The Real Estate General Authority (REGA) concluded the “Saudi PropTech” conference yesterday evening, which was held in Riyadh from 6 to 7 November, with broad international participation from across the globe.
During the conference, REGA announced the launch of several key initiatives, including the Real Estate Technology Report, the Real Estate Indicators Platform, and the Real Estate Registry Platform. In addition, several agreements were signed with foreign investment companies from Europe, the United States, and East Asia. The event also saw the participation of over 20 local and international investment funds and the opening of the accompanying tech exhibition, which featured more than 50 pavilions representing 25 countries. The exhibition brought together government entities responsible for legislating and enabling the real estate sector, as well as real estate and tech firms, startups in real estate development and construction, real estate application developers, and investment companies.
The first edition of the “Saudi PropTech” conference revolved around three central themes. The first was the real estate tech ecosystem, which included government regulators, emerging project supporters, real estate developers, real estate platforms, startups, real estate technology firms, venture capital companies, and business accelerators. The second was real estate applications for commercial, residential, tourism, and logistics purposes. The third theme focused on technical solutions, including property and facility management, artificial intelligence and data analytics, virtual and augmented reality, financing and mortgage technologies, IoT, and construction technologies.
The conference also featured dialogue sessions and workshops discussing various aspects of real estate technology in Saudi Arabia. Topics included the concept of PropTech, investment trends and challenges in venture capital within the Kingdom, the role of technology in shaping and activating public policy, the future enablement of the real estate sector, innovations in the urban environment, and the impact of smart city development on the real estate industry through data and decision-making tools. Discussions also covered how to build a competitive edge for real estate firms, implement innovative data collection and analytics technologies, establish startups in the real estate technology sector, and adopt the latest advancements in modern construction techniques. Additionally, several international case studies were presented, including the use of technology in the European real estate market and PropTech developments in Hong Kong and the South China Sea region.