Master of Science in Digital Management of Built Assets

The Master of Science in Digital Management of Built Assets [MSc (DMBA)] provides innovative and unique management education to professionals working in the field of Smart Built Environment.

The built environment faces digital transformation, health and safety, digital trust, carbon neutrality and other sustainability issues. MSc(DMBA) offers cutting-edge knowledge and a new way of working with digital twin technologies, building information modelling (BIM), geographic information system (GIS), artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML), PropTech, blockchain and metaverse/gaming technologies available in the MetaBIM Research Lab (one of the HKUrbanLabs at the Faculty of Architecture) that focuses on Internationalisation, Innovation, Interdisciplinarity, Impact and A.I.

With the learning experience of disruptive digital technologies, students will be able to close the gap between virtual and reality while managing the built assets, for example, through the effective use of a single source of information within a Common Data Environment (CDE) and other digital twin technologies, setting up information requirements for asset owners, developing a successful project execution plan, understanding standards harmonisation across a project's life-cycle, and integrating Systems of Systems (SoS) and other organisational processes to ensure the built assets can last longer and perform better.

Overall, students, through classwork, case method courses, tech simulations, and semester-long projects, will learn and develop skills in:

• Strategic technology management, developing skills in the direction of digital twin technologies, CDE, BIM, GIS, AI/ML, PropTech, blockchain and metaverse/game technologies
• Change management in organisations and projects
• Team building, collaborative design, project management and built assets management
• Understanding and managing interdisciplinary and cross-cultural differences in teams
• Understanding the life-cycle of the best-practice project, information and built  assets management experiences for the Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Owner-operated (AECO) industry
• Broadening their global horizon regarding innovation and contextualising digital tools for a smart built environment on such issues as carbon neutrality and sustainability goals, e.g. the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The course is designed to provide real estate and construction professionals (e.g. facilities managers, asset managers, architects, designers, surveyors, civil and structural engineers) with advanced education in key aspects of the land conversion or development process that involve decisions using digital technologies related to the through-life operation of built assets in both the private and public sectors. We aim to train future leaders to drive the transformation of the world's largest ecosystem and to reshape the next generation of smart built environment in Hong Kong and the GBA region.

The programme is offered with contributions from the local industry and internationally renowned visiting professors. It is professionally accredited by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Professional accreditation is being sought from the Construction Industry Council (CIC-Accredited BIM Manager Course).