Construction Opportunities for Mobile IT

COMIT is the “Centre of Excellence” for the implementation of Mobile IT in the UK Construction Industry.

COMIT (Construction Opportunities for Mobile IT) began in August 2003 as a two-year research and development project. It was part-funded by the UK's Department for Trade and Industry (DTI) which has now been replaced by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS).  The project was the idea of Sarah Bowden who at the time was an Engineering Doctorate student at Loughborough University. Sarah was being sponsored by Arup and they initially led the project along with BSRIA and Loughborough University.  In 2003 PC's were ubiquitous but the forerunners to 'smartphones' were only just emerging. Devices such as PDA's (personal digital assistants) were increasingly being used in industry but not, as yet, in construction. The COMIT project hoped to help change that.  The aim of the project was to bring together technology and construction companies so that they could learn from each other and develop better ways of using mobile IT in construction. This was done by carrying out trials and case studies.