There is nothing quite like a recurring annual event to ignite a little reflection. This week, we celebrated EG’s fourth Tech Awards and, while recognition of success was, quite rightly, at the heart of proceedings, the event also neatly punctuated the end of another extraordinary 12 months.
Looking back to last year’s event, the first we hosted online as a result of Covid, 2020 was being dubbed the year that none of us would ever forget. In many respects that’s true, but in so many others it is like those 12 months never happened at all. For many, the year since the pandemic hit has become a retrospective blur lost in a constant stream of rules, restrictions and lockdowns.
Then came 2021 and, as the dust slowly settles, so too have some of the blanket statements around the future of life and work. This has given way to a more considered, nuanced approach to how we navigate the world around us and, as the widespread panic starts to subside, accountability is ramping back up.
From cracking down on what really makes a smart building – the phrase “an app doth not a smart building make” could not be more pertinent here – to urges of caution around raising funds on the back of a circumstantial boom year and increasing scrutiny around delivering on sustainability, a searingly bright light has been shone on technology and real estate over the past few months. It not only highlighted those who have their digital ducks in a row but revealed those who have been, for want of a better pun, winging it.
Ultimately, this can only be a good thing. For too long a lack of knowledge about the true power of technology has been both a hurdle and a crutch for the real estate sector. On one hand, it was leaving the industry open to being “tech-washed” – inundated with noise and ideas based on problems that didn’t need solving. On the other, it was giving it a shroud of cover behind which to talk a good tech game without being subjected to sufficient, if any, scrutiny.
But, while there are some for whom 2021 will be the year they get caught out, for those who have something real to offer the timing couldn’t be better, thanks to a ramped-up focus on all things technology twinned with a huge influx of investment into the sector. We celebrated a whole host of these companies and individuals across the globe at this year’s EG Tech Awards. Huge congratulations to each and every one of our finalists.
We look forward to seeing you all at next year’s event when we will be sure to, once again, ignite a little reflection.
View the 2021 winners here
To send feedback, e-mail emily.wright@eg.co.uk or tweet @EmilyW_9 or @EGPropertyNews
