J2 Innovations’ sales director Southern Europe, Domenico Di Canosa, has helped set up the Italian chapter to promote and develop smart buildings.
The Smart Building Alliance (SBA) launches in Italy on the 10th December 2020. As a founding member, Di Canosa will be one to spearhead the Italian chapter of the successful French working group to promote and develop smart buildings.
The SBA (Smart Buildings Alliance) was first established in France during 2012 and is a unique association of multidisciplinary members. It has outpaced traditional silo-working approaches and currently brings together over 460 companies representing all the building trades and the stakeholders of the Smart City, and since January 2020, those of the Smart Home with a view to designing the Smart Building of today and tomorrow.
Commented Di Canosa, “After meeting with SBA president Emmanuel François, it became clear that there was a need to spread the work of the alliance beyond France, and as someone who has worked in the smart buildings industry for more than 20 years, I jumped at the chance to be involved. I also had the opportunity of joining digital technology veterans, Cesare Massarenti and Ernesto Santini who were keen to create and expand the Smart Buildings Alliance Italia.”
The ambition of the group is to enable its members – industrial manufacturers, service companies, engineering firms, architects, builders, promoters, developers, integrators, installers and innovative start-ups – to help develop the smart building sector and enhance the value of the building for all stakeholders: owners, users, and local authorities.
Key plans for the alliance include laying the foundations for the R2S architecture certification that supports the ‘Smart Readiness Indicator’ (SRI); an optional scheme that is outlined by the European directives (EPBD) to help raise awareness, accelerate and increase the uptake of smart technologies and development of digital services in buildings.
For SBA Italia, the alliance will be seeking to setup a commission to localize the R2S concept and appoint an Italian certification body to deliver the scheme’s framework. Alliance members will have an opportunity to help shape the standard certification approach which will verify the interoperability, transparency of services and ease of use of the buildings for end users.
When rolled out, the R2S will be a qualitative assessment of a building's ability to adapt to the needs of occupants, it’s efficiency, ease of maintenance and compatibility with energy networks.
Continued Di Canosa: “With the birth of SBA Italia, combined with the skills and contributions of future members, the R2S ‘framework’ can bring sustainability, efficiency, and improvements to all our buildings of the future.”