MIPIM. LOOKING BACK. LOOKING FORWARD.

Andrew Barber

Thoughts and images from Mipim 2018.

Taking place in Cannes in mid-March, Mipim 2018 was once again a huge success.

With the shadow of the events involving members of the property sector at the infamous President's Club dinner hanging over the event, and rumours of undercover reporters keen on exposing untoward behaviour of attendees, there was an air of nervousness among some delegates as they headed to the Côte d'Azur. If there is one positive to come from the bad publicity surrounding the Presidents Club, it is that there were many positive conversations around diversity and a palpable change in the attitudes of many concerning equality and the transformation of the industry.

It was also evident that more delegates were aware of other changes in the market and PropTech was a big focus of the event. It is no wonder that EG chose Mipim to launch its new Tech magazine - which was marked with a panel discussion at the "EG Tech Session: The ultimate guide to start-up collaboration", which you can listed to (along with other things) here on the EG Tech Talk podcast "Moth murder, daylight savings and why failure is no bad thing".

Elsewhere at Mipim delegates took every opportunity to network, meet new people, reaffirm existing relationships and enjoy the variety of lunches, drink events and parties. The annual Shedmasters party continues to be a huge success and, once again, the sun shone on the gathering of senir decision makers in the industrial and distribution market.

Looking forward to Mipim 2019. the annual gathering will take place just weeks before the UK is due to exit the European Union. It remains to be seen what the prevailing mood will be, particularly among the British contingent. While the true impact of Brexit will not be known until it happens, the changes will bring opportuities.

And opportunities are what the real estate thrives on.