Mexican Universities Compete to Develop Innovations in the Real Estate Industry

A few weeks ago, the #InCONHack competition (Hackathon of Technological Innovation in Real Estate) was held during the 2017 InCON Real Estate Convention at Mexico City’s Pepsi Center. The event was organized by the Asociación de Profesionales en Comercialización Inmobiliaria (APCI), Grupo Inmobiliario Zona Poniente, A.C. (GIZP) and the firm Vivanuncios. The competition brought together Computer Engineering and Computer Systems students from the country’s best universities, to develop technological applications that help solve some of real estate agents’ most frequent problems.

More than 24 teams participated in the contest, the winners being the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), Escuela Superior de Cómputo (ESCOM) and Universidad del Valle de México (UVM). The projects developed dealt with aspects such as effective communication between landlords and tenants, customer acquisition, confidence assessment, payment for services and access to real estate catalogs, among other common challenges in the profession.

More than 1,600 real estate agents attended the convention, which also included conferences and workshops on the latest technology, marketing and sales strategies for the industry.

“Some of the challenges facing the real estate sector over the next decade include the arrival of millennial buyers, with different interests in life, and the predominance of technology in the professional and personal spheres. We believe it is very important to help the real estate agent address these challenges and evolve in the new environment.” —Karim Goudiaby, organizer of the 2017 InCON Real Estate Convention.