The CraneView crane sensor system from Versatile, which has already shown promise in improving construction schedules on pilot projects, is now receiving wider recognition from the world of technology.

On June 16, the World Economic Forum named Versatile as one of its 2020 Technology Pioneers, an annual selection of technology start-ups and emerging companies that it thinks show promise. Previous honorees include Facebook, Wikimedia, Google, and other tech giants.

While the WEF has honored companies in the design, environmental and transportation sectors in the past, Versatile is the first Technology Pioneer from the construction technology sector in the 20-year history of the program. 

“We’re excited to welcome Versatile to our 20th cohort of Technology Pioneers,” said Susan Nesbitt, head of the Global Innovators Community at the World Economic Forum. “Versatile and its fellow pioneers are developing cutting edge technologies all over the world. Beyond their innovations, these firms are contributing greatly to improving the state of the world.”

"Being the first construction technology company to be selected as a Tech Pioneer is a great recognition of what our team is working so hard to deliver, and for our industry, as construction technology is finally becoming mainstream,” says Meirav Oren, co-founder and CEO of Versatile.

“Versatile plans to leverage this recognition to keep creating solutions that offer construction pros seamless visibility into the job site operations, so they can do the things they already excel at, even better." Versatile’s CraneView system is a sensor package that hangs below the hook of a construction crane, and is able to visually identify and track all of the loads picked by the crane. This data is then analyzed and presented to users in regular reports, allowing for insights into where time and effort is being wasted during the lift cycles.

In a recent high-rise project in San Diego, Turner Construction was able to shave a month off of its overall construction schedule thanks to the insights gleaned from using CraneView.