More than 52,000 technicians from around the world participated last year in one of the 670 training activities organised by CYPE throughout 2020 to help professionals in the construction sector improve their professional competitiveness by learning more about the use of the programs developed by the company as well as the use and implementation of Open BIM technology.
In a year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, mobility restrictions and social distancing recommendations, CYPE has overcome these limitations by boosting the organisation of online events, meetings, seminars and workshops, which has made it possible to exceed the expectations generated at the beginning of 2020 and quadruple the number of participants in 2019, when it trained 14,000 professionals from around the world.
For the first time in the history of the Spanish technology company, online training has overtaken in-person training during the year, representing 82% of all the activities carried out, which has allowed it to maintain its commitment to providing free, quality training to customers and construction sector professionals.
For Carlos Fernández, Technical Director of CYPE, the data demonstrates the company’s and its employees’ ability to adapt to the restrictions and guarantee the training that it offers each year. Furthermore, he also highlights the importance of the attendance figures, since they indicate that “professionals have also successfully adapted to the new circumstances and have shown interest in learning how to operate and use the new programs adapted to Open BIM technology, which facilitate working in a decentralised way in the cloud”.
For this reason, Carlos Fernández explains that throughout 2021 the company will reinforce training in the use of the Open BIM work methodology to train professionals in the construction sector and help them to “lose their fear of using this new work system that will end up being adopted in the medium and long term due to the advantages it offers”.
International attendance success
As for the geographical location, professionals from Spain represented 60% of the attendees (31,280 people), whilst those located in other countries represented 40% (21,202 technicians). “The online conferences have allowed us to triple the number of foreign professionals we have contacted compared to those registered in 2019”, emphasises Carlos Fernández, who highlights the reach achieved in Asian countries such as China, India, Singapore, Indonesia and South Korea, which are considered strategic countries by the company.
The international online events have been held in Spanish (Latin America), Chinese, French, English, Italian and Portuguese. In addition to the digital events, in the first trimester last year CYPE also organised 44 in-person events in Algeria, Brazil, Colombia, Ivory Coast, Costa Rica, El Salvador, France, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and Portugal.
Working in the cloud and sustainability: the highest-rated and most attended contents
The activities with the highest attendance are those related precisely to the solutions offered by CYPE for working online and in the “cloud” using the BIMserver.center platform, as well as the “8-dwelling building project in an Open BIM workflow” and “Teleworking with BIMserver.center and CYPE” events, which attracted 7,483 and 5,000 attendees respectively.
Other relevant events also related to BIM technology were the “CYPE BIM Experience- Behind the Scenes”, with 1,425 attendees, and the “Open BIM and the BIMserver.center Education platform” meeting, which brought together 954 participants, including students and teachers from more than a dozen Spanish-speaking universities. In the educational area a special mention goes to the “Cátedra CYPE” seminars held by the Universidad del Valle de Colombia, which was attended by over 6,500 attendees at the different seminars, and which will be held again this year from February onwards.
In addition to the conferences on BIM and working in the cloud, events related to solutions solving the energy consumption demands of nearly zero-energy buildings (NZEB), energy simulation and the different series of seminars related to sustainability were those that attracted the largest number of participants. This reveals, in Carlos Fernández’s opinion, that “designers are preparing to face a foreseen increase in energy renovation projects for buildings in Europe over the next few years to reduce CO2 emissions”.
Collaboration with companies and manufacturers
During 2020, CYPE has continued to collaborate with companies and associations with the aim of providing professional solutions with which designers can carry out their work, taking into account the products of specific manufacturers, and using in their projects a precise and exhaustive description of the features of each product and incorporating specifications on price, technical conditions or CO2 emissions, etc.
The events organised by CYPE together with the companies Schneider Electric, Midea, URSA AIR, Bosch, Daikin, Aliaxis, Tvitec, Unex, Jimtem, Valero and the ASHRAE association attracted over 2,800 professionals. With regard to the next few months, the company is going to boost this type of seminar on the request of the participants themselves, who have shown interest in receiving more specific training on the BIM solutions developed by CYPE for manufacturers.
