Innovation and Experimentation

Our new ventures department specialises in identifying emerging trends in real estate technology and accelerates the adoption of creative solutions. The department adds strategic value by trialling best-in-class technologies to make our business more competitive and efficient, and by investing in real estate-related technology companies. The department works closely with technology start-ups, investors, accelerators and industry partners to stay at the forefront of real estate technology development.

Last year, the department established a USD50 million corporate venture capital fund to make global investments in innovative technology companies. The target investments included property technology (“PropTech”) companies related to smart retail, “offices of the future”, smart building and hotel integration. This fund has invested in a number of start-ups, notably:

• A logistics technology company that helps retailers make store-to-store and store-to-door deliveries in the most efficient and cost-effective manner,
• An air circulation and filtration solutions company that seeks to reduce the energy required for a building’s air-conditioning systems,
• An Internet of Things (“IoT”) solutions company that enhances commercial real estate productivity by providing insights on spatial usage.

The team continues to scout innovative and relevant technology companies around the world, aiming to make prudent financial and strategic investments to help our business grow.

Launched in 2020, the Innovation Accelerator is an initiative designed to foster a culture of innovation at Swire Properties. In 2021, we also launched the Innovation Accelerator programme for our employees in the Chinese Mainland. The programme identifies Change Agents to help drive change across the Company, providing them with training and opportunities for collaboration. The hope is that these Change Agents will then become leaders who influence their colleagues in their respective departments, helping to create a company-wide cultural shift towards innovation.

Throughout the year, we provided several training programmes to equip our Change Agents with both soft and hard skills. In our Friday Roundtable Lunch and Learn Series, we explored such topics as developing a growth mindset, and introduced technology topics such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud, and big data.

ideas@work is an annual programme that promotes and stimulates innovation within the Company. Employees are invited to share their ideas on how to improve operations and productivity and are rewarded by seeing their ideas come to life.

In 2021, the theme of ideas@work was “We Are All Smart Place Makers”. The programme was divided into four pillars – “Smarter Process”, “Better Experience”, “Greater Talents”, and “Stronger Partnerships” – to help steer the direction of the new ideas, with the latter two designed to canvass ideas on nurturing and empowering employees, and building long-term, win-win strategic partnerships. The programme also focused on employee engagement, idea quality and implementation by introducing the General Manager (“GM”) delegate role – a person who assists the GM of each portfolio in driving innovation and promoting the ideas@work programme; and focusing more on business impact, innovation and implementing selected ideas.

Over 680 ideas were received in 2021, with 57% of those approved moved towards implementation.

This year’s winners were:

• Top prize: Curtain Wall Inspection by Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle – a solution that supports the health and safety of our employees and ensures that the inspection process is carried out with accuracy and efficiency.
• First Runner-up: Tenant Portal Upgrade – enhancing our existing Tenant Portal to support a maintenance request function that streamlines service. Learn more about our Tenant Portal here.
• Second Runners-up:
• A smart, touchless turnstile system which lets tenants and visitors access our INDIGO development in Beijing conveniently and securely using body-temperature detection and different identification methods including facial recognition.
• The 1.5°C@Work Challenge – an employee engagement programme to support our 1.5°C-aligned science-based decarbonisation target. Read more about the 1.5°C@Work Challenge here.

The Ice Palace at Cityplaza has long been an important component of the mall. Starting in 2020, the skating rink underwent a comprehensive renovation which included innovative elements of sustainability, community care and digitalisation.

The rink now offers Hong Kong’s first seamless, contactless, self-service skating experience. Entirely digitalised, self-service kiosks allow customers to pay, then print a wristband with a QR code that provides entrance through the turnstiles, along with skate rentals, locker access, rental return and exit functions. The code streamlines the customer experience, making it safer and more efficient.

Several new features at the Cityplaza Ice Palace enhance the visitor experience, including a nursery room, upgraded stretching rooms and private function rooms with instructional videos demonstrating proper stretching exercises for figure skaters.