Stephen Attenborough: The Best Ideas and Decisions Are No Longer Reserved for the Most Experienced

Stephen Attenborough leads the commercial activities for Virgin Galactic, a company that is part of the Virgin Group owned by Sir Richard Branson and is on its way to becoming the world’s first company for commercial space flights. Attenborough will be a guest at the Digital Takeover conference on March 13 in Zagreb, where he will give a presentation and tell us the story of how Virgin Galactic created a new market for space travel in the digital age. He will explain the impact of new technologies on business and how to stimulate innovation in business and grow through the right combination of innovative people and technology.

Digital Takeover

What are the key investments for every company in the digital age? Why is it so important to be brave and embrace change at the right moment and always look at things from a different perspective?

Differentiation has always been the foundation for business success, and this holds true today in the information age just as it did in the industrial era. However, access to global markets and the pressure of global competition have changed many traditional paradigms, and this revolution continues to gradually find its place in business and society. Regardless of the nature of your business, it is very important to take advantage of the immensely fast and broad access to global markets that is available to us today by making appropriate investments in digital technology and skills.

What impact will new technologies and innovations have on changing existing business paradigms, as well as on aspects of private life such as housing, education, etc.?

It is interesting and encouraging that, at a time when our world is facing challenges such as climate change, which brings unprecedented consequences, the fields of digital technology are converging and hinting at significant changes. Human ingenuity has been and will always be our greatest hope for prosperity and security in the future. What is happening in the fields of machine learning, autonomy, robotics, and, I would add, space exploration, will result in a transformational change in our business and private lives, and I hope it will also help solve some of our greatest challenges that we will encounter.

4th Industrial Revolution: Robotics Experts Warn, Artificial Intelligence Could Cost Us Our Heads

Today, more than ever, collaboration and the exchange of information are key to achieving individual and organizational success. Communities of practice (CoPs) represent an environment where individuals, experts, and interns learn together to develop and improve their professional practices and skills and create innovative solutions together. How can we create the best environment for individual and collective learning?

There are too many aspects of this question to describe in detail, but when you look at the enormous business successes of the 21st century, it is clear that culture has been a fundamental element of their success and has generally been radically different from what existed before. It is evident that financial investments and investments in human resources no longer determine or predict business outcomes as they once did. Hierarchical structures have fallen out of favor, replaced by cultures that allow for the free flow of information and collaboration. The best ideas and best decisions are no longer reserved only for the most experienced.

4th Industrial Revolution: The Future of Communication – AR Glasses That Read and Type Thoughts

How much should companies focus on offering products and services that will help people meet their needs, and how important is it to create products that will enable people to create new experiences?

At Virgin, we often associate products with human experiences, and I believe this is becoming increasingly important. As we launched Virgin Galactic, we realized that we could do something that had never been done before in space, which is to build a spacecraft in reverse order. Therefore, we compiled a specification for designers and engineers that starts with the user experience, including, of course, the safety condition – because we knew that we would ultimately have a strong and profitable business only if we assessed that part well. It is very tempting, especially given the complexity of commercial space flights, to view technology and spacecraft as a product, but this misses an important aspect that we recognized through our experience in launching and managing airlines. All airlines operate the same aircraft that function in the same way and fly at the same speed to similar destinations. Airlines like those we manage at Virgin, which have recognized that the product is neither the aircraft nor a specific action, but the customer experience, are the ones leading the way and achieving success.

4th Industrial Revolution: Time Travel – When to Expect the Launch of Cars

Although Croatia is a digital nation, many industries and sectors still invest too little in digital. What are the possible consequences for them, and what will happen if companies do not adapt to current trends in time?

The digital age is not a passing trend; it has been present for some time! Even if we go back about twenty years and think about the changes brought about by digital technology that we have introduced into all our business activities, it is probably quite clear that we would not even be in business today if we had not made those changes. Consumers are embracing digital technology in ways we could not have imagined at the beginning of the century – just think about the dominance of mobile devices compared to their significance back then. It is also important to note that national borders are becoming increasingly less significant. If you rely on your market position only in relation to local competition, it can be dangerous. Of course, it is difficult to know how to adapt and what to invest in; still, this is a scene that is changing at an incredible speed. Therefore, attending events like the Digital Takeover conference can be a good investment for the future.