Proptech Next Conference 2021 – A Recap

In December last year, Founder and CEO of PiPr, Rich Evans, journeyed to Sydney to attend the Proptech NEXT Summit. The event took place across two days and featured over 60 local and international speakers that represented top tier companies from across the real estate and property ecosystem. Below is a recap of Rich’s thoughts on the two-day event.

“Any conference I have been at in the last 15 years has been something I was speaking at or organising, so to be there in the audience and bringing a student mindset was a little out of my comfort zone. 

Not really knowing what to expect of the conference as there was a diverse array of speakers, I was interested from the opening keynote and realised it had been a very worthwhile effort to make time for this conference even though I was in for a very busy week.

Proptech is a vast subject matter and covers everything from systems like ours at PIPR that help to digitise the workflow and processes of the sales side of the industry to AI based systems that control buildings to help move the world to a sustainable future. Being a student of technology I sat in on a number of sessions that whilst not directly related to my business, none the less got my mind ticking with the way technology can shape this industry.

The opening address of Stephen MacDonald from the Proptech Connection was one of the standouts for me, as was the VC Panel on the afternoon of the first day. Both these sessions were eyeopening at just how much interest there is in exactly the type of product we are building, and even more so for what we have coming in 2022.

One of the most amazing facts that I discovered however that I had only anecdotal evidence of previously, was that the real estate industry are very slow to adopt technology, and are amongst the lowest spenders of any industry, spending on average 0.5% of their revenue on their technology advancement rather than a more widely. Accepted average of 3-5% in other industries.

 

Some may see this as a big wall to climb over, I see it as a massive opportunity, as there is clearly a lot of growth in the market just from the industry catching up let alone growing in the coming decade.

It was great to meet some of my industry colleagues and also to catch up with David Shein who’s company I worked for very briefly in 1999/2000. There were certainly some dynamic individuals in attendance and it filled me with confidence that the knowledge in the room proved that Australia is in a very innovative climate within the Proptech industry, and there are a number of local Proptechs ready to take the world by storm.”