Announcement
2 February 2023
The State Support Services Centre and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications launched the first e-learning call for applications for construction projects, to support the development and deployment of innovative digital solutions in the construction sector. Funding will be given to 63 projects that will increase the efficiency of the construction sector with new digital tools and higher level working methods.
The Deputy Vice Chancellor for Construction of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications (MoE/Communications) Ivo Jaanisoo
said: “The call for applications for e-leadership in construction has met all the objectives set. I am pleased with the diversity of the projects that have been submitted. Many of the ideas were sought for support to improve supply and value chains and thereby contribute to productivity and quality growth in the construction sector. The construction sector has a major impact on our economy and it can be expected that, thanks to efficiency improvements, a larger amount of the support will be returned to the state budget as tax revenue in the coming years”.
The e-learning call for applications in the construction sector, organised in cooperation between the Ministry of Education and Culture and the State Support Services Centre (SSC), received 103 applications for a total amount of €4.6 million. From these, the evaluation committee selected 63 projects to receive a total grant of €2.6 million. The average grant amount for the funded projects is €42.5 thousand, with five projects receiving a grant of up to €200 thousand.All projects will also receive a contribution from the beneficiaries’ own resources equal to the grant.
Head of the Lifelong Learning and IT Development Unit of RTK Marge Kõiva said the beneficiaries include small and large enterprises, local authorities and universities. “The organisations receiving support include both activities promoting in-house innovation and projects developing new or significantly improved digital tools for the construction sector,” she said. “The appetite for digitisation in the Estonian construction sector is higher than expected, as confirmed by the number of projects submitted in the first round of applications.”
Among the digital tool projects that have received support is the real estate development company Liven, which is developing a virtual reality-based technology that will allow customers to participate in the design of their new home. Geodesy24, a land surveying company, will receive support to purchase laser scanning equipment to convert geodetic data into 3D, and the Bruce platform will facilitate data exchange in the area of property management. TalTech’s digital solution will promote carbon footprint assessment in the construction sector, the Estonian Academy of Arts will create a tool for planning the factory-based reconstruction of apartment buildings, and the Viimsi municipality will further develop Vaal, a geo-information system for local authorities.
The supported companies will also introduce digital modelling (BIM) software, which will significantly improve the quality of new and renovated buildings. The use of structured three-dimensional BIM models is a prerequisite for the implementation of state-of-the-art technological solutions for planning the built environment,
