To meet the 2050 net-zero target by transitioning to renewable energy, the resource sector must speed up innovation and act more like Google and Amazon to rapidly develop vital, new technologies and products.
- Speech to UN conference said resource sector is too slow in innovating for renewable energy goals
- Transition to renewable energy will need more copper to be mined in the next 25 years than has ever been mined before
- A culture change is required to become obsessed with rapid innovation
Professor Robert Perrons, from the QUT School of Management, said in a speech to the United Nations “Resource Management Week 2023” conference in Geneva that the resource sector’s contributions to the energy transition were unfolding far too slowly.
“However, we recognise that companies like Google and Amazon are radically different from the resource sector in several important ways,” Professor Perrons said.
“First, resource industries are frequently dangerous. If something goes wrong, people can get hurt.
“Second, they tend to be extremely capital-intensive. Almost nothing serious happens in the resource sector without massive investments of money.
“Third, the resources that we’re trying to get to are buried where they are buried. We must go to some very hard-to-reach locations to get them. That’s very different from trying to be innovative on a lab bench in Seattle or Palo Alto.”
Professor Perrons said it was time for the resource industry to ‘get obsessed and act boldly’.
“I suggest we could find inspiration in Google and Amazon’s way of fostering innovation.
“Both companies have track records of serially coming up with dramatically new ideas and growing them into large-scale businesses very quickly.”
Professor Perrons told the UN gathering that the resources sector must stop talking about five per cent or 10 per cent improvements here or there, and fundamentally overhaul how they approached innovation.
“We must wake up to the fact that, to reach the goal of net zero by 2050, the world will need to mine more copper in the next 25 years than has been mined in the history of mankind,” he said.
“The sector must learn how to adapt to go in the renewables direction and dramatically increase production.”
Professor Perrons outlined for the UN audience a few ideas that, with appropriate modification, could be transplanted to the resource sector to improve its innovativeness.
“For example, Google has democratised innovation such that it can come from anyone and anywhere in the company.
“Google employees don’t need permission to work across organisational boundaries to help solve a particular problem. They are just allowed to do it, and this kind of behaviour is supported by the company’s culture.
“Next, use data to make decisions about innovation processes rather than running on instinct.
“Both Amazon and Google cultivate a tolerance for failure and chaos. When an employee pitches an innovative idea, Amazon managers are trained to ask whether it’s a ‘one-way door’ opportunity or a ‘two-way door’ one.
“If it’s a two-way door idea, then you can simply back up and undo the whole thing if it doesn’t work out. If it fits that profile—and most ideas do—then you are encouraged to give it a shot.”
Professor Perrons said the resource sector had historically managed risk and uncertainty very differently and suggested that the industry would do well to learn from these behaviours at Google and Amazon.
QUT Media contacts:
Niki Widdowson, 07 3138 2999 or n.widdowson@qut.edu.au
After hours: 0407 585 901 or media@qut.edu.au.
