The Urban Land Institute (ULI) Europe has announced two more regional winners in the inaugural PropTech Innovation Challenge (PIC), with ShareP succeeding in the Switzerland competition, and Roofscapes in France.

ULI PIC is a new, Young Leaders-led annual initiative for entrepreneurs from across real estate, technology, and start-ups. The goal is to identify game-changing, scalable, competitive solutions that aim to enhance how we live, work, and play within our urban environment. Solutions must also reflect ULI’s mission priorities: decarbonisation and net zero, increasing housing attainability and affordability, and educating the next generation of leaders, all underpinned by a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

Across six European regions, expert juries have been carefully selecting winning business ideas, all of which will go on to compete in the European finals in October.

Switzerland’s winner ShareP is a platform dedicated to resolving parking challenges and promoting sustainable urban mobility through cutting-edge technology. It optimises parking for businesses, residential buildings, sports arenas, and events, and enables cities to better organise and plan urban parking. Additionally, the company has a focus on big data analytics and optimising electric vehicle charging, looking towards a smarter and more sustainable future.

Livia Boer (Alpha FMC), ULI PIC Switzerland Champion and competition coordinator, said, “ShareP opens up new pools of public parking spaces and thereby revolutionises parking in cities – in such a way that everyone involved benefits.”

Mateusz Wojdyło, CEO of ShareP, comments, “Up to 70 percent of urban traffic in cities is caused by parking problems…. Our solution provides accurate, real-time data that enables better navigation and effective use of space, reducing carbon emissions from cars looking for a parking space… We hope to set a new standard in the industry by making parking management a data-driven service that improves urban life and promotes sustainability.”

Sabine Georgi, Executive Director of ULI in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, said: “Our urban living spaces are facing immense challenges, and we need innovative solutions to be able to make cities livable in the future. PIC has shown that the market not only has great ideas, but that there are also young people who have the courage to implement them. I congratulate all of the finalists, and of course the winner ShareP and Mateusz Wojdyło.”

France’s winner Roofscapes is a start-up initiated by MIT (the Department of Architecture, the Center for Real Estate Development, and the MIT DesignX incubator) and was founded with a mission to adapt unused roof space into accessible green places to mitigate the effects of climate change and provide new outdoor areas in cities.

Sarah Fleury, Partner at law firm Goodwin and sponsor of the ULI France Tech & Real Estate Product Council, comments: “each of the finalists has imagined and registered an innovative project to advance the real estate industry. The winning project offers an interesting solution to protect cities and their inhabitants against global warming.”

Eytan Levi, Co-Founder of Roofscapes, said: “The missions of both Roofscapes and ULI come together around the issue of adapting real estate to climate change and new uses. The Roofscapes team thanks ULI France for its recognition and support during the ULI PropTech Innovation Challenge and looks forward to moving forward together on urban innovation.”

Mélanie Charpentier, Executive Director of ULI France, comments: “This competition, initiated by Thibault Weston Smith and Simon Abboud, is a real success. I would like to thank our young talent who were very involved in this first edition. Rewarding creativity and innovation is a perfect illustration of our mission to promote the next generation.”

The ULI PIC is spearheaded by Thibault Weston Smith, Chair of ULI Europe Young Leaders, and Simon Abboud, Member of the ULI Europe Young Leader Executive Committee.

The first phase of PIC comprises six regional (in-country) competitions, for France, Germany, Iberia, the Nordics, Switzerland, and the UK, with start-ups invited to apply and to present in front of a local ULI PIC Selection Committee composed of diverse industry experts from across the built environment.

The regional winners will then participate in the second phase, a European final in early October, and present in front of a ULI Europe PIC Committee. The overall winner of PIC will then be announced during the ULI Europe C Change Summit in Copenhagen on 11 October 2023.

In addition to unrivalled industry exposure through the ULI international network, winners will be awarded a one- year ULI membership providing access to research content, event, webinars, education and mentorship programs, knowledge sharing and connections with a multidisciplinary global network of a real estate and land use professionals.

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

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Notes to Editors

About the Urban Land Institute (ULI)

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 has over 5,000 members in Europe across 15 National Council country networks.