[October 20, 2020] Today, Huawei held eco-Connect Europe 2020 exclusively online, under the theme of "New Value Together." The conference focused on the mutually beneficial cooperation between Europe and Huawei.
In the panel discussion of eco-Connect Europe 2020, Ms. Jacqueline Shi, President of International Business Dept., President of Marketing Dept, Cloud & AI, Huawei, spoke with representatives from OSRAM, Dassault Systèmes, and the Eclipse Foundation at the 5th annual Huawei eco-Connect Europe (HCE) summit about Huawei's role in European digital transformation and the effect it will have on enterprise development and economic growth. In addition to shedding light on how Huawei will help the European businesses and society better prepare for future digitalization through its "In Europe, For Europe" strategy, the panel members also discussed how digital transformation pushes enterprises to change their traditional approaches towards operations and harness previously untapped wells of knowledge and data.
Virtual Panel
Jacqueline Shi said that the digital economy has become a paradigm changing element in economic development and is fast becoming a driver of change across all industries and businesses. It is also one of the largest drives of global economic growth. Europe is a global leader in education and basic research, with an extensive innovation ecosystem, wide talent pools, and mature industries. She explained that Huawei proposes leveraging greater cooperation between both industry and academia to help European countries and businesses be better positioned during the next economic cycle. More than a quarter of the Fortune Global 500 are from Europe, making it a critical part of the global economy. Jacqueline Shi hoped that success in Europe can be used to create a benchmark for digital transformation among global enterprises.
OSRAM, a global leading provider of illumination solutions, was represented during the panel by its Chief Strategy Officer Mark Zwerner, who said that OSRAM is fully embracing digitalization and has already launched a broad portfolio of digitally-enabled products. He emphasized that a continuous digitalization strategy will create more opportunities for more enterprises and that businesses should move away from vertical management systems. Instead, he promoted a data-driven business model that prioritizes data collection, management, and utilization. This model would benefit a broader slice of society and play a significant role in various advancements including smart transportation and smart cities.
According to Mr. Sylvain Laurent, Executive Vice President of Dassault Systèmes, digital transformation has been a widely discussed topic in the past few years, but digital technologies appeared around 40 years ago in some industries and have been extended to a wider range of industries. The main challenge of digital transformation right now is how to effectively manage and apply data to better extend and improve the real world through the virtual world and simulation capacities. The other breakthrough for all industries will be to capitalize knowledge and know-how to create new experiences and imagine new sustainable innovations capable of harmonizing product, nature and life. Enterprises need to shift from the traditional communication mode to a collaborative platform based on communities, breaking the silos and connecting the dots across the entire ecosystem. This is the only way for enterprises to fully understand their business environment, to interact with their value network and to maintain a leading position in digitalization.
Gaël Blondelle, VP of Ecosystem Development at the Eclipse Foundation, also pointed out that open source projects and standardization are important driving forces behind digital transformation. By creating a globally unified language, they facilitate digital transformation across multiple industries.
Jacqueline Shi rounded out the discussion by noting that 2020 marks Huawei's 20th year in Europe and that the company's "In Europe, For Europe" strategy reflects its deep understanding of European needs and trends when it comes to digital transformation. She promised that Huawei would spare no effort to work with European partners to build an open, innovative ecosystem, and help other enterprises combine digital technologies with industry requirements to enable digital transformation. She quoted a line from Shakespeare, "What's past is prologue", pointing out that Huawei's decades of service in Europe have given it the expertise and experience needed to help build an ICT infrastructure in Europe. Such infrastructure will be the foundation on which European enterprises will be able to achieve intelligent upgrade and shared success.
Huawei eco-Connect Europe 2020 is an annual flagship event hosted by Huawei for European ICT industry, and is held online from October 20th to 21st, 2020. This year's conference is themed on "New Value Together" and aims to establish an open, cooperative, and shared platform for customers and partners to explore new opportunities for an intelligent future.
