New technologies such as AI and IoT are advancing at a rapid pace, and major changes are occurring in corporate behavior and people’s lives, including the spread of remote work. In addition, social issues are becoming more recognized as the population declines and the population ages.

With such rapid changes in socio-economic conditions, social needs for real estate are diversifying, and the role of real estate is about to change significantly. In order to accurately grasp and research the movements and disseminate appropriate information to society, we will promote interdisciplinary research collaboration without being siloed within academic field, industry and policy makers, and such active collaboration is indispensable for our research and a society.

With the awareness of such issues, the Center for Real Estate Innovation Research Center (CREI) was established in April 2020 as a collaborative research organization of the University of Tokyo. At this center, we build a foundation for AI / big data analysis by accumulating and analyzing real estate data, and to proceed with the following four research themes and projects.

<1> How to vitalize major cities such as Tokyo
<2> How to increase the value of a certain depopulating area
<3> Accumulation of real estate information and improvement of evaluation / analysis
<4> Introduction of new technology and future real estate industry

In the future, while linking and collaborating with various researchers and practitioners, this center will function as a research platform and can contribute to the realization of “real estate innovation” by widely disseminating the results domestically and overseas.

Noriyuki Yanagawa
Director,
Center for Real Estate Innovation Research (CREI)
The University of Tokyo
(Professor, Graduate School of Economics, the University of Tokyo)