"BIM - Digitalization in Design and Industry" online conference, organized by AZEL Systems company with the organizational support of the State Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture of Azerbaijan was held on April 9th, 2021.
The conference was dedicated to the Builder's Day which is celebrated in Azerbaijan annually on April 10th.

The Department of General Questions and Public Relations of the State Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture informed "AZƏRTAC", that the main aim of conference was providing information to participants about specifications and implementation of new BIM technologies, that increase quality and efficiency of design and construction of facilities in the industrial and civil sectors.

Committee Chairman Anar Guliyev congratulated the participants with the upcoming Builder's Day. He noted that, thanks to the special attention paid 
by President İlham Aliyev to the development of the construction sector, sweeping reforms have been carried out in this area. Additionally, significant progress has been achieved in planned and systematic organization of architectural and urban planning processes and in implementation of the of the leading world standards and modern technologies.

A. Guliyev noted that in accordance with President's decree, for the last few years, the committee has digitalized the design and permit issuing procedures for construction. Committee also prepared and implemented "Single Window" electronic system which covers the entire country.
"Learning and implementing the best world practices in the area of digitalization of urban planning is one of main priorities of the committee. The digital transformation taking place on global scale, makes unavoidable the changes in planning and development of modern cities. The main requirement today is to satisfy the growing demand for higher living standards and life quality, for activities and services and for competitiveness of territories. New approaches (based on latest technologies) to the creation of urban environment, are essential part of state urban planning policy. Use of modern technology solutions should cover areas ranging from planning and creation of urban environment to the management of urban economy" - Said the committee Chairman.

He also noted that several Azerbaijani companies have already achieved success in the development and implementation of modern technologies in design process. Modelling information in industrial projects allows companies to create a 3D-model of the entire system. Unlike the traditional 2D-models, this allows designers and constructors to get more information about final project, which prevents time loss and increases quality.

Anar Guliyev said, that use of digitalization technologies played an important role in the long-term dynamic growth of the construction sector. He noted that similar events will be held in future and will create conditions for further studying and implementation of BIM - technologies in Azerbaijan.

General Director of AZEL Systems Igor Yakovenko said that his company was established in 2013, and has become a leading systems integrator in South Caucasus region in the area of digitalization of design and construction of industrial facilities.
I. Yakovenko, added that he views conference as an opportunity to create a direct contact with world leading software developers for construction digitalization. This in turn can give a new impulse to the development of construction sector in Azerbaijan, 

Igor Yakovenko also noted that using only official and licensed software in BIM projects is very important. This guarantees the stability of the model and increases the speed of design process.

Next, partners of conference- world leaders in development of solutions for BIM-technologies - companies AUTODESK(USA), Trimble Tekla (USA), Hexagon Intergraph (Sweden) and Bentley Systems (USA) gave presentations about specific software resources and spoke about global trends in BIM. Additionally, the representatives of local companies "SOCAR Foster-Wheeler Engineering, PMD Projects and "BIMD", shared their experience in implementation of BIM-technologies in Azerbaijan.

During the conference participants exchanged views and discussed future prospects and development direction of this area. Among those attending the conference were the representatives of private and state design bureaus and institutes, architectural; construction; IT and project management companies.