The Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) recently hosted PropTech Day, a showcase of data-driven innovation and property-centric technology use cases with innovation and technology (I&T) ecosystem stakeholders including government, property owners, facility management & infrastructure development companies and technology providers to accelerate innovation adoption in one of Hong Kong’s economic pillar sectors.
Several market-ready applications and concepts that will spur rapid smart city growth were showcased. Highlights include Airport Authority and HKSTP presenting on digital twin technology potential in Hong Kong, an extension of HKSTP’s STP Platform initiative to create a city-wide virtual lab, plus the MoU on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) IoT Maturity Index.
A panel on the same topic also invited industry leaders to share views on the critical role of standards in driving IoT adoption. Speakers included representatives from the Electric and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD), Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO), HK Electric, MTR Corporation, among many others.
The CEO of HKSTP stated that PropTech Day is a key initiative to accelerate digital transformation and smart city development through data-driven innovation. The STP Platform vision is to build a city-wide virtual lab that will help technology providers and adopters overcome the market validation barrier to technology adoption by ensuring more market-ready innovation tailored for sectors like property, finance and I&T.
HKSTP aims to drive a series of collaborative initiatives across the data-driven technology theme to minimise time-to-market for new innovations for the property sector as well other key economic pillars.
Data and IoT are at the heart of digital transformation in property and HKSTP’s MoU signing with the IEEE on the same day aims to drive IoT standards to sustain high-quality technology R&D and solutions in real estate and beyond. Both parties will proactively encourage different industries to adopt the IEEE P2668 IoT Maturity Index which is a global standard in grading all IoT devices and technologies across a 5-point scale.
This will help build best practices for developers and potential technology adopters when assessing sensors, devices, networks, management systems and infrastructure, especially applicable in the property sector.
STP Platform – creating a world-class virtual lab
HKSTP’s STP Platform, a vision for a city-wide virtual lab providing extensive technology testing and development within sector-specific environments. Through a combination of digital twinning, AI, robotics and big data, solutions can be rapidly validated for real-life scenarios enabling faster and wider adoption within Hong Kong’s major economic sectors including property, finance and much more.
The platform builds upon HKSTP’s industry-first validation service for AIR, previously announced in August 2020, featuring unique virtual and physical lab simulation and real-world testing capabilities. HKSTP has built a virtual testbed for a variety of innovative testing and has now successfully extended the concept into a wider network of industry and technology leaders to maximise technology benefits within key economic sectors.
Through the concerted efforts with ecosystem partners, HKSTP aims to build a Hong Kong-wide virtual lab to create and connect the biggest data sets available to power the evolution of Hong Kong into a modern smart city.
PropTech is relatively new to the market. However, it follows the same pattern as such terms as FinTech, EdTech, HealthTech, etc. Each of them represents the robust alignment between tech innovations and their adopters. The same goes for PropTech, which stands for ‘property’ and ‘technology’. The term highlights the importance of using tech in the industry of commercial real estate.
