Researcher of the week – Adam Uhrdin
Once a week, researchers present themselves and how they contribute to the important industrial transformation for climate and competitiveness. This week’s researcher is Adam Uhrdin, a postdoc at INDEK/ITM.
Why is the industry's transformation to meet climate change in a competitive manner important to you?
"The climate change should be of great concern to all of us, yet as individuals it is difficult to lead a sustainable life even if we try our best. We depend on industries in our daily life that contribute to global warming and to overcome this we need to bring about major transformations of these industries. However, unless companies can stay competitive or ideally even improve their competitiveness as they undergo sustainable transitions, there is a great risk that companies will not commit to the necessary changes," Adam Uhrdin says.
How are you contributing to the transformation?
"My research is focused on the sustainable transition of the transport sector and more specifically the electrification of road transports. The dilemma I am addressing is how to deal with the organisational and business-related challenges that this transition brings about.
Successful sustainability transition hinges not only on new technology but oftentimes also new business models and new ways of managing innovation. Actors from previously unrelated industries need to work together to meet the climate change and this entail organisational challenges that I hope to elucidate and tackle through my research.
The research that I do is also connected to tangible efforts to drive electrification. For instance, my current research is intended to serve as a basis for electrification pilot projects in real commercial settings.
I am also leading the Business Model Lab at KTH ITRL, Integrated Transport Research Lab, where we together with a range of industry partners in the transport sector are experimenting with new business models and strive to launch new innovative ventures that can contribute to a more sustainable industry."
What do you hope to have achieved with your research in ten years?
"I hope my research can contribute to how we organise and manage sustainable transitions to collectively drive innovation that addresses the environmental issues that we are facing today. In ten years’ time, I hope and believe that the transport sector has underwent tremendous transformation to reduce its CO2-emissions considerably. I hope I can contribute to accelerating the pace of this transformation."
What do you wish KTH to contribute with in regard to competitive industry transformation?
"I think KTH is in a good position to promote multi-disciplinary research and education that help accelerate industry transitions by combining several perspectives and fields of knowledge. Furthermore, I hope we can increase our collaboration with industry partners to combine research with dissemination and use of our current state of the art knowledge in relevant fields to promote industry transitions to increase sustainability from an environmental, economic and social perspective."
About Researcher of the week
Any questions about Researcher of the week? Please email: researchers-indtrf@kth.se