With the UN projecting that the world’s population will rise to over 9 billion by the year 2050, and with a likely consequent rise in the total number of vehicles approaching 80%, the current levels of utilization can surely not be either economically or ecologically feasible. This was just one of the arguments by the panel at the symposium Shared Visions Shaping the Future: Innovation, Sustainability & Mobility, who made the case for moving beyond the current paradigm of automotive design, manufacture, operational use and end of life disposal in achieving the goal of a sustainable future for transportation. The event was held at the Ricardo Detroit Technology Campus on March 19, 2015 as part of the Ricardo 100th anniversary celebrations, as well as being broadcast live by PBS Detroit.
The symposium panel comprised Margo T Oge, former US EPA Director of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality and author of Driving the Future: Combating Climate Change with Cleaner, Smarter Cars; Sheryl Connelly, futurist of Ford Motor Company; Ann Marie Sastry, CEO and co-founder of Sakti3; Valerie Ferret, Director of Public Affairs and Corporate Responsibility for Dassault Systemes; and Jean Redfield, President & CEO of NextEnergy. The symposium was moderated by Sharon Carty, Executive Editor at AOL Autos and hosted by Ricardo, Inc. President Clive Wotton.
“It was fantastic to bring together such a powerful panel of women who are each thought leaders who are internationally recognized in their respective fields,” comments Wotton. “To be truly sustainable the transportation system of the future – and the automotive industry that provides the vehicles on which it is based – will need to be fundamentally different from that of today. How this future will be created and who and what the principal agents for technological, industrial and socio-economic change will be, is an exciting subject for discussion and debate.
“While achieving this sustainable mobility future will undeniably bring significant challenges, the consensus of the prestigious symposium panel was that it will also provide genuine opportunities for engineers, product developers, innovators and entrepreneurs. The discussions provided significant new perspectives and I would recommend anyone working or merely interested in the auto industry to take time to watch the recording of the event, which is now available on demand from the Ricardo website.”
Watch the symposium Shared Visions Shaping the Future: Innovation, Sustainability & Mobility.
