The accolade underscores Delta’s world-class innovation capabilities Delta, a global leading provider of power and thermal management solutions, today announced its has been honored for the second consecutive year as one of the Top 100 Global Innovators™ (2023) by Clarivate for its superior innovation and patent intellectual property portfolio. As of the end of 2022, the total number of patents approved for Delta exceeded 15,000 mainly in the United States, mainland China, Taiwan, Europe, of which 1,070 patents where approved in 2022 alone. Gordon Samson, Chief Product Officer, Clarivate, said, “We congratulate Delta Electronics for being named a Top 100 Global Innovators for two years in a row. Delta Electronics shows consistent, above-the-bar innovation performance, especially the success of its patent applications as intellectual assets in the market. Together with all Top 100 Global Innovators, Delta fully appreciates that innovative ideas and solutions to current challenges not only bring rewards to its business but foster genuine improvements in society.” Ping Cheng, Delta’s Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are quite pleased to receive such a prominent recognition for Delta’s R&D endeavors for two years in a row. As a word-class corporate citizen committed to energy conservation and sustainable development, Delta leverages its focus on R&D-based innovation and its prowess in power electronics, infrastructure, and automation to provide innovative, clean and energy- efficient solutions. In regards to our patent portfolio, Delta has deeply cultivated patent assets in its worldwide R&D centers, manufacturing sites, and major markets to optimize its competitiveness. Looking at the growth trends in India and Southeast Asia, Delta will continue accelerating its related portfolio there going forward.” Delta’s innovative thinking has been deeply rooted in its corporate culture. The Delta Innovation Award has been established since 2008, and the awards for ” Intellectual Property” include the “Outstanding Contribution”, ” Elite Inventor” and ” Quality IP Portfolio” to commend individuals or teams for their innovation to construct a patent layout with commercial value. Delta commonly invests over 8% of its annual revenues into R&D and currently nurtures more than 10,000 R&D engineers and 73 R&D centers around the world to foster innovation. In addition, Delta established the Delta Research Center (DRC) in 2013 to respond to groundbreaking technological trends and to enhance its research and development capacity, which focus on smart manufacturing, artificial intelligence, ICT, and life sciences. DRC takes an open collaboration approach to actively collaborate with ecosystem partners from various industrial sectors, government agencies, academia, and research institutions for mutual success. The Top 100 Global Innovators uses a complete comparative analysis of global invention data to assess the strength of every patented idea, using measures tied directly to their innovative power. For full information on the methodology used to identify the 2023 list, see here. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals 

Honeywell released yesterday its predictions for emerging trends that will help shape building operations and technologies in 2023 and beyond. Top experts at Honeywell revealed insights on opportunities to make buildings more sustainable, safer and occupant focused. Honeywell’s predictions for 2023 include both ongoing and burgeoning trends: 1.      The acceleration of the ‘Electrify Everything’ movement. In May of 2022, the European Commission proposed the REPowerEU Plan[1] in part to rapidly reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian natural gas but also to fast-track the EU’s clean energy transition. To incentivise that transition, the EU has also this year granted €1.1 billion[1] to fund seven innovative, large-scale clean energy projects, using revenues from its Emissions Trading System. As building owners everywhere face increasing pressure from stakeholders and regulatory agencies to curb energy consumption and reduce their facilities’ carbon impact, the electrification trend will accelerate. “An all-electric building requires not just a viable sustainability plan but also a smart controls strategy, which starts with establishing realistic baselines of current energy performance and taking a hard look at existing infrastructure including supply and demand side power,” said Udaya Shrivastava, vice president and chief technology officer, Honeywell. “It also requires creative thinking, investment in ready now technologies and a holistic effort across the organisation. Making these changes may seem prohibitively expensive, but solutions exist that can measurably cut operating expenses and help reduce carbon emissions.”  2.      Cybersecurity embedded and integrated into digital innovation. As the Internet of Things continues to merge operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) systems – and cyberattacks increase in frequency as well as sophistication[i] – advanced AI/ML-enabled cybersecurity will become foundational to the design of digitalised building technology systems. At the same time, the shortage of cybersecurity professionals[ii] will likely remain a challenge.  “Generally, there still remains a lack of understanding on the importance of hardening OT infrastructure and having proper protocols in place in the case of an incident,” said Mirel Sehic, vice president and general manager, Buildings Cybersecurity, Honeywell. “Cybersecurity starts with technology development, as digitalisation continues, engineers and product development teams need to take a security and privacy by design approach.” 3.      Dynamically responsive buildings will be possible. Building controls have traditionally used setpoints that operate on the assumption that every space is 100% occupied, which is no longer the norm due to an uptick in hybrid workforce. The 2022 Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction[iii] found that the building and construction sector accounted for 34% of energy demand and 37% of energy and process-related CO2 emissions in 2021. Building management systems will increasingly leverage AI/ML algorithms to optimise both energy efficiency and occupant well-being, which will no longer be viewed as mutually exclusive priorities. These algorithms can build sophisticated models that reveal hidden energy waste as they weigh conditions and demand against current occupancy, weather conditions and utility pricing. “It’s become imperative for building owners to make meaningful, near-term change in their carbon impact,” said Manish Sharma, vice president and general manager of Sustainable Buildings, Honeywell. “To do this, they need better data about their operations. Given the heightened awareness of, and investment in, sustainability, it’s critical for a company to know and communicate to stakeholders how its facilities are optimising energy baselines to ultimately reduce their carbon footprint, without impacting the occupant experience.” 4.      Cities will look to build energy resilience into operational plans. As extreme climate and weather events occur more frequently,[iv] energy resilience will continue to gain attention. Cities and communities will need solutions that help them better respond to power outages, especially where they affect critical infrastructure such as hospitals and traffic control systems. Microgrids and battery energy storage systems that leverage real-time, adaptive control strategies will help cities continue to provide essential services in the wake of disasters. “In 2023, we can expect to see significant public investment in community resilience particularly in the United States, supported in part by the $1.2 trillion in federal funding[v] from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,” said Matthew Britt, general manager, Sustainable Cities and Communities, Honeywell. “Communities that embed energy resilience programmes into their sustainable smart city initiatives, will be better prepared to mitigate power outages, improve their operating costs, while supporting their sustainability initiatives.” These trends collectively embody a common theme: technology is rapidly becoming integral to every facet of building operations. Whether it’s helping to help reduce carbon impact, defend against cyberattacks, optimise both energy performance and occupant well-being, or make communities more resilient in times of crisis, it can provide a competitive business advantage as well as help reduce operating expenses. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals

City Plumbing has introduced a new digital tool to to help housing associations quickly and accurately diagnose heating system faults, identify replacement parts and improve the lives their tenants through better service. Using the industry’s most comprehensive and product-specific data, the national merchant’s FaultFinder equips housing associations and field service engineers with the practical knowledge to quickly and accurately diagnose faults within the system. Combining this with the hands-on knowledge of staff in more than 370 branches across the UK, City Plumbing can help engineers source the parts they need quickly and improve first-time fix rates. Described as a ‘game-changer’ for engineers and social housing providers, the tool’s diagnostic capabilities mean that engineers will no longer need to be in the property to diagnose the problem. Perfectly suited to housing associations and private landlords, FaultFinder allows tenants to input details of the problem into an online portal or over the phone. This gives engineers the opportunity to restore heat and hot water as quickly as possible by triaging the issue remotely and understanding if a visit is required or whether the tenant can fix the issue themselves. It also means that if a home visit is required, engineers can quickly sourcing the correct spare parts from their local City Plumbing branch before arriving at the tenant’s home, allowing them to resolve the issue quickly and efficiently. “As the industry-leading provider of heating and plumbing solutions, we’re looking for revolutionary ways to support professionals to get the job done every day. Through FaultFinder, we can take this support even further by placing our expertise in the hands of our customers, exactly when and where they need it. It’s a real game changer for social housing providers and landlords looking to improve tenant satisfaction.” says Dave Griggs, Managing Director of Spares at City Plumbing. “Whether they’re on-site to resolve a problem, or if a customer has described their issue through our online portal, housing associations and contractors can easily access the information they need to restore heat faster than ever before. By inputting the product name or code, they’ll be able to see any commonly recurring issues or describe the fault they’re experiencing to unlock practical advice on how to fix it. From there, FaultFinder will even recommend the components required to repair the system. Crucially, it also gives our branches the insight they need to ensure the correct stock for properties in the local area is available for collection or delivery as soon as it is needed.” Through its nationwide network of branches, City Plumbing provides professionals with the tools and equipment they need to deliver uncompromising levels of service to their customers. To unlock the benefits of Fault Finder for yourself, visit www.faultfinder.com Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals