Cambridge, MA Willow, the leading provider of digital twin solutions for modern, efficient and smart infrastructure and real estate, has become a corporate partner of the MIT Center for Real Estate (MITCRE). Willow will participate in opportunities to collaborate on research, engaging MIT expert voices in customer working groups and will take part in MITCRE’s global calendar of events. Willow will also become one of the founding partners of MITCRE’s newly formed Real Estate Technology Initiative (RETi), which explores advanced research in new areas of real estate technology.

MITCRE’s partnerships aim to benefit each of the Center’s constituent groups - students, faculty, researchers and the partners themselves - in a positive collaboration that serves the industry as a whole. By establishing a partnership with the Center, industry sponsors such as Willow, will help advance key research into real world applications while gaining special access to the Center’s intellectual capital and global network.

MITCRE brings together MIT’s renowned academic institution with corporate enterprise, partnering with groups that align with their core values. Willow is a technology that supports and aligns with MITCRE core values as it helps meet the challenges of an increasingly interconnected world.

Joshua Ridley, Willow Global CEO and Co-Founder said, “To see true industry change, we must first see collaboration across academia, technology, private and public sectors.”

“Digital twins are a new and emerging technology in the built world, and [Willow’s] ambition is that the partnership with MITCRE will continue to strengthen our value proposition through joint collaboration and research. We see this partnership as an opportunity for us to collaborate with one of the world’s leading educational institutions.”

Steve Weikal, Industry Chair of the Real Estate Technology Initiative, also shared, “We see Willow as a progressive leader in digital technology and one of our unique partners in this space. We look forward to this collaboration and the exciting future ahead.”

The MIT Center for Real Estate is a department at MIT which offers a Master’s of Science in Real Estate Development (MSRED), and interdisciplinary research linking academia with industry to meet the need for more informed decision-making and leading edge research in science and technology. MIT is uniquely positioned to help the industry increase its efficiency, prosperity and social responsibility. Through research and education initiatives at the MITCRE, MIT applies its tradition of excellence in technology, knowledge transfer and global reach to the real estate industry for developing innovations to help practitioners increase both responsibility and profitably. Since its founding in 1983, the MIT Center for Real Estate has partnered with organizations in every sector of the global real estate industry.