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When most people do think of big data companies, they immediately think of digital companies like Google and Uber. However, in a variety of other industries data collection could bring different insights. In this article is reviewed how big data can influence or change the construction world.

The construction industry is changing, especially with the introduction of Building Information Modelling (BIM). BIM allows engineers to capture multi-dimensional CAD information. Simplified, it means that all the engineers can work on the same set of drawings within the same document at the same time. Thereby, BIM will capture all the data of the drawings and the materials into a database which can be create valuable insights for the constructor.

In regard of the actual building this could save time, reduce costs because of less reworks and stimulate engineers to work together on possible solutions (Bilal et al., 2016).

Also, BIM can stimulate a circular economy and reduce waste. By using BIM over multiple different projects, the program can help identifying certain aspects of buildings that can be re-used. (www.arup.com, n.d.). For example, when a building is being built and the building requires a certain amount of steel for the construction, the program can help identifying in which other projects there might be steel left over. This steel can then be transported to the other building and in this way still be useful instead of being destroyed. This will reduce the waste on the construction site.

Regarding the circular economy, imagine the same example but now there is a building being teared down. The BIM tool can show the engineers which parts of the building still can be re-used for other buildings. This can include pipelines, cables, or steelworks etc. Essentially, the program will identify all the parts that are still usable in teared down buildings which then can be implemented into new buildings.

The program can help the constructor by reducing materials, contributing to a circular economy, and thereby reducing costs by simply using the data that is being collected over multiple projects to optimize their building processes.

References:

Bilal, M., Oyedele, L.O., Qadir, J., Munir, K., Ajayi, S.O., Akinade, O.O., Owolabi, H.A., Alaka, H.A. and Pasha, M. (2016). Big Data in the construction industry: A review of present status, opportunities, and future trends. Advanced Engineering Informatics, [online] 30(3), pp.500–521. doi:10.1016/j.aei.2016.07.001.

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www.arup.com. (n.d.). BIM reduces waste – Arup. [online] Available at: https://www.arup.com/perspectives/bim-reduces-waste.

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Non-fungible tokens (from now on NFT’s) are starting to appear in a variety of industries including the sport industry, but how can NFT’s influence the sport industry and why would the sport industry be targeted. This article will try to answer these questions.

First, a short introduction on NFT’s. A non-fungible token is essentially a token which someone can buy. However, the person is not really interested in the picture or image itself, but the buyer is interested in buying the rights of the digital pixels. The non-fungible token exists only on the blockchain which make the NFT business transparent to its users.

For over decades sport enthusiasts have been collecting items from all over the globe, varying from football shirts to match-tickets and the fan favorite card collecting. It was only a matter of time with the introduction of NFT’s, that card collecting would be available digitally. Now, there are multiple platforms offering online trading card games. Traditionally, these trading card games were made of plastic or paper, but from now on they are NFT’s. Platforms like ‘NBA’s top shot’ or ‘Sorare’ have grown rapidly over the last couple of years (Zaucha and Agur, 2022).

In this article, the focus will be on the platform Sorare. In Sorare it is possible to purchase football, baseball, and basketball cards (these cards being NFT’s) with Ethereum, a cryptocurrency which is the only currency allowed on the platform.

The platform does offer 5 varieties in cards. There are: ‘Common cards’, ‘Limited cards’, ‘Rare cards’, ‘Super-rare cards’ and ‘unique cards. The cards value depends on its rarity. This means that a Unique card is far more valuable than a Limited one. The Unique card of Erling Braut Haaland (a very talented football player) sold for over 600.000 dollars (Niggli, 2022). In other words, NFT’s in the sport industry is a serious business.

On the platform it is possible to win rewards with your purchased NFT’s. Every week Sorare hosts a variety of competitions where its users can compete to each other, based on the score of your NFT’s you can win rewards (cards or Ethereum). This way the platform interacts with its users and gives value to the NFT’s. At the end of the day, you can win money with the cards.

Could this development hurt the sport industry? The answer here is yes, it definitely could. The market on these platforms is highly deregulated and are vulnerable to all kinds of Ponzi schemes (Bartoletti et al., 2020). Thereby, there is plenty of opportunity of insider trading. Value of cards can heavily drop due to injuries or speculations in the sports world.

In the end, the trading card games are no longer as harmful as in the past and are being transformed into a big money business. There are high risks involved regarding these trading card games. In the long run, it will become clear if these kinds of platforms are really going to hurt the sport industry in negative ways.

References:

Bartoletti, M., Carta, S., Cimoli, T. and Saia, R. (2020). Dissecting Ponzi schemes on Ethereum: Identification, analysis, and impact. Future Generation Computer Systems, 102, pp.259–277. doi:10.1016/j.future.2019.08.014.

Sutlive, T.P. (2022) ‘Not Your Grandpa’s Trading Cards: Understanding NFTs in Professional Sports and Why Some May Be Considered Securities’, North Carolina Banking Institute, 26, 249+, available: https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A700250871/AONE?u=erasmus&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=c4b5100f [accessed 29 Sep 2022].

Zaucha, T. and Agur, C. (2022). Newly minted: Non-fungible tokens and the commodification of fandom. New Media & Society, p.146144482210804. doi:10.1177/14614448221080481.

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