By Krysten BrenllaJust as they are throughout this year’s March Madness, game-changers were out in force at events like eMerge Americas and Israel Tech Week – fueling the fire for #MiamiTech entrepreneurs, investors, startups, and tech lovers.From March 27 to April 3, over 50 speakers and more than 2,000 attendees came together during a series of events for Miami’s first-ever Israel Tech Week, which united Israel’s tech ecosystem with Miami’s tech innovation hub, shedding light on the innovations and impact technology is having on startups, companies, talent, and more. On Wednesday, Refresh Miami had the opportunity to tune in to Israel Tech Week’s PropTech Summit, where real estate developers, investors, property managers, founders, and technology innovators came together to explore how artificial intelligence, smart buildings, and digital transactions are reshaping the future of real estate, construction, and property management.Throughout the evening, two panels – moderated by Eric Brody, founder and principal of Anax Real Estate Partners – dove into ‘Real Estate and Construction Tech’ and ‘Why Real Estate Needs Tech.’Here are three insights straight from the minds of construction giants and industry trailblazers that we took away from the evening: 1: Do we really need artificial intelligence in real estate, construction, and property management? The answer is yes.Patrick Murphy, founder and CEO of construction-tech startup Togal.AI and CIO of Coastal Construction, emphasized the processing power of AI, and how its automation can turn boring tasks that may take humans months to complete – like quantifying materials –- into seconds with a click of a mouse.“McKinsey did a study not too long ago that said over the past 50 years, the increase in productivity and construction is 0 percent – construction, many could argue, has gone backwards,” Murphy said. “But, I believe that artificial intelligence has now presented the processing power to interpret the nuance in those PDF/plan documents and excel spreadsheets in construction, and make sense of it very quickly.”Marcos Marti, vice president of technology at Related Group, emphasized how AI is positively impacting property management through predictive maintenance by detecting potential property issues before they even occur.“One of the biggest frustrations that you have when you manage a property is the maintenance staff – they’re very hard to come by,” Marti said. “With the recent advances in AI, we’re seeing that we can actually dispatch someone and have a regional maintenance employee, versus one for every building – which is nearly impossible to come across these days.”He also highlighted the effectiveness of AI chatbots in property management with their human-like interactions, allowing leasing questions to be answered quickly and effectively.“Five years ago, you knew you were talking to a bot. Now, with advances in AI, it’s more natural – clients are happy because they’re getting the right answer, and faster.”2: Rather than fearing job displacement with AI, professionals in the industry should view AI as tools for empowerment.Although real estate and construction may seem like brick and mortar, automation and technology are needed to help escalate projects and tasks. However, many employees are feeling scared when it comes to the rise of AI – will jobs be replaced by this scary tool?The answer is definitely not

MIAMI, Fla. - Togal.AI is celebrating Chief Operating Officer Karlie LaCroix and all of the women in the construction industry during the 24th Annual Women in Construction Week (March 6-12, 2022).

1Amazon to open 50,000 square foot office in WynwoodJust over a year ago Jeff Bezos announced he was moving to Miami. Now Amazon has signed a 50,333-square-foot lease in a new office building in Miami’s Wynwood. It is the largest office lease ever in the tech-focused, art-centric neighborhood.LL Holding Co. and Oak Row Equities, along with partners Shorenstein Investment Advisors and Claure Group, announced they signed a lease with e-commerce giant Amazon for Wynwood Plaza. The 1 million-square-foot mixed-use project is under construction at 95 N.W. 29th Street.An Amazon spokesperson told the South Florida Business Journal that it couldn’t disclose how many people would be employed there