Wednesday and Thursday I was in Amsterdam for a talk at PETS Global Forum, a big annual gathering of the pets toys, accessories and food industry. They had hired me to talk about the impact of new technologies (mainly 3D printing, but also the internet of things) on the pets industry. It’s an industry I knew very little about going in — before starting to prep for the talk — so I was very interested to learn more while I was there.
In a packed ballroom at gorgeous Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky smack in the center of Amsterdam, the 200 or so attendees were the decision makers of that industry around the globe.
The winter garden of the hotel doubled as expo hall.
Turns out that pet-related industries are largely immune to external market crises: People spend money on their pets, no matter what. In fact, throughout the global financial crisis over the last few years, the pets industry has been constantly growing.
That said, obviously if you’re in the business of selling plastic and metal products as well as prepared food, technology is kind of high on your agenda – hence the interest in 3D printing and related technologies.
What I tried is to look beyond the hype of 3D printing and give an honest view on the kind of impact — and the market opportunities — that 3D printing might have on these industries. No hand-wavy futurism and 3D print utopia, but very down-to-earth estimations and advice.
Here’s what I came up with:
The slides were made, by the way, with the Deckset app I mentioned on this blog before.
Of course I’m always happy to look at the impact and opportunities emerging technologies have at various industries. If you’d like to have me speak, the best way is to contact Tessa over at The Next Speaker (who represent me for these kind of gigs), and if you’d like to take a closer look at your company and its strategy, get in touch about an advisory role.
