From smart thermostats to occupancy-sensing lighting, today’s smart building technologies are dialling up comfort and automation while dialling down energy costs. Behind the scenes, advanced sensors, controllers, and automation systems are reshaping how spaces respond to us and how we, in turn, respond to them.
Whether at home, in the office, a hotel, or a high-tech hospital, the goal is the same: intuitive environments that adapt, learn, and optimise themselves to meet human needs. And that’s where these smart building technologies come in.
The smart building revolution: Elevating comfort with cutting‑edge technologies
In today's modern buildings, comfort, air quality, lighting, and energy use are finely tuned by tech that thinks, senses, and adapts to ensure ideal indoor conditions at all times. The result is enhanced well-being, reduced energy bills, and greater flexibility for occupants, landlords, and facility managers alike.
Let’s explore the top smart building technologies and the innovative companies designing them that are redefining the way we live and work inside buildings.
The top smart building technologies (and who’s leading the charge)
1. Smart thermostats
Smart thermostats are the cornerstone of occupant-centric climate control. They learn individual preferences, adapt to occupancy patterns, and save energy without sacrificing comfort.
Ecobee offers AI-powered smart thermostats with occupancy and room sensors for personalised temperature control, air quality monitoring, and built-in smoke alarm detection.
Across the pond, German company Tado° provides sleek, data-driven climate control systems with geofencing and smart scheduling for European smart homes and offices.
Tado° | Wireless smart thermostat
2. Variable Air Volume (VAV) controllers
VAV controllers dynamically adjust airflow based on room conditions and usage, maintaining comfort while optimising HVAC energy use.
Johnson Controls delivers advanced VAV Modular Assemblies (VMAs) with precise airflow regulation and various sensor options for measuring zone temperature, duct temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide levels.
Automated Logic’s OptiFlex integrator supports BACnet/IP communication protocol and delivers responsive comfort through zone-specific control.
Johnson Controls | METASYS Variable Air Volume Modular Assemblies controller
Automated Logic | OptiFlex BACnet Integrator
3. Air quality sensors (CO₂)
Air quality is non-negotiable when it comes to occupant health, wellness, and comfort. Smart sensors monitor CO₂, temperature, VOCs, and humidity to optimise ventilation and keep room inhabitants breathing easily.
Airveda offers high-accuracy IoT and AI-powered IAQ monitors to monitor CO₂ levels, drive green certifications (LEED, WELL), and feed BMS for automated HVA, as well as lighting adjustment.
The Cisco Meraki MT‑15 delivers comprehensive CO₂ and air quality sensing with real-time dashboards and alerting. Similarly, 75F uses its IoT controls and sensors to improve indoor air quality and comfort in commercial buildings proactively.
Airveda | Indoor Air Quality monitors
Cisco | MT15 tamper-resistant indoor air quality and CO2 sensor
4. Temperature and humidity sensors
Occupants feel the difference when the temperature and humidity are just right. Smart temperature and humidity sensors feed vital multi-parameter data to climate control and smart HVAC automation systems, achieving optimal comfort, energy savings, and predictive maintenance.
Sauter AG, the Swiss automation brand, delivers sleek, scalable sensors and building control solutions designed to optimise comfort for building dwellers without the need for manual human intervention, like its viaSens Smart Sensor range.
5. Heat pumps
Heat pumps offer year-round temperature control, drawing energy from the environment to heat or cool spaces more efficiently in winter or summer, creating a more natural and comfortable living or working space.
Daikin is a leader in inverter-based HVAC and heat pump tech, offering scalable and sustainable systems for all building types.
Similarly, Stiebel Eltron is known for sustainable, high-performance heat pumps for green buildings.
Daikin | Perfera wall air-to-air heat pump set
Stiebel Eltron | HPA-O 8 CS Plus int heat pump
3. Smart LED lighting systems
This smart building technology blends occupancy, daylight, and scene control. Beyond brightness, smart lighting tunes colour temperature, schedules illumination, and responds to occupancy, boosting mood and productivity.
Leaders like Siemens Building Technologies have extended their suite to lighting and blinds control within overarching BMS platforms, creating seamless, adaptive environments.
Signify, which licenses Philips Hue, combines aesthetics and automation with colour-adjustable, app-connected smart lighting. For commercial applications, Lutron delivers enterprise-grade solutions like Quantum for human-centric lighting design.
Philips Hue | Smart lighting kit
Lutron | Quantum Vue building management dashboard
7. Motion and occupancy sensors
Who’s in the room? These sensors detect presence and feed that information to lighting, HVAC, and security systems, saving energy while enhancing comfort through climate and security control.
Logitec’s Spot uses radar to detect micro-movements, CO₂, and noise for nuanced occupancy sensing, while Philips Hue’s use of Sensify wireless network sensing technology embeds motion-sensing into lightbulbs, enabling lighting without extra hardware.
Logitech | Spot presence and environmental sensor
8. Wireless lighting control touch panels and keypads
Wireless control provides flexibility, and reprogramming a space’s lighting layout is now as easy as tapping a screen or keypad. Furthermore, touch panels and wireless control interfaces are increasingly embedded within BMS-friendly environments, enhancing energy performance.
Legrand’s Wattstopper lighting controls offer wireless lighting control systems for efficient, occupant-focused lighting management that streamlines installation and prioritises sustainability throughout a building’s lifecycle.
For existing buildings, Enlighted delivers scalable wireless networks of lighting and sensor controls ideal for both retrofits and new builds, optimising lighting, HVAC, and energy usage.
Legrand | Wattstopper i3 building management platform
How an EMS partner like ESCATEC can support smart building technologies
At ESCATEC, we specialise in precision electronics manufacturing for smart, connected, and comfort-enhancing technologies, such as the ones featured above.
With global design and manufacturing facilities and deep domain expertise, we help OEMs innovating smart building technologies accelerate development, streamline production, and scale efficiently while ensuring unmatched quality and compliance.
Here’s how we support comfort-tech innovators:
➡️ Our rapid prototyping and DfX support shorten time-to-market with fast, fault-tolerant designs.
➡️ Sensor integration and calibration expertise: Leverage our precision sensor assembly capabilities for reliable, accurate performance.
➡️ With a global presence across key strategic markets, our scalable manufacturing capabilities support everything from low-volume pilot builds to full-scale global rollouts.
➡️ Our strict quality assurance and traceability processes are trusted by OEMs in healthcare, industrial and building automation sectors.
Conclusion
As we move toward a future where buildings are not only smart but sensitive to our needs, occupant comfort will be the key differentiator. The technologies spotlighted here don’t just make buildings more efficient but more liveable.
Whether you’re building the next-gen smart thermostat or a game-changing CO₂ monitor, you need a behind-the-scenes partner in comfort innovation to help you cultivate the potential of these smart building technologies and bring comfort-first innovation to life.
Get our introductory guide to outsourcing for some practical guidance and advice for working with an EMS provider, or contact us now to learn more about how we can help you.
