Khaleej Times

Adapting innovation to scale will be a challenge

- Rohma Sadaqat — rohma@khaleejtim­es.com

A company today cannot be truly innovative unless it is ready to experiment and fail

Paul Misener, vice-president for global innovation policy and communicat­ions at Amazon

dubai — A focus on innovation has resulted in the birth of several disruptive technologi­es that have the power to improve our lives, but the challenge that stands today is to adapt them to scale, experts at the 38th Gitex Technology Week said.

Mike Sutcliff, group CEO of Accenture Digital, noted that there has been plenty of action from the local government­s when it comes to pushing for innovation.

“We have witnessed a wide variety of technologi­cal trends that are disrupting the business ecosystem today,” he said.

“These rapid advancemen­ts in technology will improve how people work and live. Chief among them is artificial intelligen­ce, which is already being adopted by many players. We also see virtual reality and augmented reality as emerging technologi­es that will have a big impact as the technology continues to mature over the next few years.”

“There has been a lot of work done when it comes to innovation, but what is important today is to bring it to scale,” Sutcliff said. “This is the big challenge that we will have to deal with in the next few years.”

Mohammed Al Hashimi, SVP of Innovation and Future Technologi­es at Expo 2020, said in just over two years, Expo 2020 will open its doors to the world. “Partnershi­ps will play a key role in bringing our vision to life,” he said.

“We are in an era of technology where we can look back at all the past Expos and improve upon the experience­s being offered. This will ensure that visitors to the event will not be bored even if they are waiting in queues. The technology to do this is ready and available to us today.”

“At Expo 2020, we believe that innovation can come from anywhere and this is why we need to widen the field,” he added. “None of us know what type of technologi­es the next 10 years will bring, so we are working hard to ensure that the site of the Expo is future proof, and one which will continue to grow after the event.”

A company today cannot be truly innovative unless it is ready to experiment and fail in the process of coming up with the next big idea, said Paul Misener, vice-president for global innovation policy and communicat­ions at Amazon.

“To truly innovate, you have to experiment,” he said in his keynote address. “If you know how the experiment is going to end, then it is not really an experiment is it? We have to be very willing to fail, especially since it means that it is a part of our commitment to innovation. A major success, we have found, often follows after a long line of failures.”

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