AEC INNOVATE Agenda

Ever wonder how to leverage the newest AI tools to increase your personal productivity, but are unsure where to start? Invest 4 hours in this intensive overview of AI in AEC, including hands-on exercises using the latest apps with engineer and AI expert Stjepan Mikulic of the training company AI in AEC. You learn how to make custom GPTs, apply Chat GPT to AEC business use cases, understand how AI works and why it’s never 100% correct, and more. By the end of the workshop you’ll be comfortable using AI to create presentations, graphs, visuals, websites, and hold your own in any discussion. Plus, you get step-by-step instructions for saving 10+ hours a week by using AI in your AEC firm!

Now we jump into practical applications of AI in maximizing business outcomes for AEC executives. You get a first-hand account of how the careful application of specific AI tools saved a 250-person AEC firm $4.5 million through radically reduced design time. Plus, you get access to a Miro board/AI app to map out your own tech stacks, licenses, and AI use to optimize your current tech stack. Finally, we open up common AEC bottlenecks by remapping processes and shaking the cobwebs from legacy systems.

Jonathan Nelson, Global Head of Digital, Populous

AT AEC INNOVATE, Jonathan explains how Populous is applying AI to the global design firm's unique data sets across the business: in design, human resources, finance, operations and more. He also shares the backstory of "The Sphere" in Las Vegas, which Populous created using next-level immersive design. Plus, he demystifies complexities behind AI standards, governance, copyrights and ownership and touches on AI’s power to enhance and provide efficiencies in our roles.

Mitch Dabling, PE, Technology Director, Water Business Group, HDR

As the civil infrastructure sector continues to face unprecedented challenges, including climate change, workforce challenges, population growth, and aging systems, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) presents transformative opportunities. Mitch Dabling, Technology Director for HDR’s Water Business Group, takes us on a journey through how to implement innovative technology initiatives, including those that leverage AI, to enhance operational efficiency, improve decision-making, and build a technology-enabled staff within your organization, with takeaways for any AEC professional serving any market sector. This engaging and interactive discussion reveals:
 

• How to approach technology initiatives at your AEC firm, with a look at proactive planning, data governance and security, and cross-organization collaboration recommendations.
• Case studies that illustrate when it’s appropriate to use commercial generative AI tools vs. building a sandbox environment.
• Tangible benefits of AI-driven solutions, including cost savings, enhanced service delivery, and improved regulatory compliance.
• Critical factors for successful AI adoption, including organizational readiness, workforce training, and stakeholder engagement 

• Alexandra Pollock, AIA,  Senior Director of CORE Studio, Thornton Tomasetti 
• Seyedomid Sajedi,  Associate AI/ML Engineer, Thornton Tomasetti 

AI is fundamentally altering professional AEC workflows. Given the rapid advancement of AI model capabilities, it is essential to not only adapt but also strategically integrate this technology to not only optimize productivity but ensure competitive advantages. Alex Pollock and Omid Sajedi of Thornton Tomasetti’s CORE Studio are working the frontier where new tech ideas and practical use cases meet, and share their approach to innovation and R&D through their internal incubator. You learn how they are driving adoption of time-saving tools throughout the engineering giant’s global footprint, including the latest R&D findings of the CORE.AI team, focusing on the development of AI-driven tools. Get the best ideas for transforming AEC processes, to enhance creativity and problem-solving through rapid optioneering.

• Jamison Morse, PE, RA, Principal and Director of Structures, PVE, LLC 
• Sean Bailey, Lead Software Developer, PVE, LLC

Compliance engineering is a complex and rapidly evolving aspect of the AEC industry, encompassing everything from facade and parapet inspections in New York City to decarbonization and code compliance across the nation. In this session, Jamison Morse and Sean Bailey of engineering firm PVE share how they are leveraging automation and AI to transform compliance processes into scalable, efficient, and cost-competitive services. Drawing on real-world examples, including custom tools that positioned PVE as one of New York City’s leading filers of facade reports, they demonstrate how applying AI to existing workflows—not reinventing the wheel—can drive immediate business impact without significant up-front investment. With an in-house innovation team collaborating closely with engineers, PVE’s solutions are built with a deep focus on usability, tested in the field, and designed to meet the real-world challenges of regulatory compliance. This session is highly relevant for AEC leaders exploring practical ways to incorporate AI into their business strategy. Learn how automation can reduce costs, scale operations, and even shift business models from billing by the hour to billing for value delivered.

• Understand the practical applications of AI to compliance-based engineering processes: Learn how to seamlessly integrate AI into existing compliance processes in structural, environmental, and civil engineering, making your business more efficient without heavy upfront investment or disruptive overhauls.
• Understand where AI is most impactful – and where it can fail: Based on real-world applications across AEC disciplines, you see where the current state of AI technology can be most impactful in existing business processes.
• Analyze proven case studies in inspection automation: Discover how PVE’s proprietary parapet and facade inspection tools propelled the firm to the forefront of New York City’s compliance market, demonstrating the power of automation to drive competitive advantage, scalability, and profitability.
• Design and deploy in-house innovation and technology expertise: Gain actionable insights into building internal technology teams that collaborate with engineers, ensuring software solutions are rigorously tested in the field and tailored to meet real-world compliance demands.
• Redefine product delivery and business models with automation and AI: Explore how automation can pave the way for value-based pricing models, moving beyond hourly billing to deliver scalable services that directly align with client outcomes and operational growth.

• Bob Rayes, CIO/COO, Corgan
• Chad Speas, Vice President, Director of Practice Technology, Corgan

With AI based solutions flooding the industry at an unprecedented pace, how can AEC firms effectively navigate constant change? What innovations should be explored, implemented, or retired? Architecture and design powerhouse Corgan shares lessons learned by examining key project delivery milestones and evaluating how AI-driven tools enhance efficiency. Through case studies, you learn how to identify the most effective AI applications and highlight specific tools Corgan has categorized as high effort/high impact—along with how these insights are shared across the firm. Beyond the technical advantages, we’ll also address the critical challenges AI presents, from legal issues like copyright and intellectual property concerns to ethical risks such as bias, misinformation, and overreliance. Generative AI, for example, has sparked legal debates while also demonstrating how unchecked systems can perpetuate biases or produce misleading information. We’ll explore how to manage these risks responsibly by setting proper safeguards, balancing expectations, and addressing regulatory and ethical considerations upfront. Attendees will leave with a practical, well-rounded understanding of AI’s potential and limitations—equipped with strategies to integrate AI effectively and responsibly within their firms.

Learning Objectives:

• Analyze real-world case studies of both successful and unsuccessful AI
  implementations to identify critical factors that influence project outcomes.
• Apply value assessment methodologies to determine how AI solutions can enhance specific phases of the design exploration process.
• Develop criteria for establishing value assessment methodologies for
  distinguishing between high-value and low-value AI implementation
  opportunities using concrete examples like Notetaker and SWAPP cases.
• Copyright Complexities: Learn how copyright laws apply to AI-generated works, and what protections or exposures organizations may face.
• Bias & Misuse Risks: Understand how biases in training data can lead to unfair or incorrect outcomes and explore steps to mitigate them.
• Regulatory & Legal Landscape: Gain an overview of emerging legal frameworks and compliance requirements related to AI deployment. Discover best practices
  to avoid pitfalls, including thorough review of terms and conditions, responsibledata usage, and continuous monitoring.

Stjepan Mikulic, Founder, AI in AEC

AI is rapidly becoming a part of AEC workflows, but firm operations leaders may have questions about the return on investment in new technology. Hear a first-hand account of a real and practical AI implementation case study at a 250-person interior design firm, where Stjepan Mikulic, founder of training consultancy AI in AEC, helped the company save $4.5 million through optimizing technology. Hear his surprising insights on why BIM isn’t as needed as we might think, but AI and automation are. Stjepan will present his vision for the best applications of new technology in AEC as well as his 9-step process on practical AI implementation applicable to any AEC firm. Key takeaways:

• A 9-step process to creating a practical AI Implementation Plan
• Minimizing your firm's software costs by optimizing your tech stack
• How to solve bottlenecks through automation, AI apps and optimized workflows
• Learning about AI solutions in the AEC and why the industry needs it in the first place

• Michael Taglione, Lead Software Engineer, JB&B 
• Desh Shrestha, Software Developer, JB&B

Each AEC project brings its unique set of challenges with varying team compositions, from developers to architects and various internal stakeholders. Traditionally, insights into how much time staff spent on specific design tasks was anecdotal and subjective. This presents a challenge in optimizing productivity, we are often left to make decisions on a hunch rather than hard data. This approach leaves missed opportunities for process optimization and misallocated training efforts. The software engineers at JB&B developed a solution that leverages artificial intelligence to systematically capture and analyze user interactions within Autodesk Revit. This add-in tracks detailed user activities, including workspace usage, element handling, and project-specific interactions. By aggregating this data, they developed a sophisticated AI model that not only categorizes and clusters these interactions into distinct processes but also predicts efficiency and production rates. More critically, this model identifies anomalies in production—instances where a user's output deviates significantly from their peers on similar projects—which could indicate areas needing intervention. In this session, you:

• Understand the importance of tracking user interactions within design applications to identify patterns and improve workflow efficiency.
• Learn how to segment and classify user transactions into different processes based on the tasks performed in various project stages.
• Explore the application of AI models to predict productivity with multi-dimensional project constraints.
• Identify anomalies in user design patterns and learn how to leverage this data to provide actionable insights for improving performance, live.
• Discover how to utilize data-driven insights to roadmap the production of automation tools and user specific training modules.

• Peter Devereaux, Founding Principal, HED 
• Brooke Grammier, MBA, CIO, CannonDesign

The AEC industry has lagged in digital transformation, with methodologies for delivery to customers remaining essentially the same for more than a century. Over a year ago, the AIA Large Firm Round Table (LFRT) noted that every firm was spending money to tackle essentially the same technology obstacles and that there might be a more efficient way for us to remain relevant. This inspired the formation of the Innovation Design Consortium (IDC),  a public benefit corporation supported by forty of the largest design firms in the United States to advance building design technology by eliminating duplication of efforts. Since Peter Devereaux and his fellow IDC board members rolled out the consortium at AEC INNOVATE in 2024, a lot has changed, and he and Brooke Grammier update us on IDC progress and reveal some exciting opportunites for AEC firms.
 

• Why the IDC was formed
• Successful Projects recently completed.
• Setting the Stage for Moving into Data and AI
• How firms can join the movement

Ayman Alafifi, Technical Innovation Lead, EKI Environmental and Water

AI-powered technologies are revolutionizing water management, tackling critical challenges with innovation and efficiency. Hear real-world examples of integrating machine learning, digital twins, and generative AI into operations to enhance decision-making, optimize resources, and improve stakeholder collaboration. Digital twins provide predictive insights for real-time water allocation and risk-based planning. One example features AI-powered dashboards enabling a water manager to optimize reservoir and groundwater withdrawals, balancing water availability and energy production.. Generative AI further streamlines operations by automating complex tasks. A notable example is EKI's grant tracking tool, which uses AI to update data from over 160 website sources, saving time and improving accuracy. AI-powered business intelligence solutions also offer real-time dashboards for performance evaluation, investment planning, and resource allocation, delivering tailored, actionable insights. AI bridges gaps between technical experts and decision-makers, such as project managers and city engineers. Natural language processing dashboards enhance communication, simplify scenario planning, and support public engagement by making complex data accessible and integrating feedback, ensuring more transparent collaboration. This presentation highlights the importance of starting with pilot projects that focus on high-value, low-complexity applications, enabling scalable and adaptable solutions. By integrating AI into infrastructure design, risk management, and stakeholder engagement, the water sector can achieve greater sustainability, resilience, and innovation, unlocking the full potential of these transformative technologies. Key learning objectives:

• Identify Practical Use Cases for AI
• Develop Strategies for Starting AI Projects
• Enhance Collaboration Using AI
• Plan for Sustainable AI Adoption

Todd Henderson, Director of Practice Improvement, Boulder Associates

AI has staggering potential to improve the practice of design and engineering, yet many AEC leaders struggle to integrate it—not due to technical limitations, but because of static beliefs and organizational habits. Organizations are wired to resist change, and AI challenges long-established ways of thinking, our relationship to machines, and the value that professionals provide. Without addressing these deep-seated mental models, even the best AI initiatives risk facing resistance and stagnation. Ready to make a big leap forward, and pull your most talented colleagues along? A 25-year health care architect and firm dynamics expert explains how you can surface and shift perspectives to accelerate AI adoption. He shows us:

• What mental models are and how they shape decision-making in AEC organizations
• Your beliefs and assumptions that can either support or hinder AI integration
• Methods for identifying and adjusting limiting perspectives
• Strategies for fostering productive dialogue that encourages openness to AI-driven change

Brittany Pylant, Director of Operations, HFA

Fostering a culture of innovation within your AEC firm is critical for remaining competitive. Britany Pylant explains how multi-disciplinary design firm HFA successfully uses internal AI competition to inspire creativity, engage employees, and accelerate technological advancements. By challenging teams across the enterprise to solve real-world business problems using AI, they tapped into diverse skill sets, nurtured a collaborative spirit, and developed cutting-edge solutions that directly impacted our enterprise. This session explains the strategic planning and execution of the competition, the tools and frameworks used to ensure accessibility and fairness, and the measurable outcomes achieved, including increased employee engagement, cross-functional collaboration, and operational efficiencies. We will also share lessons learned, such as managing diverse skill levels and aligning AI initiatives with business goals, to help attendees replicate our success. Whether you're a leader, innovator, or technologist, this presentation will provide actionable insights into how structured competitions can be a powerful tool for driving innovation, reskilling your workforce, and creating transformative value.

• Understand how internal AI competitions can foster a culture of innovation within enterprises.
• Learn strategies to plan and execute an inclusive, effective AI competition aligned with business goals.
• Explore methods to integrate AI-based solutions from competitions into business operations.
• Discover ways to engage employees and build cross-functional collaboration through gamification.
• Gain insights into overcoming challenges, such as skill gaps and project sustainability, in AI-focused initiatives.

Ryan Johnson, Practice Technology Leader, Clark Nexsen

Ready to move beyond the AI hype but not sure where to start? Get an insider look a 500-employee AEC firm Clark Nexsen's process for creating its AI strategy and how you can adapt it at your own firm. You'll learn how to establish an AI innovation hub, build internal support, and develop practical policies that work in the real world. We'll share our successes, challenges, and lessons learned as we built our approach to fostering responsible AI innovation. Whether you're just starting your AI journey or looking to formalize your existing efforts, you'll leave with actionable insights and practical steps to develop a cohesive, sustainable AI strategy for your organization. Learn how to:

• Develop a framework for evaluating AI implementation options ranging from off-the-shelf tools to custom solutions that align with your firm's resources and objectives.
• Create an AI roadmap that connects tactical activities to strategic goals while maintaining focus on your core mission.
• Design and conduct research that helps you understand both your employees' AI sentiments and current AI tool usage across your organization.
• Create clear, practical AI guidelines and usage labels that give your team the governance they need without limiting their innovation.
• Build a thorough risk and challenge assessment that helps you make strategic decisions about AI implementation in your firm.

Eric Liou, Chief Product Officer, OpenAsset

AI is transforming the AEC industry, but are you using it effectively—or falling into common pitfalls? Many teams unknowingly limit AI’s potential by making critical missteps that lead to inefficiencies, poor decision-making, and missed opportunities.

Join Eric Liou, Chief Product Officer at OpenAsset, as he draws on his deep AI expertise to uncover the top 5 AI mistakes teams make when adopting AI tools. From writing incomplete prompts to over-automating without human oversight, this session will challenge your assumptions and provide practical strategies to optimize your AI workflows.

Whether you're just getting started with AI or refining your approach, you’ll walk away with actionable takeaways to improve efficiency, enhance decision-making, and drive real results.

Learning Objectives:

• Master AI Prompting: Learn how to structure AI prompts effectively to generate high-quality, relevant responses—complete with real-world examples of good vs. bad
  prompts.
• Develop an AI Strategy: Understand why AI needs a clear business objective and how to align AI initiatives with company goals for maximum impact.
• Maintain Human Oversight: Recognize the risks of over-automation and establish quality
  control processes to ensure AI enhances rather than replaces human expertise.
• Improve AI Data Quality: Discover how data integrity directly impacts AI performance and learn best practices for maintaining high-quality, labeled datasets.
• Balance AI and Human Creativity: Explore how to leverage AI for efficiency while ensuring human storytelling and critical thinking remain central to your workflows.

Sean Young, Director of AECO and Geospatial, NVIDIA

AI is poised to transform the AEC industry by eliminating tedious processes and boosting productivity, but you've got to prepare your firm. Sean Young of NVIDIA's AEC initiative discusses new AI solutions for planning, design, and AEC firm operations, with a deeper dive into your firm’s AI training for leveraging uses of Fine Tuning, RAG, Inference, Generative AI, Data Science, and NeRF. He also shows us how to use a Digital Twin for aggregating AI data, training synthetic data, and simulating projects before deployment in the real world.

Sam Zolfagharian, President, Yegatech

Your challenge as an AEC firm leader is not just to keep pace with technology but to redefine how your tech and your talent will co-exist in an AI-driven work environment. This isn't just about surviving the changes but creating workplaces prioritizing well-being, innovation, and a sense of purpose. As AI reshapes our lives and work, we have a unique opportunity to adapt and thrive together, embracing these changes while ensuring the human element remains at the heart of AEC project execution. In her timely keynote, Dr. Sam Zolfagharian explores the future of work in AEC, offering practical insights and inspiration for how people and technology can work together to succeed in the era of AI. You learn how to:

• Navigate and alleviate your employees’ fear of being replaced by AI.
•  Develop strategies to attract and retain your top talent in the era of AI.
• Move from traditional workflows to AI-augmented workflows that enhance productivity and creativity.
• Integrate AI tools in ways that keep teamwork, creativity, and the human element at the heart of your organization and projects.
• Create workplaces prioritizing employees' well-being, innovation, and purpose to foster engagement and resilience in the AI era.

Niknaz Aftahi, CEO & Founder, AEC+Tech

Manoj Bala Radhakrishna, CEO and Founder, struct.digital

AEC leaders face a pressing challenge: improving productivity in a sector often criticized for lagging behind other industries. While finance, healthcare, and tech have embraced historical data as a core part of decision-making processes, we have yet to unlock the full potential of our archived knowledge. Every firm is sitting on a goldmine of historical data, stored in digital folders, archives, or past project files. This session explores how tapping into this untapped resource can enable firms to make better data-driven decisions, streamline operations, and gain a competitive edge. Drawing parallels with industries like computer science—where open-source projects, APIs, and data inform every decision—we’ll examine practical strategies for using historical project data to reduce inefficiencies, identify patterns, and drive better outcomes. By harnessing data already at your disposal, you can transform decision-making, optimize workflows, and increase profitability. It’s time for the AEC industry to embrace the power of data and become a productivity leader.

Dan Knowles, CTO, Little Diversified Architectural Consulting

A few years ago, Little’s IT team had a reputation—they were the department everyone groaned about. Outdated systems, manual processes, and constant technical hiccups caused frustration at every turn. But instead of staying stuck, they made a bold shift. By eliminating technical debt and automating their workflows, the team not only increased efficiency but also earned credibility across the firm. This trust enabled them to evolve into something much more powerful: a forward-looking team focused on improving delivery of their craft—the Emerging Tech CoLab (ETC). Now, they’re not just maintaining technology; they’re driving innovation that enhances design, streamlines processes, and pushes the firm forward. More than just a tech overhaul, this is a story of cultural change, strategic growth, and IT’s evolving role in shaping the future of business. Whether you’re in IT, operations, or leadership, this session will leave you inspired and equipped with practical strategies to transform your own organization. In this session, Dan Knowles shares the behind-the-scenes story of Little’s IT transformation and lessons you can apply to your firm's journey. You’ll follow the department from frustration to innovation, learning how they:

• Identified and tackled the technical debt that was slowing them down
• Built automation strategies that freed up time, reduced errors, and increased reliability
• Shifted from a support function to a strategic business partner
• Created the Emerging Tech CoLab (ETC) that benefits the entire firm

James Martin, Vice President, CIO, Shepley Bulfinch

AI is getting a lot of press in AEC circles for breakthroughs in iterative and generative design. But is your firms leveraging the “quick wins” that come from more basic, yet no less important, applications?

Shepley Bulfinch, a 200 person national architecture and design firm, has been running practical AI experiments to unlock knowledge, streamline workflows, improve data quality, and improve individual effectiveness. In this session, their CIO shares three real-world applications of AI that are creating tangible value for the firm:

AI-Powered Knowledge Search – Using AI search tools to access a decade of knowledge sharing on the firm’s intranet, including video content from learning sessions, town halls, and firm-wide discussions.

AI for Contact Data Validation – Enhancing the accuracy of a CRM by using data and AI to validate and maintain clean, reliable contact data.

Lessons from a CoPilot Beta – A year long Microsoft CoPilot beta group revealed practical use cases, challenges, and strategies for maximizing AI’s impact in daily workflows.

This session delivers actionable strategies for leveraging AI in your own firm—proving that practical, immediate value is well within reach with even the most modest investment of time and resources. You will:

• Explore real-world AI applications in knowledge management, operations, and data integrity.
• Learn how AI search unlocks institutional knowledge from recorded content.
• Discover how AI can streamline meeting documentation and free up time for higher-value work.
• See how AI improves CRM data accuracy and business development.
• Gain first-hand actionable intelligence on the application of Microsoft CoPilot to optimize AI adoption and productivity.

Karen Cvornyek, Architect and Senior Consultant, PSMJ Resources, Inc. 

Designing in ever tighter timelines, optimizing space utilization, achieving sustainability goals, and managing real estate have become increasingly complex and challenging. Arcalogix AI has been designed as a unified AI-powered platform built to streamline design and operational tasks by creating a data-driven building environment. By autonomously generating and updating 3D Spatial Information Models (SIMs), Arcalogix AI allows for the creation of a holistic, always-up-to-date visualization of space and the assets within it, enabling users to design, optimize and operate spaces seamlessly. This consolidated view simplifies design decisions, enhances efficiency and ensures that users can access and act on critical data from a single interface, reducing complexity, cost and time. Join the startup's resident architect to see this breakthrough tool in action and gain new insights into emerging applications for the AEC industry. 

Resource Allocation: How to reduce the typical early stage design and iteration phase from project commencement to producing 3D walkthroughs and visuals for your clients

Redesign Acceleration: How to rapidly satisfy client demands for design and layout changes

Time Shifts: How to turn time saved on redesigns into more meaningful client relationships that lead to increased engagement and revenue 

Patrick Chopson, AIA, CPO and Co-Founder, Cove

Decarbonization is arguably the most critical issue facing architects today – the building design and construction industry is responsible for 40% of global carbon emissions. However, pursuing low-carbon building has not always been an easy task. Meeting even minimum carbon emissions regulations often requires tedious work preventing architects from pursuing more innovative designs. AI is changing that. With next-generation technologies built on large language models, architects can pursue the highest standard of low-carbon building possible within their project’s budget and other specs. Combined with human intelligence, it presents the most effective tool available to architects today to pursue decarbonization of the built environment. Knowledge of these AI solutions will equip architects to make smarter, faster decisions regarding embodied and operational carbon in their projects and propel the industry toward a greener future. Join Cove co-founder Patrick Chopson to:

• Explore AI Integration: Understand how AI-powered tools and large language models are revolutionizing low-carbon building design. 
• Automate Complex Calculations: Learn how AI automates complex emissions calculations and regulatory compliance processes. 
• Advanced Analytics in Design: Examine how cutting-edge analytics and simulation techniques optimize embodied and operational carbon metrics. 
• Tech-Driven Decision Making: Discover how AI enhances decision-making speed and accuracy in sustainable architectural design. 
• Innovative Applications of AI: Evaluate real-world examples of how advanced technology is driving sustainable innovation in the construction industry.

Caleb Gonzalez
Senior Manager, Customer Success, Graphisoft

Are you ready to attack AEC projects from a new angle, applying breakthrough design technology to speed time to completion? Explore key learnings directly from one of Graphisoft’s key case studies. In this session, learn more about how this AEC firm explored the use of advanced modeling capabilities, BIM collaboration tools, and data-driven workflows to deliver high-quality, custom residential projects. This presentation will also highlight how to implement a design intelligence strategy leveraging early design concepts, AI and collaboration.