Who is IDC and what do you do for them?
The Innovation Design Consortium (IDC) was established three years ago by 41 of the largest and most prominent architecture firms in the United States. The consortium was formed in response to a growing concern within the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry: while many sectors have advanced rapidly through technology, our industry has lagged behind.
With significant investment from technology firms, private equity, and other outside players aiming to disrupt the AEC space, we recognized the urgent need to be proactive. Rather than being disrupted, we saw an opportunity to lead the change from within.
IDC’s mission is to foster industry evolution by developing shared standards, tools, relationships, and strategic partnerships. We aim to create a collaborative environment where innovation is driven by those who understand the industry best — the professionals within it.
I currently serve as Chair of the Executive Committee and was among the founding members who helped launch the consortium. It took several years of planning and collaboration to bring IDC to life, and I’m proud of the momentum we’ve built as we continue to shape the future of our industry.
Why is innovation important at IDC?
The architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry is, in many ways, ripe for disruption and innovation—both in process and in mindset.
At its core, our traditional workflow is quite linear and time-intensive. As design firms, we produce detailed construction documents that are then handed off to contractors for execution. Essentially, we’re saying: “This is how the building should be built.” But that process—from initial concept to final construction—is often slow and fragmented. For instance, a typical high school project might take four to five years from the initial decision to build, to the day students walk through the doors.
A significant portion of that timeline is dedicated to developing construction documents—an area that is increasingly viable for automation. In sectors where building types are standardized, such as housing, hospitality, or retail chains (e.g., McDonald’s), startups have already begun automating design and documentation. These repetitive, templated building types lend themselves well to streamlined, tech-driven workflows.
However, the kinds of projects many of us take on—such as hospitals, stadiums, or complex institutional buildings—are highly customized and less conducive to automation. Even so, the need for innovation remains critical. As technology evolves rapidly, a five-year development cycle can render a building outdated before it’s even occupied. We need to shorten these timelines to ensure that the environments we design are aligned with current needs and technologies—not yesterday’s.
Beyond efficiency, innovation is also essential for sustainability. Buildings account for roughly 40% of global carbon emissions, largely due to materials like concrete and steel. Advancing sustainable building practices, adopting lower-carbon materials, and integrating data-driven design tools are vital steps in reducing our environmental impact.
Ultimately, driving innovation in this industry isn’t just about being faster—it’s about being smarter, more sustainable, and better equipped to meet the challenges of the future.
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Why did IDC select Ideawake to power your innovation program?
From the outset of our collaboration, flexibility was essential in how we structured our program. As a consortium made up of 41 architecture firms, our goal was to foster innovation not just within our own network, but across the broader AEC industry. We wanted to create a platform where anyone—regardless of firm affiliation—could easily submit ideas, provide feedback, and participate meaningfully.
To do that, we needed a solution that could accommodate both internal collaboration within our 41 firms and open participation from the wider industry. Simplicity and ease of use were critical—whether for submitting ideas, voting, or commenting. We knew that the more friction there was in the process, the less likely people would be to engage.
One of the ongoing challenges we face is encouraging individuals to share ideas beyond the boundaries of their own firms. A tool like this helps remove that barrier by making the process intuitive and transparent. It eliminates the administrative burden of traditional methods like surveys, spreadsheets, or Word documents, which often discourage participation and offer little visibility into the broader conversation.
While some of the deeper cultural hurdles—like getting people comfortable with open idea-sharing—are still a work in progress, having a streamlined, accessible platform makes it significantly easier to focus on what really matters: surfacing the best ideas, no matter where they come from.
What do you want to achieve using IW?
One of the key goals for us is to harness the collective intelligence of an industry that employs millions of people. We wanted a way for the broader AEC community to share ideas and help align our focus on the innovations that truly matter—rather than just chasing one-off efforts that don’t move the industry forward in a meaningful way.
This kind of platform helps unify the industry around a common purpose. It creates an opportunity for us to advance together, rather than in silos. Without that collective momentum, we risk being disrupted by external forces—tech companies, investors, or other industries—that don’t necessarily understand the complexities or values of our work.
Ultimately, I see this tool as a catalyst for industry-wide transformation. It allows us to be active participants in shaping the future of AEC, rather than passive recipients of change imposed from the outside.
Why is engaging and giving employees a voice important to IDC?
Our industry is incredibly complex. Take the example of designing and building a football stadium—these projects involve dozens of stakeholders across a wide range of disciplines. You might have multiple architecture firms, various engineering specialties, lighting designers, contractors, material suppliers, furniture vendors, and more—all contributing to a single project.
And these aren’t all large, consolidated companies. In many cases, you’ll find a mix of organizations, from two-person firms to global companies with tens of thousands of employees. Each brings a unique perspective, shaped by their role, experience, and scale.
If we only listen to the largest firms, we risk missing critical insights from the rest of the ecosystem. Every organization—regardless of size—holds a piece of the puzzle. Ensuring that every voice is heard is essential to moving the industry forward in a meaningful, inclusive way.
At the end of the day, you never know where the next great idea will come from. That’s why it’s so important to create space for everyone in the AEC industry to contribute to the conversation and be part of shaping its future.
FAQs
1) How will IDC invite participation from outside the 41 member firms?
IDC will run open “industry challenges” via a public submission portal. External contributors can submit, vote, and comment through guest access. Submissions are moderated and routed to IDC reviewers using customizable workflows to keep quality and relevance high.
2) How do you evaluate ideas across firms without bias or duplicates?
Ideawake supports anonymous posting, rubric-based scoring, and multi-reviewer stages. Built-in duplicate detection flags similar submissions early so evaluators focus on the strongest, unique ideas.
3) How will IDC measure success and ROI from the program?
Core metrics include participation rate, idea quality scores, time-to-first review, implementation rate, and realized value (cost savings, revenue, risk reduction). For AEC-specific goals, IDC can also track cycle-time reductions on documentation and sustainability impact from implemented ideas.
4) What about IP ownership and contributor credit for accepted ideas?
Each challenge includes clear terms set by IDC before submission. Ideawake captures contributor attribution on every idea, supports co-authoring across firms, and preserves an audit trail from submission to implementation so credit is transparent.
5) How quickly can a challenge move from launch to a live pilot?
A common cadence is 2 weeks for submissions, 1 week for shortlisting, 2–4 weeks for business casing, then a 30–90 day pilot—adjusted by project complexity (e.g., hospitals vs. templated builds).
6) How does the platform support IDC’s sustainability objectives?
Ideas can be tagged with sustainability themes (materials, embodied carbon, operations). Scorecards can include carbon-impact fields, and dashboards roll up impact across challenges to show progress against IDC’s environmental targets.
