Industrial Forum
Overview
The increased need for a more resource efficient economy provides a situation where rapid robo developments in certain areas are now both possible and desirable. Still there are few "tools" that link robot development to the need in society to reduce emissions/increase resource productivity. This project is an attempt to fill this void and create the world's first tool to estimate Robot Innovation for Resource Efficiency and Low-carbon development (RiREL). If we are to meet the major challenges of our time, mere add-on measures will not be enough. Innovation regarding both production and consumption patterns is required.
- Identify areas where robots are needed in a resource efficient and low-carbon economy
- Highlight robot features that are needed for resource efficiency and low-carbon development
- Assess the market potential for low-carbon robots and investment and policy support needed
- Estimate the GHG reduction potential of 12 existing robots
- Provide a platform that allow robot developers and climate experts to meet and exchange ideas about potential uses for current robot solutions
Agenda
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Introduction (10 min)
- Short background of the project and the need for robots in a low-carbon resource efficient economy
- Round of presentations of everyone and what they are doing in relation to robotics
- The role of robotics today (15 min)
- Based on the current robotics development, go through the different areas and functions of robotics today as well as what is under development in the near future (commercial developers and research labs)
- Presenting RIREL (30 min)
- The economic opportunities and markets for low-carbon robotics
- The areas where solutions are needed
- Initial findings from first 4 tested robot functions
- Go through expected outcomes of the session
- The need for new solutions (10 min)
- Examples from businesses that need low-carbon robot solutions
- Possible contributions (TBC - 10 min)
- Possible input from Taiwan experts that have the low-carbon robots that are among the first tested in the RIREL filter
- Round table discussion (35 min)
- Comments and feedback on initial findings
- Suggestions on more solutions to test
- Identify robot developers to use RIREL as inspiration/guidance for their robots
- Summary and next steps (10 min)
Presenters
Dennis Pamlin is an entrepreneur and founder of 21st Century Frontiers. He works with companies, governments and NGOs as a strategic economic, technology and innovation advisor. His background is in engineering, industrial economy and marketing. Mr Pamlin worked as Global Policy Advisor for WWF from 1999 to 2009. During his tenure, Pamlin initiated WWFs Trade and Investment Programme work in the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and led the work with high-tech companies as solution providers.
Mr Pamlin is currently an independent consultant as well as Director for the Low Carbon Leaders Project under the UN Global Compact and is a Senior Associate at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Current work includes work to establish a web platform to promote transformative mobile applications, creating the first Low Carbon City Development Index (LCCDI) make transformative low-carbon ICT part of the global climate discussions, leading the Global ICT companies work (through GeSI) to establish the ICT sector as a global solution provider when it comes to resource efficient solutions, advising the EU on how public procurement can increase innovation and the uptake of transformative solutions.
He is leading work to develop standards for companies to measure and report their positive impacts, focus on climate, water and poverty, but other areas are also under development.
Suzanne Pahlman is the Chief Executive Officer of Connecore, a consultancy firm she started to embrace disruptive elements in a changing world to capture opportunities for sustainability connected to core business. Since this is not how current business thinking is structured, she created the role of “Innovation Catalyst” to deliver strategic direction on the way to a low-carbon economy.
She specializes in strategic innovation projects, delivering measurable transformative change, and re-thinking current structures. Her area of expertise is supporting new leadership in the 21st century, how to approach and deliver transformative change as well as positioning sectors/stakeholders as winners in a low-carbon economy. This includes working with the ICT/IT sector and a number of collaborations with WWF and companies such as HP, Microsoft, Ericsson and Novozymes. Her work has also been supporting processes such as the World Economic Forum Annual meeting in Davos and Business for the Environment Global Summit.
She has written two books, contributed to several reports and online materials as well as interactive tools, movies and applications. Her previous work has also included preparatory work on renewable energy funding, policy support on sustainable city planning, and outlining renewable energy pilot projects.
