Preface

Climate change, increasing energy demand and resource
scarcity not only require a change in infrastructure and industry but also in buildings and cities with smart technologies and systems.
Research and innovation crucially contribute to sustainable and energy-efficient buildings and cities. In the course of the research programme “Building of tomorrow” in the last years my resort has supported many concepts and key technologies for buildings. International co-operations made it possible to successfully disseminate Austrian research results. Today Austria plays an international pioneer role in energy-efficient building. The new research programme „City of tomorrow“ aims to face coming challenges by funding technological research and development projects of systems and services for the city of the future.
I am therefore very pleased to introduce here at the Sustainable Building Conference 2013 this new research programme to an international audience for the first time.
Dedicated to essential questions reaching from renovating buildings and quarters to smart cities, the conference is an excellent platform to present Austrian technologies and know-how in the realms of buildings and cities.
With this in mind I wish those attending the international conference stimulant and exciting discussions!

Doris Bures
Bundesministerin
für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie