FUNDACIO PRIVADA UNIVERSITAT I TECNOLOGIA

Their core work

FUNITEC is the research foundation of La Salle - Universitat Ramon Llull in Barcelona, focused on building energy performance, sustainable housing, and urban renovation. They develop digital tools and methodologies for assessing and improving energy efficiency in buildings and districts — from BIM-based renovation passports to optimized refurbishment platforms. More recently, they have taken a leadership role in training the next generation of researchers on affordable and sustainable housing across Europe, while also supporting startup and scaleup ecosystems.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their early H2020 period (2015–2018), FUNITEC focused on technical building performance — energy efficiency tools, district-level retrofitting platforms, data models, and LCA — working as a participant in engineering-heavy consortia. From 2019 onward, they shifted toward broader societal impact: affordable housing policy, urban regeneration, and innovation ecosystem building, while stepping into coordination roles. This evolution shows a move from pure technical contributor to thematic leader combining construction technology with housing policy and sustainability.

FUNITEC is moving from technical building performance work toward integrated sustainable housing research with policy and social dimensions — expect them to lead more projects at the intersection of construction technology, affordability, and urban planning.

How they like to work

FUNITEC operates as both a contributor and a leader: they participated in larger consortia early on, then coordinated their two most recent and thematically ambitious projects (RE-DWELL and TIMEPAC). With 71 unique partners across 22 countries, they maintain a broad European network rather than relying on a small circle of repeat collaborators. This breadth, combined with their transition to coordination, signals a maturing organization comfortable building and managing diverse international teams.

FUNITEC has collaborated with 71 distinct partners across 22 countries, giving them a wide European reach well beyond the Iberian Peninsula. Their network spans universities, construction industry players, and innovation agencies — reflecting the diversity of their energy, housing, and innovation projects.

What sets them apart

FUNITEC sits at a rare intersection: they combine deep technical expertise in building data (BIM, ontologies, energy simulation) with a growing focus on the social and policy dimensions of housing — affordability, cohousing, urban regeneration. Most building-tech research groups stay purely technical; FUNITEC bridges the gap between digital construction tools and real-world housing challenges. Their base at La Salle Barcelona also connects them to a vibrant startup and innovation ecosystem, making them a strong partner for projects that need both engineering rigour and market awareness.

Highlights from their portfolio

• RE-DWELL
  Their largest project (EUR 501K) and a coordinator role — an MSCA training network on affordable sustainable housing, signalling their ambition to shape the next generation of housing researchers.
• TIMEPAC
  Coordinated this project on building renovation passports and smart readiness indicators — directly aligned with the EU Renovation Wave policy agenda.
• OptEEmAL
  Their most technically dense project, developing an AI-assisted platform for district-level energy refurbishment using ontologies and evolutionary computing.