As buildings become increasingly digital and connected, one of the biggest challenges is ensuring that information coming from different systems can be easily understood, exchanged and used together. From smart sensors and energy management systems to renovation records and Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), building data is often fragmented across multiple formats and platforms.
To address this challenge, LiveBetter has started a new series of collaborative technical activities focused on improving data integration and interoperability across the project ecosystem. These activities will support the future development of the LiveBetter Hub and help create more reliable and data-driven services for energy efficiency, renovation planning and building performance assessment.
One of the first milestones in this process has been the definition of the LiveBetter Common Data Model, a shared framework designed to facilitate the integration of different types of building-related information. The model supports the combination of static building data, dynamic sensor information, EPC-related datasets and renovation data while maintaining compatibility with existing European initiatives and standards.
To move from the conceptual framework to practical implementation, bilateral technical meetings and interviews have recently started with the project’s Business Cases. The objective is to better understand the available data sources, local infrastructures and technical requirements of each demonstration environment.
The Business Cases (BC) currently involved in the identification and analysis process are:
- BC1: Intelligent facility management for energy-efficient yet comfort-securing buildings’ operations – EPÜ (Hungary)
- BC2: Digital inspections for smart constructions and renovations in future-ready buildings – LCAD (Latvia)
- BC3: Facilitating smart financing and improving the bankability of energy efficiency projects – ESC (Luxembourg)
- BC4: Automated Home Systems for Tenants: Enhancing Comfort, Efficiency, and Savings – IVE (Spain)
- BC5: Smart Energy Control and Flexibility Management for Energy Utilities – HERON (Greece)
- BC6: Public Buildings’ Transformation through Deep Renovation Pathways and Dynamic EPCs – EAP (Bulgaria)
These activities build upon previous interactions between the Business Cases and the LiveBetter service providers carried out during the requirements definition phase.
In the current bilateral technical meetings focused on data integration and interoperability, partners are identifying:
- available datasets related to building operation, energy consumption, indoor environmental conditions, renovation activities and existing monitoring systems, as well as the information required to support the different LiveBetter services,
- data formats and structures used across the different systems and platforms involved in each Business Case,
- historical coverage and update frequency to better understand data availability and real-time monitoring capabilities or needs,
- existing transfer methods such as APIs, FTP services or external platforms currently used for data exchange and integration.
This process is helping define realistic and scalable integration pathways adapted to the specific characteristics of each Business Case.
In parallel, LiveBetter partners are also working on interoperability and data quality processes to ensure that information exchanged across the project remains reliable, consistent and trustworthy. Current activities include analysing compatibility between heterogeneous systems, defining harmonisation approaches and identifying potential issues such as missing values or inconsistent data structures.
These efforts will contribute to the future implementation of the LiveBetter Hub, supporting secure and interoperable data exchange across different building environments and helping unlock the potential of smarter, more data-driven renovation strategies across Europe.