Collaborating for change

Since 2004, I have been active in the field of innovation in the real estate sector. In 2015, I was hired as a sparring partner by an international property management organisation. They asked me to look into how they could operate 10 times faster, cheaper and better (moonshot thinking – more on that below). During my research, I came across the term 'proptech', which is about the merging of the real estate and technology sectors. This digital transformation goes beyond solutions from start-ups and scale-ups. The entire ecosystem is involved, including other sectors, because digital technology knows no silos or national borders.

From the exponential growth of proptech (since early 2016), I struggled with the 'technology push' approach. I was and am convinced that real estate and technology contribute to higher goals, which is what led me to connect proptech to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to launch PropTech for Good in 2020, on 22 April – Earth Day. Already, 36 national proptech networks/ regions have joined forces, including South Africa PropTech. The next step is to join forces with other stakeholders, such as companies, government and education. The first companies have already joined as partners and the number of requests to give presentations and share insights is growing by the day. So there is a lot to do in terms of education and unlocking human potential.

When we look at creating a vision for the future, we have to look at our current situation. Our post-industrial economics-centric system is not sustainable. And the real estate environment has a big impact on the future. At the moment, the real estate industry has a negative impact. We’re using 41%, of all energy, producing 30% of the greenhouse gases, consuming 40% of all raw materials, and creating 39% of the CO₂ emissions. If we want to create a responsible, resilient and regenerative future, we have to rethink and reimagine how we finance, construct, design and operate our built world within planetary borders.

COVID-19 has accelerated our consciousness and awareness about the power and the possibilities the digital world can bring us. But we have to remember that while we should think digital first, we shouldn’t think digital only. Not everybody has access to digital tools. We need to work to create access and to educate so that we can unlock the digital world for everyone. We should also consider solutions that may be ‘low-tech’, and to look at the technology that nature offers. I believe that instead of starting with real estate assets and looking at ‘what we have’, we should think about what we want to achieve, and how technology can help us. And to expand what we mean by ‘assets’ to include people and nature.

We live in a world where digital is here to stay. We are online 24/7/365 and arrange more and more things via the digital highway. But if we strive for an inclusive organisation and society, we must remain attentive to those who do not have access to digital technology or who are (still) less skilled. We cannot simply assume that everyone has access to all digital technology and arranges everything online. It is important that we facilitate digital technology and provide good educational opportunities. In addition, meeting people in person remains very important. Recently, a COO of a real estate investor told me that thanks to the digitalisation and automation of their processes, they now have more time for human contact.

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When it comes to climate actions, we all need to be working on managing greenhouse gas emissions, but that has impacts on renewable energy, green buildings, and embodied carbon (the complete carbon footprint of a material, taking into account the whole supply chain). And then we need to think about creating a safe and healthy environment, which means addressing (especially air and water) pollution.

Another global topic – related to ESG investing – is affordable housing, which is a big challenge. Can people buy a house; do they have access to a house; do they have access to materials so they can build their own house; can they access a 3D printer to print their houses? And what about education – we need to educate society so people know what's going on, otherwise we end up with an exclusive society, not an inclusive one. We need to promote curiosity and an entrepreneurial mindset, and help people to see their own possibilities and how they can progress so that they can also make their house a home.

In terms of emerging technologies, I’m excited by digital twin (a technology where a virtual representation acts as a real-time digital match for a physical object or process), the Internet of Nature (or IoN – a framework for deploying emerging technologies to protect and develop urban green spaces), metaverse, and regenerative design.

I also love the idea of ‘moonshots’. There’s a great book, called Mission Economy by Mariana Mazzucato, which uses this term. It dates back to the Apollo moon missions and basically means an exciting, groundbreaking project that’s not guaranteed to deliver results or profit. We need to create collaborations between all stakeholders to pursue these moonshot projects for planet earth. Those stakeholders are the public sector, the private sector, the education sector or academia, the citizens (the people who live on planet earth), and, last but not least, planet earth or nature itself. I prefer to call the moonshots we need now 'earth-shots'.

To find out more about how proptech can help create a sustainable future, download the free e-book from PropTech for Good: Towards a sustainable future – Global Challenges. Local Solutions.