Global insecurity and the resource battle were the main topics as a strong international field of speakers took the stage at Global Outlook Norway 2015 in Arendal. The conference aims to provide the necessary knowledge for businesses to play a leading role in shaping the global, regional and industrial agendas.
Click here for pictures from Global Outlook Norway 2015
Here are some outtakes from the 1-day conference held August 17th.
Matt Rogers, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company, San Francisco: “We are in the middle of a new industrial revolution. It happens 3000 times faster than the first. With 2.5 billion people entering the middle class, companies need to improve resource productivity 3-5 per cent annually to keep up. Combining information technology with industrial technology can drive 10x productivity improvements on both supply and demand side.”
Oliver Stelling, Chief Strategy Officer, ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller United Arab Emirates: “Top five findings in an annual survey among Arab youth aged 18 to 24, based on 3500 face-to-face interviews are:
- Arab youths are uncertain whether democracy could ever work in the Middle East.
- Three biggest obstacles facing Arab youth: The rise of ISIS, threat of terrorism, unemployment.
- Many are concerned for low oil prices.
- A brand’s country of origin matters to many young Arabs. 4 in 5 do not rule out the possibility of boycotting a brand for political reasons.
- Television is still king; the biggest source of news.”
Madan Kumar Singh, Telecommunications Industry Analytics Lead, Accenture Stockholm: Advice on big data:
- Explore your entire data system.
- Start small then grow.
- Be nimble.
- Focus on building capabilities.
Kjell Roland, Managing Director, Norfund: Africa looks very different from what we experienced two decades ago. An increasing number of countries are growing their economy with more than five per cent every year. Poverty rates are falling and child mortality is halved. Africa is more peaceful and stable; presidents are elected and leave when their term is over. The West is less attractive as Africa tries to copy China.
David Jarvis, Head of Strategic & Emerging Technologies at ESA: There is an embarrassingly huge amount of waste in production of metal products. 3D-printing dramatically reduces waste. We should try to make 3D-printing an automated mainstream process for a broad range of high-tech industries. The industrial impact of 3D-printing in the near future will be large.
Global Outlook Norway is an initiative taken by business clusters GCE NODE, NCE Eyde and Maritime Forum Sør.
