Some examples

The ongoing drivers of change of the global economy can be perceived as major threats. With a different view on things, they can appear as strong opportunites!

Green IT : an imperative to reduce energy consumption

The increasingly widespread awareness of the environmental impact of IT systems creates new economic challenges..

Recently, the European Commission published a preliminary outline of the “Care Our World” directive (COW), which sets substantial limitations on data centres’ energy consumption, by caping the level of authorized consumption on any given industrial site.

These limitations are in line with stronger constraints for businesses in the areas of waste management, heating, lighting and electricity consumption of data centres, which can only be satisfied by truly innovative solutions.

Greenpeace recently assessed 37 “green” products (cellphones, laptops, etc.) and calls for selection of materials which respects criteria of sustainable development.

Demographic Change in Japan

Japan’s working population is going to decrease by 16% by 2030. For this reason, the Japanese government is actively supporting the robotics industry. In 2006, the elederly citizens (above 65 year old) represented 21% of the population, and 40% of the victims of traffic accidents. Many of them consequently stopped driving.

Following attempts to address these issues led by Toyota and Honda, Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan, initiated a project specifically aimed at the elderly: Nissan engineers were asked to design a car that takes into account the elderly’s specific needs. This endeavor resulted in innovative assistance systems dedicated to supporting drivers in difficult manoeuvres, red traffic light alerting, monitoring of physical health of the driver, or enhancement of the driver’s field of vision, etc...