We held the 23rd edition of the Barcelona Meeting Point (BMP) International Real Estate Exhibition with a superb assessment of trade activity, laying the foundations for the future of real estate in the Mediterranean.
BMP 2019 took place from 16 to 19 October in Hall 8 of the Montjuic-Plaza España venue of Fira de Barcelona and was the setting for reflection on the challenges, needs and proposals of all stakeholders involved in the sector.

THE MOST SOCIAL AND COMMITTED EDITION OF BARCELONA MEETING POINT

In this edition of the Barcelona Meeting Point 2019, we sought to strengthen the real estate sector as an agent at the service of people, with a commitment to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that the United Nations has set in order to advance towards a more equitable, fair and sustainable society between now and 2030.All of which resulted in a “more social” edition.

Among other matters, BMP laid the foundations to lead innovation in real estate in the Mediterranean, involving all those who have the responsibility to develop the sector in the coming years and involve them in the commitment that these SDGs require. We also wanted to claim equal opportunities in a sector that has very few women in managerial positions within companies.
To achieve this and for the second consecutive year, we held a meeting with the WIRES Association (Women in Real Estate Spain), an association whose objectives include promoting the role of women in the professional environment of the real estate sector.

BMP STARTUP INNOVATION HUB: THE SPACE FOR STARTUPS

At BMP 2019, once again we hosted the BMP Startup innovation Hub, an exhibition area where more than 40 startups presented groundbreaking solutions that directly impact real estate and that are redefining the way business is done. In this second edition of the Startup Innovation Hub we brought together large companies, potential partners and investors with startups in the real estate world, all in a single space.

We grouped the exhibition according to the following sectors of activity:

• Emerging real estate financing services.
• Technologies to make cities and constructions more efficient.
• Energy efficiency and new construction formulas.
• Marketplaces and technologies that facilitate new ways of living.
• New trends and innovations that are opening up new business possibilities in the sector.

PIONEERS IN STARTUP ACCELERATION

We could say that Barcelona Meeting Point is the only Spanish real estate trade fair that has an acceleration programme aimed at startups. The 10 best startups that participated in the Startup Innovation Hub took part in the “BMP Accelerator Programme”. This is a six-month programme that is currently underway. This real-estate accelerator programme provides emerging companies with tools to identify, develop and create market opportunities, provide methods that facilitate the internationalisation of these business initiatives, encourage investment in startups and increase networking with potential corporate partners. This pioneering acceleration programme is promoted by The Barcelona Free Zone and directed by La Salle Technova.

BMP CONGRESS

In 2019, through Barcelona Meeting Point we once again held the prestigious International Conference. A conference that enabled, with the collaboration of institutions of local and global relevance, debate on current issues in the sector. To design the BMP Conference programme, we secured the collaboration of the most reputable real estate associations in the sector, on both a national and international level (Asociación de Promotores y Constructores de España, ESADE, IESE, RICS, La Salle Technova, WIRES and the Urban Land Institute (ULI)).

The BMP Congress featured four conference rooms, more than 50 sessions and 177 speakers that debated on PropTech, real estate logistics, investment and real estate management, the Mediterranean real estate forum, smart cities, market transformation, mobility and residential.

NETWORKING, A PRIORITY OF THE 2019 BMP

Just through its name, Barcelona Meeting Point already reflects that its most outstanding task is based on being a meeting point for the real estate sector. The key focus of this meeting lies in attracting large international investors and foreign companies that seek to do business in Spain in order to help them meet the leaders and glean insight regarding the sector. With this in mind, another of the tools that we offered to the exhibiting companies to help generate the greatest number of business opportunities was the so-called “Match & Meet”: we conducted a preliminary questionnaire among all the visitors attending the trade fair to ascertain in advance their real estate requirements and, based on these, we put them in contact with the exhibiting companies that could provide a solution. Thus, BMP visitors were able to directly contact the exhibiting companies in which they were interested and arrange a meeting to make the most of their visit to the BMP. In addition, we offered a new app to promote networking, contacts and business meetings: all the participating companies were able to contact all the attendees and speakers of the BMP Congress that took place within the trade fair by means of a built-in instant messaging system within the 2019 BMP App.

A TRADE FAIR THAT IS CLOSER TO PEOPLE

During this edition of the BMP, we introduced a change in strategic focus, opening up the hall and contents even more to the public: the greatest exponent of this focus was the real estate talks that were held on Saturday, 19 October, during which topics were discussed such as the current housing access problem, and particularly what is useful to know when acquiring or renting a flat (contract, financing, etc.).
In addition, we expanded and reinforced our programme of activities aimed at the general public.
In this regard, we would like to highlight the “Family Area” with different activities (workshops, areas of interaction between parents and children, a competition between architecture students to present a project, etc.), and a furniture auction of the furniture exhibited by the participating companies in the DecoReform Point area.

GALA DINNER, THE GRAND FINALE

During this 23rd edition of Barcelona Meeting Point we also celebrated the traditional Gala Dinner of the real estate sector, which took place at the Casa Llotja de Mar in Barcelona and was sponsored by CaixaBank. The gala dinner of the real estate sector was attended by the Third Deputy Mayor of the Agenda 2030, Digital Transition, Territorial and Metropolitan Coordination and Sports of the Barcelona City Council, Laia Bonet, State Delegate of the Consortium of the Barcelona Free Zone and President of the Barcelona Meeting Point, Pere Navarro, and the CEO of BuildingCenter, Jordi Soldevila.

BMP AWARDS 2019

During the gala dinner of the real estate sector, we presented the BMP 2019 Awards that recognised the best business development in the sector, best real estate transformation, best real estate project in the Mediterranean (BMP Mediterranean Award) and the startup that participated in the BMP Accelerator 2018-2019 – the BMP acceleration programme for startups – that has grown the most during this period (BMP ScaleUp Award).

The winners were:

• -BMP 2019 Award for the Best Business Development in the sector: HIP – Hotel Investment Partners
• -BMP 2019 Award for the Best Real Estate Transformation: Mercat de Sant Antoni, Barcelona
• -BMP Mediterranean Award: World Green Building Council
• BMP ScaleUp Award: Mayordomo