The Global Building Data Initiative has been established as an association under Austrian law, led by Martin Röck. Until now GBDI has run as a programme inside a research consortium with EPFL; as an association it gains a legal home, a governance structure, and the ability to hold funding and employ staff directly.
For RISE this changes little day to day and quite a lot structurally. The two teams will continue to work together closely, with more and more of the GBDI team moving to Vienna in the future, some colleagues will hold contracts with both organizations. GBDI can now grow on its own terms, as an open data commons accountable to its community and partners.
A new tiered collaboration model for GBDI partners will be presented in the coming months.
More on the initiative at gbdi.io.