INTRODUCTION

Technology leaders are predicting a future where everything is connected, commerce happens digitally, and automation is in all spheres of our lives.

This is a future of autonomous cars and electric airplanes, of self-learning AI buildings in carbon-neutral neighborhoods. This future will be driven by people demanding cleaner air and carbon-free energy, and enabled by technology that unlocks competitively–priced, renewable electricity and sustainable, on-demand mobility. Universities and colleges will need to reflect these changes, both to attract the best and brightest faculty and students, and to ensure that their campus contributes positively to the community.

How can universities and colleges upgrade their current systems to take part in this future? Most campuses reflect larger cities: they contain both historic and modern buildings, have an internet and electricity grid that meets today’s needs with little margin, and aspire to increase their usage of renewably-sourced electricity. This means that campuses can benefit from the same smart technologies that are making cities cleaner and more efficient. Digital technology has fundamentally changed how we learn and access information. As we move to the virtual in many parts of our lives, education remains necessary to train systems thinkers for digitally-oriented jobs that don’t even exist yet. However, digitalization will not change the fact that employers will want engineers with real-world experience, and future entrepreneurs will deliver a couple of projects before building their own start-up. Universities and colleges can create these opportunities with a smart campus where students actively engage with and manage systems.

This technology future is not that far off, and campuses can start creating a high-functioning digital system today. Users are increasingly demanding that technology be interoperable with new components from any manufacturer, and can be incrementally scaled up over time, which means that universities and colleges face less risk of their investments becoming “stranded assets.” Instead, cities and campuses are seeing benefits from being a “first mover” in adopting new technologies.

In the “Campus of the Future”, Siemens proposes using technology as an innovative attractor to boost a campus’ reputation and to better prepare its graduates. This report examines what is possible, today and into the future, for campus energy, buildings, and transport. It is firmly grounded in the realities of limited budgets, and highlights where revenue could be created, or costs saved. The result is a roadmap illustrating how a university or college dean could lead their campus towards a connected, efficient and sustainable future.

TRENDS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Critical to the success of universities and higher education facilities will be their ability to adapt to the changing trends in where, how and when we all learn. It is important that university leaders consider the physical future of their campuses in light of changing educational trends. The following considers how some of the global educational trends may impact physical campuses.

DIGITAL LEARNING

Digital learning is reshaping the role of the campus as universities offer more distance and part-time programs. Campuses will need to cater to part-time students who may take the odd class across the week or be there full-time for a limited number of weeks per year. This means managing space to have a flexible supply of housing and study spaces. Campus information and communications infrastructure will need to seamlessly connect students to educational materials, each other and the professor, even when some or all of them are off-site. Campus wayfinding and internal communications apps are likely to become ever more necessary to connect people when they are physically present.

REMOTE LEARNING, VIDEO CONFERENCING

Remote learning requires best available communication bandwidth to ideally transmit live video streams to a large amount of receivers. To achieve the best results, universities must use the best available communication technology to let the physical distance between teachers and students appear as small as possible.

STUDENT DEMOGRAPHICS

Student demographics are becoming more diverse, including a rising demand for life-long learning. Changing student demographics may mean less demand for on-campus residential space, but more on-campus meeting and or shared spaces. Digital occupancy and space allocation apps will become all the more important, requiring sensors in individual rooms and areas where walls can be moved. In addition, accessibility to and across the campus will be important and transport will need to cater to a wider range of ages and physical abilities.

STUDENTS EXPECTATIONS

There is an increasingly commercial relationship between universities and students, with students expecting quality experiences and spaces in return for their tuition payment, as well as a return on their investment in the degree.

BIG DATA

Universities are leveraging data to improve all aspects of the educational experience and physical campus, including recruitment and admissions, facility operations, student experiences, and sustainability. Benefiting from data-driven decision-making, campuses need to install the required sensor, monitors, or reporting procedures to collect the data, and implement software solutions that can clean and analyze data to extract trends and recommendations.

DIGITALIZATION

Digitalization and automation is expected to continue to disrupt many employment areas. There may be more of a need for campuses to reflect this change and move away from lecture halls to more project space with a wider variety of equipment and technologies, especially as automation is expected to disrupt even more sectors. Universities must ensure that programs teaching high demand skills have adequate resources and give students the opportunity to gain hands-on, on-campus experience with emerging technologies like distributed energy systems and renewable power generation.

FINANCING

Critical energy projects usually require substantial amounts of start-up money. However, schools and institutions of higher education can fund new energy management and microgrid projects in a number of new and innovative ways including Energy Performance Contracts, Power Purchase Agreements, Internal and Public Sector Financing, and Green Banks and Funding.

TRENDS IN CAMPUS TECHNOLOGY

The digital aspect of learning is changing fast, programs and outreach to students is changing, but in many ways the physical university or college campus has not yet had the same deep structural change. Following are some technology trends in the areas of energy, buildings, security and mobility, which will be impacting campuses.

ENERGY

Renewable Energy

Universities are significant energy consumers, very often their campuses have buildings and land that make good locations for hosting clean energy projects.

BUILDINGS

High Performance Building Automation System

Building automation and controls, which are responsible for control of indoor environmental quality, are not being used to their full potential. High performing systems result in excellent energy performance and highly motivated and productive students and staff.

Centralized and integrated building function

Desigo CC from Siemens enables all building systems to communicate, integrating the management of multiple disciplines, from heating, ventilation and air conditioning to lighting and shading, power, fire safety and security.

Building Data Analytics

Building data analytics software, like Navigator from Siemens, enables campus managers to improve their equipment efficiency to reduce energy costs while maintaining user comfort.

Digital workplace experience

Smart Apps offer the ability to connect, control, and communicate with the environment. Their features help users adjust lighting, find and book available rooms and desks, and share feedback.

SECURITY

Biometrics

Biometric access control for campuses, buildings and rooms via fingerprint, iris-scan, face recognition, voice recognition or palm vein biometrics is becoming increasingly important as a safety factor.

Drones

Drones, already widely used in the security industry, can be applied for security guard tours as they are capable of patrolling more rapidly and extensively than human guards, as well as being unimpeded by physical barriers on the ground.

MOBILITY

Connected autonomous E-vehicles

Connected autonomous e-vehicles will revolutionize campuses’ transport, replacing circulating bus systems with flexible systems that help students and staff to reach any destination at any time.

TODAY

Imagine a campus where renewable electricity feeds into a virtual power plant, which balances energy supply and demand and fuels electric, e-hailed vehicles traveling between automatically climate-optimized and predictively-maintained buildings. These benefits are actually possible today.

Following are some of today’s energy, buildings, security and mobility technologies that are creating the Campus of the Future right now.

TOMORROW

On the Campus of the Future, today’s digital technologies will have scaled up and become fully integrated. Investments today lay the groundwork for future innovations and benefits, like grid-interactive buildings that synergize with automation software and artificial intelligence to optimize energy efficiency. Following are some of technologies you’ll encounter in the Campus of the Future. To learn more about these technologies, download the full “Campus of the Future” report.

SMART CAMPUS ROADMAP

The smart systems described here unlock new opportunities to grow and leverage the sharing economy on campuses. Universities are already at the forefront of blurring the boundaries between workspace and homes, but a smart campus can take this a step further.

The top 10 long-term goals for the built environment provide huge benefits to campus users. Among the possibilities are:

1. Digital twins for all new buildings
 
2. Net zero energy for all new buildings
 
3. Comprehensive smart building technology
 
4. Highest performance automated control systems, from HVAC to door security
 
5. Multi-functional and future-proof design to ease flexibility
 
6. Technical cooperation and interaction between entire building blocks
 
7. Intensified integration of private buildings with public utilities and transportation
 
8. Improved relationships between buildings and their environment
 
9. Healthier work-live-learn spaces
 
10. Optimized work productivity