationship between nature and people by defining a baseline for how people use the natural area and what value people attach to urban nature: Which corners and routes are the most used? What activities do people do in nature? What do they feel when they are in nature? What are people’s attitudes towards urban nature? From this baseline, development can be measured and measures adjusted when Fælledby has become a reality. 

Finally, the case will describe a process for citizen involvement in the work with the ongoing impact measurement. The case will measure qualitative factors such as user satisfaction, quality of life and community around the urban space, as well as quantitative factors such as physical health and knowledge of nature among citizens.

Health Index for cities and districts

It has been shown that the built environment in cities has a major influence on people’s health across their life course. But there is a lack of data that can show causal relationships and thus give an indication of how to create better health among urban populations. With a focus on disorders such as diabetes, severe obesity and cardiovascular disease, Novo Nordisk and Cities Changing Diabetes will find out which indicators for the environment and behavior respectively are important in order to implement health promotion efforts – and to evaluate efforts continuously. 

The Urban Insights Data Lab will support the project by looking at how real-time data can be combined and contribute to an understanding of how the urban environment affects the behavior related to physical, social and mental health. This knowledge will help Cities Changing Diabetes develop an innovative, data-driven model based on real-time environmental, behavioral and health data that takes local contexts into account. This model will form the framework for cross-cutting collaborations on urban development that supports health. 

The project will partly investigate how the built environment influences health-related behavior in terms of social, cultural and economic factors, and what significance the season or time of day has on people’s behaviour. In part, the project will map relevant indicators and data sources as well as the challenges of combining different data sources. The case will form part of a collaboration that Novo Nordisk has with, among others, C40 and NREP to develop a health index for cities.

How are communities created and measured for better urban life?

 

Balder Danmark owns and manages 1,200 apartments spread across seven properties in Ørestad. Balder’s tenants make up approx. 10% of the population in Ørestad City and South, and the company therefore wants to contribute to making Ørestad one of Copenhageners’ favorite districts. The case will provide Balder with information about population composition and cohesion in Ørestad, as well as the effect these factors have on the district’s moving patterns. 

Some of the questions that will be answered through the Urban Insight Data Lab are: What does the demographic composition of Ørestad residents look like, and to what extent do the residents form part of local communities with each other? How do citizens and visitors use the district, and which city functions – such as shopping, cafes, sports and walking – are used locally or outside the district? How do population composition and communities affect Ørestad’s migration patterns? 

When Balder Danmark knows how demographics and communities influence the attraction, retention or relocation of residents, the company can put together their offers so that they correspond to the residents’ needs and wishes. In doing so, Balder will contribute to strengthening the well-being of Ørestad’s residents.

Catchment Analysis and The Good Neighbour

The shopping center Field’s is working to become better at contributing to local city life and becoming “the good neighbour” and is also interested in attracting customers who do not come from Copenhagen. Field’s has outdoor areas where it is possible to do various activities, and therefore the center wants to know what people in the local area want and which initiatives can benefit both the local area and Field’s. Furthermore, it is essential for Field’s to know what their customers are interested in and which audiences they are currently not reaching. 

The Urban Insights Data Lab will provide Field’s data so that they can optimize their service to the local community, attract more visitors to the area and provide their tenants with good terms through better knowledge of the visitors’ wishes.

Events

Through out the year, BUILD lab will be organizing workshops, events, hackathons and more. The activities are aimed to further develop skills that enable individuals achieve more with data and some will cover existing or new innovations happening in society and brace the importance of understanding them. 

Some activities are dedicated for students, while others invite both  activities are dedicated for students, while others are open to external people with the intention to bring networking opportunities within the university.

Below you can find previous events.
msab

Data Visualization Competition 2023 Results

1st Place (36 out 50 points) Boligsiden Apartments Sydhavn Author: Szymon Adam Galecki The figure showcases apartments for rent, available at boligsiden.dk. It was one of the figures that showed company’s strategy, having multiple flats in recently finished buildings. Points represent buildings in location given by geographical coordinates. If there are more than two apartments at the same location, a numerical label informs about it. Colour scheme informs about rental price for square meter, in a month timeframe. Since, buildings

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April 25, 2023 No Comments
msab

Web scraping workshops

Whether your motivation is personal advancement or to rival those who are benefiting from this technology, you should use the web scraping workshops as a way to enrich your comprehension with a perspective that can come in handy as a show-off to your friends in parties. In other words, even if you are not an avid programmer, use this as an opportunity to understand how people can code this and then ask ChatGPT to do it for you! By the

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April 12, 2023 No Comments
msab

TrendIT – Generative AI: Inspiring, accelerating, or outperforming innovation?

BUILD data innovation lab is happy to invite you to its open house on Generative AI – the rapidly evolving field that drives controversies about its abilities, limitations, and opportunities in business and education. Together with academic researchers and students, presenters from industry innovators and start-ups will discuss how these most recent AI-based methods can create business value. We will investigate the challenges posed by the technological innovation of generative AI when it comes to replacing human labor and mimicking

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October 25, 2022 No Comments
msab

GitHub Workshop

You might have heard about GitHub or even tried using it. BUILD lab is organizing a workshop that will “unblackbox” GitHub by explaining what it is and how it can be useful for your studies & career. Everybody is welcome regardless of your study program! In the first hour, we will go through the differences between Git and GitHub as well as the motivation of using it. In the second hour, we will go through a common workflow with Git

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October 14, 2022 No Comments
Contact

Get in touch

The Team

Nico Wunderlich
Nico WunderlichAcademic Head
Matas Sabalas
Matas SabalasLab Manager
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BUILD lab is an activity of the ISDI research group.