S1E9 / Fighting for minerals and advanced manufacturing - what's a winning strategy? With Goran Roos.

05/12/21 • 36 min

Guest: Professor Göran Roos, a Swedish academic, technologist, author and businessman. He is a specialist in the field of intellectual capital and an expert in innovation management and strategy. (wikipedia)

Pandemics come and go. We are still in a pandemic, but hopefully coming out of this pandemic soon, we have an altered society and world. Apart from being a very bad, difficult and devastating COVID-19 pandemic, there is a dramatic change ongoing in how we interact using digital and online resources - with virtual meetings (like this podcast as an example), online shopping, deliveries and streaming. All this is now part of the new normal.

But also as supplies drawing from international sources have been difficult and partly impossible impacting the sovereignty, the national strategies are incorporating more of manufacturing of critical equipment to have secure supply sources.

The supply chain disruptions have also impacted large corporates. That is also reshaping their strategies, having a deeper direct control of even the raw materials.

We have to go green and that means for mobility and transportation we are going electric. This is not the only impact, but materials, such as steel, will in the future be produced with carbon neutral processes. That in turn means that there is a need for green hydrogen - en mass. For this transition taking place, there is an enormous need for electricity.

According to prof. Roos the world is shifting from a dependency of petrol (OPEC) to a dependency of metals (China).

The semiconductor supply shortage recently is showing also how this is a critical and strategic product. Semiconductor development and production is an extremely high risk venture every time. The winners will be those with unique and required tools, machine and process knowledge.

All in all, there are great opportunities for science, technology and manufacturing.

Don’t stay in a dying business, for instance in automotive business, you need to shift to a strategy and product architecture with batteries/electrical motors and away from internal combustion engines. A lot less components, meaning also that this will be a challenge for the supplier companies.

Above picture is from Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times, by coincidence I watched it recently. We are up for a new big transformation which also creates a vast amount of opportunities.

There will be fights over the scarcity of talents, and in Europe, there is the dilemma -EU has about 1 million unfilled IT positions presently. The Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence is not stopping; automation will continue to grow in sophistication, at the same time, there will be a huge amount of new jobs created.

Speed is critical. You need to be agile. Not just as an individual or company. It applies also for the nation and the administration.

Discussion between journalist and union representative:

Journalist: "Are you not afraid of jobs disappearing with new technology?

Union rep: “We are not afraid of new technology, but of old technology. Companies with old technology go under.”

For Prof. Roos the technology shifts in the sectors of agriculture and aquaculture are behind but the potential is enormous and we can expect some deeper insights from these areas from him in the times coming.

NOTE: For a discussion on technology readiness, TRLs and MRLs, you may listen to the See Beyond episode with John Saiz, S1E5: https://mikatienhaara.substack.com/p/s1e5-sometimes-its-ok-to-fail-from?r=foifx&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=copy

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mikatienhaara.substack.com

The supply chain disruptions have also impacted large corporates. That is also reshaping their strategies, having a deeper direct control of even the raw materials.

According to prof. Roos the world is shifting from a dependency of petrol (OPEC) to a dependency of metals (China).

All in all, there are great opportunities for science, technology and manufacturing.

Above picture is from Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times, by coincidence I watched it recently. We are up for a new big transformation which also creates a vast amount of opportunities.

Speed is critical. You need to be agile. Not just as an individual or company. It applies also for the nation and the administration.

Discussion between journalist and union representative:

Journalist: "Are you not afraid of jobs disappearing with new technology?

Union rep: “We are not afraid of new technology, but of old technology. Companies with old technology go under.”

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mikatienhaara.substack.com

Previous Episode

S1E8. The future is now, but be careful how you apply technology. Guest Vivek Wadhwa.

I met Vivek several years ago in Houston, TX and have been in contact every now and then. With his knowledge and expertise in technology shaping the future and his engagements with Harvard, Stanford, Carnegie-Mellon, Duke, I thought it was great to hear Vivek’s opinions on where we are heading.

Here we are, still enduring the pandemic; we are able to create new deadly viruses and look at how quickly we, humanity, have been able to develop solution. This shows on how quick technology development is taking place. For just a few years ago this would not have been possible.

The next 8-9 years will be more amazing than the previous 80-90 years. This decade will bring more progress than the last 100 years.

What we see happening now is our adaption of technology with electric vehicles, autonomous drive, clean energy and cleaning up our planet. We will see more drone technology and 3D printed housing and food. Living will get cheaper. This transition will create a big mass of new jobs, however the automation and robots will then take over the jobs. Some of Wadhwa’s views on technology you can read about in his book “the Driver in the Driverless Car”

Technology adoption is key, find ways to embrace the new and share the knowledge. We need to work jointly for the benefit of humanity. Sharing equally is key.

(NOTE: listen to the episode with Ernesto Sirolli, he has the same message).

The future needs to give us freedom of choice, not just rigid control.

AI, what is it? Are we overhyping it or are we able to utilize it properly? The bias in pattern recognition is happening many places, which can be scary and dangerous, so we need to be very careful in how it is put in use.

And is the innovation and venture capital going to stay/grow in Silicon Valley, is the magic still around? We ended up discussing the quality of life in the Silicon Valley vs. other regions.

As a matter of fact this is the cliffhanger - as a follow-up we are going to have a second round of discussion in a couple of months on how innovative and good life is in Silicon Valley but also the Nordic region. And we need to discuss his most recent book also - “From Incremental to Exponential”. Until then, I hope you enjoy this episode!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mikatienhaara.substack.com

Next Episode

S1E10 - Future of Energy: With Kareemah Mohamed and Aruna Viswanathan.

Future of Energy: How to build a successful business seeing the energy transition as an opportunity.

What could be more appropriate when talking about the energy transition with the ongoing societal changes and drive for carbon-neutrality, than to have two energy professionals from HOUSTON - the energy capital, participating?

Well, I am very glad that Aruna Viswanathan, COO of Alpha Decision Sciences and Kareemah Mohamed, Global Energy Transition Advisor at KBR could join and share their views on the topic. Between the both of them, there is a combined expertise working with complex energy questions in corporates, startups, committees, private equity and venture capital.

First of all; solving the energy issues are complex and takes time. It is not just a matter of renewables or oil & gas, it is a matter of enabling the global population to have access to energy and resources. There are societal changes taking place, where low-carbon or carbon-neutral industrial activities are transforming our thinking and actions. The need for energy is not going away, we need to think also about regulations and policies. At the same time less-developed countries can take a direct leap into renewables or transition quicker. The global dynamics are changing!

It is clear that innovation is required, both in corporates and enabled by startups. Don’t wait for the regulatory frameworks to change, we need to be agile and make our big ideas count. “Pressure makes diamonds”, as Kareemah put it, and at the same time we need patience and persistence, being agile and with full speed ahead.

What are investors looking at, how can you attract funding? Corporate investing in oil and gas are actually going for Cybersecurity and IoT having a footprint in multiple sectors and taking part in high-growth sectors, according to Aruna. Even as an entrepreneur, you need to have a long-term perspective and your solution gains attraction having a multi-sector usability. Technology transfer is important, and at the same time can be very complicated - so what about the Oil&Gas sector. Are people/ideas/startups stuck? Well, it is probably both - you need sector specific technology as well as universal solutions. Being multi-domain it is easier to find interested investors and funding.

The energy transition is a huge opportunity for all and carries a big importance for our joint future.

Hopefully this discussion can give some sparks to fuel your ideas, development and contributions for the energy transition and innovation required for the future in a collaborative manner.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mikatienhaara.substack.com