ULI Europe launches the 2024 PropTech Innovation Challenge

ULI Europe has just launched the 2024 PropTech Innovation Challenge, calling for innovative solutions to reduce carbon emissions in the built environment. The pan-European competition is aimed at innovators from across the built environment and the world of technology.

Solutions submitted into the competition must reflect a genuine shift away from business-as-usual practices and be tangible and scalable in a regional context, ULI said. Innovations may be high or low tech and include hardware, software, or business models.

There is a particular focus on solutions to reduce Scope 3 emissions, the indirect but critical emissions that occur throughout the value chain, arising from activities like transport and procurement, and which are often overlooked.

Submissions are welcome from innovators in academia or research, for-profit and not-for-profit organisations operating in European markets, and the challenge is open to ULI members and non-members.

It is the second edition of the PropTech Innovation Challenge (PIC), the Young Leaders-led initiative to foster innovation in the built environment, after last year’s successful pilot.

“As we embark on the second edition of the PIC, we’re energised by the opportunity to catalyse transformative solutions that address the pressing need to reduce carbon emissions in the built environment,” said Thibault Weston Smith, PIC lead and co-founder, Crayon Partners. “Innovation takes myriad shapes — from products and technologies to strategies and societal shifts. Our aim with ULI PIC is to spotlight forward-thinkers and disruptors and connect them with industry players and stakeholders.”

The other two PIC leads are Susse Schaumann, investment analyst, NREP, and Simon Abboud, programme director, Hines Europe.  

“Real estate is responsible for a massive 37% of global carbon emissions, and it is paramount that the industry urgently unites in response to this significant challenge, coordinating and collaborating to pursue best practical solutions,” said Lisette van Doorn, CEO, ULI Europe. “Technology and innovation are both key to addressing these critical challenges, and we believe that PIC is an important initiative to build stronger connections between traditional real estate and proptech and encourage more industry-wide innovation.”

The competition is structured in two phases. Entrants will initially compete across seven in-country/region competitions, in Germany, Nordics, Iberia, France, Poland, Switzerland, and the UK and Ireland. In each market, applications will be reviewed and shortlisted finalists will then be invited to present to their national ULI PIC Jury Committee, where a product’s potential impact, innovation, and likelihood of adoption will be considered. Winners will be announced to ULI’s network and the media.

All PIC winners will then be eligible to enter the subsequent pan-European phase of the competition, which will comprise a public vote on all the national winners, followed by a grand European Final in October and subsequent winner announcement at the C Change Summit. All finalists will benefit from a one-year ULI membership.

“This is a fundamental validation in getting our community of practitioners motivated to develop the entrepreneurial muscle and mindset we urgently need to challenge business-as-usual,” said Abboud.