PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit: The Ultimate Real Estate Conference Highlights Future Data and Innovations Transforming the Real Estate Industry
• PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit 2021, Year 7, reveals insights to promote future real estate innovations and technologies, including sustainability, eco-friendly buildings, smart technologies, and smart cities, available online from today until January 8, 2022.
• This premier conference brings together thought leaders and top real estate technologies from around the world, including representatives from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank, The Economist Corporate Intelligence Unit, Milken Institute, Singapore Bank, and the original voice of Siri.
• uHoo, a startup from Singapore and the Philippines, won the PropertyGuru Tech Innovation Award for its intelligent indoor climate monitoring solution.

PropertyGuru Group, a leading real estate technology company in Southeast Asia, hosted the PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit 2021 online under the theme “Transforming Data.” The event was streamed live on AsiaRealEstateSummit.com, featuring a live discussion led by host Kelly B. Jones, showcasing two exhibition halls and 30 participating booths. This summit was supported by platinum sponsors Port City Colombo and IHI, the official innovation partner.

Hari V. Krishnan, Managing Director and CEO of PropertyGuru Group, shared during the ‘GuruTalk’ segment, “We have the opportunity to transform our operations from within by leveraging existing insights to support our work, ensuring informed decisions in construction, design, demand-supply matching, and property management. These insights can strengthen the real estate sector across all areas.”

This year, Stephen Oehme, Managing Director of Quantum Thailand Ltd. and former board member of the Burj Khalifa Dubai, returned as the conference chair, advocating for the use of scientific data to achieve holistic sustainability goals. He stated, “Sustainability is a key focus that everyone desires to achieve as a legacy for future generations. We must advance further and achieve stable and sustainable outcomes, which everyone can accomplish through collaboration.”

This year’s conference featured over 30 leaders in real estate and technology, including sustainability and climate experts, innovators, and visionaries from around the globe. Half of the expert panel comprised women and LGBTQ+ members, reinforcing the commitment to supporting diverse voices.

The conference covered all groups within the technology and real estate sectors, with highlights focusing on sustainability, eco-friendly buildings, environmentally friendly finance, smart technologies, and smart cities, emphasizing the importance of scientific data to support industry insights.

PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit 2021 addressed various topics and fields, segmented into data landscape, data accessibility, sustainable development, and data innovation:

Data Landscape
The speaker for the “Data Landscape” segment was Dr. William Thomas, Director of The Economist Intelligence Corporate Network for Southeast Asia. The segment ‘Becoming the voice of A.I.’ featured Susan Bennett, the original voice of Siri, while Curtis S. Chin, former U.S. Ambassador and Senior Asia Fellow at the Milken Institute, discussed sustainable urban living with Mallika Gadepalli, Director of Strategy at PropertyGuru Group.

Accessible Data
Ommid Saberi, Senior Industry Specialist in eco-friendly buildings from the IFC, led the “Accessible Data” segment, while Tina Ryan, a radio host, presented alongside Nick Myers, founder and CEO of RedFox AI, discussing ethical business startups. Other engaging segments included smart parking presentations by Masaya Fujisawa, Assistant Director at IHI Asia Pacific, and discussions with Denis Branthonne, founder and CEO of Novade, on enhancing project quality and reputation digitally.

Sustainable Development
The “Women who lead and build” discussion featured Kotchakorn Voraakhom from Thailand and Jean Jacquelyn de Castro, CEO of ESCA Incorporated. Yamuna Jayaratne from Port City Colombo presented “Smart City in Action,” while Yasmin Rasyid, Director of Sustainability at Lendlease, shared a case study on the latest financial district in Kuala Lumpur. The ‘Leaders Panel’ included Stephen Oehme, Prof. Jason Pomeroy, Ken Ip, Stuart Mendel, and Dr. Varodom Khampechchai.

Data Innovation
The final segment on “Data Innovation” opened with a radio talk show on FM 89.3, hosted by DJ Michelle Martin, featuring Rani Kaur, Managing Director of Singapore Bank, discussing ‘Right on the Money.’ Patrick Keane, founder of Enter Projects, spoke on ‘The Age of 3D,’ followed by the presentation of the PropertyGuru Tech Innovation Award and the PropertyGuru Visionary Award for 2021, with messages from Jules Kay, Managing Director of PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards, and Manav Kamboj, Head of Technology at PropertyGuru Group, who returned as the chair of the judging panel of nine global experts for the Tech Innovation Award.

PropertyGuru Tech Innovation Award serves as an excellent benchmark for startups and SMEs with products or innovations that revolutionize real estate technology. This year, uHoo, based in Singapore and Manila, stood out among eight companies in the Asia-Pacific region, with uHoo Aura being a comprehensive climate monitoring solution that includes a coronavirus index, patented and certified by the Singapore Green Building Council in late 2021.

Dustin Onghanseng, co-founder and CEO of uHoo, stated, “Winning the PropertyGuru Tech Innovation Award not only validates our solution but also instills confidence at the local and regional levels for companies in Southeast Asia regarding environmental friendliness and sustainability.”

Those interested in attending the PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit 2021 can register at watch.asiarealestatesummit.com. Videos of all seminars and presentations will be available on-demand until January 8, 2022, at AsiaRealEstateSummit.com.

PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit 2021, held online, is part of the annual celebration ‘PropertyGuru Week,’ showcasing the winners of both regional and national awards from the 16th PropertyGuru Asia Property Awards Grand Final, marking a premier online gala event covering key real estate markets in 14 countries across the Asia-Pacific region. Earlier this year, PropertyGuru launched ARES Digital White Paper Vol.1 on “Proptech and the Responsible Innovator,” available for download at AsiaRealEstateSummit.com, with the next edition set to launch in mid-2022.

The PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit 2021: Virtual Edition is supported by platinum sponsors Port City Colombo and IHI, the official innovation partner; media partners include PropertyGuru; History Channel; PropertyGuru Property Report magazine and podcast; PR partner Infinity Communications; media partners APAC CIO Outlook, Asia PropTech, Nikkei Asia, Oxford Business Group, and The Artificial Podcast by RedFox Ai; sustainable business partners include the Child Development Network Foundation, charity partner Right To Play, and supporting associations include Asia MarTech Society and Green Building Consulting & Engineering.