We’re back, with a one-off episode looking at the challenges and opportunities tckled by leaders in their field throughout 2024, and looking ahead to 2025.

2024 has been quite a year. From elections and changes of Government around the world, to war, to lingering economic uncertainty - it has felt like the world is in a state of flux.

But with uncertainty comes opportunity. Opportunities to find new competitive advantages. Opportunities to do things better this time around... And opportunities to make the most of the incredible pace of technological change bubbling under the surface.

For HPE President and Chief Executive Officer Antonio Neri, 2024 was the year in which plans were consolidated to feed the ever-growing generative AI market. Whilst the last few years have been about providing the computing power to drive generative AI, it’s now time to look to other pieces of the puzzle - in particular networking and cooling, to ensure that training and inference are not only done quickly and without bottlenecks, but efficiently and sustainably too.

AI has also been on the mind for Cathy Li, the head of AI, Data and the Metaverse at the World Economic Forum. Cathy’s focus for the last year - and into 2025 - has been on working towards global consensus on AI, including worldwide standards and regulations which mean that the entire world has access to AI’s potential, but also so that AI providers can tap into opportunities worldwide. That could mean seeking out more sustainable energy solutions or better infrastructure, without having to worry so much about local AI regulations.

Meanwhile, over in the world of motorsport, the race to stay competitive is never ending, and with development on a new generation of cars starting in early 2025. That’s top of mind for George Russell, a driver with the Mercedes AMG-PETRONAS Formula 1 team. He joins us to talk through what it means to stay competitive when success or failure hangs on tenths of a second.

Sources quotes in this episode:
AI Market size predictions: https://www.statista.com/forecasts/1474143/global-ai-market-size#:~:text=The%20market%20for%20artificial%20intelligence,billion%20U.S.%20dollars%20in%202030.
World Economic Forum statistics on data centre energy use: https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/11/europe-data-centre-plus-other-technology-news-to-know/