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Innovation for a sustainable society
At the Ericsson Business Innovation Forum, June 23 to 24, CTO Håkan Eriksson spoke about how innovations can help people, save the planet, and be profitable.
July 16, 2009
Håkan Eriksson
Giving the forum’s opening presentation at Ericsson headquarters, Eriksson told more than 100 journalists in the audience that many of the visions and ideas the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) industry had a few decades ago are now becoming reality.
As an example, he said mobile phones could be used as “augmented reality eyeglasses,” to provide information about things in the surroundings through the use of the phone’s camera, GPS, and internet access.
Eriksson also spoke enthusiastically about the possibilities of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. He said that soon, RFID tags will be on everything that consumers buy, opening up a world of possibilities via the user’s mobile. For example, a user’s refrigerator can inform them when there is no milk, or their washing machine can issue a warning if running on the wrong settings.
“The technology for all these services already exists. Now it’s more a question of changing people’s behavior.”
Mobile broadband has really exploded in the last few years, Eriksson said. “In 2014, we believe there will be three billion broadband subscriptions worldwide, of which 80 percent will be mobile.”
And, along with the broadband revolution, households are increasingly getting connected. Eriksson said that by 2020 there will be 50 billion devices connected to broadband networks.
Eriksson devoted a large part of his presentation to sustainability issues. He said that through advancements within the ICT industry, power consumption can be reduced by around 20 percent in many sectors, translating to reductions in carbon-dioxide emissions as well.
As an example of the innovative, sustainable work the company is doing, Eriksson mentioned the United Nations-sponsored Millennium Village initiative, which provides mobile infrastructure to poor rural African communities.
There are currently 14 Millennium Villages across 11 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, home to more than a half a million people. Part of Ericsson’s contribution involves building green sites for network equipment.
“By going from diesel to wind and solar power, you bring the energy costs for operating a site (OPEX) down from 30 to 1.5 percent, which represents a huge saving.
“We want to provide sustainable communication for everyone,” Eriksson concluded. “It’s about helping people, saving the planet, and being profitable at the same time.”
