CIB – UICB Cooperation established

By .. Thomas Morszeck, Frauenhofer IRB

In September 2009 Markku Salmi, President of UICB on behalf of the UICB Executive Board and Wim Bakens, Secretary General CIB, on behalf of the Board of CIB, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, in which both organizations formalize and commit to enhance their cooperation.

CIB and UICB
Both organisations have a worldwide membership, and both aim to support continuous performance improvement of the building and construction sector. CIB has a broad scope and addresses all social, technical, economic, and other aspects of buildings and the built environment and UICB is committed to promoting good building practice and the good quality of the built environment.

CIB – the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction – was established in 1953 in order to provide a global network for international exchange and cooperation in research and innovation in building and construction in support of an improved building process and of improved performance of the built environment. The CIB objective is to be:

• a relevant source of information concerning research and innovation worldwide in the field of building and construction; a reliable and effective access point to the global research community; and a forum for achieving a meaningful exchange between the entire spectrum of building and construction interests and the global research community. See www.cibworld.nl for detailed information on CIB’s mission, organisation and program of activities.

UICB – the International Union of Building Centres – was founded in Brussels in 1958. The UICB has NGO consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. The members of the UICB are leading building centres worldwide, which provide information about building materials, products and services. Via the UICB and its local members it is easy to deliver messages to building professionals all over the world, to obtain up-to-date market information and have access to the international building markets.
The objective of the UICB is to

• "strengthen the social, cultural and professional ties between Building Centres throughout the world, and to encourage the exchange of information and documentation within the building and construction industry."

To operate successfully in this internationalized market place, professionals, manufacturers and contractors need trustworthy information – and it is through the UICB that they can obtain it.

Components of Cooperation
The following are the so far defined first approaches towards an enhanced cooperation between both organisations. CIB W102 will open the forthcoming annual conferences and meetings to interested UICB members. Those conferences will be promoted amongst UICB’s membership. In return, UICB will invite all interested CIB members to its annual seminars and other conferences, which will be promoted amongst CIB’s membership.
Both, the complete proceedings of the annual UICB seminars as well as other separate UICB publications will be included, openly accessible and downloadable via ICONDA®CIBlibrary, at this stage from 2010 onwards.
In the medium term CIB and UICB aim to re-establish a joint working group in which experts of both organisations exchange and cooperate in an area of mutual interest. This may be, for example, a new Commission, which focuses on applications of Building Smart–technology into information services or on aspects of the exchange of information and documentation within the building and construction industry.

More detailed information about the envisaged CIB-UICB cooperation can be obtained from:
Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation

Wim Bakens
Secretary General CIB
wim.bakens@cibworld.nl

Baris Onay
Secretary General UICB
bonay@uicb.org