Civil engineering within European context

Europe owns the highest knowledge and intellectual power even globally, and this can still be improved with development of highest education of civil engineers in the theoretical and engineering sciences. However this knowledge currently does not have effective use because of lack of demanding goals of the firms. Basic reason for this is a weak international competition. Civil Engineering must be developed onto a new level applying modern technology and knowledge into R&D of materials, strutures, manufacturing and construction processes, asset management: health monitoring of assets etc., and this all supported with modern ICT, automation, expert systems, virtual reality, fuzzy systems, neural networks etc. Change of the current fragmented and sequential building and management process into an integrated lifetime orieted design-construct-asset process in added value networks of firms and other stakeholders, combined with new goals and requirements (e. g. a radical reduction of energy use and thus of pollution effect of buildings) The targets and requirements of the European societies for construction sector must be updated for the next decade (2010-2020), because of the global development, the implementation of new member states, and because of internal changes of the societies and economy. During this transition period the situation in new and old member states will differ from each others. The differences at the R&D needs between Old and New Member States have to affect the content andd structure of 7th Program of EU. The change in demography (increase of old people and decrease of the people of working age), together with the need for global competitiveness, will require radical development of the productivity of construction and maintenace. Management, maintenance, repair, rehabilitation and modernisation of infrastructure will be the main target both in old and new member states of EU.