UniSA researchers compared the AECO and Oil & Gas sectors to reveal insights for the improvement of interoperability in the AECO sector across domains, building lifecycles, software systems and the web. The findings and insights indicate that the AECO sector may benefit from principles and initiatives of the Oil & Gas sector, such as event-driven, object-based exchanges and the OIIE specifications. The application of these principles to BIM could benefit the AECO sector, especially in the context of digital twins and smart cities. The findings of the research are submitted to CIB W78 2021 conference. The preprint of the research paper is made available for wider visibility, comments and feedback.