’I projected tech issues on economic processes, covering business and legal aspects as well’

In the competition organised by BME and the Hungarian National Bank (MNB) the students of our faculty won two of four categories.

 

In the second part of the BME Mechanical Engineering Blog interview series, we talked with Balázs Riskutia, the winner of the category Platform Economy: AI, robotics and green technologies.

 

What was your task in the category?

 

Balázs Riskutia: My task was to show how platforms and surrounding technologies can boost the implementation and sustainability of green innovations. It was worth examining some emerging solutions, like AI, robotics, Big Data and blockchain. During the analysis, such technical topics could be projected to specific economic processes. Of course, the discussion of these technological solutions is only a part of the call. The operation of the current platforms cannot be analysed thoroughly without the surrounding market mechanisms. These market aspects include for example the linking of B2C and B2B markets or the network effects of the bilateral markets. Among others, the point of interest in the topic lies in its interdisciplinarity. I have to add; this diversity is also a feature of the other contest topics.

 

What did you analyse in your work?

 

Balázs Riskutia: I aimed to present a comprehensive overview of the world of platforms, showing how these platforms can provide increasing incentives for green and innovative aspirations. Moreover, my contribution could also be considered as a guideline that gathers the most relevant questions to be researched on the topic of platform-based green innovations while it also aims to propose future directions for practical implementation.

 

My work can be divided into three parts.

 

First, I present the phenomenon of platforms in a technological as well as in an economic aspect.

 

The second part is the most exciting one, in my opinion. Here I present why platforms are essential in the creation of a sustainable world economy. We can have a look at how platforms foster the Schumpeterian creative destruction and the birth of innovations. The green steel and green food platforms will be introduced through which we can get an insight into how the propagation of these platforms can help their global spread. One can also recognise the power of their predictability and their increasing returns.

 

In the third part, my work shifts to the challenges as regards technological implementations of the platforms. Here I would like to highlight two critical aspects. One is the issue of platform governance; for this, blockchain technology can mean a practical solution. The other one is the design of the platform interfaces, as these turn out to be the longest-lasting platform components. The Arrowhead Framework (a holistic Industry 4.0 project developed in the EU as well as in Hungary) could provide an excellent solution in designing these crucial interfaces.

 

What was the biggest challenge in this project?

 

Balázs Riskutia: Undoubtedly, the biggest challenge was the research through the various types of literature. Platform economy as a topic is discussable from several points of view. I got to the result with the help of legal, technological, IT, economy and business review articles. To be satisfied by an abstract, general platform model is definitely tempting. But we can only see the big picture of the platform economy if we get to know the technological processes that led to its emergence, if recognise its integration in the institutionalised society and if we can follow how the platform economy creates novel business models for companies. On the whole, the challenge was to collect a set of articles with appropriately diverse approaches from which one can still construct a unified view for the reader. 

 

And what about the future?

 

Balázs Riskutia: I would like to participate in projects dealing with similar topics as the ones above. Soon I am going to start my thesis, where I am open to include a related subject though remaining primarily in the field of engineering. I follow the Arrowhead-like industrial digitalisation-collaboration solutions, smart grids in the energy industry, or the applications of IoT and AI in the agriculture with enthusiastic interest.

 

Balázs Riskutia is a third-year mechatronics engineering undergraduate at BME Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. He is ready to work at a company with pioneering aspirations in sustainability. Besides, he would also like to stay close to the academic sphere, as taking part in research, or later, in education.

 

 László Benesóczky

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