Introduction [00:00:00]

Dr. Erik Wallin: Welcome to the ProptechOS Best of Breed podcast. I’m Erik Wallin, the chief ecosystem officer of ProptechOS. Today’s guest is Tomi Teikko, the founder of the Empathic Building. Very welcome to have you here.

Tomi Teikko: Thank you.

Dr. Erik Wallin: It’s been too long since we met in person. We will talk about the amazing journey of the Empathic Building and all kinds of ups and downs and challenges. I guess we will be focusing quite much on workplace productivity strategies, but you can be using the empathic building for quite much more. As I said, Tomi is the mind, the inventor of Empathic Building for more than—

Tomi Teikko: Eight years.

Dr. Erik Wallin: Eight years. I remember the first time we were put together by a joint friend, Henrik Eriksson, a real fire starter. I remember seeing the Empathic Building first—and now everyone wonders what is the Empathic Building—but it’s a very good visualization of the building in 3D with lots of graphics, exactly what you can expect when it comes from Finland when it comes to UI design. I mean, it’s lovely. And when I saw this more than five years ago for the first time, it was exceptional, and it has just continued to develop. Tomi, please tell us a little bit about yourself.

Background and Origins [00:02:00]

Tomi Teikko: I have a long history of doing software more than 30 years of software and user solutions for large corporations. And for the last more than 10 years, Proptech, if you can call it smart building, IoT, real-time data. When I started that journey of real-time data and using sensors and IoT, I realized there weren’t many good visualizations of real-time data. All these BIM models and things didn’t support so much—like 10 years ago, not even exactly supporting anything related to real-time data.

The Concept of Empathic Building [00:03:00]

Tomi Teikko: The “empathic” concept comes from my dream, created roughly eight years ago when I created the first concept of visualization. My thinking was that the future of applications is empathic. How can they be empathic when they’re not humans? They are pieces of software, AI, robotics, and so on, including biofeedback and biodata, like this Oura ring is a source of biodata. By including this biodata in software and analytics, the software can understand how you feel, your frustrations, stress levels, etc. That is the secret formula of Empathic software. My thinking was that if you can create empathic software, you can create empathic buildings that adjust indoor air quality environments based on how employees actually feel to help them perform at maximum.

The 3-30-300 Rule and Workplace Evolution [00:04:00]

Dr. Erik Wallin: That brings me to the 3-30-300 rule that originates from the US: 3 dollars per square foot per year in maintenance energy cost for a building, 30 dollars per square foot per year in the lease contract, and 300 dollars per square foot per year for the actual people working in the building. You can see the proportions. I’m coming very much from working with energy efficiency—the 3-dollar domain—and you’re also going up to the 30-dollar domain when trying to optimize space efficiency, but I guess the real big gain is actually working in the 300 domain where it comes to getting maximum value.

Post-Pandemic Workplace Changes [00:05:00]

Tomi Teikko: It relates to this 300 because, when thinking about the empty office, there is none of those 300. So it’s a waste of time. I think the biggest lesson we learned from the pandemic was that work is not a place. When you start thinking about the future of work and the workplace, you need to forget that it’s not a place.

When you understand and accept that work is not a place, you start designing the minimum viable buildings. From the software development perspective, this was innovated years ago. The ones unfamiliar with the waterfall and agile way of developing—the software was made in the waterfall way where you design it, create the specs, develop the software for three years, and then maintain it for 30 years in India. That’s the waterfall way. This is still how real estate works.

Leadership Challenges [00:07:00]

Tomi Teikko: The problem lies in the leadership. We have a history of working in knowledge environments where work was a place—there was an office where you go from eight or nine till five. Building ways to manage productivity and innovation was easy when you have that physical space. Now when it’s gone and work is not a place anymore, the competence to manage or lead innovation and people to be productive didn’t exist because the pandemic just forced everybody to go home.

Healthcare Applications [00:12:00]

Dr. Erik Wallin: I came across Empathic Building in the healthcare sector. It was cool to see how you could use it not just for tracking people but also to track life-supporting equipment or beds.

Tomi Teikko: In healthcare, your assets are more valuable than in the office. An ultrasound machine is more expensive than a video projector. The productivity issue in healthcare is obvious—you have higher demand, more elderly people living longer, and different kinds of new problems we haven’t seen before because we are aging and living longer. At the same time, it’s tough to get staff, and a huge number of new regulations are coming all the time, which makes the administration work of nurses very high.

Future of Healthcare Technology [00:14:00]

Tomi Teikko: I have a real-life experience. My mother is 80 years old and has memory problems. She’s treated at home and is part of new testing where they have remote visits—five times more regularly than physical visits. While living in the US, I could use the same device to call my mother. We need to find these tools, and for decision-makers, if any of you ever listen to this: don’t bring more regulations and administration work for nurses. They have had enough of that already.

Conclusion [00:16:00]

Dr. Erik Wallin: Thank you very much, Tomi, for the insights into Proptech, with the foundation of the Empathic Building. I like your vision of having empathic software and making the buildings that surround you empathic. See below for links to contact me or Tomi if you want more information or to contact us. Don’t forget to subscribe to the ProptechOS Best of Breed podcast. Thank you.