Winners of the Nemetschek Innovation Award 2026
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Award Overview
Launched in July 2025, the global call attracted 22 submissions from students and PhD candidates. An international Special Award Panel of experts including Prof. Frederic Bosché (University of Edinburg), Prof. Burcin Becerik-Gerber (University of Southern California), Prof. Fernand Leite (University of Texas at Austin), Dr. Josef Böck (Nemetschek Innovationsstiftung), Charles Sheridan (Nemetschek Group), and Prof. Ernst Rank (TUM GNI Board of Trustees), evaluated entries based on impact, originality, and technical maturity. After rigorous review, five teams were invited to present at TUM GNI in March 2026.
Award Results
While the panel opted not to award the 1st Prize (€100,000) this round, they honored exceptional contributions:
2nd Prize (€60,000)
Chengxuan Li (Cornell University) for Energy Atlas: City-Scale Digital Twin for Built Environment Decarbonization and Climate Action, a visionary digital twin platform lauded for its multi-modal data integration and climate-action potential.
3rd Prize (€40,000)
Fabian Kannenberger & David Förster (University of Stuttgart) for Redundancy Explorer: Policy Learning for Structurally-Informed Design Space Exploration, praised for its scientific rigor, clarity of dissemination, and exploitation plan.
Three teams also received Special Recognition (€5,000 each):
- Xuhui Lin & Ramón Nartallo-Kaluarachchi (University College London/University of Oxford): AI for Resilient Road Networks: Field-Theory Inspired Physics-Informed Graph Neural Network for Reliable Traffic Flow Prediction Under Urban Flooding
- Angelina Aziz, Robin Ov & Ayman Soultana (Ruhr Universität Bochum): FUSION: Decentralized Federated Learning and Multimodal Artificial Intelligence for Semantic Inspection of Building Safety
- Zhaiyu Chen & Yuqing Wang (Technical University of Munich): Neural Primitives: Generalizable, Parametric, Scalable Scan-to-BIM
Congratulations to all winners and contributors!
We were deeply honored to welcome Prof. Georg Nemetschek to the TUM GNI Symposium 2026, where he personally presented this prestigious award. His legacy continues to inspire the next generation of innovators.
Looking Ahead
The Nemetschek Innovation Award will return in approximately three years’ time, continuing its mission to recognize AI innovation in engineering, construction, and design.
TUM Georg Nemetschek Institute extends its gratitude to Prof. Nemetschek, the Nemetschek Innovationsstiftung, the Special Award Panel, and all contributors for making this historic award possible.