Cross-vertical Innovation in Internet of Things and Real Estate Tech Empower to Build a Better Life

According to the data of the China Index Academy, a total of 147 real estate corporates sold more than 5 billion yuan in the first half of 2019, with an increase of nine corporates from last year. The total sales volume reached 5,853.7 billion yuan, with an average sales volume of 39.82 billion yuan and a year-on-year increase of 10.3%.

Specifically, the cumulative sales of 20 real estate corporates reached 2.6588 trillion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 12.1%. The total sales area was 190.98 million square meters, with a year-on-year increase of 5.9%. Global data show that China's real estate market is also well ahead of the rest of the world in terms of stock and increment.

At the same time, the real estate industry reflects a high degree of policy coordination from central to local, from demand management to supply management, and the future development tends to be stable. The value of commercial real estate will be further explored and improved.

The innovation extension of Internet of Things in the real estate industry will facilitate the technological innovation and integration of the two industries, so as to further improve the operation efficiency of real estate and implement the intelligent operation of Internet of Things and real estate.

Traditional real estate market transformation is designed around three vectors of the subversive force of the Internet of Things: asset markets, risk management, and improved efficiency. The creation of asset markets releases excess capacity of physical assets and enables instant search, use, and payment of available assets.

Take commercial real estate as an example. Commercial real estate is an extremely complex industry, which is limited by many factors, such as low use ratio, impossibility to supply as a whole, impossibility to achieve optimal state, and poor liquid ability.

The Internet of Things can eliminate market defects by interconnecting and digitizing things. The combination of sensor and use ratio information enable real-time discovery, availability, and payment, so as to create a liquid market. As real estate is digitally labeled, managed and shared, corporates can track and transform it with new service and market. 

Based on the deep reflection on “Internet of Things + Real Estate”, the vertical fields of Real Estate Tech and Internet of Things of Plug and Play China, jointly held the “Internet of Things + Real Estate Tech” Accelerator Program Selection Day in Shenzhen recently. More than 30 leading corporates in the fields of real estate and Internet of Things and more than 40 representatives of technological innovation projects were invited to attend the event, discussing and forecasting the cooperation trend focusing on eight themes of “AI& underlying technology & robot, industrial manufacturing, smart home, design and construction, property digitization, shopping mall enabling, real deal and corporate service”.

Some of the corporate partners attending the event

According to Peter Xu, Executive Director and CEO of Plug and Play China, Plug and Play China integrates the two vertical fields of real estate tech and Internet of Things for the first time. These two seemingly different industries are closely related in practical applications. 

In the past period of time, faced with the demand for technological innovation in the real estate industry, we can find a very suitable solution in the Internet of Things sector. At the same time, the technological innovation of real estate tech has become the best place to verify the implementation of Internet of Things applications.

Meanwhile, the innovation ecology that Plug and Play China aims to build will also become an organic carrier of interconnection innovation. In the future, Plug and Play China will carry out cross-industry innovation cooperation in real estate tech, Internet of Things, mobility, fintech, insurtech, brand & retail and other fields around Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Peter Xu, Executive Director and CEO of Plug and Play China

Since 2015, Plug and Play has successively provided innovative services in the field of Internet of Things and real estate tech in China, and has held more than 100 precise corporation project matchmaking symposiums. Among more than 1,000 outstanding startups, Plug and Play has accelerated nearly 300 projects for startups and implemented 57 pilot projects with well-known corporations.

Qiaodan, Vice President of Plug and Play China, introduced that real estate tech entered the Batch 2 acceleration program, and the Internet of Things entered the Batch 4 acceleration program. Based on the previous achievements and experience in acceleration, Plug and Play China will further push the cross-field innovation cooperation in the two fields to a new height.

Qiaodan, Vice President of Plug and Play China

On the Selection Day, visitors from leading corporates and startups in the Internet of Things and real estate such as RBVC, China Unicom Internet of Things, Hofan, Hongkong Land, and Zuolin exchanged ideas and shared their experience in exploration and innovation achievements in AI, industrial manufacturing, smart home, design and construction and property digitization.

Yang Sen, Senior Investment Manager of RBVC

Adhering to an open innovation philosophy, Bosch believes in the innovation capabilities of startups and actively seeks win-win partnerships. So far, we have successfully cooperated with more than 100 startups, and have invested directly in 13 outstanding startups in 2018.

In the cooperation process with Plug and Play China, we hope to continuously upgrade the industry and optimize our expertise, and accelerate the industrial chain and collaborative innovation across industries through both sides’ exploration of technological innovation.

Wang Yanhong, Manager of Industrial Application Development Department, China Unicom Internet of Things

As part of each other's ecology, China Unicom Internet of Things Research Institute and Plug and Play China jointly offer support for industry development direction and platform resources for well-known corporations and startups.

Lei Ping, Vice President of Hofan

Based on the current situation that many smart home brands have complicated models and high unit price and cannot be recognized by most consumers, he elaborated how the smart home industry enters and integrates into the ecology from the consumer side to enable each other.

Chen Ge, Deputy Director of Engineering Department, Hongkong Land

Through customer experience, excellent management, sustainable development and big data, intelligent building and construction in the digital era makes the traditional management platform of “design, bidding, construction, delivery and operation” intelligent and completes the replacement, enabling and innovation.

At the event, representatives of startups also shared their views and practical experience in the industry.

Some of the startups attending the event

Song Jiayang, Head of Park Business Division, Shenzhen Zuolin Yongjia Technology Co., Ltd

With the change of users' habits, the way of life management needs to be intelligent. We will establish intelligent property operation management system ecology through the connection of people, services and resources, and data, and apply it to intelligent buildings, intelligent properties and intelligent services. We hope to find more innovative projects and partners for closer cooperation in more segments based on the innovative ecological platform of Plug and Play.

Fu Xiaojun, COO of ThinkHome

Smart home should not only be wireless, but also be integrated with the building itself to make the whole space and personal life more comfortable. The combination of real estate and the Internet of Things will transform our living space and improve our healthy living environment, and Plug and Play will offer a platform for technical presentation and implementation for the startups that are engaged in the industry. All of these factors will drive the development of the industry as a whole.

With the vigorous development of 5G network in China, the gradual construction of IoT-based smart home system will drive the whole real estate market into the intelligent era. In the future, residential real estate, commercial real estate and industrial real estate will be combined with intelligent Internet of Things.

It is estimated that by 2025, the total number of IoT links worldwide will exceed 25 billion, and intelligent applications in all segments will offer better services for everyone.