The construction industry represents a massive $13 trillion global market, recently projected by McKinsey to reach $16 trillion this year. Yet, despite its enormous scale and economic impact, construction remains frustratingly slow to embrace digital transformation. Construction ranks “second to last in terms of digitization,” trailing only agriculture in technology adoption, Dan Weisman, National Association of REALTORS®’ director of Innovation Strategy within Strategic Business, Innovation & Technology, told attendees at a recent session, Building the Future of Construction Tech: A Global Outlook. NAR, in partnership with Blueprint and Equity Angels, hosted a panel of industry leaders on July 30th to dive into how to build, invest and innovate in construction tech.
The challenges for the construction industry are well-documented: labor shortages, evolving sustainability regulations, mounting pressure for speed and cost efficiency, and persistent supply chain disruptions. Productivity in construction lags significantly behind other industries at just 1% compared to the broader economy’s 2.8%.
However, where others see obstacles, the panelists see unprecedented opportunity. When asked to define innovation, the conversation was refreshingly practical. Antonia Soler-Blasco, VP of Marketing and Head of Hilti Venture and Co-Founder, Women in Construction Tech, summed it up as “opportunity, evolution, and better”—better buildings, quality of life, and safety. Julieta Moradei, Founder and Managing Partner of Overly Capital, starts with problems, not solutions, asking where in the value chain—from design to operations—projects consistently run over budget or schedule. Raja Ghawi, partner at Era Ventures, defined it simply as “change,” whether through technology, new processes, or business models like the vertical integration trends reshaping the industry.
Since 2010, $50 billion has been invested in construction tech—a clear signal that the industry is ready for transformation.
The Vertical Integration Revolution
The panelists urged a vertical integration approach to tackling the key challenges facing the building industry. It may mean a return to their roots, yet with an added high-tech twist. “The industry used to be vertically integrated, with one contractor being responsible for multiple scopes of work,” Raja says. “And then in the seventies it got insanely disintegrated … and what we’re seeing right now is sort of this pullback to verticalizing the process.”
General contractors are increasingly bringing critical path work in-house, from layout robotics to concrete operations. This isn’t just about margin improvement; it’s about risk management and quality control.
Soler-Blasco reinforced this trend from Hilti Venture‘s perspective: “When [multiple contractors] join forces, they are able to create efficiencies, collaborate, and make it easier to build all while reducing errors.”
However, successful implementation requires early planning. As Soler-Blasco cautioned, “things like robotics cannot be an afterthought, or it cannot be something that you decide once the project is going, because there are a lot of things that you will approach differently.”
Global Perspectives, Local Solutions
The international dimension of construction tech could help further inspire innovation in the U.S.. Moradei shared a global perspective on how regulatory differences can drive innovation: “some of the technologies in Europe are just more advanced when it comes to sustainability… technologies that will start in a specific region. For example, some policies in Norway are much more advanced than what we’ve seen here in the U.S. We can learn from them”
For example, Sivan Blasenheim, Managing Partner with REACH Israel– Second Century Ventures, highlighted how the country’s innovation ecosystem thrives on collaboration. “Israeli innovation is paired with real world insight from the global real estate and construction leaders, the result is faster adoption,” Blasenheim said. “We see smarter iterations and far greater impact.”
This global-local dynamic creates opportunities for cross-border technology transfer, where solutions developed for specific environments can scale to address similar challenges worldwide.
Investment Landscape: Beyond the AI Hype
While AI dominates headlines and pitch decks, the investor panelists revealed more nuanced investment strategies. “We think AI is going to make robots a lot smarter, we see those tailwinds, and we’re super excited about spending time and capital there,” Ghawi said.
Additionally, geopolitical factors are creating new opportunities: “Tariffs will scramble global trade routes that might necessitate the creation of new marketplaces that bring new supply,” Ghawi added.
Soler-Blasco emphasized the importance of construction industry experience in founding teams. “Do they bring construction experience?” Soler-Blasco said. “Because I think that for construction tech startups, knowing the industry and the players, and the pain points makes a huge difference.”
Perhaps most importantly, Moradei introduced the concept of “adoption diligence”—testing technologies in real-world conditions before investing. “We invest in companies once we’ve already piloted them on a job site,” Moradei said. “It helps us determine—are you easy to implement? What’s your adoption? And what’s the user experience, the user interface?”
Real-World Innovation Examples
Blasenheim provided examples of how construction tech is delivering measurable impact today:
- Atom Construction: Uses AI-powered cameras on cranes to continuously monitor construction sites, comparing real-time progress against plans to identify mistakes and errors.
- Smart Site: Deploys IoT sensors across construction sites to provide comprehensive data on project progress, safety issues, and plan deviations.
- LeanCon: Transforms construction site design from a month-long process to a seven-minute human-free operation, accelerating construction timelines by 20%.
Looking Forward: The Future of Built Environment Tech
The construction industry is on the cusp of major change. Panelists shared several key themes for the future of construction tech:
- Integration Over Isolation: The boundaries between prop tech and construction tech are blurring into a unified “built environment” approach.
- Adoption Over Innovation: Technical capabilities matter less than user adoption and real-world implementation success.
- Global Collaboration: Cross-border partnerships and knowledge sharing will accelerate innovation and implementation.
- Practical Problem-Solving: The most successful innovations will address specific, measurable pain points rather than chase technology trends.
The combination of massive market opportunity, significant capital investment, and increasingly sophisticated solutions creates unprecedented potential for transformation within the construction industry. Success, however, will require moving beyond the hype to focus on practical solutions that address real problems.
“What matters most for us is—are we addressing the most critical pain points today and in the future?” Moradei said.
The future of construction lies not just in deploying new technologies, but in thoughtfully integrated innovations that measurably improve how we design, build, and operate the spaces where we live and work.
Author
Dan Weisman
Dan Weisman is Director of Innovation Strategy within Strategic Business, Innovation & Technology at the National Association of REALTORS®.
Interested in learning more about construction tech innovation? Connect with our panelists on LinkedIn or join us at upcoming industry events where we’ll continue exploring how technology is reshaping the built environment.
