The Center for Corporate Real Estate Innovation was created by San Francisco-based commercial listings provider RealCentric.com as a research and education branch. The group's advisory board held its first quarterly meeting July 31-Aug.1 in San Francisco.

Known as CENTRE i, the nonprofit was founded as a means of introducing new capabilities to an industry not always known for its tech-savvy.

"It's actually more of a think-tank strategic type of body that will be looking at innovations and technology as the industry is transforming," spokeswoman Susan Brown told GlobeSt.com. "The real estate industry is evolving and (commercial real estate) has not been an early adapter to technology, so all of these key individuals from large corporate ... entities want to be involved."

Those figures include Oracle, the Microsoft Corp., Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Bank of America Securities and Banc One, all of whom sit on the group's advisory board.

Former Syracuse University professor and tenant advocate Sally K. Mertens will serve as executive director. The group will hold ongoing dialogue on topics such as using technology to facilitate more efficient business and other new initiatives.

"The purpose is to bring together industry leaders from corporate real estate and to really look at what big-picture global issues that are going in the industry," Brown said.

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