BIM AFRICA INNOVATION AWARDS 2021 - Call for Nominations

BIM Africa recognises the talents and efforts of leading industry professionals and organisations in the construction sector going above and beyond to deploy innovative solutions towards Africa's development.

By Staff Writer on
3rd May 2021

BIM Africa is a civil society organization that identifies itself with the most innovative and cutting-edge ideas in the African AEC Industry. The community has become a network of bright minds within Africa and the diaspora, pioneering innovations cross various spheres of the industry.

Here's a chance to shine the lights on exceptional individuals, firms, or projects in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Operations (AECO) sector across Africa. Categories of the awards include:

Innovation in the Built Environment
Exceptional Projects or Firms in an African country with a result-backed record of deploying the innovative use of digital design processes and systems, sustainability performance, and overall outcomes in AECO or the built environment.

Research Excellence Award
Exceptional individuals of African descent in the Academia (or a Research Team/Project) that have developed and completed research works involving the deployment of innovative digital technologies and processes towards driving the building and infrastructure industry's transformation.

Best Woman in African construction
Exceptional Woman of African descent with outstanding performance, amazing feats, and/or immense contribution to the African construction industry's growth.

Outstanding Start-up Award
Exceptional Firms in an African country established less than 5 years and operating within the building and infrastructure industry with a result-backed record of an outstanding business product (software, hardware, service, equipment etc.).

Academic Rising Star
Exceptional students of African descent undergoing study in an AECO academic program having an outstanding research project, educational project, assignment, and/or engagements involving the use or advocacy of digital technologies or processes. Groups or teams can be nominated as an entity.

Institutional Award
Exceptional institution in an African country with a result-backed record of promoting, developing, and implementing policies, strategies, and programs to widen the uptake of digital technologies in the built environment. For example, an institution that has developed an outstanding MSc program. Another example can be a government department that has proposed policies for BIM adoption.

Other categories are also available involving Corporate Institutions, Teams, Individuals, Students, Researchers, Projects or perhaps a Government agency.

The Jury for the BIM Africa Innovation Awards 2021 is made up of astounding industry leaders with track records of excellence.

BIM Africa Innovation Awards 2021 Jury
BIM Africa Innovation Awards 2021 Jury

Rahel Shawl is the Founder and Principal of RAAS Architects, Ethiopia. She has been involved in the design of an impressive body of work blending contemporary ideas to local knowledge and contexts. She is a 2017 Loeb Fellow at the Harvard University Graduate, School of Design, and was awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2007. RAAS was recently named among the “50 best architecture firms 2020” by DOMUS magazine.

Dr Zulfikar Adamu is an Associate Professor of Strategic IT in Construction at London South Bank University. He has over 20 years' experience as a researcher, academic and consultant in UK, Middle East and Nigeria. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Building Engineers (FCABE), and the Higher Education Authority (FHEA). He has participated in the international panel of judges for the global AEC Excellence Awards organised by Autodesk for three consecutive years.

Dr Samer El Sayary is an Assistant Professor and award-winning Architect with a special passion for Outer space architecture. Through the years he gained over 37 awards and prizes, and his works work also has been featured in numerous channelssuch as Discovery channel UK, Dutch TV, Wired magazine 2017, Archdaily and others. He was nominated as one of the 100 best architects in the past 100 years in Egypt by Society of Egyptian Architects. He has delivered numerous public talks in numerous venues like AIAA 2020, TEDx BAU 2016, IdeaXme Radio UK 2021, Digital futures 2021, and others.

Dahbia Meddahi is an Architect, BIM Manager, and specialist in Scan to BIM in several projects since 1993. She leads IPFIG Technological Innovations in Algeria which offers training and support to AEC companies encouraging them to use techniques such as 3D scanning, virtual reality or BIM. She acquired MS BIM Master of the Ecole des Ponts ParisTech-ESTP in 2020 specializing in the issues of BIM in Operation-Maintenance and digital twin.

Issam El-Absi is the CEO for Aidigits and program director for Masters in Global BIM Management for Infrastructures at Zigurat Global Institute of Technology. He joined Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) in Greece 1995 as an automation engineer. He initiated the BIM approach and methodology in CCC in 1997 and has developed and managed the BIM implementation in several mega projects, such as Dubai Mall Project, Abu Dhabi International Airport Midfield Terminal, Riyadh Metro Project, Nile Corniche Project in Cairo among many others. 

Ibrahim Atta-Apau is an experienced Chartered Engineer who leads the global Asset Management and Digital Transformation practice for Atkins Acuity, a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group. He is also the Global Lead for Digital Twins. He leads a team of engineering experts that provide consultancy services in Building Information Modelling (BIM), Strategic and Digital Asset Management, Digital Twins and Smart Cities.

Mohamed El Yamani is a Projects Director at Kemet Corporation. He is an experienced, strategic and innovative Director working for IT and engineering sector for more than 20 years. He has many successful achievements in Building Information Management (BIM) projects, customized software solutions from simple Add-ins to complete Enterprise solutions. He has pioneered BIM implementation and change management for high-class, ranked consultancy and contracting firms.

Dr. Noha Saleeb is Programme Leader for the MSc in BIM programmes at Middlesex university UK. She is a practicing architect providing consultancy in design, construction and onsite project management. She leads several steering committees for professional bodies in industry e.g. CIOB, BIMAfrica, BIM4Heritage. She is Editor-in-Chief of several journals and international conferences, with over 60 peer-reviewed publications, judging International competitions and has achieved several national/international BIM and Construction awards.

Kamal Ben Addou Idrissi is the Chairman of the Board of Directors at BIM Africa and the General Manager at ETAFAT. He started his career in 1991 at ETAFAT as a project engineer. In 1997, he took over the technical direction to occupy the post of Managing Director from 1999. He has participated in several structuring projects in Morocco and Africa, particularly in Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire. He integrated the Scan to BIM process within ETAFAT's activities since 2008 and then extended, since 2015, to BIM Infrastructures.

To nominate, visit https://awards.bimafrica.org. Nominations close on Saturday July 31st 2021.

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