Vincent Turgis - SVP of corporate IT

On my mind

The 21st century brings 20,000 years of progress

One of my October highlights was to attend the SingularityU Denmark Summit in Copenhagen. SingularityU is a think tank focusing on "exponentially accelerating technologies" and how they can solve major challenges of humanity like diseases, climate and food supplies.

The summit provided deeply inspiring outlooks for technologies such as AI, Robotics, digital biology, AR & VR and blockchain – technologies that will disrupt and transform the way we do business and how we live our lives. And what amazes me is that even though a lot of it sounds like science fiction – e.g. driverless cars, biohacking and cryptocurrencies - it is actually happening right now.

The new kind of stability has to be dynamic stability

So why is this important in a Novo Nordisk global IT context? Because we need to be ready for the challenges and opportunities that the disruptions bring. A key element in this readiness is to develop a mindset that enables us to manage the rapidly changing conditions. The CEO of Google X research and development lab - Eric “Astro” Teller, put it this way: “In a constant state of destabilisation, the new kind of stability has to be dynamic stability… Like riding a bicycle… Humanity has to learn to exist in this state.”

An exciting trip to China… and a less exciting French rugby performance

My November has been off to a good start and most of last week I was in China to visit NNIT in Tianjin as well as our team in Beijing. Among other things, the visit brought some great discussions around Digital Health after we spent some time in the main Diabetes Center in Tianjin, looking at real life pilots with Healthcare Professionals.

Check out Thomas Angelius’ (TAGS – VP, Digital Health IT), Mads Hofman-Thaysen’s (MDHF – VP, Client Services and IT Infrastructure) and my Linkedin pages for pictures and observations from the SingularityU Denmark Summit.

You can see pictures from the trip, including a visit to the Tianjin Medical University Metabolic Diseases Hospital here >>

In my calendar

14 Nov
Digital Health Strategy Advisory Board

14 Nov
PRIVATE: France – New Zealand rugby match

Across global IT

01 Nov
China: NovoNorm WeCall system is live - enabling SR’s to share contents on WeChat with HCP’s.

12 Nov
Europe: EU SELAS OpenUI upgrade to enable accessibility of systems on Safari

On my tablet

Thank you for being late – an optimist’s guide to thriving in the age of accelerations

If you would like to dig deeper into exponentially accelerating technologies and their impact on people and society, I can highly recommend the book “Thank you for being late” by Thomas L. Friedman. Read it or get some of the highlights from it in this Podcast with the author himself >>

Intro to Exponentials by SingularityU

If you want to get a flavour of what happened at the SingularityU Denmark Summit, you can take a look at this video from a previous summit where Will Weisman, co-founder of SingularityU, walks through the concept of exponential technologies:
Intro to Exponentials >>

A Beginner’s Guide to Quantum Computing

My next technology to investigate is Quantum Computing. When matured, Quantum Computing will open doors we thought where closed indefinitely, e.g. leading to revolutionary breakthroughs in drug discovery. IBM is already working on making quantum computers available for business and science through their ‘IBM Q’-initiative. Watch one of the IBM researchers provide
A Beginner’s Guide to Quantum Computing >>

’From my desk…’ is a personal update from Vincent Turgis - the SVP of Corporate IT - to the global IT organisation. The update is for internal distribution only.

Send your questions, comments and ideas to vtur@novonordisk.com