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LJ Hooker and the University of Sydney have joined forces to develop fresh and uncharted ideas aimed at re-engineering the real estate industry.
Five top fourth-year engineering students have selected LJ Hooker as their brand of choice to create a project in innovation.
The students are Bianca De Jesus, Sean Hew, Pauline Lai, Adam Rasko and Alexander Thew.
They are all undergraduates in either biomedicine, mechatronics or mechanical engineering who achieved distinction averages in their third year of study.
Adjunct associate professor in the faculty of engineering and information technology Don White said that the program is designed to challenge the students.
“The advanced engineering program we have in [the] University of Sydney comes about to challenge talented students and gives them assignments to do, which are over and above the opportunity of the average student,” Mr White said.
“In their fourth-year, students partake in experiences that place them as real consultants doing real jobs for real clients.”
Mr White said that the students selected LJ Hooker of their own accord.
“By and large, they were attracted to LJ Hooker by the opportunity to do something innovative and work on something that would stretch them beyond what they would ordinarily do as a defined task at university,” the professor said.
The students had a choice from a variety of businesses, including a data analytics company and several leading business consultancies from various industries.
“What they want to get out of the program is experience working in real time, experience with innovation and how it happens in a real-world situation,” Mr White said.
“They want to be interacting with real problems that exist in the real world.”
LJ Hooker’s head of digital, Drew McTavish, said that it was an exciting opportunity for LJ Hooker to collaborate with such young, curious minds.
Mr McTavish said: “Global tech titans have based themselves in university towns for a reason, and that’s to recruit and retain talent. In Silicon Valley, they have integrated themselves with Stanford and UC Berkeley, and in Boston, they have aligned with Harvard and MIT.
“We’re excited about the opportunity at the University of Sydney, which is home to one of Australia’s top engineering and IT schools, to work with millennials of such high calibre and no doubt are the next generation of innovators and forward thinkers.
“Already we have been impressed with some of their early ideas. Together we’ll look at ways that we can future-proof and change the way we do business.
“We look forward to working with the students to come up with an idea that will propel us forward and set new benchmarks for the industry.”
The students will work from the LJX-Lab at LJ Hooker’s Alexandria headquarters. LJX-Lab is a digital research and development vehicle that fosters innovation through identifying, incubating and commercialising home-grown proptech.
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