Foundation launches the Smart Building Engineer degree program

The "Smart Building" Foundation initially supports the new degree program for five years with two endowed professorships. In the center, in a gray suit, Chairman of the Board Günter Carpus, far right FH Aachen President Prof. Dr. Marcus Baumann.

On October 18, 2017, the "Smart Building" Foundation and FH Aachen presented representatives from industry and business with the newly created degree program Smart Building Engineer: The Smart Building Engineer will combine all the competencies of modern construction in the future and thus meet the growing demands of modern construction projects and intelligent technical building equipment (TGA). The start of the program is scheduled for the winter semester 2018/19.

Smart buildings require a stronger integration of the disciplines of civil engineering, architecture, electrical engineering, as well as information and energy technology with traditional TGA. Together, FH Aachen and "Smart Building" have developed a new, interdisciplinary field that imparts strong technical as well as methodological, social, and personal skills. The core of the program is a solid engineering education in the field of technical building equipment. The concept for the degree program was presented by Prof. Dr. Bernd Döring from the Department of Civil Engineering at FH Aachen – the study focuses are Smart Building Technology, Smart Building Performance, and Smart Building Design.

Counteracting the skilled labor shortage in TGA

"The shortage of well-trained engineers on the specialist planner market is something we feel every day as a consulting and planning company," explains Günter Carpus, Chairman of the "Smart Building" Foundation and Carpus+Partner AG. "That is why we promote education in innovative construction with 'Smart Building' and enable direct exchange between universities, students, and industry." Together with actors from science, business, and industry, Carpus+Partner pooled regional expertise and founded the Aachen Building Experts e.V. initiative in August 2016, from which the foundation emerged.

With financial support from the eight member companies, "Smart Building" initially supports the interdisciplinary field of study over five years with two foundation professorships, scientific staff, and research-relevant equipment. Carpus is looking forward to the start of the degree program: "We are making a significant contribution to early promotion of future pioneers in building technology. Thanks to the direct connection to industry and business, students benefit from practical training with excellent career prospects."