Corporate real estate is life, and life is corporate real estate. Well of course we know that, but for students, a career in corporate real estate may be less clear. And we have been working hard to fix that!
This week in Singapore, for the fourth time, CoreNet Global has hosted an Academic Challenge. Student teams from around the world compete to solve a corporate real estate challenge.
In the scenario presented by the challenge, the teams were retained by a large, multinational corporation in the financial services, high-tech, or manufacturing sector seeking to answer the CEO’s charge to review the worldwide real estate portfolio in terms of risk (economic, supply chain, geopolitical, physical, reputational, etc.).
Specifically, the teams were challenged to determine a strategy for the CEO that articulates how to reduce risk in the company’s worldwide physical footprint (i.e., real estate portfolio) and thereby reduce overall risk exposure to the corporation.
A team from the Georgia Institute of Technology won the competition. The other finalists included the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, and National University of Singapore.
The Academic Challenge is an important step in raising the awareness of the profession and the impact of corporate real estate on the global economy. The competition is designed to attract students from all academic disciplines to tackle key challenges facing the profession, and perhaps more importantly, the challenges facing the enterprises our members serve.