By Krysten Brenlla
Just 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, Miami’s first-ever Israel Tech Week 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.
“The inaugural Israel Tech Week was a resounding success – eight days, 28 events, over 150 speakers, and more than 1,800 attendees,” said Lior Halabi, co-founder and CEO of Israel Tech Week. “We proudly achieved our three core goals: first, to showcase Israel’s innovation ecosystem to the U.S. market by bringing over 100 Israeli founders to connect with top-tier investors and industry leaders; second, to strengthen the bonds between Israeli tech, Jewish-American entrepreneurs, and the broader local Miami community; and third, to establish Israel Tech Week as the world’s longest and leading Jewish business and innovation conference – not just as a global platform, but as a meaningful driver of growth for the Miami tech ecosystem itself.”
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 – in 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 in 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. “It’s not about replacement, it’s about empowerment,” said Lior Abramovich, co-founder and CEO of Blanket, which helps property managers keep and grow their portfolios using AI and automation.
The speakers emphasized that while AI can automate unnecessary tasks, understanding the existing practices of human operators is crucial for effective integration within real estate, construction, and property management.
“Although AI is very important, it’s the human that trains the AI that’s more important,” said Yuval Golan, founder and CEO of Waltz, a startup that makes it easy for foreigners to buy real estate in the United States. “If the human is not well trained or experienced enough, you’ll get errors, which will then be passed along to everyone else.”
3: Even if your company begins to integrate AI and technology, human collaboration and relationships are still key for success.
Throughout the discussion, the speakers emphasized that building strong partnerships and keeping open lines of communication – not just with clients and property managers, but also with programmers and AI gurus – is essential for driving successful technology adoption while tackling challenges like market volatility.
“The average lender spends about $12,000 to $15,000 trying to close a loan,” said John Liss, founder and CEO of True Footage, a tech-enabled residential appraisal company that streamlines property valuations for appraisers, lenders and homeowners. “So, if you can close that gap significantly for a customer and have less fallout risk, that’s a huge move for them.”
Will Israel Tech Week return to Miami next year? We asked Halabi for some thoughts on that.
“What I loved most was witnessing people meet for the first time at one event and reconnect again and again throughout the week. That natural rhythm – from panels to networking to social gatherings – transformed first encounters into real relationships and long-term partnerships. We’re building something that matters not just globally, but locally too, because people here genuinely care about the growth and future of this city as a global innovation hub,” said Halabi.
“We believe the momentum and connections formed this year will have a lasting impact, and we look forward to expanding this vision even further at our next edition, scheduled for April 23–30, 2026.”
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