PropertyGuru Group, Southeast Asia’s leading property technology company, returned its thought leadership platform, the PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit (ARES), to the physical stage, drawing the most brilliant minds from around the world to the Thai capital. The 2022 edition of the PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit was conducted on December 8, 2022, with adaptive reinvention as its theme. The day-long programme focused on the way forward for the real estate and tech sectors as they emerge from the pandemic era and continue reckoning with climate realities.
More than 40 global experts from around the world flew in for the summit in Bangkok where they issued and renewed a call for adaptation and mitigation in a world changed by the coronavirus and global warming. The discussions and presentations challenged the audience-in addition to viewers tuned in to the live stream of the Summit on its official YouTube and Facebook channels-to exercise critical thinking in the areas of sustainability, inclusivity, diversity, and creativity after the pandemic.
The 2022 edition of the Summit also coincided with the launch of its enterprise brand, ProeprtyGuru for Business.
“Today, PropertyGuru completes 15 years of operations, and we mark it with the launch of our enterprise solutions brand PropertyGuru For Business that aims to guide enterprise clients such as property developers, agencies, banks, valuers, city planners and policy makers. It is our ambition to bring transparency within the real estate journey and create a trust platform for home seekers and our business partners. By harnessing the integrated power of our proprietary data, technology and people, we hope to empower our business partners and customers to make better informed decisions,” says Hari V Krishnan, CEO and MD, PropertyGuru Group.
Jeremy Williams, MD for marketplaces, PropertyGuru Group, said, “For the eighth year, the PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit has gathered the brightest minds, top-level business leaders, and decision-makers in the property and technology sectors from around the world. Over these eight years, our goal for PropertyGuru Asia Real Estate Summit has remained constant: to educate, innovate and inspire-sharing ideas, inspiring innovation, and developing practical solutions that can help improve our built environments.”
The programme opened with a call to action on urban change from Stephen Oehme, the managing director of Quantum Thailand Ltd, and a former board member of Burj Khalifa Dubai. The first segment of the programme also included a keynote on sustainability by Erastus Njuke Ndugire, programme manager for the City Investment Facility at the United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat) and a keynote on the state of Asia’s current macroeconomy by Syetarn Hansakul, Asia Analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit.
The second segment of the summit included a keynote on financing instruments and climate investments in property businesses by Kim-See Lim, regional director of East Asia and the Pacific at the International Finance Corporation (IFC)/The World Bank Group, as well as a keynote on humanitarian tech by Illac Diaz, founder of Liter of Light Foundation and winner of PropertyGuru’s Visionary of the Year award in 2020. Tech entrepreneur Dustin Jefferson Onghangseng also presented a showcase of comprehensive air sensor uHoo, winner of the 2021 PropertyGuru Tech Innovation Award.
The second segment ended with a discussion on the property rights of the LGBTQI+ community in Asia, moderated by drag artist and television host Pangina Heals, with panellists Nick Myers, founder and CEO of RedFox AI; Ramil Andag, SOGIESC rights officer of APCOM Foundation; and William Tan, real estate advisor and Co-founder of Prident and Haus of Pride.
The third segment, opened with a discussion on data-driven sustainable affordable housing solutions panel (co-presented by REHDA Institute) featuring Dr. Nai Jia Lee, head of real estate intelligence at PropertyGuru Group, and Ryan Ip, CFA, MRICS, research director and head of land and housing at Our Hong Kong Foundation, with moderator Tan Sri Datuk Eddy Chen Lok Loi, trustee of REHDA Institute and group managing director of MKH Berhad. International broadcaster Manisha Tank led the following discussion that focused on smart post-Covid development strategies, with panellists Josh Chye, partner and head of tax at HLB Mann Judd and board member and treasurer of the Property Funds Association of Australia; Stephen Pimbley, founding partner and director of SPARK Architects; Winston Lee, director of special projects at PropertyGuru Group; and Ir. Dr. Zulhkiple A. Bakar, managing director of Perunding ZAB Sdn Bhd.
The third segment continued with the Design keynote, delivered by Marshall Blecher, founding partner of MAST, the Copenhagen-based architecture studio working with water to create innovative, open and sustainable spaces. Another panel discussion, moderated by Variety media analyst and correspondent Heidi Chung, featured leading voices pushing for a sustainability-first mindset among developers, investors and consumers in Asia: Dr. Kessara Thanyalakpark, managing director of Sena Development Public Company Limited; Kristin Thorsteins, regional head of partnership growth, APAC West, IWG; Rachanee Chanawatr, Asia-Pacific principal of the International Financial Corporation/World Bank Group; Stephen Oehme; and Thien Duong, general director for Vietnam at GroupGSA.
The segment closed with a discussion among powerful women leaders: Coco Liu, chief regional officer of APAC, HLB; Jean Jacquelyn de Castro, CEO of ESCA Incorporated; Loemongga Haoemasan, president director of Asiana Group; and Shyn Yee Ho-Strangas, managing director of data and software solutions at PropertyGuru Group, with Palanca-winning author and journalist Jessica Zafra as moderator.
The ARES 2022’s final segment gathered some of today’s most influential content creators and personalities to discuss the effects of new media on property seekers.
The final segment was also an opportunity to present several honours to outstanding game-changers and innovators. PropertyGuru Tech Innovation Award, a benchmark of excellence for startups and SMEs with game-changing products and innovations in proptech, was presented to Rebricks, an Indonesian company that transforms rejected waste into useful building materials.
