MOD, a company from Zurich, is the winner of the fourth ULI PropTech Innovation Challenge (PIC) in Switzerland. The platform developed by MOD uses artificial intelligence to enable project developers and architects to assess the potential of prefabricated construction elements in early planning phases. The aim is to simplify the integration of prefabrication into construction projects, thereby allowing construction ventures to be realised more quickly, more economically, and more sustainably.
The Urban Land Institute (ULI) organises the PropTech Innovation Challenge across Europe to identify innovative and scalable solutions for the real estate industry and to foster exchange between established players, start-ups, and the technology sector. Initiated by the ULI Young Leaders, the 2026 initiative focused on the guiding theme of resilience in the real estate industry. Submissions were sought that would strengthen the resilience of the built environment against economic, ecological, and social stresses.
The Swiss expert jury was convinced by MOD's approach, which integrates the possibilities of prefabrication early into the planning and decision-making process. The AI platform, conceived in collaboration with Stanford University, ETH Zurich, and TU Munich, analyses designs automatically. It compares required building elements and quantities – including walls, stairwells, bathrooms, or floor slabs – with product offerings from hundreds of prefabrication companies. Technical parameters, production capacity, availability, delivery distances, and costs are all taken into account. This enables project developers, architects, and planners to compare different variants at a point where key decisions can still be influenced.
With this approach, MOD addresses key challenges in the construction and real estate industry, such as rising construction costs, long project durations, and limited capacities. By early assessment of various prefabrication options, data-driven decisions are to be made, risks minimised, and transparency in the planning and procurement process increased. Marc Beermann, co-founder and CEO of MOD, emphasised that the share of prefabrication in construction globally is below three percent, even though the industry and politics agree that industrialised construction methods are essential for faster, more economical, and more sustainable building. He elaborated that prefabrication is integrated into many projects too late in the process, often only after key planning decisions have been made. With MOD, clients are enabled to make this decision at the beginning of the project and gain transparency about suitable prefabricated solutions, available providers, and the impact of different variants on costs and realisation. According to Mr Beermann, MOD projects showed potential savings in construction costs of over 10 percent just by integrating prefabrication into the design and smarter orchestration of the supply chain. This, he stated, was their contribution to increasing resilience in project development.
The jury assessed the submitted solutions based on three criteria: potential impact, degree of innovation, and the likelihood of market launch and adaptation. The focus was on implementable, scalable, and competitive innovations that promote resilient business models and contribute to the long-term viability of real estate. Sabine Georgi, Managing Director of ULI for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, explained that resilience in the real estate industry increasingly depends on how early risks are identified and how flexibly one can react to changing conditions. She highlighted that in construction particularly, significant potential lies in greater industrialisation and prefabrication. Georgi noted that MOD starts at a crucial point by bringing the possibilities of prefabrication into a phase where project developers and planners still have options. The combination of data, artificial intelligence, and broad access to providers creates transparency and can reduce cost, schedule, and supply chain risks, showcasing digital innovation to strengthen resilience in the construction and real estate sector.
The PIC is conducted in two phases across Europe and began in 2026 with seven regional competitions in CEE (Poland, Czech Republic), France, Germany, Greece and Cyprus, Spain and Portugal, Switzerland, and the UK and Ireland. As the Swiss winner, MOD qualifies for the pan-European Grand Finale in September 2026. The overall European winner will be announced on 5 November 2026 at the C Change Summit in Dublin. In Switzerland, the PIC 2026 was led by Robin Odermatt, Acquisition & Sales at R2Partners, and Daniyal Mohtashamian, Transaction Manager at Avobis Real Estate AG.
