Schneider Electric wins UX Design award concept category, underscoring innovative, user-centric approach to facility management

Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, has won the International Design Center Berlin’s UX Design Award in the Concept category for the innovative user-centric experience approach on their net-zero building IntenCity in Grenoble, France. The recognition highlights the comprehensive methodology Schneider Electric took when developing IntenCity’s Energy Management System (EMS). The company’s innovative concept was one of 20 projects the jury selected for consideration, ultimately being chosen as a winning design.

“Building management software and solutions can be very technical and when displaying all possible information, they may create complexity in making fast decisions,” said Manish Kumar, Executive Vice President of Global Digital Energy Division at Schneider Electric. “We’ve worked to solve this issue in our Design Lab by developing a model for a unique, user-centric interface that simplifies and prioritizes relevant data and addresses the needs of the facility manager — by providing relevant information at the right time with an attractive look to the interface. We’re delighted that the judges recognized the value of this approach and how we implemented it at IntenCity.”

With buildings comprising 37% of global CO2 emissions and more than 30% of buildings’ energy being wasted, the built environment is one of the biggest contributors to climate change. As organizations look to minimize energy waste, increase productivity, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, facility managers need a user-centric digital solution to meet their sustainability and energy management goals.

"By visualizing large amounts of data in a clear and intuitive way, IntenCity supports facility managers to implement sustainable decisions, and drastically reduce the energy consumption of buildings. With the mental models of facility managers in mind, IntenCity has been clearly developed to serve users in the most intuitive and flexible way. The jury was not only convinced by the result, but also by the well-considered and inherently user-centric solution approach," said Christine Rossa, Director of User Experience Projects at Bosch GmbH

The International Design Center Berlin (IDZ) judges each award submission by parsing through the key elements of the design and user-centered approach to an industry-wide problem. An assembly of expert jurors are at the heart of the award selection process. Within a multi-stage, in depth procedure that evaluates all entries, the jury selected Schneider Electric’s user-centric approach by majority vote – entirely independent of the organizers of the award. The Design Lab’s approach gave the jury visibility into a meaningful and structured decision-making process, streamlining business management practices and demonstrating the ease in which facility management could pull, use, and analyze data to make important, quick decisions. IntenCity concept demonstrates the relevance of a tighter connection between Energy Management Systems and Building Management Systems.

Now in its 7th year, the IDZ UX Design Award attracts a global scope of industry-wide solutions all aimed at underscoring the UX talent capable of providing impactful, innovative solutions to real problems the industry faces. 2022 marks the first year Schneider Electric’s Design Lab submitted an entry for consideration at IDZ.

To learn more about Schneider Electric’s user-centric approach at IntenCity, please visit https://ux-design-award.de/winners/intencity. If you look for more information on the solutions for buildings, please check out the EcoStruxure Buildings website.