Innovation Outlook 2019 Survey Results: Technology Adoption in Canada’s Commercial Real Estate Industry
The Innovation Outlook 2019 was co-created by R-LABS, REALPAC and PwC to assess the state of the industry and measure the growth of innovation in the Canadian commercial real estate (CRE) sector. For full results from this survey, please follow the link below to the R-LABS Innovation Community Portal.
Everyone wants to be part of the innovation movement, but the reality is many real estate organizations don’t have a clear picture of what it takes to bring change to our industry. To stay at the forefront of innovation, we need to look closely at the existing market and identify benchmarks that will allow us to gauge our success in this space. R-LABS’ deep roots in strategy led us to co-develop the Innovation Outlook 2019 survey with REALPAC and PwC. On June 18, we presented the survey results to our fellow innovation leaders, and now we want to share our findings with the R-LABS Innovation Community.
Many of today’s innovation leaders were active during the Dot-Com Era and vividly recall the ups and downs faced by web-based startups. We remember the fanfare, the investments, and most of all, the bubble burst. As we enter the next wave of innovation, we wanted to be better prepared for the road ahead and learn from the successes and failures that occurred during this period. Innovation isn’t new; it would be misguided for us not to draw on lessons from the past.
For this wave of innovation, we knew that data-driven strategies would be vital for implementing new technologies and mitigating against risks. We needed to understand how emerging technologies were impacting the Canadian commercial real estate (CRE) sector so we could better lead our innovation initiatives. With this in mind, R-LABS, REALPAC and PwC set out to establish benchmarks for PropTech innovation.
Conducted from December 2018 to January 2019, we asked REALPAC Chief Executives to identify the current level of demand for PropTech and their adoption of emerging technologies. Our 20-question survey addressed three questions:
Where do organizations see themselves on the innovation curve?
What are the goals for PropTech in the CRE sector?
Which technologies are garnering the highest investments?
Through the Innovation Outlook 2019 survey, we collected insights from 44 Chief Executives operating in CRE. Their responses have allowed us to identify current perceptions and practices for innovation, while simultaneously informing the trends impacting today’s market. For example, the chart below shows the strength of “building management and automation systems”, whereas “blockchain” is yet to take off in this space.
This data is just the beginning of a strategy to inform innovation in real estate. Going forward, R-LABS will continue to build on these results through regular industry assessments and uncover new processes that support the successful implementation of PropTech in the CRE sector. We’re excited to share our findings with the broader community and look forward to seeing how R-Innovators leverage this data to create a better future for our industry.
