Partnership to Connect Leading BIM Research Insights to the Transportation Construction Industry

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — May 20, 2020 — Infotech, a leader in infrastructure construction software solutions, announced today a partnership with University of Florida M.E. Rinker, Sr. School of Construction Management to advance the transportation construction industry. This strategic partnership will connect critical industry research directly with users in the field by advancing technology offered in the transportation construction industry.

“UF Rinker is one of the top construction management schools in the U.S., conducting advanced research on BIM, IFC standards and other technologies needed on the jobsite today,” Will McClave, Infotech President of Systems, said. “Infotech has a longstanding relationship with the University of Florida and this new partnership will help bring critical research to the field faster so that we can collectively move the industry forward.”

Led by assistant professor Aaron Costin, Ph.D., Rinker has been conducting research on many key issues facing the transportation construction industry today. With the rapid adoption of new, integrated technologies and the evolution of Building Information Modeling (BIM) on infrastructure projects, it became a top priority for Infotech to coordinate efforts with one of the leading academic programs that addresses these market shifts.

“Infotech is in a unique position to drive the adoption of innovative and emerging technologies that are impacting the transportation construction industry across the country,” Dr. Costin said. “Our new partnership will lead us to better ways of implementing research and focus our joint efforts on BIM and the data standards needed to reach our common objective of advancing this space.”

Prior to this formal partnership, Dr. Costin and Infotech hosted the first workshop on Linked Building Data and Semantic Web Technologies in September 2019, which included national and international expert speakers. Dr. Costin is an expert on linked data in architecture and construction and has served on many committees for the Transportation Research Board and other international groups on this topic, in addition to authoring multiple peer-reviewed articles. “It’s exciting for me to work with a company who has such deep roots in the transportation construction space, so that I can share my research and knowledge in order to shorten the curve to enlightened product development that meets or exceeds the needs of the industry both today and tomorrow.”

As the contract developer of AASHTOWare Project™, which is used by 43 Departments of Transportation across the country, and the developer of the Bid Express^® service, which has managed more than $1 trillion in bids on infrastructure projects, Infotech has always been a leader in e-Construction and the digitization of traditional paper processes that include electronic bidding, site inspection, document management, invoicing and payments. “UF, my alma mater, has been a driving force behind a tremendous amount of research for TRB, BIM, IFC standards, ontologies and data schemas, and so much more,” McClave added. “Infotech needs to consider that intelligence as we develop our strategies and incorporate these efforts into future product development.”

The first initiative UF Rinker and Infotech will focus on is BIM and its impact on the infrastructure construction industry.

“With the growing need for data standards and the adoption of BIM for infrastructure across the transportation industry, it became obvious to us that it was time to take the necessary steps to collaborate on a greater scale with Aaron Costin and his team of experts at UF.”

About Infotech

Info Tech, Inc., DBA Infotech (Infotech) bridges innovation and integrity by developing cutting-edge digital solutions for the infrastructure construction industry and providing expert statistical and econometric consulting services across multiple industries. Infotech’s two core businesses, Infotech Systems and Infotech Consulting, use technology and data to bring transparency, integrity and efficiency to the people we serve. With a diverse workforce and collaborative, relaxed environment, Infotech is a Gainesville-born pioneer of innovation, committed to its family of employees, customers and community. For more information, visit infotechinc.com or infotechconsulting.com.

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