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Hungary last week, now Austria! PropTech Vienna Conference organized by Austrian PropTech Initiative (apti) was our today's destination. The event brought together over 300 players of digitization in the real estate industry - decision-makers, start-ups, universities, agents, brokers, and many other professionals.

As proptech.zone we are a media partner of the event and we had the pleasure to participate in the panel about the future of commercial & residential buildings. Patrycja Miklińska and Pablo Van Den Bosch, Director at Madaster, shared their perspectives on what the future will bring to the real estate industry. During the discussion, they highlighted the importance of ESG activities and the value of gathering and analyzing big data which supports the improvement of processes and making better decisions.

It was also great to meet again Zoltan Kalmar, Strategic Proptech Expert, Founder of ProptechZoom.com (Hungary), and the organizer of the PropTech Hungary Conference which we attended last week!

Patrycja Miklińska and BUILDEXT, Velis' partner, attend today's PropTech Hungary Conference organized by ProptechZoom.com (Hungary) in Budapest. Here are a few highlights from the event.

James Dearsley, Co-Founder of Unissu - Trusted PropTech Procurement, claimed that “PropTech is one small part of the wider digital transformation of the property industry. It describes a movement driving a mentality change within real estate industry and its consumers regarding technology-driven innovation in the data assembly, transacting and design of buildings and cities.” He also pointed out 5 key pillars of digital transformation in a new property industry: customers, competition, data, innovation, and values.

In his role as a speaker, Csaba Livják, Founder, CEO, and Leader of digital transformation at BuildEXT, presented a panel on the relations between construction industry 4.0, BIM, and PropTech. According to him, BIM models by themselves do not provide much information, but when connected to different services it can be extremely valuable.

Are you also onsite? You can find Patrycja Miklińska as well as Dr. Agnes Alice Sepp-Fekete, International Relations Director, and Csaba Melovics, Head of Marketing at BuildEXT, near BuildEXT and Singu exhibition stand. See you there!

During this year's conference in Bratislava organized by Property Forum Events & News, apart from the real estate market condition overview, the attention was focused on ESG issues and the impact of the ongoing war in Ukraine on the industry.

Discover some valuable experts’ thoughts from the conference which Krzysztof Gawliczek, who was onsite, shared with us:
- Marcus Cieleback, Chief Urban Economist at PATRIZIA AG, claimed that the war in Ukraine has redefined the process of searching for safe solutions in terms of investments. The war and energy costs increase affects the real estate market. It is expected that investments in alternative real estate (tech, supply-chain, health) will be more important than before. Nevertheless, despite the visible changes in the office space use, the fact that people want to meet onsite shows a lot about how real estate is needed, especially offices. The changes will also accelerate due to the policies of Net Zero Carbon and ESG.
- Vladimír Bolek, Member of Board, IAD Investments, described the logistics real estate market as a key one and a winner, not only in the perspective of COVID-19 (which accelerated certain processes) and the war but also over the decades. There are structural changes within the supply chain - more and more hubs and spaces are needed - the critical infrastructure must be available on site. In the case of office buildings, companies focus nowadays more on taking care of space and tenants. The offices as places to meet and collaborate will not disappear.
- Dejan Mansfeld-Rupnik, Member of the Board at ECE European City Estates, emphasized that young people have different expectations regarding the workplace. The office real estate market has to be more active regarding asset management than, for example, the logistics centers market.
- Martin Šmigura, Director at WOOD & Company, believes that e-commerce will not replace shopping centers - they will change but not disappear.
- Angelus Dr. Bernreuther, Head of Investor Relationship Management, Kaufland, pointed out that ESG affects new investments and causes changes to existing buildings. The main environmental goal is to reduce CO2 emissions by 55% by 2030. Production, logistics, and operational processes should be optimized.
- Stanislav Pagáč, Country Head & CFO Slovakia, CTP, highlighted that the inadequate shift towards environmental protection or the unsatisfactory pace of changes in ESG is not caused by a shortage of funds but by legislative barriers.

The excellent choice of speakers and valuable discussions confirm that the Property Forum conferences are invariably a lens through which you can better see and understand the processes within the CEE market.

The 12th edition of the Poland & CEE Retail Summit gathered over 1000 participants who listened to 200 experts performing on 4 stages. You could have met there our team members - Karolina Kowacka and Dariusz Meres.

We had the pleasure to participate in a panel „Identifying Opportunities to Reduce Costs and Increase Efficiency in the Supply Chain”. Dariusz Meres, as a discussion moderator, together with experts: Jarosław Czechowicz, Country Manager, GLP, Mateusz Kapusta, Logistics Director, morele.net, and Jakub Knauer, Logistics Project Manager at Biedronka, talked about the optimization of processes in the supply chain. It was mentioned that a very important aspect is to provide a modern and properly adapted warehouse space. Another element is equipping the space with modern automation that makes work easier. It is also important to remember about work ergonomics and standardization of processes in the company's structures.

During other panels, you could also meet among the panelists the representatives of the top market players such as Jerónimo Martins, Grupa Żywiec S.A., Kaufland, BNP Paribas, or Henkel.

The event was a perfect opportunity to meet people involved in the retail market and discuss not only about chain facilities marketing but also about the practical side of managing them.

MIPIMWorld is live! Meet Patrycja Miklińska and Alan Colquhoun in Cannes, France. One of the hot topics during MIPIM is the ESG strategy - check the insights overview from interesting panels about ESG:
- Abigail Dean, Global Head of Strategic Insights, Nuveen, a TIAA company, mentioned that 40% of global carbon emissions are from real estate but pointed out that embodied carbon (i.e. "built in" during construction) can be the equivalent of up to 50 years' worth of operational carbon emissions.
- Guy Grainger, Global Head of Sustainability Services & ESG, JLL, said the commercial real estate business is often based around historic data, e.g. valuations, but ESG has shifted things to a future looking agenda. However, the priority now must be on the present - living up to the many commitments being made by clearly demonstrating actions taken and demonstrating progress. He added this is particularly important for listed companies and those in the public eye.
- Donato Saponara, Head of West Europe Transaction & Country Head Italy, Allianz Real Estate, said about their large letting to Deloitte in central Milan where Allianz had invested in an existing building to "future proof" it in terms of sustainability and occupant well-being.
- Sara Jane Viereck, CPA, VP, ESG Europe, Prologis, mentioned that in existing properties Prologis is installing LED lighting with substantial energy and cost savings. The company also introduced a program called Park Life to reach out to tenants, truck drivers, employees, and other stakeholders to focus on their well-being and other aspects.

All the panelists agreed that investors/landlords must cooperate and collaborate with tenants. Abigail Dean mentioned that difficulties sometimes arise because of the different measurement and reporting frameworks with the landlords’ and tenants’ businesses perhaps using different benchmarks.

On the other panel “ESG challenges and opportunities in the real estate sector” speakers shared some other valuable thoughts:
- Luis Martin Guirado, Corporate Director of Business Development of GESVALT, mentioned that ESG is a trending topic because of climate changes, and the change of way of consuming, investing, and now the 3 important aspects of investments are risk, profitability, and ESG compliance. In 2025, 5 trillion USD will be invested only in projects fully compliant with ESG. He claimed that if you have a project that is not fully ESG compliant, you risk being out of the market.
- Gastón Gaitán, CEO of theleisureway highlighted the importance of mixed-use projects. Nowadays the consumers and their decisions are different and what brings sustainability is connecting the place, the people, and the emotions. They are the key factors to create a life around the place and not just buildings - projects will die if we do not take it into the consideration.

What do you think about the current retail market reality - do people still want to back to physical shopping or not?

Meet Patrycja Miklińska at MAPIC Cannes by MAPIC World in France! The international retail property market on-site event is taking place from 30 November to 2 December. MAPIC gathers thousands of retail, food, property as well as leisure leaders from dozens of countries to discuss together the retail market reality.

Getting back to our question, Wilhelm Hubner from HERMIONE People & Brands | HPB claimed that in France people want to get back to physical shopping and human relationships with staff as well as clients are very important. It is crucial to remember nowadays also about sustainable consumption, using data to create value, having integrated software, making the cities more dynamic, and being open for new brands as well as new partners. He also highlighted that there is no choice - continuing the digital and environmental transformation is a must and its three main dimensions challenging for managers are physical, digital, and human.

Michel Ohayon from Financiere Immobiliere Bordelaise who first appeared at MAPIC in 1995, mentioned a.o. about adapting to the situation during the crises and brands synergies. It is crucial to listen to customers’ needs and keep retailers in on-site shops, especially for real estate owners who rent space to them.