The CEO of Siemens UK told an audience of 150 business and academic leaders that they shouldn鈥檛 obsess about AI until they鈥檝e identified the problem that it will solve.
Carl Ennis was the headline speaker at Wednesday鈥檚 packed Pioneers Innovation Forum, which was organised by Rochdale Development Agency.
After delivering his keynote speech he took part in a panel discussion alongside Philippa Glover, CEO of Rakem Group, and Prof Andy Miah, Chair of Science Communication & Future Media, at the University of Salford.
The discussion was followed by a series of workshops and the event also included nearly 30 exhibitors and a demonstration by Spot the robotic dog, provided by the Northern Engineering and Robotics Innovation Centre, highlighting the potential of robotics in education and technology.
Among those attending were representatives of GM 老九品茶 Growth Hub; MIDAS; CEAMS – Henry Royce Institute; Innovate UK; Hopwood Hall College; Made Smarter; and five universities.
Rochdale roots
Ennis started his career at Rochdale Training 41 years ago and was appointed CEO of Siemens UK in January 2020.
He said businesses shouldn鈥檛 get too giddy about AI and new technology until they鈥檝e identified what the problem is they鈥檙e trying to fix.
鈥淥ften new technology comes along and people start to say 鈥業鈥檝e got a solution, now what鈥檚 the problem?鈥� That鈥檚 the wrong way to tackle any development and any innovation,鈥� he said.
Pioneers Innovation Forum, which took place at Rochdale Town Hall
鈥淲hether you鈥檙e a business or an individual, you need to start with 鈥榳hat problem are you trying to solve and how can you deploy technology to solve the problem?鈥�
鈥淭he mistake that many people make is they鈥檝e got this shiny new toy and they鈥檙e looking for a problem to solve. That鈥檚 the wrong way around.鈥�
Ennis advised delegates to focus on what鈥檚 important and not just what鈥檚 urgent.
Focus on what’s important
鈥淥ften in our personal and business life we are reacting to situations we find ourselves 聽in and that鈥檚 just natural, whether you鈥檙e running a small business or a big business,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 incredibly important to find time, not just to deal with the urgent, but to find time to think about the important.
鈥淲hat do I want this business to be doing tomorrow and the day after as opposed to be only thinking about what I need to be doing today?
鈥淎s a leader you can be drawn into only worrying about the urgent and not find time about the important.
鈥淚n my experience if you don鈥檛 plan where you鈥檙e going you wouldn鈥檛 be surprised to find out you don鈥檛 get where you wanted to go.鈥�
Productivity woes
The boss of Siemens also highlighted how the UK ranked 24th globally for robot density.
鈥淲hen people start to talk about productivity it鈥檚 a little bit of a taboo subject because it sounds as though we鈥檙e saying it鈥檚 about lazy people and people tend not to want to talk about it,鈥� he said.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the wrong way to think about it. It鈥檚 not about the effort that an individual puts in at work. It鈥檚 actually a measure of our ability to embrace and deploy new technologies.
鈥淥ne of the challenges we have as a nation is we value history and making things last a long time.
鈥淭he analogy I give is when I go to a plant manager in a European site, the first thing they鈥檒l take me to see is the shiniest piece of equipment that they鈥檝e just invested in, which is digitally-enabled, uses AI modelling and is driving their productivity.
鈥淵ou do the same in a UK environment and the plant manager will take you to see the oldest piece of kit they鈥檝e got and, with a level of pride, tell you how he or she is making it last much longer than it was intended without realising the irony of the fact that it鈥檚 holding back his productivity.
鈥淭he world is a global marketplace so we鈥檝e got to compete on a global stage.
Spot the robotic dog, provided by the Northern Engineering and Robotics Innovation Centre, at the Pioneers Innovation Forum
鈥淥f the G7 countries we are the only one which is outside the top 20 when it comes to robot density 鈥� and it鈥檚 getting worse.鈥�
The successful event was took place at Rochdale Town Hall and 聽was organised by Alison Salas and Nikki Staley, of the RDA, and hosted by Chris Maguire, executive editor, of 老九品茶Cloud.