Technology, data and innovation will take centre stage in Zone Two at Future Foundations 2026, with four panels examining how social housing providers can make better use of technology and overcome some of the barriers preventing digital transformation.
The zone has been curated by Stewart Davison, founder of Elehan Consulting and the PropTech Peer Group, with the programme designed to bring housing professionals and technology providers together for discussions around practical applications rather than individual products or technologies.
Across the day, speakers will explore the role of smaller technology providers, the move from pilots to implementation, the impact of AI on housing professionals and the data challenges behind transformation projects.
The SME advantage: looking beyond the biggest technology providers
The first panel will consider whether social housing providers could benefit from working more closely with smaller, purpose-built technology SMEs.
The discussion will bring together technology CEOs and developers, housing providers and procurement perspectives to examine the potential advantages of working with smaller suppliers, including their agility, specialist knowledge and ability to develop closer partnerships with clients.
Davison has highlighted the importance of bringing different perspectives into the discussion, with the panel intended to show how housing organisations and technology providers can work together around specific problems and resident outcomes.
The session will also look at the experiences of housing providers that have taken the decision to work with smaller suppliers and what genuine partnership can look like in practice.
Stop piloting, start doing: AI, IoT and visualisation
The second panel will tackle what the agenda describes as “pilot paralysis” in social housing, examining why technologies that have produced positive results during testing can struggle to move into wider use.
The panel brings together speakers with perspectives across technology and housing to discuss applications including predictive repairs, energy monitoring and tenancy sustainment analytics.
The discussion will ask whether a risk-averse approach is preventing the sector from making greater use of technologies that are already producing positive results in specific applications.
READ MORE: Inside Future Foundations Zone One: Governance & Resilience
Rather than focusing on emerging technology in the abstract, the session will use these specific applications to explore where the sector is already seeing potential and what is preventing wider adoption.
The human factor: using AI to support housing professionals
The third panel will focus on one of the central questions surrounding AI adoption: whether technology can strengthen human connections in social housing rather than replace them.
The panel features Ian Cresswell, Director of Technology at Magenta Living, alongside speakers bringing housing, frontline and technology perspectives to the discussion.
Cresswell has already been involved in applying technology to frontline housing services. At Magenta Living, repairs operatives have been able to use a live video feed from a tenant’s smartphone to see a repair issue before attending the property, providing an example of how relatively simple technology can support existing services.
The wider discussion will look at how AI could reduce the time professionals spend on repetitive or administrative tasks, allowing them to focus more on resident-facing work where human judgement is required.
Your data is the problem: tackling the foundations of transformation
The final Zone Two panel will turn to one of the less visible challenges behind digital transformation: data.
The session will bring together speakers to examine the data problems that can undermine AI, analytics and integration projects, and consider what better data management looks like in practice.
The discussion will look at how organisations have tackled existing data issues and, importantly, what providers can start doing now rather than waiting for a fully integrated or “perfect” data estate.
The panel will therefore focus on the foundations needed to make wider technology ambitions work, rather than treating data as a separate issue from digital transformation.
Four panels focused on practical innovation
Across the four sessions, Zone Two will examine technology from several different perspectives, from relationships with smaller suppliers through to AI adoption, frontline services and the quality of data underpinning digital projects.
Davison has said the intention is to balance housing and technology voices throughout the zone, allowing delegates to hear different perspectives on how digital change can develop within the sector.
All four panels will be followed by dedicated collaboration time, giving speakers and delegates the opportunity to continue the discussions beyond the main sessions.
Future Foundations 2026 takes place on Tuesday 6 October at Bolton Wanderers Football Stadium, with Zone Two running alongside the Governance & Resilience and People, Homes & Communities zones.
