BENGALURU: A Japanese construction technology firm and an Indian Institute of Science-backed data platform have joined forces in an effort to unlock one of urban planning’s most persistent blind spots: the vast amounts of construction data that goes dark as soon as a building project kicks off.Tottori-based expert in open-standard built environment data OneStructure Inc. and DataKaveri Systems, the commercial arm of IISc Bengaluru’s Center for Data for Public Good (CDPG), signed an MoU to integrate construction data in Indian and Japanese cities into AI-ready urban data exchanges.The signing took place on the sidelines of the inaugural Japan-India AI Strategic Dialogue – a bilateral initiative to advance cooperation in AI and data infrastructure.Under the agreement, both organizations will work to connect OneConstruction’s OpenBIM platform – built around IFC, the internationally recognized open data standard for construction information – with DataKaveri’s Intelligent Universal Data Exchange (IUDX), a platform already in place covering urban mobility, utilities, environment and public services across 55 smart cities in India.The ambition is to have construction data such as floor plans, utility layouts and asset histories flow securely into city-scale AI applications and digital twins, rather than being lost or locked within individual project silos after construction is finished.Lucas Haywood, vice president of global strategy at Oneconstruction, said the collaboration points to a future where standardized building data can be useful “in the context of everything that describes a city.” Ashok Krishnan, vice president of commercial business and revenue at CDPG and DataKaveri, described the construction industry as sitting on a “gold mine of data” that rarely goes beyond the boundaries of individual projects.The two companies said they will jointly explore AI use-cases based on joint construction and urban datasets and pursue bilateral funding opportunities. Both said they hope this model can be replicated internationally.