The Urban Land Institute (ULI) Europe will be hosting the UK final of its PropTech Innovation Challenge (PIC) at PropTech Connect, Europe’s Largest PropTech Event, taking place in London on the 6th and 7th of September.
The new competition launched in Aprill brings together the greatest innovators across the real estate industry and the world of technology and start-ups.
Lisette van Doorn, CEO ULI Europe, Main Stage speaker at PropTech Connect, comments: “We believe that tech and innovation are key to addressing some of our industry’s most pressing challenges. We have called out start-ups across Europe to work with us, educate us and help us bridge the gap between the built environment and tech and innovation.”
The ULI PIC is spearheaded by Thibault Weston Smith, Chair of ULI Europe Young Leaders, and Simon Abboud, Member of the ULI Europe Young Leader Executive Committee.
Thibault Weston Smith, Managing Director at Realty Corporation, says, “Innovation exists in many forms – a product, a technology, a team, a strategy, a service, a process, a business model and even a societal or organisational change – our goal with ULI PIC is to further expose the forward-thinkers and disruptors to real estate industry players and stakeholders. We expect a wide range of highly creative applicants to participate in this first edition and contribute to shape the future of the real estate industry.”
Simon Abboud, Director at Hines, add, “The global real estate market is currently undergoing rapid transformation, driven by demographic shifts, climate change, market pressures and technological advancements. Through fostering collaboration between the property and technology sectors, the ULI competition seeks to unlock new opportunities for growth, sustainability, and innovation. This will be achieved through providing innovators with a new channel to leverage the ULI’s community of practitioners and offer additional opportunities to our members to be educated on the most innovative solutions locally and across the region.”
- The entrepreneurs who participated in the challenge
In its debut year, ULI’s challenge invited entrepreneurs from six regions* across Europe to apply with a proposal that is a novel, but scalable and competitive solution to align with ULI’s mission priorities**
> Decarbonization and Net Zero
> Increasing Housing Attainability and Affordability
> Educating the next Generation of Leaders
- The selection process and awards
Katherine Gunderson, CEO at Grand Bequest, comments: “It is time for radical disruption and what better way to bring fresh, innovative ideas into the sector than to bring start-ups, industry experts, and thought-leaders together to promote and embrace new products and solutions.”
The competition was structured across two phases. Firstly, an in-country stage led by a team of ULI members whereby start-ups were invited to apply and to present in front of a local ULI PIC Selection Committee. Each committee was composed of diverse industry experts from across the built environment, such as architects, developers, asset managers, property managers, investors, urban planners, academics, public servants, attorneys, energy and sustainability experts, brokers, engineers etc.
The UK final will be taking place at PropTech Connect, Europe’s Largest PropTech Event, on the 6th of September. This is where the Jury Members will make their final decision on who are the startups who will move forward to the final stage of the challenge.
In-country winners will participate in a European final and present in front of a ULI Europe PIC Committee. The final winner will be announced at the ULI Europe C Change Summit in Copenhagen on 11 October 2023.
In addition to unrivalled industry exposure through the ULI international network, winners will be awarded a one-year ULI membership providing access to research content, event, webinars, education and mentorship programs, knowledge sharing and connections with a multidisciplinary global network of a real estate and land use professionals.
- Notes from the Selection Committee
We are looking forward to hosting the ULI PropTech Innovation Challenge Selection Committee on the 6th of September, at 15:30.
Hosts:
Katherine Gunderson, CEO at Grand Bequest
Kingma Ma, Managing Director UK at PT1
Juries:
Imogen Thompson, Director – Planning & Development at Deloitte
Ami Kotecha, Co-founder & President at Amro Partners
Sammy Pahal, Managing Director at UKPA
Ben Collins, Executive Director at ULI UK
Roelof Opperman, Founder & CEO at CogNovum
Valentina Shegoyan, Managing Partner at REACH UK
Katherine Gunderson commented: “It is a vital time for us to come together and remove obstacles to collaboration, circular enablement, and create disruptive partnerships between public and private organisations to reach our social, environmental, and economic goals. The ULI PIC event will help highlight how impact and data-driven decision-making will help the built environment rise to the net zero and affordability challenges we currently face.”
“As a UK PropTech Innovation Challenge Champion, along with my partner-in-crime Kingma Ma, I couldn’t be prouder of the calibre of startups selected to represent the UK in the Finals event at PropTech Connect. We have a great chance at winning against the other regional finalists and setting a long-running precedent of innovation, collaboration, and change for the better.”
Valentina Shegoyan, says: “I am delighted to join the Jury Committee of the UK Proptech Innovation Challenge by ULI Europe, and represent the world of VC and Accelerators. Focus on innovation in decarbonisation, housing affordability and education of industry leadership is particularly appealing as those are the areas the industry is in active search for advancement at present. This is also aligned with our mission at REACH UK to connect the industry to the most innovative solutions in areas where there is a true need for transformation. I am looking forward to meeting the finalists!”
Roelof Opperman: “ULI is the oldest, largest and most prestigious global nonprofit real estate research and education platform. It’s an honor to be a member of the Jury Committee of the ULI UK PropTech Innovation Challenge and I’m excited to take part in this initiative. Anyone who is anyone in real estate is a member of ULI, so the winner will get unprecedented exposure and access to the people and organisations that matter.”
Sammy Pahal: “I am delighted to join the Jury Committee of the UK Proptech Innovation Challenge by ULI Europe. As Managing Director of the UK PropTech Association, an industry body set up to drive digital transformation of the UK property industry, it’s encouraging to see property professionals proactively looking for innovative PropTechs that can help them meet the challenges they are facing around decarbonisation of their building stock and developing affordable housing. Technology and innovation is critical in these areas in particular and so I am looking forward to meeting the finalists and continuing to support and promote engagement across the industry through these collaborations.”
* France, Germany, Iberia, the Nordics, Switzerland and the UK.
** All three priorities are underpinned by a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), which recognizes that our communities can be successful and sustainable only if they work for everyone.
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