Proptech vision and innovation commemorated on Day 2 of 2019 PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit

Accolades for the tech companies changing the face of property mark the second day of acclaimed conference

BANGKOK 22 November 2019 — Tech savants and real estate professionals converged once more for the second and final day of the 2019 PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit on Friday (22 November) at the prestigious Athenee Hotel, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Bangkok in Thailand.

Day 2 of the acclaimed PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit served as an opportunity to reward the biggest exemplars of tech brilliance in the property sector, through the presentation of the annual PropertyGuru Tech Innovation Award and the inaugural Proptech Visionary of the Year title.

Continuing the theme of “Connected Technology” from Day 1, the second day of the PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit also lined up panel discussions on cybersecurity and fintech, plus an interactive session visualising the next generation of real estate businesses.

Kim Rellinger, head of agency and performance at Google in Thailand opened Day 2 with her Innovation Keynote address focused on the future of digital immersion, in which she talked at length about the blurring of lines between the offline and online worlds.

The first panel discussion of the day centred on prevailing concerns about smart tech, from wearables to smart home appliances. Paul Ashburn, co-managing partner of BDO in Thailand, led a panel that included Jittida Haputpong, vice-president of business development at igloohome – also known as the first winner of the PropertyGuru Tech Innovation Award – and Raj Kumar Gupta, chief technology officer at VOV Group and exclusive partner of tēmi.

The second panel discussion dived into fintech and how it can improve transparency in evolving Asian real estate markets. It also focused on the impact of blockchain and automation on job creation and retention within the property sector. Dr Florian M. Spiegl, Co-Founder & COO, FinFabrik; Henri-Christian Hartloff, Senior Vice President, Business Development, Taiger; and Paul D. Volodarsky, Senior Associate, DFDL Thailand and Vietnam comprised the panellists of the session, with Philippa Allen, CEO of ComplianceAsia, acting as moderator.

The GuruTalk panel session featured a demo of PropertyGuru Lens, FastKey, and Home Loan Pre-Approval, moderated by marketing expert Pacharee Pantoomano, co-founder of BrandNow.Asia. The session involved some of the thinkers behind the region’s leading property technology company: Manav Kamboj, chief technology officer of PropertyGuru Group; Sheldon Fernandez, country manager of PropertyGuru Malaysia, which first launched sales solutions FastKey; and Vivek Kumar, the company’s director of product management.   

The 2019 PropertyGuru Tech Innovation Award, an honour recognising the innovative work of tech firms in the real estate industry that aims to solve a problem, was presented to Sensgreen, a Turkey-based, AI-powered company that regulates indoor environmental conditions in commercial real estates. For its work offering building experience enhancement as a service, Sensgreen took home the PropertyGuru Tech Innovation Award, beating two other finalists: tech-enabled real estate brokerage and mortgage marketplace Square Yards (India), and real estate blockchain network, Coadjute (UK).

The first ever Proptech Visionary of the Year award was presented to Yossi Wolf, founder and chairman of tēmi, also known as the creator of the world’s first, truly intelligent, mobile, personal robot assistant that can be controlled by voice-activated AI. The machine can be used in residential, commercial, retail, events, hospitality, and healthcare.

Other prizes were in store for attendees during the event presided by emcee Tina Ryan, giving away the latest gizmos including an Apple Watch, Google Home mini, Amazon Eco Dot, Belkin wireless chargers, DJI Tello drone, and a Philips Hue smart lighting set to lucky attendees.                                   

Day 2 of the 2019 PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit was followed by the 14th PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards Grand Final, held on the evening of 22 November, featuring the Best in Asia winners from 14 key real estate markets from Sri Lanka to China and Australia.

The 2019 PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit was supported by official innovation partners FlySpaces, Foyr, and One To One Displays; official video partner Treacle; official MICE partner Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB); official data partner Unissu; official podcast channel TechBurst Asia; official magazine PropertyGuru Property Report; supporting associations Asia Pacific Real Estate Association (APREA), and Prop-tech.ie, and Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS); and media partners Nikkei Asian Review, TechSauce, Oxford Business Group, BrandNow.Asia, APAC Real Estate, CMO Asia, Robb Report Thailand, CHGToday.com, Mingtiandi, Disrupt.Asia, Asia Proptech, APAC CIO Outlook, Pacific Rim Construction, and The Wall Street Journal.

For more information, email [email protected] or visit the official website: AsiaRealEstateSummit.com/