WHAT IF and Ülemiste City Launch Pilot with AI Platform Franklin, Creating Digital DNA for Buildings
Strategy and innovation company WHAT IF is developing a new AI-based building data platform Franklin, which is being piloted in collaboration with Ülemiste City developer Mainor Ülemiste.
The project’s goal is to test how organized foundational data and clear ontology help make building management faster, more auditable, and more transparent with AI.
The platform’s development focuses on a simple yet transformative idea:
all building-related data must be organized, immediately accessible, and machine-readable.
The platform is in the research and development phase and is backed by WHAT IF’s team, which includes data scientists, artificial intelligence engineers, and software developers who combine knowledge from the real estate sector and AI technology.
While document search and data verification have so far been time-consuming and risky, the pilot project explores how AI could help reduce unexpected costs, accelerate transaction processes, and provide a more solid foundation for management and investment decisions.
If the pilot succeeds, the solution can be expanded across Europe, where real estate owners need both transparent transaction decisions and more efficient project implementation in a rapidly changing market.
The goal is to create a digital DNA for buildings that will take the real estate sector from fragmented documents to an era of strategic data management
The real estate sector must quickly enter the AI era.
Only when foundational data is in order and framed by ontology can AI begin to automatically sort and organize information, and this can accelerate decision-making processes across the entire industry several times over.
Maria Freimann
WHAT IF founder
The project is part of the Ülemiste City Test City initiative, which aims to collaborate with innovative companies to develop the urban environment.
Ülemiste City’s real estate portfolio currently comprises 260,000 m², and to manage it, we need fast and reliable information. Franklin’s solution helps us better manage building data and make data-driven decisions both on a daily basis and in the long term.
The Ülemiste City pilot project is the first step in a broader vision. WHAT IF sees Franklin as new infrastructure that helps the real estate sector move from fragmented documents and slow information management to an era where data is visible and strategic decisions are made quickly and confidently.
“Our vision is that the user interface would also allow interaction with the building as simply as with a digital assistant, where the necessary information is at hand in an instant,” Freimann added.
