V.Group conversations with futurist K D Adamson

During Nor-Shipping in Oslo, at the start of this month, we enjoyed a refreshing and energetic conversation with futurist and author, K D Adamson – CEO of Futurenautics Group.

With the theme of the event weighted toward the digital challenge and the opportunity, we heard talk of the paradigm shift, the digital revolution, artificial intelligence, ownership of data, big data versus data and lot’s more. But what does it really mean? Is it evolution or revolution? And what do charters, owners, operators, managers and seafarers think about it all? We posed these questions to K D on our V.Group stand and here’s what she had to say:

K D is a regular on stage and in the media dispensing as she calls it ‘regular doses of the tough love the shipping and maritime industry needs to reimagine itself for the digital age’. In her latest book – Shipping and the 800lb Gorilla, which was released in May and available on Amazon, K D brings together some of her best articles covering everything from autonomous ships to the challenges and opportunities the industry faces. Critics are calling it scarily smart, inspirational stuff and as you would expect if you’ve met her - astute, funny and occasionally savage.

For us, what really stood out in our conversations with K D was – it’s all about the people: “We’re humans and we need to make the world a better place by using technology,” she says. Adding: “It’s quite interesting to me now that people who want to change the world are not always going into politics – they’re going into technology.”