At the recent 55th annual World Trade Centers Association (WTCA) Global Business Forum (GBF) in Marseille, France, leading experts convened to discuss the future of real estate investment in global trade hubs, emphasizing the critical role of innovative technologies and evolving market dynamics.
During the “Real Estate Investment in Global Trade Hubs” session, Lia Rochat, Founder and CEO of France-based Archismart Solar, underscored the imperative of technological adoption to maintain competitiveness. “Adopting innovative technology solutions is critical to remaining competitive in the evolving real estate and business landscape,” stated Ms. Rochat. She specifically highlighted the impending transformative impact of blockchain and Web3, predicting that these technologies will enable “decentralized, transparent, trusted, and faster interactions without relying on central authorities such as banks, brokers, and big tech platforms.”
Ms. Rochat further elaborated on how Web3, the next generation of the internet built on decentralized, open-source technologies like blockchain, will revolutionize trade through asset tokenization and peer-to-peer exchanges. “It will change everything in real estate trade, as well as approaches to real estate development and financing,” she added. Asset tokenization, a key innovation of Web3, involves creating digital tokens representing ownership of physical assets, offering a new alternative asset class for investors.
Echoing the sentiment of technological advancement, Diego Cortese, Vice President of Venue Commercial at the Dubai World Trade Center (DWTC), shared tangible examples of these innovations in practice. DWTC has partnered with the Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority to oversee digital and virtual assets and has signed an agreement with the Dubai Land Department for the tokenization of real estate transactions, demonstrating real-world implementation of these forward-looking concepts.
The 2025 WTCA GBF also featured a dedicated Real Estate Summit, where global experts examined the state of commercial real estate and its contribution to economic growth. Discussions spanned the impact of sustainable infrastructure and energy innovation on future developments, alongside insights into hyper-growth sectors such as data centers and logistics facilities.
Jacopo Dettoni, Editor of fDi Intelligence of the Financial Times, addressed the rapid acceleration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies and their profound effect on real estate work models. “The next wave is going to come from Artificial Intelligence, and it is going to come pretty quickly. Acknowledging the wave and trying to ride it, rather than being hit by it, is how we are going to define winners and losers,” Mr. Dettoni cautioned.
Mr. Dettoni also observed a significant shift in foreign direct investment (FDI) within real estate, moving away from traditional office spaces towards residential properties and emerging asset classes, including industrial properties and data centers. He also noted a growing global demand for life science assets, such as laboratories and clinics. Furthermore, while data centers were historically concentrated in major economic hubs, increasing demand and cost considerations are driving their expansion beyond Tier 1 cities, leading to a more distributed global network.
The 2025 WTCA GBF, hosted by WTC Marseille Provence, brought together over 400 attendees representing more than 50 countries and territories, along with nearly 120 World Trade Center businesses. The event successfully fostered new global business connections and provided valuable insights into investment opportunities within Marseille, a vital Mediterranean port and France’s oldest city.
Under the theme “Gateway to the Mediterranean,” the Forum empowered participants to expand their businesses internationally, reinforcing WTCA’s core mission: “Connecting Businesses, Globally.”
