Transforming The Built World at MIPIM 2024
March 29, 2024 | Pi Labs
It’s now been three weeks since MIPIM Cannes 2024, and what an event it was! This year we were privileged to be joined by a growing number of our portfolio companies, including Demand Logic, Bright Spaces, Laiout, Untap Health, Greenpass, ConWize, LandTech and REalyse. As always, MIPIM served as a fantastic opportunity to reconnect with old friends and meet new ones, and we were happy to once again host the Innovation Drinks, this time alongside the team at Demand Logic. This nicely aligned with the highly-publicised launch of our white paper Sustainably intelligent.
There’s little doubt many areas of the global real estate sector remained heavily under pressure in Q1 2024, but I believe the growing presence of built world innovators rubbing shoulders with real estate leaders over recent years is a testament to the sector’s evolving mindset. It is reassuring to hear from the real estate leaders we met with, that innovation very much remains high on the agenda.
Faisal Butt delivering a speech at the MIPIM Innovation Drinks alongside Mike Darby (Demand Logic)
Bogdan Nicoară (Co Founder & CEO, Bright Spaces):
Taking part in MIPIM this year was once again a dynamic experience. I had the privilege of joining a panel discussion on the future of workplaces held at the Avison Young Pavilion, where we delved into pressing topics like the impact of remote and hybrid work on physical offices, AI’s disruptive potential in real estate, and the need for a mindset shift. The panel was led by Sarah-Jane Osborne from Avison Young UK, with valuable contributions from Yasmin Al-Ani Spence (WilkinsonEyre), Luke Graham (Pi Labs), and Andy Pyle (KPMG).
Special thanks to Faisal Butt for the invite to Pi Labs’ private lunch, where I engaged with industry leaders like Kristóf Bárány (Adventum), Anas Bataw (Majid Al Futtaim) and Dvir Wolf (Aroundtown), among others.
This marks our third consecutive year attending the event, and what’s particularly exciting this time around is observing the increasing openness of the real estate sector towards embracing technology. Bright Spaces is ready to mitigate the risks and enhance the leasing and space visualization experiences.
Avison Young panel on “The future of workplaces”
Wouter Merkestein (Co-Founder & CEO, laiout)
MIPIM is seen by many as some sort of temperature check for the real-estate industry. This year it was great to see that the overall feeling among most attendees was cautiously optimistic. It was however clear that financial times are still tough with attendee levels apparently having dropped from previous years.
For laiout is was a very fruitful event. As the price for attendance is high, basically only decision makers were present and the informal vibes made it easier to do business. MIPIM can be quite overwhelming but we had the added advantage of having several of our investors and advocates present who were keen to introduce us to the right attendees. Because of this we managed to connect with large landlords, developers and occupiers alike who all shared great excitement for our solution and requested follow ups immediately after the event.
That being said, just as with any event, its a matter of planting seeds of interest all around, and never knowing at what speed, or if at all, these seeds will grow out and flourish.
Claire Trant (Co-Founder & CEO, Untap Health)
It was great to be invited to MIPIM, and hosted by Pi Labs at lunch. The opportunity to network with leaders in the real estate industry was invaluable. Through Pi Labs I met some incredible connections, that I have been able to meet up with since in London, and further build my network within the industry.
Pi Labs’ lunch at La Mandala
Mike Darby (CEO, Demand Logic)
MIPIM was an extraordinary week for the Demand Logic team and for me personally. To see and meet so many of the industry’s leaders in such a (relatively) small space, and short time was pretty staggering.
Personally, it was my first trip to Cannes. Against the backdrop of such a major component of our economy it was tremendously refreshing to hear and discuss, repeatedly, real estate’s overwhelming ambition to decarbonise, and end the negative impact that buildings have had on the environment.
It was great to reinforce how relevant our technology is in this process.
We came away with some great new connections, some great memories and filled with optimism for the coming months.
