The year where there will be a rising gap between innovators (transforming their core business) and laggers (sticking to their core business)
Panel conversation:
- Speaker 1: Maurice Van Sante – Senior Economist Construction & Team Lead Sectors – ING
Maurice is a passionate sector economist specialising in the European construction and building materials sector. At ING Research, he strives to make economics accessible and comprehensible for clients and colleagues, empowering them to make better financial, sustainable and strategic decisions.His current role involves writing, research, publishing articles, delivering presentations and engaging with the press. His expertise includes construction sector forecasting, analysing the impact of innovation, productivity developments, industrialisation, digitalisation, circular construction and the pathway towards net zero.
Additionally, he leads a team of sector economists who also conduct research across various industries, including real estate, manufacturing, hospitality, retail, healthcare and the public sector.
He joined ING in 1998 and until 2006 he was a treasury advisor and cash manager consultant. Maurice studied macro economics at Erasmus University in Rotterdam.
- Speaker 2: Arnaud Bouzinac – Growth Principal – JLL/ Spark
Arnaud brings over 15 years of real estate industry expertise, spanning property development, global event leadership, and PropTech innovation. He began his career in UAE property development before leading the EMEA team for MIPIM France, where he connected global real estate leaders to reshape urban development worldwide.As an early advocate of real estate’s digital transformation, Arnaud pioneered industry connections between PropTech companies and established real estate players. He created the sector’s first global startup competition and championed bringing PropTech to mainstream industry attention.
At JLL Spark, Arnaud drives cutting-edge technology adoption for the company and its clients while supporting the strategic growth of Spark’s portfolio startups.
- Speaker 3: Risto Kukk – Global Workplace Real Estate Manager – Bolt
Risto Kukk currently serves as the Global Real Estate Manager for Africa & Expansion markets at Bolt, where he oversees strategic portfolio growth in dynamic territories. With seven years of specialized experience in the sector in high-paced companies, he has developed a deep expertise in corporate real estate dynamics and strategy. Throughout his career, Risto has successfully executed commercial deals across multiple continents, including the US, Europe, Africa, and the APAC region. His professional focus lies in navigating complex international markets to secure opportunities that support rapid business scaling. Risto is dedicated to optimizing operational footprints and driving successful market entry strategies for expanding global organizations.
- Speaker 4: Anna Olink – Director, Real Estate EMEA – GRESB
Anna Olink is the Director for Real Estate in EMEA at GRESB. Previously, she had a successful track record in the co-management of multi-billion-euro real estate portfolios for leading asset management companies such as BNP Paribas Asset Management and Kempen Capital Management, where she captained the implementation of ESG standards in the real estate investment process. Anna holds MSc degree in Real Estate Investments from the University of Lodz, and MSc degree in Global Challenges from the University of Edinburgh. She is passionate about finding solutions to poverty, inequality and underinvestment in low-income countries, and aspires to create demonstrable impact to fight climate change.
- Speaker 5: Ricardo Rosa – Director of Digital Business Development -Sonae Sierra
Ricardo started his career as a Marketer and has a long experience (over 10 years) in FMCG companies both in Portugal and in the UK. This period includes stints at P&G, Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser and L’Oréal. In 2011 Ricardo moved to the real estate sector looking for challenges in the confluence of technology and retail. He continues to be passionate about this intersection and the promise it encapsulates to change the whole Real Estate Experience through his digital innovation leadership role. Outside his professional life, Ricardo is an avid reader, a football fan and a pilot of ultra-light airplanes.
- Moderator: Idriss Goossens – CEO & Founder – EightySeven
With over 10 years of experience in the PropTech space, Goossens is the founder of EightySeven, a real estate innovators network based in Belgium, but also active in Luxembourg, Czechia, Spain and Portugal. EightySeven helps start-ups raise capital and advises large real estate corporations on their innovation strategy. In 2019, Goossens co-founded the European PropTech Association. In 2020, Idriss founded RELEVATION, the digital fundraising summit for PropTech. This digital event was created as the pandemic greatly accelerated the adoption of PropTech and the need arose for a digital solution to connect start-ups and investors. RELEVATION facilitated investments in the PropTech space, by connecting founders to VC’s, GP’s to LP’s, and ease the access to talents with a digital job fair. In 2021 EightySeven launched RecA in joint-venture with Revive, a ESG Accelerator for construction & real estate firms. In 2023 EightySeven launched coworking Spaces dedicated to proptech, in partnership with Eaglestone (UrbanTech Hub 350 avenue Louise, in Brussels), with Alides (2 Boulevard de la Woluwe, Brussels), and with Sitio (Rossio, Portugal)
