The Construction Technology Summit 2017 held in Melbourne on October 25 attracted a strong audience of close to 500 delegates.
Having attended the original event last year, it was obvious how the sector has advanced in that short while.
Hosted by the Victorian Government in conjunction with Aconex, this Summit has fast become the centre for discussion for digital business solutions in the construction industry.
The audience was made up of those looking to attract attention and funding to their online offerings, as well as the general construction sector looking to embrace digital solutions to improve business flow and reduce the cost of doing business, across this complex business sector.
The industry sector (now termed Construction tech) has now been acknowledged by StartupAUS, the national advocacy group working to support the technology community and accelerate the growth of Australian start-up businesses.
Unlike other market sectors where disruption of existing business models is often the aim, the construction sector is more focussed on business improvement to planning, design, build and operation functions.
And that’s important to a sector that contributes $134.2 billion to the economy, (8.1 per cent of GDP) in 2015-16 and employs 1.1 million people.
At the event, StartupAUS launched an inaugural report on Construction Tech called – Digital Foundations: How Technology is Transforming Australia’s Construction sector. The report profiles some of the leading Australian technology companies trying to transform the construction sector, and provides in-depth analysis on the wave of the change we are starting to see.

With the adoption of technology from drones and robots to artificial intelligence and virtual reality, the way we think about the ‘bricks and mortar’ industry is about to change forever.

Pictured above is Clinton Cowin, managing director of TradiePad presenting an interesting summary of how construction subcontractors are now embracing digital technologies to improve service offerings and lower the cost of doing business.