Three papers were published. This article focuses on the paper on "Shaping Europe's Digital Future ", which sets out the overarching goals of the strategy (and also provides further insight into the Commission's 2020 work programme). In addition, the Commission went into greater detail about two particular areas in the...

In this article, first published by Practical Law, we discuss why, while the impact of the pandemic on the construction industry has been substantial, it also presents an opportunity to reassess, plan and build resilience for the future. Moving to a point where low productivity levels, low predictability and low...

A smart city is a combination of the physical buildings and infrastructure that make it up, plus the management and operational systems that manage and monitor it. But we define "smart" as more than being connected and digitally enabled. A smart city is also collaborative and sustainable, aiming to deliver...

Individual buildings can contribute to the digital, sustainable and green 'smartness' of a smart city, but this requires collaboration – indeed, this is a third essential element that drives the smartness of the urban environment. Flexibility in the way the building is constructed and used drives the extent to that...

There are a range of ways in which individual buildings can contribute to the "smartness" – whether digital, sustainable or collaborative – of their wider urban environment and generate benefits for the wider community. Turning this potential into reality in the built environment depends heavily on planning policy and decision-making...

The development of smart cities is multi-layered and multidisciplinary, comparable to a huge jigsaw of interlocking, dynamic parts. Artificial intelligence is one of the key technologies which contributes to building these structures, offering insight and optimisation, while smoothing out complexity. Researchers from the UK's Alan Turing Institute (ATI) recently presented...

This week in EG magazine, and on Egi, the first in a series of three articles by Osborne Clarke has been published looking on the potential benefits offered by the tokenisation of real estate. Tokenisation, in this context, involves representing ownership or investment in a real estate asset in the...

Employers who would like to encourage their workforces to work in the office more frequently are considering creative ways of enticing them back to the office. One solution to consider in attracting hybrid workers back is to shift to smaller, greener premises. What could this trend mean for the future...

One of the lasting images of last week's World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos – a gathering of industry leaders and politicians – was of a meeting between a British royal and a 16-year-old activist. HRH Prince Charles and Greta Thunberg had each delivered impassioned pleas (and admonishments) that those...