Cleantech takes over consumer markets

5.
Why should a Finnish corporation get
involved with consumer cleantech?
“We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two
years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten.
Don’t let yourself be lulled into inaction.”
Bill Gates
Tech giants Alibaba, Baidu, and Xiaomi have all stepped
into the financial sector by opening online banks and and
announcing money market funds. Thus they have started
challenging China’s four gigantic state-owned banks.
Just recently, the online company Tencent Ltd decided to
turn its social media platform into a massive online retail
shop: it allowed users to establish in-app stores to sell
goods to their friends in WeChat, an app covering 355
million users, many of them instantly engaged with the
new mode of selling and buying goods. Needles to say,
the hotel and taxi industries have had to face unforeseen
difficulties because of the likes of AirBnB and Uber.
What is common to these cases is that bold newcomers
have found gaps between the consumer and the product
or service. They have come up with smarter and a more
resource effective ways to respond to user needs than
incumbent companies. In the coming years, the digital
disruption will threaten to radically transform virtually
every business – also in Finland. This is where a large part
of consumer cleantech opportunities emerge.
How can Kesko, Enso, Wärtsilä – among other traditional
Finnish companies – protect themselves from being
disrupted? The old way for staying on track has been to
keep developing one’s core business and building core
competencies. But increasing research, development,
and training does not seem to be the trick any more. The
design space has become almost boundless. Building all
the capabilities that would ensure future success inside
the company has become virtually impossible.
This is due to the fact that many of the solutions that
we are now surrounded with are going to be replaced
by something very different. Fridges are not going to be
replaced by more advanced fridges, but for instance by a
home delivery services agile enough to deliver fresh food
instantly when needed. Cars are not replaced by cars but a
seamless access to flexible mobility. Offices can be partly
replaced by not better offices but by mixed and more optimised
use of existing spaces.
This is why Konecranes has introduced its famous Industry
Hack and why Fortum has its own corporate venturing
program. And this is also why Elisa has its own IoT
competition. Large corporations might know a great deal
about the current markets. Nevertheless, even the largest
actor on the field cannot know everything about the user
needs related to the field. The mentioned programs are
still small compared to these companies’ sizes, however,
but they are a start.
Cleantech takes over consumer markets
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