Aroundtown and ZIA jointly drive innovation in the real estate industry: Aroundtown becomes patron of the ZIA Innovation Radar

Since 2021, the ZIA Innovation Radar has been searching for future-oriented solutions for the real estate industry and giving visibility to ideas. Aroundtown has also been committed to promoting innovative ideas in the real estate sector for many years and supports their practical implementation, in particular with the PropTech accelerator ATechX. With this year's Innovation Radar, ZIA and Aroundtown are jointly providing impetus to focus on forward-looking approaches along the entire value chain and promote dialogue in the real estate industry.

Timothy Wright, Chief Capital Markets Officer at Aroundtown and patron of the ZIA Innovation Radar: “With our start-up accelerator ATechX, we enable start-ups to test their solutions in a practical setting and develop them to market maturity. Aroundtown and the ZIA share the goal of promoting promising innovations at an early stage in order to make a tangible contribution to the future viability of the real estate industry. We are delighted to be involved in shaping the ZIA Innovation Radar as a patron.”

Aygül Özkan, Chief Executive Officer of the ZIA: “Innovation is the key to successfully addressing the major challenges of our time – from climate action and digitalisation to affordable housing. With the ZIA Innovation Radar 2.0, we bring innovative approaches together in a central platform and, with Aroundtown as a strong partner, give them visibility across the real estate industry.”

Martin Rodeck, Chairman of the ZIA Innovation Think Tank: “The Innovation Radar 2.0 enables, for the first time, a holistic view of innovation – spanning the entire value chain, from planning and construction to solutions for existing buildings, as well as the full breadth of the industry, from start-ups to established companies. We are looking forward to the diversity and quality of the submissions and to in-depth discussions within the jury.”

The ZIA Innovation Radar focuses on future-proof solutions for the real estate and construction industry that make a sustainable contribution to the further development of the sector. Start-ups, project teams and companies can apply now until March 11th 2026. The winners will be honoured for the first time at the ZIA's Real Estate Industry Day (TDI) on May 19th 2026 – in front of around 2,000 participants from business, politics and society.

With Innovation Radar 2.0, the ZIA is integrating the previous “PropTech of the Year” award and expanding the format to include the perspective of the construction industry. Outstanding solutions will be honoured as “Innovation of the Year” in the categories Real Estate, Design & Build and PropTech.

A jury from the ZIA Innovation Think Tank, which this year also includes Aroundtown, will review more than 100 applications for the Innovation Radar and evaluate them according to clearly defined criteria such as degree of innovation, scalability and sustainability.

Applying for the ZIA Innovation Radar is free of charge and open to both ZIA members and non-members. Organisations can submit up to three applications and must specify which of the following categories they are applying for:
Real Estate: Innovations related to the life cycle phases of financing, marketing, transaction or management
Design & Build: Innovations related to the life cycle phases of planning, construction, renovation or project development
PropTech: Founded in 2015 or later; digital or technology-based product and/or innovative business model; the founding team holds more than 50% of the company shares
During the application process, the innovativeness of a project and its effectiveness in practice are specifically examined. All applications that meet the formal requirements are included in the ZIA Innovation Radar. The three most convincing submissions receive the title “Innovation of the Year”.