DigitalRosh CONNECT: 30-OCT-2022 (Y22W44)

This week in our newsletter:

1. Report: Digital resilience: ample scope for growth (McKinsey).
2. AI application: Joe Rogan interviewed Steve Jobs in a new podcast.
3. Marketplace: BrainPOP sold to Kirkbi (Lego).
4. Case study: The digital transformation of Shell.
5. How I Built This: IDEO – David Kelley.
6. Person of the week: Dr. Avraham Kadar.

Wishing you enlighting learning,

Prof. Yesha Sivan, Founder, and CEO
& DigitalRosh team

 (1) DigitalRosh > Corpus > Digital Culture > Future of Digital
Report: Digital Resilience: Ample Scope for Growth (McKinsey)

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly increased the scope of digital use. Although many consumers have returned to their old habits, a McKinsey survey indicates significant growth potential in the digital field. The report identifies three opportunity sets for companies to digitally grow. These are good news for digital leaders, especially in times of economic instability (and this is even before referring to the developing market in Metaverse).

Digital is here to stay, with 125 million new consumers in the United States and Europe adopting digital channels since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. But there are still plenty of opportunities out there, according to McKinsey’s third annual global consumer sentiment survey.

That should be welcome news for CEOs and other business leaders who are looking to bolster their companies’ resilience in this period of economic and geopolitical uncertainty.

The survey uncovers three “opportunity sets”:

  • New opportunities with consumers in large demographic segments, such as those in rural areas, younger populations, and emerging markets, who are digitally underserved.
  • Engagement opportunities through specific services consumers are looking for, particularly in banking and telco, with mobile channels emerging as perhaps the most important digital route to engage with consumers.
  • Opportunities to protect, where companies need to shore up their flanks, such as addressing both consumer dissatisfaction with digital experiences and their concerns with how their data are used and protected The following charts examine the survey findings and reveal insights on digital users and where further opportunities exist.

McKinsey survey shows there are 25 million consumers in the United States and Europe who “tasted” digital during COVID but have since settled back into old habits. They represent billions of dollars of untapped value if businesses can lure them back.

That doesn’t even account for the massive opportunity of the metaverse, which has the potential to generate up to $5 trillion in value by 2030; some 79 percent of consumers active in the metaverse have made a purchase.

With large swaths of people still digitally underserved McKinsey believe that digital adoption has not yet hit 50 percent of its full potential. The leader in digital adoption rates so far? Asia, with Europe and North America not far behind.

 

(2) DigitalRosh > Corpus > Technologies > AI
AI Application: Joe Rogan Interviewed Steve Jobs in a New Podcast (fake)

Play.htj deals with the creation of artificial voices trained an AI model on Joe Rogan’s podcast and managed to create an interview in Joe Rogen’s voice. The first guest was digitally exhumed.. And created an interview with Steve Jobs. You are invited to hear the result

“Joe Rogan” interviewed “Steve Jobs” in a new podcast entirely generated by artificial intelligence by podcast.ai

A company that deals with the creation of artificial voices trained an AI model on hundreds of episodes of the world’s most popular podcast, and managed to produce a fairly convincing – and only slightly robotic – interview in Joe Rogen’s voice. The first guest was digitally exhumed

The company Play.htj, which deals with the creation of artificial voices, published a conversation that never took place, in which Joe Rogan interviews Steve Jobs. The late Apple founder is the first guest on Podcast.ai, “a podcast program that dives deep into a new topic every week and was created entirely with artificial intelligence,” as the company defined it.

In his digital version, Jobs defines himself as a big fan: “I like to relax in the car and listen to you grunt,” he compliments the presenter, who laughs a synthesized laugh in response.
Jobs’ voice was recreated for the podcast using recordings of the inventor found online, and his answers were based on parts of his 2011 biography, using the GPT-3 language model algorithm.

The company explained that they chose Steve Jobs to inaugurate the new program because they wanted to break boundaries with regard to contemporary technologies in the field of artificial speech processing.

Listen to the podcast at any of the podcast platforms or here:

 

(3) DigitalRosh > Corpus > Cross Industries > Learning                                                           Marketplace: BrainPOP acquired by Kirkbi (Lego)

Avraham Kadar, M.D. a US-based pediatrician and immunologist by training, sold BrainPOP, a U.S educational technology company he founded, to KIRKBI A/S, the family-owned holding and investment company of the Lego brand.

The LEGO brand has an ambitious vision to become a global force for learning through play, be it physically or digitally. Through a further investment from KIRKBI, BrainPOP will continue to support the ongoing K–12 education transformation digitally, supporting the mission coined by Dr. Kadar, to “empower kids to shape the world around them and within them.”

Avraham Kadar, M.D. a US-based pediatrician and immunologist by training, sold BrainPOP, a U.S educational technology company he founded, to KIRKBI A/S, the family-owned holding and investment company of the Lego brand.

BrainPOP is a trusted digital education brand grounded in research and the science of learning. It has a presence in over two-thirds of U.S. school districts and an estimated reach of 25M students annually, as well as an international presence. The Company was founded in 1999 by U.S.-based former pediatrician and immunologist Avraham Kadar, M.D., who coined its mission to empower kids to shape the world around them and within them.

Avraham Kadar is a DigitalRosh member and a good friend. Dr. Kadar was a guest on DigitalRosh LIVE as well as Scott Kirkpatrick, CEO, of BrainPOP.

BrainPOP’s core products provide short, animated movies that spark kids’ innate curiosity, build their knowledge, and make complicated and sometimes intimidating ideas simple, clear, and thought-provoking, alongside learning activities to help educators and parents build kids’ higher-order thinking and life skills. The Company is also expanding its product lines. BrainPOP recently launched its first subject-specific offering, BrainPOP Science, a new supplemental, student-driven instructional and assessment solution for middle school classrooms.

Transaction Rationale

In the next ten years, the LEGO brand has an ambitious vision to become a global force for learning through play, be it physically or digitally. KIRKBI, as the long-term family owner of the LEGO brand, intends to invest in high-growth companies within digital play and digital learning that complement the existing LEGO branded entities.

Through a further investment from KIRKBI, BrainPOP will continue to support the ongoing digital transformation of K–12 education, a trend accelerated by the pandemic, and expand its reach into the direct-to-consumer market.

Avraham Kadar, M.D., Founder, BrainPOP, said: “I cannot imagine a more authentically mission-aligned partner than KIRKBI, who will ensure that BrainPOP continues to reach, delight, and educate countless kids for many years to come. At BrainPOP, we have always put kids at the center of everything we do. This unique DNA is deeply rooted in my perspective as a father, pediatrician, and scientist. I attribute much of the BrainPOP ethos to my own children, who taught me some of the most important lessons of my life. I was receptive to their thoughts and ideas, and that made all the difference. My team, in turn, was receptive to my dream, and brought it to life through a truly revolutionary multidisciplinary approach to education. At this historic moment, my gratitude for them is beyond measure. The magic we created together is our legacy and our future.”

Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, Chair, LEGO Brand Group, said: “BrainPOP’s values and commitment to deliver engaging learning experiences responsibly to millions of children is closely aligned with the LEGO Idea, which originated 90 years ago, and is all about enabling the development of all children through playful learning. With BrainPOP’s digital-first learning approach in the growing ed-tech market, KIRKBI’s strategic acquisition of the company complements the LEGO branded entities, which all help kids learn through play, digitally and physically. Under KIRKBI’s active ownership, backed by further investment, and led by CEO Scott Kirkpatrick and its nearly 300 employees, BrainPOP will continue to deliver amazing online educational experiences, renowned for pedagogical rigor and product and operational excellence.”

Scott Kirkpatrick, CEO, BrainPOP, said: “Education is going through a digital transformation in schools and at home, resulting in the growing demand for high quality, engaging digital learning experiences for kids. Joining the LEGO ecosystem will enable BrainPOP to pioneer new educational offerings and extend our reach globally. I am delighted that the Kadar family has entrusted BrainPOP to KIRKBI to accelerate our vision to be the authority that builds and measures the skills needed to thrive in tomorrow’s world.”

(4) DigitalRosh > Corpus > Industries > Manufacturing
Case Study: The Digital Transformation of Shell

Shell, a global group of energy and petrochemical companies, is a pioneer in digital transformation. They partnered with some of the world’s best tech and cloud providers to accelerate and scale digitalization across their businesses. They also managed to effectively develop and deploy AI, IoT, and Machine learning.

Shell has been a pioneer in developing and deploying digital technologies for decades. In 2022 they have over 100 AI applications in various stages of development and deployment across their businesses; a data lake with trillions of rows of data and are monitoring thousands of pieces of equipment using machine learning across assets in upstream, downstream manufacturing, and integrated gas.

Anyone can develop a small-scale proof of concept with a machine-learning model that meets a specific local requirement. But, to make an impact and maintain it at scale, they needed to develop solutions that could be deployed globally quickly. To do this, Shell has been standardizing approaches and aligning on shared data structures, platforms, tools, and ways of working across businesses.

In order to do that, Shell has been partnering with some of the world’s best tech and cloud providers to accelerate and scale digitalization across their business. They are working with companies like C3 AI, Microsoft, and Baker Hughes to build on each other’s strengths to deliver competitive and affordable technology and to actively participate in the energy transition to lower-carbon economies that can drive low-carbon energy systems.

(5) DigitalRosh > Corpus > Cross Industries > Learning
How I Built This: IDEO – David Kelley

Guy Raz talks with David Kelley founder of IDEO, a global design, and innovation company. Kelley shares stories from some of the most notable projects of his career.

In this episode on How I Built This Lab, Guy talks with the founder of the global design and innovation company IDEO – David Kelley.

David has worked on designing dozens of products for Apple over the years – including the first computer mouse back in 1980. David and his firm IDEO, have helped all sorts of companies design new products, and in this episode, he shares stories from some of the most notable projects of his career.

He discusses how diverse perspectives and backgrounds help teams generate new ideas and explains how organizations can use design thinking to transform culture and foster innovation.

If you don’t know the company: IDEO is an award-winning global design firm that takes a human-centered, design-based approach to help organizations innovate and grow. IDEO U was created to teach the methods we have practiced for decades and to help individuals, teams, and organizations across the globe become more resilient, creative, and innovative.

David Kelley, is also the founder of the d.school at Stanford, where many IDEO practitioners bring their experience from the field into the classroom. The IDEO U teaching team leverages applied industry knowledge and deep topic expertise to help learners practice and apply what they learn during cohort courses. The teaching team includes a diverse group of practitioners from all over the world.

How I Build This is a series of podcasts – interviews with leaders from a variety of fields. In DigitalRosh you will find a number of interviews we’ve selected for our members.

(6) DigitalRosh > Community > Members Directory
Person of the week: Dr. Avraham Kadar, Founder and Chairman of BrainPOP

Born in Rishon LeZion, Israel, Dr. Kadar has parlayed a life-long passion for science into two successful self-directed careers: first as an immunologist and pediatrician, and then as an entrepreneur. BrainPOP developed from his desire to explain medical concepts to his young patients using animation and a simple storytelling method of illustrating complex subject matter to pupils, similar to his own family conversations. See how he tells about himself in BrainPOP.

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