Welcome to the July edition of the buildingSMART International newsletter! 
We're delighted to bring you the latest news, updates, and opportunities from across the global community.  

This month, we’re excited to share a range of important updates as we prepare for the highly anticipated buildingSMART International Summit, taking place from 22–24 September 2025 in Berlin. The Call for Papers deadline is now extended to 14 July, and a reminder that sponsorship opportunities for the Summit are still available, providing excellent visibility within the international openBIM community. 

Don't miss out on the latest article "IFC and ISO: four Tracks for Strategic Collaborations", which outlines four strategic workstreams through which buildingSMART International and ISO are strengthening their collaboration to advance and future-proof the IFC standard.

Contribute to the openBIM Business Value Survey which aims to collect real-world data to demonstrate and quantify the tangible business value of openBIM, supporting better-informed decisions across the industry.

Register for the latest Regulatory Domain Open House for a discussion on the scope of zoning and technical regulations. Additionally, you can read about the key outcomes from the recent International Council meeting.

buildingSMART International Summit Berlin News

The Call for Papers for the buildingSMART International Summit – Berlin 2025 has been extended to Monday, 14th July.

Register now and join us from Monday 22nd to Wednesday 24th September as we explore the theme “openBIM - Better Together”. 

Sponsorship opportunities for the Summit are still available, providing excellent visibility within the international openBIM community. 

New Article Alert:
IFC and ISO: four Tracks for Strategic Collaborations

In this article, Léon van Berlo examines the deepening collaboration between buildingSMART International and ISO to advance the IFC standard (ISO 16739).

It outlines four strategic workstreams: updating their joint collaboration agreement, modularizing IFC, refreshing IFC 4.3, and launching the foundational core of IFC 5. These tracks are designed to strengthen governance, improve usability, encourage open community input, and ensure the long-term evolution of openBIM standards.

International Council Outcomes

buildingSMART International held its annual International Council Meeting on 16 June 2025, bringing together representatives from its Chapters, the Board of Directors, the Nominations Committee, and the bSI Management Office.

Discover the key outcomes of the meeting, including the formal approval of the 2024 Annual Report, the appointment of new board members, and the election of the Board’s Chair, Vice Chair, and Treasurer.

openBIM Business Value Survey

The Strategic Project for Business Value Capture was launched by buildingSMART International in 2024 to create a platform that demonstrates, with objective evidence, the tangible benefits of openBIM. In 2025, three buildingSMART chapters; Brazil, Portugal, and the USA, along with the independent consultancy Strategic Building Innovation, committed funding and support to advance this initiative.

Their contribution focuses on developing a prioritized metrics framework to systematically capture and quantify openBIM’s business value. Initial work on this framework was completed through surveys and workshops last month. This month’s survey aims to build on that foundation by collecting real-world data and measured results to populate the framework and deliver actionable insights for the industry.

By default, information will be aggregated and anonymized to prevent linking individual metrics to specific contributors. Participants will also have an opportunity to volunteer for online interviews and reveal more about their processes, accomplishments, and observations. At the contributor's option, these can be published as case studies in the final report and presentation materials.

Results will be published toward the end of this summer in a brief written report and PowerPoint slides appropriate for presentation of findings to professional audiences.

Objective: Demonstrate the real value openBIM brings to design, construction, and operation of built assets. Support business decisions for openBIM adoption.

Project Process:

1. Develop and deploy a openBIM business value metrics framework
2. Collect evidence from projects and/or organizations (including sponsoring chapters and the bSI Strategic Advisory Council)
3. Analyze information; draw conclusions
4. Illustrate successful processes through case study examples
5. Report quantified benefits
6. Establish a database for continuing collection and analysis of openBIM value
7. Publish a brief written report documenting proven openBIM value
8. Provide PowerPoint slides useful to industry professionals as a presentation resource

This Survey: This survey will take 10 to 20 minutes to complete, depending upon how much information you share. Please be sure to fill in your contact information so we can notify you when results are available, and optionally contact you if you volunteer for an interview.

New Open House Webinar:
What do we regulate? Why? How?

Join the Regulatory Domain for a discussion on the scope of zoning and technical regulations. These rules play a vital role in ensuring that openBIM can address the regulatory challenge, and this webinar will explore what we regulate through planning and building codes, the reasoning behind these regulations, and how regulatory frameworks are implemented and evolve over time. 

Whether you're involved in planning, policy, architecture, or development, this session will offer valuable insights into the systems that shape our built environment.

Date & Time: Wednesday 27th August, 2025 @ 12:30 PM UTC +1

Become a Member of bSI!

Membership of bSI is a great way to get active in buildingSMART. A wide range of benefits includes active participation in Domains, webinars, voting, and much more!

Interested in helping to develop open solutions and standards for the built asset industry? 

Thanks to our Strategic Members

Standards Committee Consultation Website 

A number of community proposals are out for vote and can be accessed via the 'Standards Committee Consultation' page, which takes information directly from the projects. Follow the link below to learn more. 

There is a variety of votes currently out there in the community with access done via the open and live website that takes information directly from the projects. You can learn more by clicking the link below.

Update your Communication Preferences

To help you receive the emails that are most relevant to you, marketing emails have been categorized into 8 communication types. Please take the time to subscribe to the emails of your choice by clicking 'Manage preferences' below. 

FOLLOW US

Please follow us on social media to stay connected and up to date

with the latest news from the community.