ITcon Vol. 14, pg. 385-399, http://www.itcon.org/2009/25

RATAS, a longitudinal case study of an early construction IT roadmap project

published:August 2009
editor(s):Kazi A S, Aouad G, Baldwin A
authors:Bo-Christer. Björk, Professor
Hanken – School of Economics, Helsinki, Finland
bjork@hanken.fi
summary:In smaller countries where the key players in construction IT development tend to know each other personally and where public R&D funding is concentrated to a few channels, IT roadmaps and strategies would seem to have a better chance of influencing development than in the bigger industrial countries. In this paper Finland and the RATAS-project is presented as a historical case illustrating such impact. RATAS was initiated as a construction IT roadmap project in 1985, involving many of the key organisations and companies active in construction sector development. Several of the individuals who took an active part in the project have played an important role in later developments both in Finland and on the international scene. The central result of RATAS was the identification of what is nowadays called Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology as the central issue in getting IT into efficient use in the construction sector. BIM, which earlier was referred to as building product modelling, has been a key ingredient in many roadmaps since and the subject of international standardisation efforts such as STEP and IAI/IFCs. The RATAS project can in hindsight be seen as a forerunner with an impact which also transcended national borders.
keywords:R&D strategy, product model, BIM, roadmap
full text: (PDF file, 1.902 MB)
citation:Björk B-C (2009). RATAS, a longitudinal case study of an early construction IT roadmap project, ITcon Vol. 14, Special issue Next Generation Construction IT: Technology Foresight, Future Studies, Roadmapping, and Scenario Planning, pg. 385-399, https://www.itcon.org/2009/25