Asia Pacific Housing Forum Innovation Awards 

The eighth annual Asia Pacific Housing Forum took place December 7-9, 2021 with a theme of “Building forward better for inclusive housing.” The focus of the event was on housing innovations that address the vast and growing need for adequate shelter, heightened in these times by the effects of the pandemic.

Winning in the ShelterTech category was Sampangan a circular economy solution of upcycling waste to create affordable, prefabricated housing materials. The public policy category winner was the JAGA Mission, a success participatory slum upgrading program in Odisha, India that has impacted thousands of lives. Finally in the inspirational category, which I had the privilege to judge, the winner was LaRaksha Social Impact Trust which is a financial inclusion solution providing roofing loans to address the issues of thatched roof houses that require annual repair, are unhygienic, and vulnerable to severe weather.

Many contributors participated in an engaging series of discussions around finance, sustainability, and innovative housing solutions and technologies. I enjoyed contributing my views on advancing entrepreneurship in housing innovation with key insights on the ecosystem as a whole.

Visit the Innovation Awards site for videos sharing more about each of these organizations.

Check out highlights from the two day event.