Research, experimentation, training, as well as market access remain all too often disconnected in the building envelope sector, slowing the development and adoption of innovative, sustainable, and circular solutions. For companies, designers, and industry professionals, identifying the right expertise, infrastructure, and services throughout the innovation process is often complex, fragmented, and difficult to access.
The Building Envelope Alliance (BEA) was created to address this need. The new European network brings together research institutions, universities, and innovation accelerators. With complementary expertise and infrastructure, the Alliance aims to provide an integrated point of access to consulting services, testing, performance validation, specialized training, and technology transfer while supporting the development of building envelope solutions from the initial stages of research and concept validation through to market entry.
The network aims to serve as a reference point for designers, construction companies, building managers, and other industry professionals who today need simpler and more effective innovation tools. Through collaboration among organizations active in various European regions, BEA aims to bridge the gap between technological development and practical application by coordinating expertise, laboratories, and training programs.
Among BEA’s founding members are research institutions and organizations from various European countries, including, for Italy, Eurac Research, Levery, the Politecnico di Milano, and R2M. The Building Envelope Alliance integrates and builds upon the activities of the European Façade Network (EFN) – a pioneering network in façade training – by incorporating its expertise and experience into the new European ecosystem.
“The Building Envelope Alliance represents an opportunity to consolidate expertise and experience developed over years of research, offering companies and professionals clearer and more effective access to experimentation, training, and technology transfer,” explains Roberto Lollini, head of the building research group at Eurac Research. “The goal is to create an ecosystem capable of guiding the sector toward increasingly efficient, sustainable, and resilient buildings, while strengthening the dialogue between research, universities, and the market.”
Participation in the network is open to companies, professionals, and organizations who can access the services offered by network members and find opportunities for collaboration, training, and professional development through a single point of contact at the European level.
More information is available on the website: https://www.buildingenvelopealliance.eu/
The Building Envelope Alliance builds on the experience gained through the European MEZeroE project, dedicated to the development of high-energy-performance buildings.