Today Nikolai Astrup, Norway’s Minister of
Digitalization, opened the Ignite
Conference in Oslo. For the next two days, more than
800 technology and asset-intensive industry leaders will discuss, amongst other
topics, cybersecurity, data liberation, digital transformation and artificial
intelligence on the road to digitalizing industries. The conference is
supported by companies such as Cognizant, Google, Framo, Siemens, National
Instruments and Aker BP.
“The Norwegian government just
launched an ambitious digitalization strategy, making us a pioneer in creating
good public services for citizens, businesses and the voluntary sector. Data is
gold. If we refine, manage and share data appropriately it will lay the
foundation for better and more effective public services, new industry
successes and create jobs,” said Nikolai Astrup, Minister of Digitalization of
Norway, in his opening remarks.
“To improve operational
performance, industries need to embrace digital solutions. Digital
transformation in asset-intensive industries will improve access to information
in real-time, transparency and improve decision making. Given the complexities
of the existing systems, the Fourth Industrial Revolution requires that
technology and industry experts work together from the beginning. Ignite is the
perfect platform to spark these connections and share learnings necessary to
succeed with this transition,” says John Markus Lervik, CEO, Cognite.
Ignite will host several
industry leading speakers and experts including Darryl Willis, Vice President
Oil, Gas & Energy, Google Cloud; Øyvind Eriksen, Chief Executive Officer,
Aker ASA; Torbjørn Folgerø, Senior Vice President & Chief Digital
Officer, Equinor; John W. Gibson, Chairman, Tudo, Pickering, Holt &
Co; Jan Eyvin Wang, Chairman of the Board, WWH; Ann-Christin Andersen, Chief Digital
Officer, TechnipFMC, amongst others. The full list of speakers
is available here.