On the sidelines of EXPO Real, we once again hosted the Innovators Dinner together with our friends at ZIA Zentraler Immobilien Ausschuss. Margins in real estate remain under pressure, and for many projects even basic financeability is in question. Demanding markets make for demanding discussions, and this year's were some of the best we've had. For us, they came with a welcome contrast: while much of the market is under strain, our own numbers are pointing firmly upwards.
Together with our guests, we worked out where technology is genuinely relevant to the CFO and where it is mere innovation theatre. Every conversation that evening confirmed how much that distinction matters right now.
Technology has moved from nice-to-have to base case. Across the real estate value chain, from construction through to financing, it increasingly decides whether an asset earns a competitive return in the first place. Take a battery in the basement. The same hardware earns very different revenue depending on the software that dispatches it. Or take a construction sector that needs around two million more workers by 2030, while its productivity has been flat for two decades.
In an environment this demanding, selection matters more than ever. The gap between those who stay afloat and those who go under is widening, and technology is increasingly what decides which side an asset ends up on.
That is exactly what we see in our portfolio. Where others are busy defending margins, the companies we've backed are helping asset owners improve theirs. Well-considered investments in the physical world pay off, and in a market like this one, the difference shows more clearly than ever.
Thank you to everyone who joined us. It was great to see so many familiar and new faces.
