As a finale for DigiReactor we decided to organize an event during the annual TechTurku Week. Our event focused on sustainability in the context of digital product development. After having two years full of great events and workshops helping the participants develop their digital products and services better we felt it was important to talk about how to do it in a sustainable way.
We had two amazing keynotes and a wonderful panel discussion. Maria Ritola, co-founder of Iris.ai talked about three different dimensions of sustainability in digital product development environment, the erosion of digital trust and how your team affects sustainability. Then, Minna Tontti from Gofore focused on the two ways digital product development can affect sustainability. Designing products that use the minimum of everything and designing products that create positive change. After the keynotes we were joined by Dr Valtteri Vuorisalo from Fujitsu for a panel discussion on the topic. The panel was moderated by Timo Huttunen from Turku Science Park Ltd.
Maria and Minna told us about some big trends affecting sustainability of digital products and what we can do to affect positive change. According to McKinsey, up to four fifths of a product’s lifetime emissions are determined by decisions made at the design stage. When designing digital products and services we need to make sure it uses as little energy as possible. We need to make sure that our products are designed to help people, the planet and the business.
There is a steady global erosion of digital trust going on. People don’t trust the digital products and the companies developing them to protect their interest and uphold social expectations and values. People need to know that the information that they are getting is unbiased and factual and private information stays secure. These are things that we need to think about when developing our products.
It was a great privilege to have experts like Maria, Minna and Valtteri share with us their insights on sustainability in digital product development. It was the perfect finale for DigiReactor events. We are still developing some tools to help product developers on their journey. Stay tuned!