Convergence of Real Estate Business and IT Industry
A Variety of real estate-related technology businesses have recently got together for the first time at the Korea Proptech Forum and resolved to foster a domestic proptech ecosystem.
The Korea Proptech Forum held its inaugural meeting on Oct. 13 and announced the launch of the non-profit organization.
The word “proptech” is a compound of “property” and “technology,” referring to real estate services that make use of new technologies such as big data analysis, AI, VR, and blockchain.
Proptech, along with fintech, has become a global trend since 2010. The U.K. and Germany among others have already established proptech associations as a way to encourage collaboration between real estate businesses and the IT industry. Proptech startups in North America and Asia also have grown rapidly. Currently, the number of global proptech businesses has surpassed 4,000 and attracted investments totaling US$7.8 billion (about 8.7 trillion won).
Under the circumstances, the Korea Proptech Forum was founded in order to map out the direction of the real estate technology convergence and lead Korea’s own proptech growth and development.
The forum plans to work with proptech-related organizations and industries at home and abroad. Through the network, the forum will share various technologies and experiences to create opportunities for cooperation and thus promote the mutual development of the industry.
Domestic leading players from wide-ranging fields participated in the Korea Proptech Forum, including real estate information service providers, real estate developers, space sharing platforms, real estate rental management service providers and real estate virtual reality (VR) and Internet of Things (IoT) service providers.
A total of 26 domestic real estate-related companies joined the forum, ranging from start-ups such as ZIGBANG, Cupix, URBANBASE and SPACEWALK to larger companies such as MDMPlus, FIDES Development, Woomi Construction Co., Ltd., and Hanyang Construction.