Spinverse and the Nordic Council of Ministers through the Danish Business Authority have broadened the CTO Forum concept to cover all Nordic countries. The first ever CTO Forum Nordics was held in Stockholm, Sweden on the 14th of December 2017. The aim of the day was to find ways to enhance Nordic cooperation in industrial digitalisation: Industry 4.0.
The Forum gathered together CTOs of large corporations with high R&D, innovative growth companies, Nordic public institutes as well as students representing the skills supply of the future. The event at the Sheraton Hotel was a memorable collection of interesting presentations, enthusiastic discussions, and new ideas for a collaborative Nordic Industry 4.0 platform. The CTOs at the event saw possibilities in for example standardised heath data, City API (Application programming interface) or distributed energy production with prosumers.
"Nordic innovation and business environment require fast updating of R&D&I, and collaborating strategies to maintain and foster competitiveness. Open Innovation Ecosystems can be the key to unlock all the potential we have here. It is time to create a Nordic Industry 4.0 platform that could gain global leadership - as the NMT did back in the 80's and gave the Nordic countries a global lead in mobile telecommunications today", said Pekka Koponen, CEO of Spinverse.
The Nordic countries as separate countries, are small even though the state of technological development and well-being of the people is high. However together the Nordics present a strong force - 10th strongest economy in the world. The discussion with the representatives from the public agencies pointed out that innovations from the industries in separate countries will not succeed without unified policies across all of the countries involved.
The CTO survey in Finland autumn 2017 pointed out that companies are lacking necessary skills from their workers. The Nordic CTOs also see that skills development is crucial. Technical skills, such as those covering AI-technology or machine learning, are crucial but also people skills and management should be remembered. They also put an emphasis on the importance on education and how it should be a focal point in the Nordic governments' agenda.
The event's keynote speakers Mats Lewan, a famous writer, journalist and speaker; Peter Löfgren, Head of Strategic Collaboration & Business Development from ABB; Janne Öhman, CEO of Siemens Oy; and Matti Ristimäki, Director of Data-Driven businesses from Tieto introduce the agenda of a collaborative Nordic Industry 4.0 from their own industry fields.