Research and development
Technology leadership is is a central component of STRABAG SE’s Strategy 2030. Besides using new technologies, the Group initiates forward-looking projects, brings its inhouse innovations to market maturity and pursues research partnerships, thereby consolidating its expertise across the entire Group. In the 2024 financial year, STRABAG implemented some 74 development projects and spent a total of around € 19 million on research, development and innovation activities (2023: approx. € 17 million).
Innovation and digitalisation concentrated in SID
Digitalisation and sustainability are the overriding themes these days in all segments of the construction industry. On the way to becoming a data-driven organisation, STRABAG is therefore focusing on cloud-based data storage, breaking down data silos and training its employees in topics related to data and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The Group is committed to the ongoing advancement of the BIM 5D® digital working method, construction-specific project platforms, the Internet of Things (IoT) and AI. It is also helping to drive the advance of automation through robotic applications and semi-autonomous machines. At the same time, STRABAG is putting enormous effort into strategic innovation projects in the area of environmental sustainability. Central topics here are the circular economy and sustainable thinking with regard to energy, engineering and materials development.
Since 2020, STRABAG Innovation & Digitalisation (SID) – with around 470 employees at 22 locations – has taken the lead in initiating developments and providing expert support while maintaining a full overview of corporate-wide innovation activities and their measurable results. Numerous research and development projects are realised in close collaboration between the various operating divisions and the central divisions BMTI, TPA and Zentrale Technik. A large portion of the development work is triggered by the construction projects themselves. Certain issues also require medium-term collaboration with research institutions and partner companies.
EFKON, STRABAG’s specialist for traffic telematics systems, in 2024 focused on the development of a new generation of components for dedicated short-range communications (DSRC). DSRC technology is used in electronic toll collection systems to ensure the efficient exchange of relevant toll data between the toll box installed in the vehicle and the roadside communications infrastructure. The new DSRC components developed by EFKON offer enhanced communications performance and allow the precise positioning of the toll box within the communications zone.
The first major milestone in Project EMili, designed to test inductive charging technologies in road construction, was reached in 2024. Initial practical tests demonstrated charging capacities of up to 20 kW at 85% efficiency. Follow-up projects are planned for 2025 to further explore the technology.
The RTTS research project for the development of a resource-efficient tunnel support system, funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, was launched in 2024 with partners from science and industry to develop a tunnel support system made of environmentally friendly concrete with a reduced cement clinker content. Using new AI-based control engineering, a large proportion of the excavated tunnel material is to be recycled for the production of tunnel segments and annular gap filling.
The CaPreFloor project, also funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, aims to replace solid reinforced concrete floors in building construction with light, rigid, carbon-stressed floor systems. These carbon-concrete floors should reduce the usual 30-centimetre-thick concrete floors to a maximum of 10 centimetres, which would make a significant contribution to lowering carbon emissions.
After three years of development, the publicly funded R&D project BIMpact, sponsored by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, was successfully completed at the end of 2024. The project involved the development of an AI-controlled, cloud- and BIM-based building automation process in collaboration with partners from the IT industry and the University of Stuttgart. The functionality of the process was initially demonstrated on a portable mock-up that represented a fully functional supply air system with ventilated rooms on a small scale. The entire system was then installed and successfully tested on one floor of the Group’s Z3 building in Stuttgart.
STRABAG also made further progress in the field of AI in 2024. Besides the use of machine learning and language models and the data-driven risk analysis of construction projects, additional AI solutions were piloted for their applicability and benefit for the Group.
Generative design (GD), tested and integrated into the Group’s operations in previous years, was expanded in 2024 to include the process of serial construction. This involved combining the strengths of MOLENO® Wohnen and generative design to develop an AI-based planning tool. The resulting MOLENO® Wohnen configurator will enable the flexible and individual creation of data-based building designs, which will automate the planning processes and significantly reduce costly and time-consuming decision-making.
Over 50 innovation projects were presented to an audience of around 1,300 STRABAG Group employees at our 2024 Innovation Day in Cologne. A new funding model and the expanded adASTRA innovation programme will provide even more robust support for in-house development work in the future. The funding model ensures that research and development projects with internal and external partners receive the best possible financing through both corporate resources and public funding. At the same time, the new adASTRA innovation programmes are optimising our existing innovation management to further strengthen the entire innovation process and to promote the implementation of promising projects in a targeted manner.