RACV BOARD OF DIRECTORS VISITS SILICON VALLEY
Monday, May 23rd through Friday, May 27th, 2016 – Silicon Valley Innovation Center (SVIC) hosted the Board of Directors from Australia’s Royal Automotive Club of Victoria (RACV) – RACV has 2.1 million members, approximately 10% of Australia’s population, with $500 million annual revenue – for a week strategy sessions on disruption in transportation industry and for essential immersion into the innovation culture of Silicon Valley.
SVIC designed a unique experience for the RACV Board centered around disruptive technologies and emerging trends. The company visits, meetings, and presentations were specifically designed to challenge RACV Board’s thinking and open pathways for future partnerships and acquisition targets. Read what Graeme Chipp, RACV Director, had to say about his trip to Silicon Valley.
The highlights of this custom program included the following themes:
Disruptive Potential of The Internet of Things: RACV visited and had face-to-face meetings with the front-runners of IoT market, such as Nest (now part of Alphabet Inc.), AIG Labs and Corning’s. The group was exposed to the latest trends in futuristic technologies that have the potential to dramatically re-imagine insurance, home safety solutions and reduce home energy consumption.
Innovative Business Models Of Digital Economy: Through the first-hand insights from the companies such as AirBnB, Square and Hearsay Social, RACV management had an opportunity to brainstorm the impact of emerging technologies’ potential to dramatically change entire industries, such as automotive, hospitality, and insurance, as we currently know them.
Transportation Disrupted – The Next Frontier: Being an automotive club, the sessions around the future of driverless vehicles and alternative energy sources have strategic importance and significance for the RACV Board. Dynamic exchanges, on topics such as big data and user engagement, with Silicon Valley visionaries from Tesla, Mercedes-Benz, CARS Innovation Labs at Stanford and Google brought up a range of potential scenarios for the direction of autonomous vehicle research and the future of the transportation industry.
Innovation Culture and Management – How to Stay Competitive in the Digital World: Like other Boards of Directors in charge of the strategic direction of their companies, RACV is constantly focused on nurturing and enriching the innovation culture of their organization, because it is one of the most important competitive advantages that any company can have. A visit to the d.school led to an intensive session on design thinking methodology. Immersion into the essence of the Silicon Valley entrepreneurial culture with a visit to PlugNPlay incubator triggered stimulating discussions around powerful ideas on how to foster innovation within the company.
The RACV Board was accompanied on their visits by SVIC’s President Andrey Kunov, Chief Strategy Officer Valeriy Galitskiy, Director of Business Development & Strategic Partnerships Attila Danku, and Director of Global Business Development Marén Thomisch. “The experience SVIC provided us was both transformational and very enlightening. Silicon Valley is a unique experience where collaboration and sharing are second nature. Being given the opportunity to review our strategic direction in light of more contemporary innovators and disruptive technologies was invaluable.” – RACV Board of Directors on their experience visiting Silicon Valley Are you an executive leader? Should you ignore, acquire, partner or compete with new technology-driven competitors? Join our 5-day Silicon Valley Immersion Program For Corporate Executives and Entrepreneurs to get the first-hand insight into the emerging technologies that will disrupt the way we live and work. Learn more about this unique chance to connect with the top technology experts and visionaries in Silicon Valley.