Seven entrepreneurial EMEA region companies from across the built environment and the world of technology, from CEE, France, Germany, Iberia, the Nordics, the UK & Ireland and Switzerland regions, have been confirmed as the country finalists that will compete in the 2024 PropTech Innovation Challenge (PIC) grand European final.

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.

Solutions submitted into PIC must reflect a genuine shift away from business-as-usual practices and be tangible and scalable in a regional context, including high- or low-tech solutions and hardware, software, or business models.

During the summer, in-country competition finals for Germany, Switzerland, France, the Nordics (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden), Iberia (Portugal, Spain), CEE (Poland & Czech Republic), and the UK and Ireland were held, and seven regional winners were determined by local expert juries.

The competition has now moved into its pan European phase, beginning with voting on all seven finalists. Selected ULI members across participating National Councils will now be offered the opportunity to vote for one best candidate then taken into consideration during the final competition. All European country winners will then pitch to the esteemed jury panel, featuring subject matter experts in technology, housing and sustainability in the hopes of becoming 2024 PIC European winner.

The full list of country finalists selected by members of their respective country juries are:

– CEE: Rebench, a Polish circular technology platform that enables the management, reuse, resale, and purchase of furniture from commercial buildings. It combines an inventory application with a marketplace service, helping companies reduce unnecessary waste, costs, and the carbon footprint of their business interiors. Rebench aims to solve the problem of fit out interiors and office equipment circularity, where currently approximately 94 percent of materials and products are destined for landfill. (Poland)

• France: ISOL’ en Paille, a company which produces and sells local bio-based insulation blocks made from straw for building construction. A collective and circular project, the low-tech solution focuses on the environmental transition of buildings, enabling the use of ecological insulation products without reinventing standards or developing new construction systems. The second stage of the project is to develop an industrial solution to produce the same products for local projects. (France)

• Germany: Voltfang, a company focused on sustainability in real estate and an effective circular economy, which repurposes electric vehicle batteries for large scale stationary storage systems, enabling companies to be self-sufficient in their power supply, with cell level control through dedicated management software. Primarily aimed at industrial and logistics sectors, their approach conserves critical resources, reduces import dependencies and promotes a transparent circular economy in the battery industry. (Germany).

• Iberia (Spain & Portugal): CoCircular, a company focused on 100 percent digitized, circular and traceable waste management for construction companies, developers, real state funds, renewable energy companies, and industrial companies. Concentrating on the prevention of landfill waste, the company reduces costs, delivers much more than 70 percent recovery of waste required by new European Waste Law and provides metrics on positive environmental impact. (Spain).

• Nordics: Net Zero Build, a company offering 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 the building design, construction, and operation. Their platform streamlines the adoption of these certifications, making them more accessible and cost-effective for the real estate industry. (Sweden).

• Switzerland: Optiml, a tech spin-off from ETH Zurich (+5 years research, own models & algorithms) providing an AI-powered SaaS solution that enables asset managers, investors, and their consultancies to decarbonize their existing building stock. The software provides scalable decarbonisation & investment strategies and actionable renovation plans on component level (timed & costed) for building and portfolios (all asset classes), that ensure adherence to net zero goals while meeting business requirements (e.g., returns). (Switzerland).

• UK & Ireland: Symphony Energy, a climate tech innovator offering the industry’s first breakthrough technology proven to achieve Paris Proof 2050 energy efficiency targets. Their scalable and cost-effective solutions are designed to optimise HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) systems in both new and existing buildings. By overcoming the limitations of current best practice, their technology enables advancements in energy efficiency, accelerating the attainment of both EU and national climate targets. (Ireland).

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, “Many congratulations to all seven of our country finalists in this second very successful edition of the PropTech Innovation Challenge. The range and high standard of transformative solutions that were entered into PIC this year are truly inspiring, particularly in terms of their contribution to addressing the reduction of carbon emissions in the built environment which is a significant priority for our industry. My best wishes go to all our competitors as they look forward to the PIC grand European final this Autumn.”

Susse Schaumann adds, ““Enormous thanks go to all our PIC champions in each region and seven in-country juries who have worked tirelessly to deliver each PIC country final during Spring and Summer this year. It’s been an exciting competition this year with great engagement and inspiring finalists. We’re now looking ahead to the feedback from our members during the voting process, followed, of course, by the grand European final as our seven companies pitch their solutions to our expert jury.”

Ariana Maass, Chair of the ULI Europe Young Leaders Group and Originator International Real Estate at Berlin Hyp, concludes: “PIC is an important Young Leaders led initiative as it aims to encourage greater industry wide innovation in response to the significant challenges the build environment faces. My huge appreciation goes to Thibault, Simon and Susse for their hard work in leading PIC so magnificently in its second year, as well as to all our jury members and everyone who has contributed. Finally, I’d like to wish all our finalists the very best as we look forward to the conclusion of this year’s challenge in October.”

The PIC European jury includes Nicolas Bearelle, Executive Chairman, Revive World BV; Marta Cladera de Codina, Managing Director, Head of Portfolio Management Housing and Alternatives, Continental Europe, Nuveen Real Estate; Grigor Hadjiev, Global Head of Innovation & European Sustainability, PIMCO Prime Real Estate; Sharla Halvorson, Head of Sustainability, Ingka Centres; Anne Kavanagh, Chair, ULI Europe, Non-Executive Director & former CEO Telford Homes; Hagen Knaupp, European NZC Implementation Lead, LaSalle Investment Management; Franc Mouwen, EIC Programme Manager for Architecture Engineering Construction, European Innovation Council; Lisette van Doorn, Chief Executive Officer, Urban Land Institute – Europe; and Thibault Weston Smith, Co-Founder, Crayon Partners.

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.

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.

Further details on each of the seven EMEA finalists and their solutions are available to view on the ULI Europe website, with pitch decks and videos to be added soon.

The overall winner will be announced during the C Change Summit in Barcelona on 17 October.

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

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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 around 5,500 members across 15 National Council country networks. Visit https://europe.uli.org

PIC Finalists:

– CoCircular (Iberia): https://cocircular.es/

– ISOL’ en Paille (France): https://www.isolenpaille.com/

– Net Zero Build (Nordics): https://netzerobuild.ai/

– Optiml (Switzerland): https://optiml.com/

– Rebench (CEE): https://www.rebench.io/

– Symphony Energy (UK & Ireland): https://www.symphonyenergy.com/

– Voltfang (Germany): https://voltfang.de/en/