Accenture and Johnson Controls are collaborating to deliver and operate two OpenBlue innovation centres in India.

The centres in Bangalore and Hyderabad will drive Johnson Controls’ rollout of building control system products and services using technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), digital twins, IoT and 5G. Johnson Controls OpenBlue is an AI-enabled suite of connected services that integrates with users’ operational technology.

The system collects and primes data from buildings and applies machine learning at the edge and in the cloud, comparing the data against optimised AI performance models. The result is the ability to micro-manage real-time building performance, saving cost and energy as well as enhancing environments.

“We have a fantastic opportunity to accelerate carbon reduction in buildings by weaving in new features built on advanced technology into OpenBlue, further enabling our customers to achieve their sustainability targets,” said Vijay Sankaran, Johnson Controls chief technology officer. “Accenture’s expertise in platform engineering, integration and sustainability will help us to deliver these enhanced capabilities faster, accelerating how quickly we can cut emissions, energy and cost out of projects and helping our customers to reduce their operational costs sooner.”

Accenture will assist Johnson Controls by implementing technologies on the OpenBlue platform. These include AI-driven analytics to optimize space use, O₂ versus CO₂ saturation in airflows, as well as infectious disease risks and other environmental information.

Digital twins will be used to enable Johnson Controls to model, analyse and make decisions on maintenance, upgrades and sustainability, replacing physical prototypes to help reduce resource use, carbon emissions, cost and time to market. IoT and 5G will be used for faster and higher capacity data transmission, with remote management and control of connected devices.

“The better and more sustainable we can make buildings, the smarter, more attractive, healthier and efficient they will become, and the better they will be for people and our planet,” said Peter Lacy, Accenture’s chief responsibility officer. “It’s about creating environments focused on well-being and productivity of occupants, while protecting the environment of our planet. Digitising building operations is an essential first step towards these goals.”

With around forty per cent of CO₂ emissions globally generated by the building sector, research from Accenture found that technology such as digital twins, digital replicas of physical assets or processes, can cut energy use and carbon emissions in half. Further evidence from Accenture research found companies with a higher sustainability performance across environmental, social and governance (ESG) indicators perform better financially.

“Companies should not have to make trade-offs between their business and sustainability goals, and an effective technology strategy can address this,” said Paul Daugherty, Accenture’s group chief executive. “Together with Johnson Controls, we will harness technology in new ways, use effective ESG measurement tools and engage the power of ecosystems to solve environmental problems within the building environment.”