The Urban Land Institute (ULI) has announced that Net Zero Build, a company innovating AI-powered solution for sustainable building certifications, has been named the Nordics winner of the PropTech Innovation Challenge (PIC).

ULI PIC Nordics winners Net Zero Build L-R Kristijan Jordanov and Ludvig Klasman

Now in its second year, PIC is a ULI Europe Young Leaders-led initiative designed to foster innovation in the built environment. This year’s competition called for game changing, tangible and scalable solutions that meet the challenge of how to substantially reduce carbon emissions in the built environment, including a focus on the indirect Scope 3 emissions that occur throughout the value chain. The challenge reflects ULI’s mission priorities, including the urgent decarbonisation priorities of ULI C Change.

The Nordics regional final brought together four diverse businesses, including Climify, FaçadeGenius, Net Zero Build and Terion to pitch their solutions to the ULI Nordics PIC Jury, with Net Zero Build subsequently declared the winner.

Net Zero Build offers an AI-driven platform designed to streamline and automate the sustainable building certification process. The solution empowers real estate companies to achieve higher sustainability levels in their assets, effectively reducing Scope 3 emissions and advancing the industry’s sustainability goals by addressing multiple aspects of building design, construction, and operation.

The platform simplifies and streamlines the adoption of environmental building certifications, making them more accessible and cost-effective for the real estate industry, and enabling project teams to implement sustainable practices more easily. Certifications can help minimize emissions across the entire building lifecycle, from initial design to long-term operation, empowering the industry to progress towards a net-zero emissions future.

Kristijan Jordanov, founder, Net Zero Build, comments, “We’re honoured to win the 2024 Nordics Proptech Innovation Challenge. We want to thank the organizers at ULI Denmark and the esteemed jury for recognizing our commitment to accelerate sustainability in the build environment. This recognition fuels our mission to drive impactful change in the real estate industry, and we are excited to continue our journey toward the ULI European final.”

Karoline Garder, DEAS, and PIC Nordics Champion (coordinator), comments, “With PIC we aim to drive innovation across the industry by connecting industry leaders with the strongest innovators, to pave the way for a more sustainable and efficient built environment.”

The PIC leads are Thibault Weston-Smith, co-founder, Crayon Partners; Susse Schaumann, investment analyst, NREP; and Simon Abboud, programme director, Hines Europe.

Simon Abboud comments, “Technology and innovation is already an essential force for change in finding creative and ingenious ways to address some of real estate’s most significant and urgent challenges, and this competition demonstrates the sheer dynamism and entrepreneurial muscle in play in this sector. Congratulations to Net Zero Build for their deserved win, and to all our competitors, and thank you to our Nordics PIC Jury.”

The Nordics PIC Jury includes Nadim Stub, Group Vice President, Head of Digital Innovation, DEAS Group; Klaus Vesama, Head of Digital Innovations, Rakli; Magnus Svantegård, Partner, Stronghold Invest; Sanna Puhakainen, Managing Director of DEAS Asset Management Finland; Erik Ihse, Project Development Manager, Klövern; Caroline Somers, Acquisitions & Development, Hines Nordics; Ella Eskelinen, Investment Analyst, MAKI VC; Dan Leonhardt, Sustainability Manager, Urban Partners; and Jesper Bork, Partner, 3XN/GXN.

The PIC competition is structured in two phases, beginning with seven in-country/region competitions hosted in Germany, Nordics, Iberia, France, Poland, Switzerland, and the UK and Ireland. All regional PIC winners are then eligible to enter the pan-European stage of the competition, which will comprise a public vote on all the national winners, followed by a grand European Final and subsequent winner announcement at the C Change Summit in October.

In addition to unrivalled industry exposure through the ULI international network, all finalists will benefit from a one-year ULI membership including full access to the Knowledge Finder research platform, and opportunities to join the ULI National and European Product Council events.

Please visit: https://europe.uli.org/young-leaders-proptech-innovation-challenge-pic/.

Ends

For more information, email [email protected]

Notes to Editors:

• The Urban Land Institute is a non-profit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the institute has over 48,000 members worldwide representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.

• ULI Europe has almost 5,500 members across 15 National Council country networks. Visit https://europe.uli.org

• In the Nordics, ULI has National Councils in Denmark and Sweden.