Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE - Leadership Summit at Michigan International Speedway
The X PRIZE Foundation engaged C3 Programs to design and execute the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Leadership Summit in order to drive toward concrete actions that will accelerate the future of the automotive industry.
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Working with the X PRIZE team, we convened an open and frank dialogue on how best to accelerate the commercialization and widespread adoption of advanced vehicle technologies to meet growing consumer demand and ambitious national goals for reducing oil dependence and combating climate change.
“The Leadership Summit was an excellent exchange of information from a diverse group of experts.” Rick Woodbury, Commuter Cars Corp.
The Leadership Summit provided a forum for the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE teams of vehicle innovators to come together suppliers, public sector energy experts, academics and other automotive value chain participants to discuss how they can more effectively leverage these changing technologies and participate in existing, new and emerging markets, segments and niches that will lead to transformational change in the auto industry.
“I was energized by the connections with innovative thinkers, technology and market developers pushing the limits on how we responsibly transport ourselves. I did not view the event as the completion of the challenge, but rather as the beginning of the next stage of change - and I came away more committed than ever to driving that change.” – Bill Van Amburg, Senior Vice President, CALSTART
After two-days of very engaging conversations Leadership Summit resulted in many actions that vehicle innovators and industry leaders should take to bring advanced vehicle technologies to market. Here are just a few of the top suggestions:
- Know thy customer. Find your focus and identify niche markets that match the capabilities of your technology with the use-case and consumers that can best leverages those technologies. Consider being a car complement, not a car replacement. Adjust your expectations and strategy to position yourself as an “alternative form of mobility.”
- Pursue partnerships. Now more than ever, companies, suppliers and public sector institutions are eager to partner with innovators.
- Actively involve the supply-chain throughout the process, including the use of open infrastructure and the development of a parts-bin.
- Recognize the value of physical demos and creating low-cost opportunities for customers and partners to experience the technology in a tactile way. Engage in ongoing consumer education to help consumers understand their role in the industry and as a part of this broad societal shift in how we transport ourselves.
- Push for performance-based, rather than solution-based, regulations. Actively engage EPA, NHTSA, DOE, NIST, SAE, IEEE and other standards bodies to influence and shape industry standards that reduce barriers to market adoption.
- Leverage other domains (InfoTech, Wireless, etc.) to explore ways to create new value propositions for your customer to help customers unlock value that they didn’t know they wanted.
“For me, the Leadership Summit was both inspiring and practical. I had the opportunity to learn from so many others, from various sectors, who are also working toward sustainable transportation - I gained perspective I couldn't have gained so quickly without the Leadership Summit.” – Maggie Striz Calnin, Program Manager, Kuntzsch Business Services/Greater Lansing Area Clean Cities