GCC’s first Proptech Community was officially launched in the UAE. The new initiative brought together Proptech entrepreneurs, mentors and investors to shed light on different Proptech related topics from angel investing to property management and energy optimization. The event hosted three innovative tech companies, who shared their disruptive business models.

The UAE’s first Proptech Community — a virtual platform to facilitate all the industry players — aims to keep its members updated by giving real time information, networking (online and offline) and helping the industry grow, by introducing latest innovation and new business strategies.

Adel El Mawla, Managing Director at Proptech Community, said, “The UAE is known to be a pioneer of change and we are learning from it. The idea to start the UAE-centric realty community stems from growth in Proptech community locally. We sensed a gap that could be filled in by bringing in all the stake holders together.”

The ever growing real estate sector contributed 13.6 per cent to Dubai’s GDP in 2018, according to the Dubai Land Department or (DLD), compared to 6.9 per cent in 2017, while the construction sector’s contribution to the GDP reached 6.4 per cent in 2018 compared to 6.2 per cent in both 2017 and 2016.

The surge in sector figures also indicates growth in adoption of latest technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Big data by organisations. Fadi Nwilati, CEO at Kaizen Asset Management, said: “Adopting a culture of innovation today is an option for many to thrive but also a necessity for most to sustain.”

Over the last 20 Years the UAE has been at the fore front of construction and real estate, often leading the world in the most innovative designs and landmarks globally attracting international capital.

In short term the Proptech community intends to educate the market about the latest Proptech trends and technologies, And in long term to bring in together Proptech entrepreneurs, investors and mentors for business and investment opportunities.

The Proptech community plans to bring in awareness to decision makers (target 100,000 readers) and new members’ subscriptions (target 10 new members). The primary role of the Proptech community is to update the players of potential opportunities/threats before being disrupted. And secondary, connect with thought-leader, with access to investment and business development opportunities.

“We want to launch an accelerator, so we want to attract Proptech enthusiasts to add value or invest in our initiative.  Currently we face no direct competition since only yearly conferences are being held with a different value proposition and monetization strategy,” added Mawla.

Proptech community is the first of a kind initiative in the GCC and it’s highly needed in these growing economies with young demographics and taps into many verticals in the largest sector to yet be disrupted. “This community will be the platform for future Proptech related initiatives that will bring innovation to the real estate and construction industries,” concluded Mawla.