The IU Innovation Award 2026 was presented to three emerging talents in the real estate sector at Real Estate Arena in Hannover. The IU International University of Applied Sciences awarded the prize, endowed with a total of EUR 5,000, in cooperation with the meravis real estate group. The award, now in its second edition, highlights pioneering bachelor's and master's theses that formulate innovative answers to current challenges in the industry.
The real estate industry is facing a paradigm shift, characterised by digitisation, artificial intelligence, sustainability requirements, a shortage of skilled labour, and changing customer expectations. These factors significantly influence business models, processes, and value chains. The IU Innovation Award was established to highlight academic work in these fields and to foster exchange between universities and real estate practice.
Professor Florian Ebrecht, responsible for real estate management at the IU International University of Applied Sciences and co-initiator of the award, emphasised that the Innovation Award offers a platform for young talents and strengthens dialogue between academia and practice. The award-winning works demonstrated the high innovative potential, creativity, and professional expertise of the next generation in the real estate sector. The award winners were selected by an independent jury comprising representatives from the real estate industry, academia, and the specialist press. Evaluation criteria included the degree of innovation, practical relevance, scientific quality, and feasibility. The jury recognised contributions from students from seven German universities.
This year's honours went to: first place with EUR 2,500 was awarded to Niklas Will from TH Aschaffenburg for his master's thesis on the application of artificial intelligence in real estate investment management. He examined decision-making processes and developed an AI-based decision agent for investment decisions. Second place with EUR 1,500 went to Johanna Marie Popp from IU International University of Applied Sciences, who, in her bachelor's thesis, explored the potential and challenges of circular construction and the integration of circular economy and resource efficiency into construction and real estate projects. Ruben Witz from BU Hamburg achieved third place with EUR 1,000 for his master's thesis on the potential applications of artificial intelligence in tenant-related service processes for housing companies and the necessary organisational prerequisites for this.
Following its successful first edition last year, the IU Innovation Award is establishing itself as an important platform for discussing and promoting future topics in the real estate industry. The award ceremony at Real Estate Arena fostered exchange between representatives from academia, business, and associations. Professor Ebrecht highlighted that the quality of the submitted works showed that solutions to numerous industry challenges are already being developed at universities, and it is worthwhile to give these ideas a hearing and actively maintain dialogue between academia and practice. This underscores the importance of academic research for the further development and future viability of the real estate industry.
- —Aygül Özkan (Chief Executive ZIA)
- —Iris Jachertz (Editor-in-Chief DW)
- —Dr. Frank Eretge (Managing Director Gundlach Group)
- —Matthias Herter (CEO meravis real estate group)
