An economic mission to California (Los Angeles and San Francisco) took place from 11 to 19 February 2015. The mission was led by the Netherlands Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Mrs. Ploumen, and Mayor Aboutaleb of Rotterdam. Clean Tech Delta, which was part of the delegation, is an associate of San Francisco’s energy program. I would like to compliment the Dutch Consul, Hugo von Meijenfeldt, and his team for the excellent programme that they organised.
The Dutch delegation consisted of companies (including Alliander, Grontmij, Cofely, Evbox, Eneco), knowledge institutes (including TNO, TU Delft, Twente University, Delta Academy) and service providers (including ING, Twynstra Gudde) experienced an intensive and informative program. For the Americans, the Netherlands showcased the best of Dutch culture, including the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.
At Cisco, we were received by Wim Elfrink, a native of Rotterdam, who presented Cisco’s vision of big data in relation to cities. A major conclusion was that the Internet of Everything requires a high level strategy. Apart from technology, it is important to determine what data should be gathered, how it will be stored and made accessible, what analyses are required and the interventions/goals will be supported by the analysis of the collected data. And finally, decisions will need to be taken on the data to shre and the best way to facilitate potential users. In short, the technological architecture and the conversion of data into information and activities requires a big data strategy at the city level and this makes is an important focus area for municipal policy.
Another inspirational visit was to Sungevity: the ‘ZARA’ of solar power. The chain was designed to promote efficient operations: technology agnostic, digital service and social media marketing. A great detail: the marketing manager was a co-founder of LinkedIn and his office is in Costa Rica on his boat. There are similar initiatives with comparable minimalistic marketing of solar panels and Sungevity will expand to Europe, with its first operations in the Netherlands. Solar power is developing fast and perhaps the only limiting factor is good entrepreneurial skills. Hopefully, we will see the development of good ‘home grown’ solar entrepreneurs who will make their services known.
It was a great mission and a number of participants will develop good business cases in connection with Clean Tech Delta.
Fred van Beuningen