German fund manager Union Investment Real Estate and the Berlin- and Frankfurt-based German Tech Entrepreneurship Center (GTEC) said on Tuesday that they have received 130 applications from 28 nations for the 2nd international PropTech Innovation Award.
The competition focuses on four areas where digitisation will likely have its strongest future impact on the real estate industry: property and asset management services, market places for letting and transaction, smart and big data and – last but not least - smart buildings, IoT and smart metering.
Next to Germany, France and the UK, the competition received an especially high response from the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland and the US.
From the pool of 130 applications, Union Investment and GTEC will now select the 10 most compelling concepts for the final round. The finalists will pitch their ideas on 16 May, 2018 in Berlin in front of a nine-headed international jury and a live audience.
Around 300 guests from the startup scene and the real estate sector are expected to attend the showdown and networking event, which will be held at Säälchen on Holzmarkt square.
The PropTech Innovation Award 2018 carries a total monetary prize of €40,000. On top of that, the winner will get a wild card for one of the three preliminary rounds of the MIPM Startup competition, to be held in Paris, New York and Singapore.
The jury comprises 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, Wolfgang Schäfers of IREBS, Jörn Stobbe of Union Investment and Benjamin Rohé of GTEC.
