Post by Benjamin Lussert

Federica R. and I mapped 426 European DeepTech startups turning raw materials into finished products in factories or production facilities. We identified 176 current operational VPs and C-levels across 159 companies. The goal was to understand how operational leadership needs to evolve in companies building highly automated, capital-intensive production environments. We called it the COO of 2036. The article: https://lnkd.in/ez8a3-HN And my three main insights: 𝗢𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝟭𝟮.𝟱% 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝗖-𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗼𝗽𝘀 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲.  That experience gap tends to become a bottleneck at the industrialisation stage. As Dr.-Ing Jens Palacios Neffke (MBA) puts it, you need a COO who has held end-to-end responsibility across purchasing, supply chain, manufacturing, logistics, and quality. 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝟮𝟳.𝟯% 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁.  Giuseppe Lacerenza sees a growing gap in digital and software capabilities. By 2036, robots, AI, and automation systems will be standard across most factories. That will require a different kind of digital literacy than most COOs currently have. 𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲, 𝗮𝗲𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲, 𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀.  For Benjamin Rauser, traditional manufacturing rewards leadership that optimises for stability and incremental improvement. DeepTech operators need tolerance for ambiguity, iteration, and the ability to make consequential decisions without the safety net of institutional process. A big thank you to Giuseppe Lacerenza (Keen Venture Partners), Benjamin Rauser (Orbem), and Dr.-Ing Jens Palacios Neffke (MBA) (Mews Partners) for your insights! PS. You seem to enjoy my posts more when I add a photo of myself. So here we go. Me  "𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨" my current rainy time in Budapest.