The key word is hybridisation. Of functions, but also of technologies. To create a new value, thanks to the ability to intercept and respond to needs that cannot be satisfied effectively in any other way. We are talking about so-called Proptech, a new way of managing physical spaces that, by exploiting all the potential offered by digital innovation, is setting the standard in Italy as well as internationally. Hand in hand with the increasingly marked tendency to give way to rentals (even long-term) of real estate at the expense of ownership.

Born in 2014 in the United Kingdom, the term Proptech (which derives from the crasis of the words ‘property’ and ‘technology’) denotes solutions, technologies and tools for process, product, service and market innovation in real estate. The field of action is vast: the possibilities of application range from accompanying the design to the realisation and then the management of a structure. we are dealing with a complex of technologies that aim to facilitate and promote the synergy and integration of real estate and construction services along the entire supply chain, supporting professionals and consultants in planning, design, site management and construction management (project management, cost control, quantitative surveys, etc.) as well as environmental and structural monitoring of the built environment. A growing phenomenon, which is driven above all by the flourishing of start-ups and companies with a high innovation content.

The numbers speak for themselves. In Italy in 2018, there were 43 Proptech initiatives mapped by the Italian PropTech Network, a structure organised within the Politecnico di Milano – ABC Department. Today, from the data of the latest Monitor, there are over 270 with a 33% increase from 2021 to 2022 between professional services, new technologies applied to Real Estate, sharing economy. 48% of these realities were born in the last five years and 70% of them are Millenials, who, however, are entering the market not with naive and unstructured projects, but with solid business plans and development strategies. “The Real Estate supply chain,” explained Professor Andrea Ciaramella of the Milan Polytechnic during the last edition of REbuild, the networking event of the construction industry that took place on 9 and 10 May in Riva del Garda, “was the first to notice this tumultuous world of digitalisation of services, while the construction world still appears to be lagging behind. But this is also destined to accelerate; we are in fact facing a world that requires different professional skills and there are already those who are adapting, gaining a competitive advantage over the others’.

Proptech development concerns all sectors of the real estate market, but undoubtedly one of the most flourishing is the office property management market. Ultraspazio – thanks to its Ultrapp – is an example of proptech management of an office network. At Rebuild, among the start-ups taking part in the event and selected to participate at the end of a call for speakers – we were also there.