“The application of artificial intelligence (AI) in smart buildings represents an immense opportunity to transform buildings from automated environments into truly cognitive spaces that continuously optimize themselves. However, mainstream adoption still faces hurdles around trust, complexity, and integrating AI with legacy infrastructure,” explains our latest research.

Through extensive analysis, the study maps out 66 distinct AI use cases spanning 12 key domains where solutions are actively being developed and commercialized for smart buildings.

While security, energy management, and safety use cases have so far dominated the emergence of AI in smart buildings, the wide-reaching technology is now finding new applications in commercial real estate according to our new study.

New emerging areas of water and waste efficiency, sustainability reporting and compliance, as well as digital twin and simulation technologies, are now becoming driving forces in smart buildings development.

Smart Buildings AI Applications in Water & Waste Management

Water and waste management remains a somewhat niche and emergent area in the smart buildings AI market, with our research finding the lowest median company age of 8 years in the segment.

This use case domain focuses on water and waste optimization through predictive analytics for usage and demand, real-time monitoring for leak and waste overflow prevention, and intelligent sorting and collection to drive sustainability.

The sector is also served by fewer companies than other domains, with our study identifying only 17 firms that provide dedicated AI-enabled solutions in the area. Highlighted companies include more established firms, such as US-based Banyan Water and Wint, maturing startups like Roadrunner Recycling and Turkey-based Evreka, as well as newer entrants like UK-based Greyparrot or Belgium-based Shayp.

“In a significant move, US-based RoadRunner Recycling acquired Compology on October 6, 2022, bolstering its sustainability offerings through enhanced data collection, artificial intelligence, and ESG reporting capabilities,” explains our research study. “This acquisition positions RoadRunner to accelerate the modernization of the waste and recycling industry at large, leveraging Compology's smart metering technology to provide critical insights and drive efficiency.”

AI Applications in Sustainability & Regulatory Compliance

The rise of sustainability themes across society has forced the business world to find new ways to monitor, model, and report its performance to comply with regulations and show off its caring side. AI is emerging in this smart buildings domain, with 15.2% of companies (55) offering AI-enabled solutions that help buildings better measure and demonstrate their sustainability performance.

Notable companies in this category include 24-year-old Watchwire, an AI-driven energy management and sustainability reporting solution provider based in New York, as well as 2-year-old Accacia, an AI-enabled SaaS real-estate decarbonization platform provider based in India. The maturing startups in the segment include well-funded companies like France-based ESG data intelligence firm Deepki and California-based sustainability software provider Measurabl.

“Measurabl's growth strategy emphasizes consolidating ESG tools and services into an all-in-one platform, integrating newly acquired capabilities from Hatch Data for asset-level decarbonization and WegoWise for utility data automation,” explains our in-depth report. “Measurabl is also focusing on international expansion, targeting markets in Asia-Pacific in addition to deepening its presence in Europe and North America.”

AI Applications in Digital Twin & Building Simulation

Digital twin and building simulation remains one of the most comprehensive and exciting technologies in the smart buildings space, and has also seen a small but growing influence from AI. Our research identified 42 companies (11.6%) offering AI solutions to help create digital twins and simulations of building operations, enabling scenario analysis and decision support for optimization of building performance.

This smart buildings segment is highly diverse, including industry stalwarts like US-based Bentley Systems, offering an extensive suite of AI-enabled simulation software. Two promising UK-based firms have emerged in this area, Smart Spaces and Spinview, while prominent US-based PassiveLogic and Eptura (formed through the merger of Condeco, iOffice, and SpaceIQ in 2022) round out an increasingly competitive space.

Troy Harvey, PassiveLogic's CEO, recently communicated to Memoori that the company has signed contracts of approximately $100M for the North American market, “across a wide range of building verticals including industrial, multi-family, and commercial, through multi-channel partnerships with top REITs, contractors, and system integrators”. Harvey revealed expansion plans, privacy commitments, and AI principles, as discussed in more depth within our study.