Building the Future
上QQ阅读APP看书,第一时间看更新

A Starter Vision

What did all these men have in common? A fascination with cars, for one. By this time sensors had been used for years in the automotive industry, most vividly for real-time feedback and control to improve the performance and efficiency of Formula One racecars but also in consumer vehicles. General Motors' OnStar subsidiaryGeneral Motors. Accessed January 4, 2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors. uses sensor technology to provide subscription-based communications, in-vehicle security, hands-free calling, turn-by-turn navigation, and remote diagnostics systems throughout the United States, Canada, and China.Remote diagnostics. Accessed January 4, 2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_diagnostics. OnStar had more than 6 million customers by 2011. Inspired by such applications, creative minds around the world began looking at how sensors might improve efficiency and lower costs in cities.

Microsoft had partnered with McLaren Electronic Systems in 2006 to supply standard engine controls for Formula One racing teams.“Microsoft and McLaren Electronic Systems Win Race to Provide Electronic Technology to the FIA Formula One World Championship for 2008 to 2010,” Microsoft website, December 11, 2006, http://news.microsoft.com/2006/12/11/microsoft-and-mclaren-electronic-systems-win-race-to-provide-electronic-technology-to-the-fia-formula-one-world-championship-for-2008-to-2010. Cliff Reeves, now general manager of Microsoft's emerging business team, suggested that Simas contact his former Microsoft colleague Steve Lewis, whom he saw as having relevant market development experience. Simas met Lewis in London in January 2008 to explain the EV strategy in which cars would communicate via an intelligent technology. As their scheduled 30-minute meeting stretched to four hours, it became clear that Lewis should travel to Portugal to meet the rest of the team.

Over the years Rodrigues had approached and been turned down by four municipal presidents in his quest to develop electric car manufacturing in Portugal. Finally, in September 2007, with the help of Simas and the backing of Microsoft, Rodrigues reached an agreement with Ferreira, then mayor of Paredes, to build a factory in Paredes.

Rodrigues and Simas made the case to Ferreira that an EV industry would provide jobs and pull the Porto region into the twenty-first century, perhaps even into a leading role. Well known for its port wine and the fine craftsmanship of its furniture makers, Porto was not a region that came to mind for high-tech jobs. And yet Porto developed top engineering talent. Graduates of the highly respected engineering programs at the University of Porto could be found in technical industries around the world, but brain drain from the region was a problem. The potential for creating value from leveraging that talent and for creating a successful business was not lost on Rodrigues.

In the spring of 2008, Rodrigues hosted two classic car rallies in Porto. In an effort to keep the forward momentum, he invited Lewis, Simas, van Manen, Ferreira, and Hutchinson to attend. Van Manen recalled, "We all got along very well. Professional respect is important, but the social side shouldn't be underestimated."

"For Living PlanIT to succeed," Simas echoed van Manen, "all the players have to get along."

"It was lovely," van Manen said. "We'd stop for meals, and every restaurant we went to decided that we should be eating the specialty of the house, which always seemed to be a pig of some type. So after three days, we had created a bond. We all enjoyed driving around to places, and it probably only took two weeks to stop having the shakes from eating so much pig. That's how it started."

After three days of driving and meetings, Lewis concluded that what Rodrigues was working on was interesting but not conceptualized at the right scale to have much of an impact. To Lewis the smaller scale made the project harder, not easier, to execute successfully. Lewis began to think about ways the project could be expanded or scaled to the necessary dimensions to have an impact. In response Rodrigues arranged a meeting with Ferreira.

Just outside the door to Ferreira's office, striking aerial photographs of 300 hectares of undeveloped land captured the visitors' attention. Ferreira explained that the land currently lacked a development plan. "I said, as a joke," recalls Simas, 'Why don't you create an automotive city like Volkswagen's?'" Simas suggested the size was right for an auto city, similar to the Autostadt in northern Germany. "My idea was to get EV investors, to create a city where automakers would meet together. Steve had been working in real estate." Ferreira offered Lewis and Simas 300 hectares.