Final of 2nd competition in Joensuu

Celebrating International Collaboration in Digital Planning:
DIGITAL DECATHLON Final Workshop in Joensuu

‍From February 10–14, 2025, the DIGITAL DECATHLON competition reached its culmination with a final workshop in Joensuu, Finland. After months of preparation and development, 50 students and their teachers from five European universities gathered to present their optimized projects, compete for the top awards, and celebrate international collaboration in digital design.Following the intensive workshop in Warsaw in November 2024, where students worked in interdisciplinary teams to develop initial concepts, the final event in Joensuu provided the opportunity to refine and showcase their designs. Over the course of three days, students from Italy, Poland, Finland, and Germany took on the last set of challenges within the ten disciplines of the DIGITAL DECATHLON. The focus remained on deepening knowledge and practical skills in Building Information Modeling (BIM) while fostering intercultural and interdisciplinary cooperation. At the end of the workshop, the teams presented their final projects to an expert jury, which evaluated the designs based on innovation, sustainability, and technical excellence. The best student projects were awarded, highlighting outstanding achievements in digital planning and construction. Beyond the competition, the event served as a platform for knowledge exchange, networking, and strengthening the European collaboration in digital architecture and construction."The DIGITAL DECATHLON is not just about mastering BIM; it’s about leveraging digital tools to create sustainable, high-quality architecture," says Prof. Dr. Gregor Grunwald, project manager and Professor at the Jade University of Applied Sciences in Germany. "This final event once again demonstrated how digital collaboration can shape the future of building."The DIGITAL DECATHLON is a design competition funded as a cooperation partnership (KA220) by the Erasmus+ program of the European Commission. It is coordinated by the Jade University of Applied Sciences in partnership with Karelia Ammattikorkeakoulu Oy (Finland), Università degli Studi di Firenze (Italy), Bergische Universität Wuppertal (Germany), and Politechnika Warszawska (Poland). The project’s motto, Build Digital. Build Better., reflects the commitment to using digital transformation for sustainable architecture while strengthening a cross-border network of European students.