Lifestyle innovations and future homes

THERE is a constant race to create and innovate in order to make everyday life easier. In every aspect of life, in every business, in every sector, there is an unlimited quest to enhance processes and make better the environment in which we stay, work or play in. Hence, the importance of knowing what people want next in their homes, their offices and their community so that the right technology can be harnessed to meet those needs and wants. For instance, in the digital age, the world is already expecting the Internet of Things (IoT) to take over the way most things work in future.

At the Future Forward Forum entitled “#Trending: Developing Tomorrow”, organised by Rehda Youth (the youth section of the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia) in partnership with Nippon Paint Malaysia on Sept 29, 2016, Panasonic Malaysia general manager and head of strategic B2B development Tan Chee Hon’s presentation entitled “Property and technology: Race of innovation and aspiration of the community” touched on the challenges property developers face when incorporating lifestyle technologies in their projects.

“There are several questions that property developers should ask themselves when it comes to approaching lifestyle technologies. What technology truly matters to homeowners and the community? And how can we predict what’s best in the next five years from now?” Tan cited as some of the relevant questions to pose.

One should always consider the aspiration of the community’s needs first, he said. “From there, you then develop a communication code, validate the code by numerical targets, find out what equipment and systems are needed to facilitate the process and, lastly, form partnerships or consortiums to achieve the aspiration”.

According to Tan, the fundamental needs of human beings — security and comfort — will remain even in the future. The relevant technology and appliances to address security and comfort such as security cameras, alarm systems, air conditioners and others are already available. However, as the world advances, so do our needs.

No one would have thought that air conditioning would become a norm in almost every building or that the mobile phone would become a “daily necessity” or something that we just cannot do without. Hence, our needs have expanded from requiring connectivity in our everyday lives to having a more eco-friendly approach to life. These needs then converged with our fundamental needs, leading us to have new appliances such as smartphones, LED lighting, storage devices, energy-efficient appliances and others.

“The further convergence of these needs will then bring us to home network systems, smart homes or building systems, smart home appliances with energy visualisation and control systems,” said Tan. One can expect further expansion of needs to the wellness and mobility segments.

Tan added such advanced expansion of needs will lead the market to come up with even more advanced products such as healthcare information and communications technology (ICT) portals, urban farming systems, electric vehicles (EV) and EV car-sharing systems.

Even in the coatings industry we are already seeing paint manufacturers such as Nippon Paint Malaysia coming up with formaldehyde abatement and anti-viral paints simply because of the growing desire or need for a healthy life that has and will continue to be a top priority for every family.

“We’re now at the stage where we have achieved security and comfort. By 2020, wellness and mobility will become new fundamental needs. Also as technology progresses, there will be more choices for consumers at various price levels on the market. Hence, even with a tiny budget, you can still enjoy technology,” he added.

Technology or innovation can be a key differentiation for a business including for property developers, said Tan.

At Panasonic, the company is looking to invest the next five to 10 years in research and development on IoT or robotics, among others.

“For IoT or robotics, we are looking at artificial intelligence robotics for home appliances, autonomous driving, stores and services solutions. We are also looking at home energy solutions as well as automotive energy solutions,” he said.

This story first appeared in TheEdgeProperty.com pullout on Oct 21, 2016, which comes with The Edge Financial Daily every Friday. Download TheEdgeProperty.com pullout here for free.