Demo-BLog meets for is annual General Assembly

On the 23^rd and 24^th of January, nearly 20 people representing the partners of Demo-BLog met in London to look back at what has been accomplished by the project so far, explore lessons learned, and look ahead to plan upcoming activities.

The agenda covered:

• Demo-BLog in a nutshell: General update, evaluation at the end of Year 2, planning for Year 3
• An advisory board session: updates on progress from the five pilots and presentation of the policy factsheet (more below)
• The launch of the Social Inclusion Playbook
• Workshop reflections
• A zoom into the UK pilot (more below)

Key reflections that emerged include:

• Recognising that better data leads to better decisions; how to leverage this knowledge to accelerate net-zero carbon building design, construction, management and renovation.
• The European Commission’s upcoming Affordable Housing Plan will be a high-priority file for Demo-BLog to follow and influence, as it brings together local and national, public and private actors to urgently address the housing crisis in the EU.

Across the two-day meeting, there were two particularly interesting sessions:

First, as part of the Advisory Board session, the group explored whether the current EU policy framework is fit to support a broad uptake of DBLs in Member States, and how to fully leverage their benefits. Ideas and strategies to enhance the role and visibility of DBLs include:

• Improve DBL Positioning: A more integrated approach to DBL exploitation could help to enhance communication and strengthen business cases.
• Data Quality and Common Vision: High-quality data is crucial for better decision-making. Utilizing real-world examples from the 5 Demo-BLog pilots and drawing some impact figures could drive adoption.
• Policy Advocacy Agenda: Current focus areas include affordable housing and digitalization among else. Mapping user categories and aligning the project’s DBLs with policy frameworks will strengthen advocacy efforts, supported by lessons learned from our project.

Demo-BLog will build on this discussion to strengthen the impact of DBLs and their integration within EU policies.

The zoom in on the pilot project by the Residential Logbook Association (RLBA), a UK trade body for DBLs that focuses on collaboration to grow the market while ensuring DBLs are recognized as secure digital assets.

The RLBA aims to establish interoperability and standardization across members while recognizing market-driven diversity.

RLBA shared how lessons from white papers on retrofitting and ongoing stakeholder collaboration are now informing innovation and integration strategies. It was empowering to learn how their work is already advancing the DBL ecosystem in the UK.