In the final installment of our series, we’re digging deeper into CEO Ola Rollén’s shareholder letter and examining the vision of an autonomous future with sustainability at the forefront.
Welcome back for our final entry looking at our March 2022 shareholder letter from Hexagon CEO Ola Rollén. So far, we’ve seen how putting data to work can improve city infrastructure and services through the use of HxGN Connect and explored the landscape of data meshing seamlessly with the real world using Augmented Reality technology by Immersal, part of Hexagon.
While solutions like these are incredible in their own right, the reality of our times is that no business is operating at its peak if sustainability is not at the forefront of innovation. Climate impacts from businesses present a very real threat to both our planet and to our profits, no matter the industry. But there is good news – the operations of industry itself can be the solution. Let’s take a look at what Ola had to say on the subject:
“Tackling climate change is humanity’s defining challenge in the twenty-first century. The systems that have fueled our growth and wellbeing must be transformed. Bottom line, industry needs to do well to do good. This is our North Star, our guiding principle: that people and the planet can sustainably thrive only when industry and business prosper.
Doing better requires constant, incremental change that leverages current technologies, improving and innovating to optimise efficiency, productivity, quality, and safety. But better isn’t enough.
It is our commitment to go beyond better, creating exponential change with disruptive and unconventional methods that make giant leaps forward. We have the resources and ingenuity to drive continued business value that ensures economic growth, and not at the expense of the planet or people” – Ola Rollén, CEO, Hexagon
It sounds like a lot to tackle, but they key to this approach is the idea of constant and incremental change – If you’re always moving forward a little bit, eventually you can accomplish massive goals. To illustrate this, we’re going to take some time to talk about R-Evolution, the sustainable innovation and green-tech investment subsidiary of Hexagon.
Launched in 2021, R-Evolution leverages technology innovation, investment and venture capital to profitably grow and accelerate green-tech business opportunities. Its approach is to mobilize tech-enabled solutions that benefit the environment and society in order to mitigate the trajectory of the world’s climate past its “too late” point in 2050. Its priorities are defined by two urgent conditions we face today – the immediate, unmet demand for a solution to a systemic and chronic failure within our environmental ecosystems and a clear indication that technology and investment offer a path to scalable sustainability that is profitable.
To combat the growing risk to our planet, R-Evolution is leveraging Hexagon’s digital reality and autonomous technologies to improve productivity and quality while making processes more efficient, resulting in fewer inputs and less waste. This is not merely a projection – projects are already underway to protect fragile ecosystems and reduce impact around the world.
Through a partnership with Beneath the Waves, a leading, global, non-profit organisation dedicated to protecting marine environments, R-evolution worked to map the threatened seagrass meadows of the Caribbean islands, beginning with the coastal waters of the Bahamas. Leveraging satellite data, marine vessel surveys, scuba divers, sensor tagged tiger sharks and airborne bathymetric LiDAR technology from Hexagon, the project aims to monitor critical details about this vital habitat to help preserve coastal biodiversity.
R-Evolution is also working on renewable energy solutions, including the acquisition of a 40-hectare site—equivalent to 60 football fields—in the south of Spain near Malaga, called Archidona. The site hosts a 8.24 MWp photovoltaic solar park containing 20,592 solar panels and is already in the process of doubling that capacity. The completed park will include almost 40,000 double-sided panels mounted on horizontal axis trackers, which together enable energy absorption from both sides and automatic tracking of the sun to increase efficiency and output. Many of Hexagon’s solutions are in play, creating a smart digital reality of the physical site so that it can be remotely and autonomously monitored to detect solar panel anomalies, improve maintenance, aid inspections and more.
The commitment to renewable energy doesn’t stop at the sun – a partnership with the Hydrogen Utility Pty Ltd (H2U) is currently underway to deliver best-in-class digital asset management solutions in support of the global green hydrogen revolution. Producing emissionless “green” hydrogen is still prohibitively expensive, but the project aims to leverage Hexagon’s technology solutions across all stages of the asset lifecycle to maximise productivity, reduce risk, and drive down costs. If these steps are taken purposefully, R-Evolution believes that green hydrogen will inevitably be the cheapest source of renewable energy for many applications in the future.
The work of sustainability is tireless and daunting. It forces us to confront uncomfortable realities and recognize that the current way of doing things is flawed and dangerous. Facing these shortcomings and working to do better is the only way forward, and R-Evolution aims to empower businesses everywhere to take the leap among like-minded colleagues.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this dive into how Hexagon is working to deliver on the mission and values that we present to our shareholders and to our customers. If these seem like attractive prospects for your business, we’re here to help – learn more about all of our autonomous solutions at hexagon.com or consider attending HxGN LIVE Global 2022, which will highlight autonomous, sustainable solutions in the context of seven audience-centric summits, including a keynote address by Ola Rollén.
Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you next time in the HxGN Spotlight!
