As a research centre with academic partners from multiple disciplines and industry partners from various sectors, the CIC has focused its efforts on developing a constantly evolving research roadmap that has allowed the CIC to identify the most pressing needs of the Albertan and Canadian construction industries.

The findings of the research roadmap provide the CIC with direction on the most important research areas on which to focus. Based on the results of in-person and online surveys of internal and external stakeholders, the most important research problems — as well as the most important research methods — have been determined. The top research problems that have been identified include those related to productivity and performance, health and safety, sustainability and the environment, and off-site construction and modularization.

 

Productivity and Performance

Considering the existing persistent productivity problem in the construction industry, one of the main focuses of the CIC’s research relates to developing innovative approaches to analyze and improve productivity and performance.

 

Health and Safety

The construction industry has one of the highest rates of injuries and fatalities worldwide. Research conducted by the CIC focuses on developing holistic and comprehensive approaches to safety management that improve decision-making and effectively mitigate potential safety hazards to make worksites and organization operations safer.

 

Energy and Sustainability

The CIC’s research seeks to explore environmentally responsible, resource-efficient, and innovative solutions and processes meant to reduce the negative health and environmental impacts caused by the built environment over the duration of a project’s life cycle. The development of energy-efficient infrastructure, buildings, and systems is also a focus area of the CIC’s research.

 

Off-site Construction and Modularization

As technology continues to advance, there is a high potential for off-site, modular, and prefabricated construction to replace traditional construction in a wide variety of applications. Research conducted by the CIC will explore innovative methods for the development and integration of design, manufacturing, and site installation solutions to improve off-site construction.

The CIC’s research will adopt innovative and technology-based approaches to these areas through the use of Automation, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Systems and Data Integration, Simulation Modeling, and Visualization.

 

Why Create a Research Roadmap?

The CIC’s research roadmap is a tool that the CIC intends to use to guide the efforts of its researchers and contributors so that the most important problems and challenges that face the construction industry can be addressed. By using this roadmap as a guide, researchers and organizations can coordinate their efforts and form connections based on shared interests and priorities.