The UK has a reputation for innovation: just think of the hovercraft, the television, and Concorde. However, the US always appears to lead Europe in implementing the ideas and making money from them. Realcomm, the US conference on technology in Real Estate is always a good place to find out what new ideas work and to learn from experiences in the US, whether the idea is e-business, mobile working or building automation.

This year Realcomm was held in Anaheim, just next to Disneyland in California, but the focus of the conference was anything but the plot of a fairytale. The keynote speeches pointed out that the US is falling behind in many key macro-economic measures. Education in the US now lags many parts of the Far East and, unlike Singapore and Korea, new real estate developments in the US focus on improving old recipes rather than developing new ways of living with digital technology. Furthermore, speakers pointed out that whilst India, China and Mexico have labour rates of between $0.70 and $1.70 per hour, those in the US average $21 per hour. The global competitive pressure is huge.

Given these threats to the US' competitive position, what can Real Estate practitioners learn from elsewhere and what should they do?

Jim Young, the founder of the conference has augmented the conference programme with study trips to Asia in the past two years. The technology changes seen there have helped develop the conference from simply software and e-business to include a greater emphasis on building automation. This is apparent in the range of exhibitors but it also expands the scope of the conference seminars.

The most obvious way in which the US is being left behind is in property development. The UK's 30 St Mary Axe (Gherkin translated rather uncomfortably to Pickle) was cited as being the current state of the art in office design but the scale of innovative thought in Asia is huge by comparison. New cities are being built such as New Songdo in South Korea totalling 1,376 acres to be built over the next 10 years. Here, internet access is ubiquitous with minimum 100Mb links to all occupational units, even residential.

Prologis showed their warehouse developments in Japan where space is at such a premium they have developed multi-storey warehouses with spiral ramps and floors through which the trucks drive to get to their docks.

However, despite the Far East's apparent domination of all new property development ideas, China was described by one panellist as the last great property development of the 20th Century - although the scale of building is large, the new buildings themselves owe more to the technology of the 1970's than modern thinking.

The US showcased one development which challenges the Far East's title for innovation. This is DestiNY, being created in Syracuse, New York, to become a leading entertainment and technology city with a planned 4.5 million sqft. The covered development will be owned and managed by one entity so that it can truly deliver integrated services to tenants and visitors. Retail tenants will sign agreements which specify no rent - the owners take a proportion of their revenue and tenants must make sales possible by whatever means the infrastructure allows - online sales with delivery to any address, online sales for collection and traditional retail stores. The idea is to leverage as much use of wireless internet technology as possible.

A session discussing the innovation within Europe was interesting for two reasons: firstly, it seemed strange to travel 5,500 miles from home to hear such a good summary of what Europe is adding to property innovation. Secondly, compared with other similar sessions, it was poorly attended. In terms of innovation, Europe may not match the pace of new development in Asia but Europe's adoption of environmental and sustainable building initiatives far outstrips the efforts so far in the US. A very good presentation by Alan Kell of I & I Limited clearly set out the comparisons between Europe and the US in these areas and the increasing cost of oil may encourage change.

Another area where Europe appears to be ahead of the US is in property management and particularly in accounting. A key difference between the US and Europe has long been that tenants have paid rents by cheque. Even now, only 20% of rents are collected by Electronic Funds Transfer. It also appeared that property accounts in the UK are managed by fewer staff per property than in the US.

Some of the advances made in Europe were recognised and honoured at the conference. In particular, Digie awards for achievement were made to Chris Lees of Calvis for his work on PISCES and to Quintain Estates and Development for their integrated reporting systems.

The PISCES data standard, and its global partner, OSCRE, were both the subject of many of the seminars and there is considerable support in the US for the initiative. Significant resource is being put into the creation of a full range of standards across property functions and many leading members of the property community in the US stood up in its support at the show.

Over the two days of the conference there were 32 open seminars covering iBuildings, Innovation, Corporates and Owners. Topics ran the whole gamut of areas where technology touches and improves property.

In one panel, investment brokers from across the US presented their approaches to using the web and mobile devices to increase their turnover and deliver added value. One investment broker had identified a particular need for private investors to reinvest capital within a certain period or lose a tax- break. He targeted these investors by creating a web site specifically to help them reinvest. Another broker specialising in apartments has created an online database of all apartments in their area, thus capturing and passing on far more knowledge about the area than their competitors. The panel consisted of brokers who relied on personal relationships and also those who avoided face-to-face contact with clients. Both were equally successful but appealed to different types of investor.

I was part of a panel debating technology in outsourcing - right at the other end of the spectrum of the industry. Our discussion ranged from Sun Microsystem's current battle to standardise their outsourced contract with service providers, to research on technological barriers to integrate services, and the opportunity/threat of offshore Business Process Outsourcing.

Realcomm is adapting to its new role in the industry. It is no longer solely about entrepreneurial dot.com opportunities - it is about how innovation across the industry can be shared and new business created. There was a feeling at times that the conference was running a little ahead of the majority of delegates but this is no bad thing. The trick will be to maintain that momentum but not lose the core of property professionals who wish to improve their existing business.

By Andrew Waller. A version of this article was first published by Estates Gazette on 26 June 2005
Andrew Waller is a Partner at Remit Consulting LLP, and specialises in helping companies to use their property information and systems to better manage their business.