(
MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 11. Azerbaijan has
taken a leadership role in thinking through how to make an energy
transition, which is a clear megatrend nowadays, Michael Ringel,
Managing Director and Senior Partner at Boston Consulting Group
(BCG) said in an exclusive interview with Trend .
“Of course, there are some huge innovation megatrends happening
right now, which include digital development and AI, covering how
this ability of machine learning does not replace, but supplement
human thinking. Energy transition and what we do about climate,
including the COP 28 convention on climate change, is a clear
megatrend as well. Azerbaijan is in a fantastic place to capitalize
on this megatrend, as energy transition is something that the
country is extremely well positioned for, taking into account its
major presence at the COP 28. There is a delicate balance between
the world's obvious need for energy today and the need to supply
and support energy transition in a responsible way. Azerbaijan has
taken a leadership role in thinking through how to make that
transition,” he said.
Azerbaijan's role in bridging different parts of the
world
Ringel highlighted Azerbaijan's unique ability to connecting
very different parts of the world, as the country has great
connections both to the West and the East.
“This ability to play a role that fits within all these distant
sectors and different geographies is a real strength that
Azerbaijani people probably don't notice while they're here.
Nevertheless, those of us on the outside looking in notice how
beneficial it is, as the crossroads of history have often been the
places where the most vibrant innovations have occurred. Azerbaijan
is blessed with a huge diversity of industries like energy,
high-tech, mining, agriculture, tourism, and financial services, so
the ability to start from that strength of breadth of opportunities
means that sky is the only limit for Azerbaijan's industrial
development. Moreover, there is a whole range of potential new
opportunities within each sector, but also at the intersection
between those sectors,” he noted.
Evolving of innovation landscape in recent
years
“There have been massive changes in innovation in recent years.
At the conceptual level, what we're seeing is an incredible change
in pace at which innovation is evolving. And then, of course,
there's a huge change in the way innovation happens, with an
incredible change in the democratization of innovation. So it
really can happen anywhere in the world now, which is a huge
benefit to humanity,” Ringel noted.
He underscored that every year the pace at which new
advancements emerge for the collective benefit accelerates, and
broadens geographically, which is actually valuable as ideas can
come from every part of the globe.
“We don't just have a hegemony of single kind of ideas, we have
both this pace where things are coming out much more quickly than
before, but also the geographical breadth of where ideas can come
from. This growing pattern leads to a lot of diversity of ideas as
we don't have a single way of thinking anymore, which, I think, is
really valuable,” he explained.
Role of investments in innovation
development
He said that there's no innovation without investment, whether
that's investment of time or financial investment.
“There always has to be some work put in order to get some
output. I'm reminded of the quote by Thomas Edison, which states
that innovation is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent
perspiration. Innovation demands an investment of time. It's a
continual effort, a constant perspiration requiring dedicated work.
So, whether it's in terms of time or money, that effort represents
an essential investment,” Ringel said.
Emerging sectors requiring innovation and investment to
tackle modern challenges
Ringel stressed that there is no sector today where innovation
doesn't matter, although there are currently some areas that are
hot for innovation right now.
“We can pick biotech or pharmaceuticals, where we've had a set
of new technologies come to the fore, like RNA vaccines that open
up a landscape of new areas to get into. There's a ton of work to
do there and think about where these vaccines develop next, what
are other technologies that can change human health. That's one
kind of industry where there's been a recent explosion. There are
other industries that are maybe more stable right now, but it would
be a mistake to say that innovation there doesn't matter. It's
actually those industries sometimes where the new idea sparks a
real shift and a complete change in how that industry operates. So
no matter the industry, innovation needs to be there as a driver of
value, whether the demand is high or not. Whether you're in a hot
sector or a less dynamic one, there's always an opportunity to
infuse innovation and turn the cold sector hot,” he said.
Navigating the rapid pace of innovation
Ringel noted that the acceleration in pace and the expanding
diversity of sources for innovation, as discussed earlier, is truly
remarkable.
“The pace and the breadth of innovation mean that there's just
this rush of potential ideas that come at management, but finding
the right idea in all that rush becomes a needle in a haystack. You
might get distracted by one idea, and go down the wrong path.
That's where strategy becomes incredibly important. One has to have
a clear view on the mission for his or her company and what it is
trying to achieve in terms of where does one want to operate. That
becomes the guide in sifting through the rush of ideas to pick the
right one. Strategy is as much about choices of what not to do as
it is what to do,” he said.
Further speaking, Ringel noted that the described strategy gives
one a real lens to choose between all these things to choose from
that come with this dizzying speed and array of breadth of
opportunities and say, well, these are the things that fit what I
should be going after.
“So that's the challenge, this rush of ideas, the breadth of
ideas, the pace that they come at. The key lies in having a
strategy that is the lens to help understand the ideas that one is
going after and the ability to identify the goal that is right for
one to pursue,” he explained.
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