The fifteen finalists in this year's PropTech Innovation Award have been revealed by the jury, according to the award's founders, namely Germantech, Union Investment, and Townscape.
Some 209 applications from 33 countries were submitted for the sixth edition of the award, which will hand out prizes during the PropTech Innovation Summit on 27 September at the Holzmarkt campus in Berlin.
During the live pitches, the 15 finalists will present their projects in front of 200 guests and a nine-person jury of experts from real estate and science. Besides the prestigious award, the Germantech PropTech Innovation fund invests up to €100,000 long-term in the top nine companies.
'The great interest in the award also shows us that there is still a need for a platform that connects established real estate players with start-ups. For the challenges regarding sustainability, especially, collaboration is urgently required, and we are happy to be able to make our contribution,' said Maria Gross, Germantech managing director.
This year's theme, 'smart solutions for a sustainable value chain', challenged PropTech companies to present their innovative approaches to sustainable value chains in the building and real estate sectors.
The finalists in the 'smart planning' category are Nornorm, Dabbel, R8 Technologies, Animus and Aedifion. In the 'sustainable (re)construction & building' section, Concular, Made of Air, Madaster, SkenData and GenH have been selected. Meanwhile, the 'responsible use & management' finalists are Lumoview, Asdro, Cathago, reinvent and Propster.
Entries were submitted from countries including Germany, France, Austria, and Spain but also non-European countries such as the US, India, and Israel.
Said Christoph Holzmann, chief operating officer and member of the management board at Union Investment Real Estate: 'We are very curious about the start-ups and their pitches. As a longtime host of the event, we are especially looking forward to returning to meeting the industry and start-ups in person in Berlin, to see familiar faces again and discover new ones.
'Orienting the competition and the summit toward sustainability along the real estate value chain is not just timely but also highly relevant for us as an investor and a trustee.
'In the interest of our investors, we are therefore not only looking forward to finding the best products in the market but also to discovering suitable solutions for our business model as well as new partners from the start-up world with whom to tackle the challenging tasks that are part of a sustainable transformation.'
Philipp Janssen, managing director at Townscape added: 'The application phase was impressive proof of the innovation potential within the global founders’ scene.
'At the same time, the award serves as a trend meter for central questions the proptechs are currently grappling with: this year, we have seen a focus on AI-based models in energy conservation for buildings. However, construction site automation and sustainable handling of building materials are topics the PropTechs are also increasingly working on.'
The organisers’ goal is to promote disruptive technologies in real estate and foster the creation of a strong innovation network.
In addition to Christoph Holzmann (Union Investment), Philipp Janssen (Townscape), and Benjamin Rohé (Germantech), who will represent the competition hosts, this year’s jury will include Stefanie Frensch (ZIA/Becker & Kries Holding), Dr. Stefan Plesser (TU Braunschweig), Dan Gildoni (PlaceSense), Nicole Büttner (Merantix), Tina Paillet (RICS), and Marcus Börner (OptioPay).
