4.13.22-Build.nano-Kairos-Shen

KAIROS SHEN: Hi. Good afternoon, everyone. I have the distinct pleasure of welcoming you back from lunch. My name is Kairos Shen. I'm the executive director for MIT Center for Real Estate.

We're one of the co-sponsors of today's event. And I'm delighted to actually be able to welcome you in person. This is the first conference that our center has sponsored that is live and in person. So it's great to see all of you. So welcome.

We have collaborated with MIT.nano to put on this event. And part of the reason is because actually, we are relatively new to this sphere and topic. A few years ago Vladimir came to one of our world real estate forums that the center puts out every year. And we had such an incredible response from our real estate professionals that attended our event that we decided to actually continue this collaboration and be really at the forefront of all of the changes in nanotechnology and materials.

Some of the response that we got obviously had an impact on our industry partners. So if any of you are here, welcome. And of course, we're also well represented by some of our masters of science and real estate development students who are here. So some of the rowdy people who ask difficult questions, they may be our students. And I'd like to apologize on their behalf.

This conference is really important to us at the Center for Real Estate for several reasons. And in particular because it supports a number of important priorities for the Center for Real Estate. The first, of course, is that the Center of Real Estate has had a long history and commitment to promoting innovation and cutting edge technology that will have real impact on the real estate industry and the built environment.

Now the second reason why this conference is so important is that this topic actually intersects two of the center's most important research initiatives that we have going on right now. The first, of course, is climate and real estate initiative that we have started just this last year. And based on the topics that you've already heard early this morning, you have seen how nanomaterials and technology have actually directly impacted the potential sustainability and energy opportunities within buildings and the built environment.

And of course, both of those directly impact the livability of our buildings and our communities. The second initiative, which should be no surprise to you, we've launched this here at the center, is the real estate technology initiative. And you've already heard from our industry chair of this initiative. Steve Weikal, who will also be speaking I think this afternoon.

Now many of you know Steve as the MC of our world real estate forum and also as the head of industry relations at the Center for Real Estate. And I'm happy to tell you that he's now shifted his responsibility to become more directly connected to this real estate technology initiative. In his place I'm happy to report that we have a new head of industry relations. She is Denise Dolores she's sitting right here. So I'm hopeful that she will actually reach out to you to say hello and to also tell you all the benefits of being an industry partner for the Center for Real Estate.

Yes. I think that was Steve clapping because he's very happy now that somebody else is going to take on that important responsibility. Now the real estate technology initiative really is directly connected to obviously the many nanotechnologies that you have already heard about and you will hear more about this afternoon. And clearly this technology is impacting the built environment at every scale. Now from the individual building components and systems at the micro-scale all the way to city-scale systems.

So I think that again, the long-term impact of nanotechnology is yet to be felt in the built environment and the real estate industry. The last thing I want to do is extend my thanks. We're delighted that MIT.nano has allowed us to partner with them to co-sponsor this conference. Vladimir and of course Tom Gearty have been hard at work working closely with Steve to put on this.

Of course we're also very happy and want to thank MIT Industrial Liaison Program for hosting this event. And I hope that this will be the beginning of many more in-person conferences that we'll see you at. And one plug. The World Real Estate Forum which we normally hold in May will be held in December this year. So it will be one thing that you can do between Thanksgiving and the new year holiday.

So we hope to see you there. And thank you. And enjoy the rest of the program. Thank you.