Technology innovators and entrepreneurs across Europe are increasingly eyeing the construction industry. It helps that construction is a mega market of almost €2tn on the continent alone. But founders, and their investors, aren’t attracted only by market size. They’re betting on the impact of digital transformation in an industry that has been, so far, a sleeping giant.
Construction accounts for a whopping 9% of the EU’s GDP and employs 18m people. It’s also one of the least digitalised industries in Europe, with almost stagnant productivity over the past two decades, growing at only 1% — a fraction of the improvement in other traditional industries like manufacturing — according to data from the European Commission.
