Dear readers

FIBREE must raise all flags to keep up with these developments in the market. As of January 1, 2023, I was elected to succeed my predecessor and co-founder of FIBREE, Achim Jedelsky, as President of FIBREE. On this occasion, I would like to thank Achim for the world-leading organisation he established in the early years of FIBREE.

Looking ahead, we will intensify our work with our corporate and expert members and the academic network. Under the motto FIBREE 2.0, we started the organisation's transition in 2023, allowing us to be closer to where the relevant activities are taking place in the market and within our community. The FIBREE Industry Report remains a cornerstone for our organisation. It is our most important annual market report and an unparalleled reference document. From now on, it will be published in a more dynamic web-based format. This allows us, over time, to create a series of articles covering the same topic. It also allows us to offer the Industry Report being browser-translated into 42 languages from its launch.

Another development is that we will set up our internal community platform a little more than before as “the place to meet” for our corporate members and leading global experts, where they can easily find each other and share knowledge and experiences or initiate joint market developments. In September, FIBREE will host its Global Summit, a three-day online event appropriate for every time zone worldwide. More than 50 experts will inform you about the latest developments in the market.

In addition, we remain committed to bringing the leading academic and applied researchers together and sharing their work to feed the dialogue, whether it takes place somewhere at a university or a corporate research institute.

In public matters, blockchain technology is playing an increasingly prominent role. In the past year, for example, there have been many developments worldwide in harmonising legislation for investing in digital and crypto assets. New sustainability legislation, Europe first but with global impact, is also cautiously anticipating the added value that can be achieved with blockchain technology. Other developments, such as digital identities and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), have gained political interest at a record pace during the last year. Inspired by examples in the decentralised domain, central governments worldwide are developing new digital systems in which blockchain technology can play an important role.

The big political question is: Which way and to what extent will this go, and what may be its implications in our domain? Closer monitoring, well-founded guidance and expert sparring may be needed more often. I foresee FIBREE becoming more active on behalf of its supporters. Last year we already became a partner of New European Bauhaus, the government movement within the European Union for sustainable and well-thought-out renovation and new construction of the built environment. More recently, FIBREE as an NGO was granted special consultative status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UN ECOSOC). In addition, FIBREE is increasingly involved in public-private projects on a local scale, either as a contributor of technology or legal solutions or as a project or process manager. And we have introduced FIBREE Consultancy Services to use the specific expertise and know-how gathered in our unique global expert network to offer advisory, sparring, and education to our clients.

Dear readers, a lot is going on in the world of blockchain and real estate, and this year's edition of the FIBREE Industry Report reflects in-depth information on that. Thanks to everyone in the workgroup who has worked hard recently and months to bring together the best authors of articles on various topics. To the people who, once again this year, have devoted themselves to research activities, the results of which form a vital part of the Industry Report. And, of course, to those who managed to shape this into the new web-based format. In addition, big thanks to all the partners, sponsors, corporate and full members for their steady and growing support for FIBREE. With this new Industry Report 2023, I hope FIBREE can inspire and encourage everyone interested in blockchain and real estate to join our leading global network. Let's strengthen each other as a network so that the pioneers in our market can continue to progress in developing their products. Alone you go faster, but together we can get further!