Property technology, or PropTech, is very much in the hands of the established companies of real estate and construction. They excel in design, construction and property development – they govern projects and customer relationships.
The industry constantly improve productivity and drives for sustainability and quality of life with technologies advancing at increasing pace. But could the biggest impact for change be found outside the box, from the fields, teams and innovations that we, inside the box, are not yet aware of?
We at A-Insinöörit believe that it could. We are, for example, proud to have made our first venture investment in Airforsite, a young technology company, that develops situational awareness and management system for construction sites. It enables sites to increase productivity and reduce waste, among other, in a very practical and concrete way.
According to the UN:n Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), if we want to limit global warming to the critical 1.5 degrees, the global CO2 budget is 570 Gt. However, the estimated CO2 emissions of only four construction materials (namely concrete, aluminum, plastic and steel) exceeds 920 Gt. And, besides these building materials, there is also food production, heating, traffic, holidays, fun… You name it.
Much is in our hands. The game changing innovation can be related to materials science, but it can also be a business model or a novel application of an existing technology. A lot is happening behind the scenes of the traditional industry. For instance, when we at A-Insinöörit, together with KIRAHub, scanned the startups at Maria 01, we discovered that every third of them develops solutions for the built environment. We need fresh insights and we need startups – we also need seasoned experts and robust organisations that are interested in both.
>>> Watch Boost for startups – Mechanisms of sustainable growth in AEC, 31st August 2021 14-15:30 // Event Stream
A-Insinöörit challenges everyone in the industry to get acquainted with the Maria 01 startups, and others – to be interested in the newcomers, to boost their visions and to gain benefit or influences.
In our startup programme we are not looking namely “PropTech startups”. We just expect something than contribute to a better built environment and sustainable cities. We have open minds.
When I came to the industry odd 30 years ago the business was stable, changes happened slowly, and startups were called enterprises. Those days are history.
For startups, contact us and join the BOOST crew! For the others in the box, let’s join forces!
JAAKKO JAUHIAINEN, Chief technology officer, A-Insinöörit
Would you be interested to activete the KIRA-ecosystem to boost sustainable digitalisation of the built environment with KIRAHub? Contact sami@kirahub.org and become an active forerunner in our industry!