MIPIM 2023: Five Key Takeaways
As the dust settles on my first MIPIM experience, I wanted to take a moment to provide an honest review of my time at the conference. Here are my five key takeaways:
1. Access to innovation is no longer a nice-to-have
Having spent the last two years speaking with several hundred industry decision-makers around built-world innovations and their openness to adoption, it was clear in my discussions with those that attended MIPIM, that a paradigm shift is taking place.
During the Pi Labs-hosted MIPIM Innovation Drinks, conversations with real estate developers, owners and operators moved away from “how does access to technology and innovation make us look better,” to “how does access to technology and innovation make us perform better.”
In Roger’s Innovation Adoption Lifecycle (see below), the industry ‘laggards’ are starting to feel the pinch, especially in a volatile market where strategic differentiation and competitive advantage are the difference between winning or losing deals.
Our forward-thinking LPs, such as Aldar Properties, GPE and Swire Properties, are leading the charge, diving head-first into technology pilots, trials and adoptions, knowing first-hand the value that can be created from challenging the status quo in an industry that has been typically slow to adopt new solutions. Based on several conversations had at MIPIM, those in the industry yet to embrace this technological revolution are realising they can no longer sit idly by. We explored this topic further in our PropTech Deployment and Implementation white paper.
2. The industry is (finally) getting serious about carbon net-zero
In recent years, the application of ESG and sustainability in real estate has been, to put it bluntly, a dangerous and costly path to greenwashing.
With real estate being one of the largest, single industry contributors to greenhouse gas emissions globally (40%), it seemed only right that, for the first year since MIPIM’s inception in 1990, ‘net zero’ had its own booth and platform.
Clemens Brenninkmeijer, Head of Sustainability at Redevco, took part in the Pi Labs’ hosted panel exploring the “Race to innovate smarter, healthier and sustainable cities”. During the panel, he made an interesting point around the increasingly collaborative nature of the industry, citing organisations such as Urban Land Institute (ULI) and their programme C Change as a fantastic forum for discussion viewing it as “pre-competitive” forum for improving industry knowledge and awareness on what ESG solutions already exist, and how they have been deployed effectively.
Industry collaboration for the purpose of achieving the best possible outcomes on ESG-related initiatives and targets is not just prudent, but vital, if the real estate industry is to continue to iterate and improve in this regard.
3. ‘Health is wealth’ and accessibility is paramount as the smart cities of the future begin to emerge
If there’s two insights I took from the various ‘city-themed’ booths at MIPIM, it is that smart cities are the habitats of the future, and the health, well-being and accessibility of its inhabitants are front of mind.
Pi Labs has been channelling industry sentiments like these into our 80+ investment for the last 8 years. Three that come to mind, truly innovating in this space, are:
- Airly — Hyperlocal, real-time air quality data for governments and businesses to monitor air pollution and reduce emissions.
- Untap — Untap is a tool for viral load monitoring, through analysing wastewater in almost real-time. They are one of five companies currently taking part in the Pi Labs Growth Programme.
- Generation Home — Multi-borrower home mortgage products to increase housing accessibility.
Going forward, the real estate platforms that will have staying power are those willing to adapt their operating model to better match the needs and wants of their smart city, urban stakeholders, with the openness and flexibility to adopt technology that fulfils these needs and wants.
4. Actions speak louder than words
Forgive me for saying it how it is, but if there’s one thing the real estate industry loves doing more than deploying technology into their assets or getting to work implementing meaningful operational changes to improve ESG, it’s talking about doing these things. Thankfully, the sentiment I was hearing across several MIPIM panels is that 2023 is a year for putting words into meaningful actions, not putting words into more policies.
This echoed through nicely from Beaumont Bailey’s recent event on Implementing Effective Stewardship just over a month ago, where I thought Georgia Stewart, Founder at tumelo, raised a shrewd point on this topic, stating that:
“Updating reporting so it speaks to people on a ‘human level’ is crucial when getting trustees excited about stewardship. Current reporting is dry and data heavy, with no explanation about the [actionable] outcomes.”
In a world where an unending list of regulations, procedures and guidelines exist to suggest “best practices”, the industry must avoid this becoming a barrier to the adoption of technology. Technology deployments are a learning curve — and those willing to deploy cutting-edge solutions sooner, will benefit from the competitive advantage for longer.
5. Gender Equality
It was hard to ignore the glaring, gender inequality during my time at MIPIM. The growing industry emphasis on addressing the gender pay gap, systemic gender inequality, and fair female representation in senior management roles has brought into sharp focus the white space that real estate still has, and must, run into.
Don’t take my word for it: Clémentine Tanguy from Deepki put together a fantastic summary on “Building gender parity in real estate” earlier this month, which can be read here.
One stat that stuck with me is that, of the 42.5% of women that make up the commercial real estate workforce, ~80% hold positions that are in middle management or lower. I continue to be incredibly impressed by the work that Real Estate Balance are doing to campaign on this particular point (and would encourage reaching out to them if you are not familiar).
At Pi Labs, my colleague Sophie recently shared our latest gender data stats and ongoing DE&I initiatives, and we continue to be incredibly proud of the proactive approach we are taking to ensure the promotion of gender equality across all aspects of our business, despite the fact that the venture industry in general has historically fallen well short of the mark.
Final Thoughts
In summary, MIPIM proved insightful. It provided an opportunity to get a holistic pulse-check on the real estate market and to further deepen our relationships with start-ups, current partners, and prospective partners. Lots to be excited for in the year ahead, and plenty of food for thought. In the meantime, we look forward to seeing our wider network for CREtech London on May 10–11.
Henry sits within the Business Development team at Pi Labs supporting on all fundraising and LP engagement efforts across the platform.
