Start-Up Creation

Start-up creation is the most distinctive feature of the entrepreneurial knowledge-based economy. It is also essential for economic growth and especially important in the current context of young graduate’s high unemployment rates that are expected to increase in the next few decades. There are other books on the creation of start-up companies, designed to be of value to academics wishing to exploit the commercial value of a new technology or business solution, but none of these existing titles focus on start-up creation in the construction industry. In the second edition of this extremely successful title the editors present a state-of-the-art review on advanced technologies, and their application in several areas of the built environment covering energy efficiency, structural performance, air and water quality to inspire the creation of start-up companies from university research. Part One begins with the key factors behind successful start-up companies from university research, including the development of a business plan, start-up financing, and the importance of intellectual property. Part Two focuses on the use of Big Data, Intelligent decision support systems, the Internet of Things and their use in the energy efficiency of the built environment. Finally, Part three is an entire new section that focuses on several smartphone applications for the smart built environment. While in the first edition the section concerning apps for smart buildings had just two chapters, one for app programming basics and a second a case study on building security in this second edition the core of the book is about app development that constitutes 50% of the book.