A systematic literature review of university-industry partnerships in engineering education

Over the last few decades, a wide range of works have featured studies documenting successful pedagogic collaborations in the form of university-industry partnerships in engineering education. In light of this, we conducted a systematic literature review of these studies centred around five key research questions: (a) purposes of universityindustry collaborations, (b) theories used to guide such work, (c) types of methods employed, (d) evidence-based best practices identified and (e) areas of future work to be explored. Publications were selected for inclusion by screening and appraising results obtained from databases and keywords refined through a scoping study. We conclude from our findings that future studies would benefit from better alignment with literature or theoretical frameworks and specific robust methods. Additionally, early and middle years of undergraduate engineering programs offer underutilised opportunities for partnership, in line with designing a more futures-focused educational curriculum

Towards a semantic Construction Digital Twin: directions for future research

As the Architecture, Engineering and Construction sector is embracing the digital age, the processes involved in the design, construction and operation of built assets are more and more influenced by technologies dealing with value-added monitoring of data from sensor networks, management of this data in secure and resilient storage systems underpinned by semantic models, as well as the simulation and optimisation of engineering systems. Aside from enhancing the efficiency of the value chain, such information-intensive models and associated technologies play a decisive role in minimising the lifecycle impacts of our buildings. While Building Information Modelling provides procedures, technologies and data schemas enabling a standardised semantic representation of building components and systems, the concept of a Digital Twin conveys a more holistic socio-technical and process-oriented characterisation of the complex artefacts involved by leveraging the synchronicity of the cyber-physical bi-directional data flows. Moreover, BIM lacks semantic completeness in areas such as control systems, including sensor networks, social systems, and urban artefacts beyond the scope of buildings, thus requiring a holistic, scalable semantic approach that factors in dynamic data at different levels. The paper reviews the multi-faceted applications of BIM during the construction stage and highlights limits and requirements, paving the way to the concept of a Construction Digital Twin. A definition of such a concept is then given, described in terms of underpinning research themes, while elaborating on areas for future research

Of Incentive, Bias, and Behaviour: An Empirical Economic Investigation into Project Delivery Constructs Influencing the Adoption of Building Information Modelling

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a collaborative construction platform allowing for digital databases, real-time change management, and a high degree of information reuse catalysing increased quality of work, enhanced productivity, and lower costs. Yet, overall adoption rates within industry remain vexingly low. Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) is currently the only contractual incentive vehicle available for BIM, and indeed the full potential of both are only realised when employed together; even so, uptake rates of IPD exist even lower. In response, this research evaluates hitherto ill-explored factors influencing the adoption of BIM by empirically testing hypotheses related to the impacts of three compounding theories upon the BIM decision calculus. Specifically, the incentive theory, the theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), and the status quo bias model. The research approaches BIM adoption holistically at the organizational, individual, transactional, and behavioural levels through a mixed design combining five quantitative, cross-sectional, questionnaire-based studies and one interview-based pre-test/post-test case study with sample populations including a Fortune 100 contractor, internationally renowned trade groups, and arguably the most progressive municipal construction client in the world. Data was collected using purposive sampling and analysed quantitatively through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and qualitatively with Directed Content Analysis (DCA). Primary conclusions are that BIM decisions are hierarchical; BIM adoption involves a general higher-level decision-making requiring stakeholders’ consensus; BIM utilization involves a specific lower-level decision-making with managerial discretion; economic incentives and competitive pressure influence higher-level decisions; non-economic factors influence lower-level decisions but are moderated by organizations’ type and size; organizations’ size and the degree of managerial discretion are inversely related; strength of the effects vary across and within the three theory-based factors that influence BIM adoption; and the effects of leadership and organizational culture remain unaccounted for and require investigation

A systematic literature review of university-industry partnerships in engineering education

Over the last few decades, a wide range of works have featured studies documenting successful pedagogic collaborations in the form of university-industry partnerships in engineering education. In light of this, we conducted a systematic literature review of these studies centred around five key research questions: (a) purposes of university-industry collaborations, (b) theories used to guide such work, (c) types of methods employed, (d) evidence-based best practices identified and (e) areas of future work to be explored. Publications were selected for inclusion by screening and appraising results obtained from databases and keywords refined through a scoping study. We conclude from our findings that future studies would benefit from better alignment with literature or theoretical frameworks and specific robust methods. Additionally, early and middle years of undergraduate engineering programs offer underutilised opportunities for partnership, in line with designing a more futures-focused educational curriculum