The deadline is fast approaching for submissions for the second PropTech Innovation Award due to be held in Berlin on 16 May.
Applications from startups with digital business ideas for the real estate sector can be submitted up to 15 March in this year's round of the global technology competition.
Sponsored by German fund manager Union Investment Real Estate and the Berlin- and Frankfurt-based German Tech Entrepreneurship Center (GTEC), the PropTech Innovation Award 2018 carries total prize money of €40,000.
‘The scale and impact of blockchain, digital data rooms and artificial intelligence on the real estate industry were only just starting to make themselves felt a year ago at the first PropTech Innovation Award,’ notes Jörn Stobbe, managing director at Union Investment Real Estate and a member of the jury.
Business disrupters
Stobbe: ‘Few people thought that the new ideas emerging from the digital startup scene would be embraced so quickly, and that a year later they would already be disrupting the processes and business models of established real estate companies. It will be exciting to see what topics are put on the real estate industry’s agenda by the participants in this year’s competition. The potential for digitisation is huge.’
‘The changes we are currently experiencing transcend regional borders,’ adds Maarten Vermeulen, regional managing director for Europe, Russia & CIS at RICS. ‘Like the new generation of company founders, the real estate industry also needs to start thinking internationally when it comes to innovation. The PropTech Innovation Award sets the right benchmark, particularly for RICS and our members,’ he said.
The nine best proptechs from around the world will be invited to pitch their ideas at the final in Berlin, Germany’s startup capital. The winners will be selected live at the event at one of Berlin’s hottest event locations – Säälchen on Holzmarkt square - by a panel of nine expert judges.
Additional support from RICS and Reed Mipim
This year, the PropTech Innovation Award is also being supported by real estate industry association RICS and Reed Midem, organiser of the Mipim property trade show in June.
The jury for the PropTech Innovation Award 2018 comprises experts from a range of disciplines and with a strong international background including Maarten Vermeulen of RICS, Claire Penny of IBM Watson IoT, Maurice Grassau of Architrave, Christian Schulz-Wulkow of EY, Nikolas Samios of PropTech 1 Ventures, Judi Seebus of PropertyEU, Prof. Wolfgang Schäfers of IREBS, Jörn Stobbe of Union Investment and Benjamin Rohé of GTEC.
In its inaugural year, the competition attracted more than 200 entries from 46 countries. Last year’s winner was Green City Solutions, a Berlin-based startup which develops smart solutions for greener and more liveable cities including its award-winning vertical plant filter CityTree. The company won the first prize, as well as the community prize.
For more information and to apply go to http://gtec.berlin/proptech2018/
