Accenture (NYSE: ACN) opened an innovation hub for mining and energy companies in Perth, Western Australia. At this location, clients can work with Accenture professionals and designers, technology providers, venture start-ups and academia to quickly turn ideas into solutions that can improve business performance.
Accenture opened an innovation hub for mining and energy companies in Perth, Western Australia. At this location, clients can work with Accenture professionals and designers, technology providers, venture start-ups and academia to quickly turn ideas into solutions that can improve business performance.
The innovation hub is designed to help mining and energy companies address the challenges and opportunities of digitalization. These include improving sustainability, cybersecurity, health, safety and productivity of workers, and the performance of machines.
To this end, the facility brings together service design, advanced digital technologies, data science and industry knowledge under one roof. Clients can explore technology innovations including cloud computing, artificial intelligence, the internet of things, virtual and augmented reality, quantum computing, blockchain and drones.
The innovation hub expands Accenture’s global network of Industry X.0 innovation centers. Industry X.0 is Accenture’s approach to using digital technologies to improve how companies engineer and manufacture products and services and operate industrial facilities.
The Perth location is the latest Accenture innovation hub in Australia, joining others in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. These locations are also connected to more than 100 Accenture innovation hubs and centers around the globe, bringing the best of Accenture’s capabilities, experience and thinking to clients in Australia.
“The new hub delivers innovation to our clients’ doorsteps here in Australia,” said Bob Easton, chairman of Accenture in Australia and New Zealand. “We invest locally and leverage Accenture’s global capabilities to develop innovation that puts Australia on a world stage.”
One example is Accenture’s new Mobile Innovation Studio, due to launch in 2020. The mobile studio enables clients to develop and test new products, services, and strategies on their operational processes from any location, as Accenture can ship the portable studio space to remote mining and energy sites across Australia.
“With this new innovation hub, we are helping raise the innovation profile of Western Australia and Australia overall,” said Ann Burns, who leads Accenture’s Resources sector in Australia and New Zealand. “We believe that the Western Australian energy and mining sectors can become world leaders in digitalization. Crucial to this is a focus on what we refer to as ‘triple zero’: ideas, design and technologies that help achieve zero harm to workers and machines, zero loss across the value chain, and zero waste for sustainability.”
Jean-Marc Ollagnier, group chief executive of Accenture Resources, said, “The energy transition, circular economy, and sustainability provide opportunities to change business models, improve operations, and attract and retain talent. At the innovation hub, we will help clients apply digital technologies to create value across their enterprises.”
Located at the Exchange Tower, 2 The Esplanade, the innovation hub has been designed to host sessions that go from developing an idea to building a prototype and planning how to deploy the full solution. It includes a Liquid Studio, where clients can rapidly develop prototypes; a new design studio from Fjord, Accenture Interactive’s design and innovation consultancy; and a MakerLab space for 3D printing.
The space’s visual identity represents materials, colors and values of Western Australia, for example, work by Indigenous artists, The Molony Brothers. Accenture commissioned them to create several pieces of art that were inspired by the land and celebrates the local flora and fauna. The juxtaposition of creative design and digital technology is designed to inspire new thinking and fresh ideas.
