Connect, the festival celebrating innovation in the built environment, launched last month. Since then, over 800 speakers have applied to speak in 30 cities. And while initial selections enabled a 50/50 gender balance to be achieved from 21% female applicants, the data also showed significant under-representation in certain areas of innovation. In particular, male applicants dominated topics exploring technology in property and facilities management, totaling 89%. 

The Unissu team and their global partners, which include JLL, Nuveen, Lendlease and Verizon, are passionate about supporting equality in the future of the built environment. 

As a result Unissu is actively encouraging women who are passionate about artificial intelligence to apply to take part in this festival of digital and physical opportunities.

Speaking opportunities for early October are available in 30 cities including London, New York, Lagos, Hong Kong, Sydney, Buenos Aires and many more. Full speaker training and a professional studio are provided for free to ensure that speakers are as well prepared as possible.

If you have unique insights that you would like to share with a global audience of smart city bodies, local governments, and key change makers at the heart of innovation in real estate, then please register your interest to speak. You can find out more and apply at www.globalproptech.com.

Jordan Kostelac, Director of PropTech at JLL Asia, said, “Innovation is all about applying unconventional means to solve challenges. Unissu is exploring new ways to reach PropTech collaborators all around the world and we are pleased to support the initiative. At the same time, we cannot wait to share some of our own innovative approaches through Connect and give the world a peek at what the next decade holds for the property industry.”

Unissu, Co Founder, James Dearsley commented,  “Right from the very start, Unissu and the Connect initiative, have been laser focussed on giving everyone, around the world, an equal right to share ideas.It is the ideal stage for anyone, not just the C-suite or professional speakers, to showcase their knowledge and passion for the sector. We have built Connect to enable anyone, anywhere to help educate others, through a mixture of physical and digital opportunities and we are passionate about having a fair gender representation. Promoting female role models for others, all over the world, to learn from and connect up with is at the forefront of all that we are doing.”