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The first ETIM Forum was a success

ETIM Forum 2022 was hosted Monday 26th of September to Wednesday 28th of September in Oslo, Norway. 70 ETIM specialists from all over the world were gathered for three days, to network, discuss and learn from each other about ETIM and digitalization. This was the very first ETIM Forum, and the feedback was great.


The ETIM board members: Thorsten Ludewig (ETIM Germany), Mary Shaw (ETIM North America), Alexia Labezin (ETIM France), Frank Jaegtnes (ETIM Norway), Magnus Siren (ETIM Finland) and Albert Dunnink (ETIM Netherlands)

ETIM’s story started back in 1991, in the Netherlands. Back then ETIM created a simple information model to help digitalize processes for the installation companies, today they are so much more. ETIM is growing, not only geographically but in sectors too. Today, ETIM International is the guardian of the ETIM classification model. ETIM International represent ETIM organizations all over the world with one shared objective: a sustainable classification standard for all technical products worldwide.


ETIM international wanted a way to connect with the members, and after two years of strict Covid regulations, it was about time to meet everyone to brainstorm the future of ETIM, and to put a face to the names only seen on screen. To achieve this, ETIM Forum was created. The feedback was great, and the participants rated the Forum as an 8.7 out of 10 during the questionnaire at the end of day two. By actively engaging the audience, ETIM International managed to get a good idea on what their members think about different changes which will help them significantly in the future. They brought the attention to the users, members, and the whole ETIM community.


Amongst the key take-aways collaboration and building relationships was the most important. Through the event, ETIM continued their work to connect the ETIM family. It is clear they want to understand what the members need, and to move forward together as one whole group to further their future goals. You can read more about the key take-aways further down in this article.


Bernt Reitan Jenssen, CEO of Ruter

Throughout the Forum, there were multiple speakers. Amongst them, Bernt Reitan Jenssen. Jenssen is the CEO of the Norwegian public transport company called Ruter. Ruters vision is: “Sustainable freedom to move for everyone”. Jenssen spoke about how they drive change and continue working for a better public transport system in and outside of Oslo. He spoke about how they digitalize and combine big data and analytics to plan when and where the public transport system should run. They even know how many and where on the transportation the users are seated. Ruter seems ahead of the time, and values the results driven by digitalization. Ruter is a great example on what you can achieve with digitalization.


Jeroen van der Holst, new at ETIM international introduced us to the ETIM Modelling Class, and its standardized parameters for data driven BIM objects. He spoke about the huge potential of the ETIM ecosystem for enabling a flow of product data directly from manufacturers into BIM models.


Jeroen Mackaij took us through the BIM vision from a large contractor perspective (SPIE Netherlands) “How will BIM be used for the larger contractors?” He is a VDC/BIM manager, and has 10+ years’ experience working in Architecture Engineering Construction industry.


Rounding up day two, the focus was on the members, and what choices they agreed to, ETIM wanted to listen to what the members thought, and get insights into the future. This was done by presenting topics, and later voting using the digital questionnaire platform Slido. Good feedback on this.


Mary Shaw, Vice President ETIM International, held the closing speech, before everyone left for a social gathering at the top of Oslo, at Frogneseteren restaurant.


6 key take-aways from participants, board members and ETIM International staff


Marc Habets, Technical Director at ETIM International


“We wanted this to be a family day. For everyone to be a part of this happening. We also like to get input from the people so we tried to build a program that would inform them about a lot of stuff, but also where we get feedback from our members, so we can shape our future together, because often we decide things and then people are not involved, so that was sort of the key point for today I believe.”


Mary Shaw, Vice President, ETIM International Executive Board


“I would say that my key take-away from this event is what we were looking for. We wanted to be able to see the collaboration amongst members, country members that staff have never had the opportunity to meet. Some aren’t on the GA or in the technical committee, but they’re still doing ETIM work behind the scenes, they don’t get that opportunity to build a relationship with other ETIM members and I really think this was good. I was watching all the conversations last night and watching through all the breaks, and I’m really happy that it looks like a lot of business was done, but also mostly relationship building, and I’ve always been a true believer in that. Maybe that’s my Canadian side, but you have to build a relationship with someone first, before you can do business with them. I think this was a good opportunity for relationship building.”


Magnus Siren, Managing Director LVI-info and Board Member ETIM International


“My first take away from the day, is that we had great response from the audience. Slido worked well for us. The whole group engaged in the topics. The other is that it now feels like we are a family, an ETIM-family. And that is quite unique to us I believe. We had positive response on the EMDG and the models as well as Exchange that we are working on. It was good having it confirmed here.”


Karl Pappas, Staff Office ETIM International


“It was a really good meeting. It was the first time. We did expect it would be a good meeting, with all the people here and all the good staff we have in ETIM International. And with all the people we know, the ETIM family. I think it is really exciting, especially after the Covid situation. Meeting together, seeing each other face to face, and to getting in contact again. When you have questions now, you will know who to ask, you will know their face, who the person is, that is great.”


Jeroen van der Holst, Community Director ETIM international


“For me, being new In ETIM International, it felt like a very warm welcome to the family of ETIM. It also showed, with the big turn-up we had, that there is a lot of interest in ETIM and also, the venue in Norway, Oslo, hosted by EFO, I must say were very top notch, and I’m looking forward to next year.”


Phillip Tran, CTO at Elektroforeningen (EFO), and part of ETIM Norway


“My key take away was this: It Is important with collective standards. To cooperate. Together we will be able to change the world and the industry for the better.”


Photo gallery


Photo 1 - The audience during a panel discussion about ETIM use cases for global industry

Photo 2 - Participants during one of the breaks

Photo 3 - Stage

Photo 4 - Participants during the dinner at Sommerro Day 1

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