luni, 30 ianuarie 2017

Studenţii Erasmus prezintã proiecte de impact la Bruxelles

Sãptãmâna trecutã am avut deosebita onoare de a prezenta evenimentul “Towards a responsible lifestyle of the European students”, cu participarea lui Alexandre Ricard, CEO al Pernod Ricard. Mi-am amintit cu mare plãcere de actiunile derulate acum 20 de ani ca membru activ al Asociaţiei Studenţilor Europeni (AEGEE-Europe).

Pentru cei interesaţi de subiectul evenimentului de la Bruxelles, le recomand fie video reportajul realizat de cãtre Euractiv sau articolul în care apar elemente legate de politica de tineret.

Dan LUCA / Bruxelles

vineri, 27 ianuarie 2017

Advice from media to banks regarding innovation disruption

Recently I was invited as speaker at the "Innovation Conference" (Gearing up for digitisation - Adapting Retail Banking to the Digital Age​​​) to present my view on how innovation disrupts the media sector.

My presentation focused on some key points:

1.Democratization of media production
The present technology allows each of us to be a journalist now. You can do this by using a web domain and starting your online magazine, you can blog or you can be a Twitter journalist. Through a small investment of purchasing a video camera you can even produce video reportages and disseminate them via platforms or social media.

2.Skills of (new) journalists
The present journalist needs to have more skills than just being a good editorial writer. It is necessary to understand the online publishing programmes (which are not very complex, and can be used most of the time intuitively). A good journalist is a communications vector for his/her content and needs to know (more and more) how to interact with video production.

3.Access to the market
Before incorporating the innovation, especially the technical one, it is a must to do a strong research on the behaviour of the clients.  Do not try to impose pioneer tools with a niche number of users. Your clients will not engage with you and will change to a provider of serious services.

4.Media news and media services
Connection with the citizens is crucial in the media business. The media is not only delivering news now, but also technology has diversified the offer of different services (ex. video production).

5.Competition in the market
Innovation helps you to be more efficient, it can make you a leader in your niche sector. But there needs to be a balance between the interaction of machine work and human activities. The biggest competitor for your business will be a company from a different sector (see the example of Google in Transport services). Do not become defensive, but become offensive. Maybe you can also diversify the activities in other segments.

6.Legal aspects
The technology is fast, but the legislation connected to it is fast too. Have a strong legal department to advice you regarding the present trends. It can be very restrictive and damaging for your potential actions…

7.Permanent evolution, permanent innovation
Do not complain about the market and the weather, please adapt! It is a process of Life Long Innovation. Try to use external persons to show the trends (also in management) and break the routine of your business. But always make sure you keep a balance between vision and reality.

To conclude, a short message to my friends from the financial services sector. Good luck with the FinTech! It is a serious disruption to the sector. You need to anticipate fast…

Dan LUCA / Brussels

duminică, 8 ianuarie 2017

Handbal internaţional cu impact la baza piramidei…

Am scris de multe ori pe acest blog despre handbalul din Belgia. Fiecare membru al familie noastre practicã acest sport în cadrul clubului GBSK, iar eu am avut chiar plãcerea de a antrena echipa de baieţi pentru o perioadã.

Chiar dacã este o asociaţie micã, iar echipele clubului joacã în ligile inferioare, Federaţia Belgianã de Handbal a fãcut un gest uriaş sãptãmâna aceasta. A decis ca un meci internaţional de seniori (Belgia – Olanda) sã se desfãşoare în sala noastrã de sport, în organizarea clubului nostru. A fost, cum zicea cineva, ca şi cum San Marino organizeazã Jocurile Olimpice, dar totul a decurs excelent. Cu o echipã formatã doar din voluntari s-a reuşit organizarea unui meci de calitate, iar cei interesaţi pot sã urmareasca un rezumat al actiunii în cadrul reportajului de la Ring TV (în olandezã, dar imaginile vorbesc singure…). Excelentã actiunea, la care au fost implicaţi toţi cei 100 de jucãtori ai clubului, inclusiv copiii de 8 ani…

În rest aşteptãm Campionatul Mondial de handbal baieţi, care va începe în Franţa în câteva zile. Desigur, din nou, fãrã echipa României sau a Belgiei…

Dan LUCA / Bruxelles