{"id":5177,"date":"2017-05-03T00:22:32","date_gmt":"2017-05-03T00:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/?p=5177"},"modified":"2017-05-03T00:22:32","modified_gmt":"2017-05-03T00:22:32","slug":"jeff-immelt-innovfest-unbound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/innovationiseverywhere.com\/fr\/jeff-immelt-innovfest-unbound\/","title":{"rendered":"From General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt: 3 Key Takeaways from GE Digital Day Singapore"},"content":{"rendered":"

A year ago, I attended InnovFest Unbound, one of Singapore\u2019s most attended tech conferences.<\/p>\n

InnovFest Unbound was founded by Yossi Vardi<\/a> – the godfather of the Israel startup scene – in collaboration with NUS Enterprise, the entrepreneurial arm of the National University of Singapore (NUS).<\/p>\n

The panel on corporate innovation included several companies – namely Johnson & Johnson (J&J), Oracle, Nestl\u00e9, OCBC, UOB, Kodak, and General Electric.<\/p>\n

Moreover, this panel shed much needed light on the many challenges large companies face today. It is a continuous struggle to survive and grow in the present digital age.<\/p>\n

When I received news of a series of innovation initiatives by GE in Singapore, I took a closer look. General Electric Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt<\/a> was participating as one of the speakers.\u00a0Also present was CEO of General Electric ASEAN Wouter van Wersch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For an entrepreneur and individual having a fondness for business history, GE was quite the beast. The company was a key player in the industrialization and globalization of our little planet. In addition, for the last decade or two, GE was a prominent advocate of corporate innovation and novel ways of thinking.<\/p>\n

\"Jeff

Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Wouter

Wouter Van Wersch, President and CEO of General Electric, ASEAN.<\/p><\/div>\n

Their transition from an industrial conglomerate into a big data company – in particular through Predix<\/a>, their industrial Internet of Things (IoT) platform – has been covered many times.<\/p>\n

General Electric earned a total of US$7 billion in revenues from this digital platform in 2016 and targets $15 billion by 2020<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jeff Immelt’s Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n

In his opening keynote, Jeff Immelt shared several high-level elements to make us understand his vision for GE. He also covered how should companies act in our digital and disruptive world.<\/p>\n

Three things Jeff mentioned during the talk struck a chord with me.<\/p>\n

Idea 1 : In a Complex World, Be a Simple Company<\/h3>\n
\"complex

(Photo by Media.Licdin)<\/p><\/div>\n

Jeff Immelt’s suggestions for companies to ‘think lean’<\/strong> is sound advice for a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) world. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Multinational companies often aim to tackle all new channels –<\/strong> including new innovation, markets and businesses.<\/p>\n

In the 21st century, however, time is of essence<\/strong>. Being able to prioritize critical needs and make clear one\u2019s position<\/strong> allows corporations to navigate the changing terrain with greater ease.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Idea 2 : Why Not Us? If The World is Changing, Why Couldn’t We Participate?<\/h3>\n
\"change

(Photo by Atomicsky.com.au)<\/p><\/div>\n

The message here is the one of making the first steps, testing and trying the new opportunities offered by digital technologies and a multipolar world<\/strong>. The fear of failing, the fear of trying often paralyses MNCs despite them owning assets \u00a0– cash, human resources, reputation – to survive and grow.<\/p>\n

Idea 3 : The IoT Consumer and Industrial Markets Are Worth Billions and Trillions Respectively<\/h3>\n
\"IoT\"

(Photo by Cammy Marketing)<\/p><\/div>\n

‘There’s a market out there and we are moving first’<\/strong>, says Jeff Immelt.<\/p>\n

For the business-minded, this is about picking a market that will grow exponentially in the next few years<\/strong>. Many large companies ponder whether Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence or Smart Cities<\/strong> will be the next big thing.<\/p>\n

In any case, they can\u2019t afford to miss those huge, next big fields where growth will come from.<\/p>\n

As I help several multinational companies on journey into innovative practices, the messages in these sentences were both powerful and impactful.<\/p>\n

General Electric’s Investments in Singapore<\/h2>\n

In Singapore, GE has signed several agreements to launch three key initiatives in a bid to increase its innovation footprint.<\/p>\n

General Electric and the Economic Development Board (EDB)<\/h3>\n
\"Dr

Dr Beh Swan Gin, Chairman of EDB, speaking at InnovFest\u00a0Unbound 2016<\/p><\/div>\n

The Economic Development Board (EDB)<\/a> is Singapore\u2019s powerful and efficient foreign investment agency. Its role is to attract talent and innovation from all over the world to tap into the infrastructure of the city-state. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The upcoming Center of Digital Operations EDB and GE will launch to support the industrial IoT movement for General Electric and its clients in Singapore and Asia.<\/a><\/p>\n

General Electric and SPRING Singapore<\/h3>\n
\"GE

GE ASEAN CEO Vouter van Wersch with Deputy CEO, SPRING Singapore Ted Tan at Innovfest Unbound.<\/p><\/div>\n

In addition, GE, SPRING Singapore<\/a> and the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) Platform E<\/a> are collaborating to launch an accelerator<\/a>. SPRING Singapore is the nation’s entrepreneurial agency focusing on small medium enterprises (SMEs) while SIM’s Platform E is the institute’s entrepreneurship programme.<\/p>\n

The main aim of the accelerator is to foster corporate innovation programs,and mentoring of startups capitalizing on machine learning and industrial IoT solutions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In a similar fashion to Google for Entrepreneurs, GE is branding itself as a company close to the developer community<\/strong>. We can expect them to work more extensively on Predix with this development.<\/p>\n

General Electric and Singapore Power<\/h3>\n

General Electric and Singapore Power are co-developing industrial IOT capabilities and intelligent applications<\/strong> to enhance power network reliability and efficiency in Singapore<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n

Engineering and digital experts from GE and SP will create tools that leverage on data analytics and artificial intelligence<\/strong>. This is to enable better asset performance<\/strong> and reduce unplanned downtime in network operations<\/strong>. Customers can look forward to cost savings from predictive maintenance<\/strong> enabled by access to global domain knowledge and expertise.<\/p>\n

This collaboration is interesting in two key ways.<\/p>\n