The theme of the pandemic has been the need for reshoring and diversification of supply chains to strengthen future resilience from such black swan events. Europe has done a better job than the U.S. in diversifying its major sources of energy and yet it is now more burdened by the current spike in energy costs. It needs fossil fuels when the winds stop blowing, and it will need winds if the Russians stop the gas from flowing. Fossil fuels have been reliable for the U.S., but the country has under-invested in nuclear energy. Nuclear power emits no CO2, can be built on multiple small platforms to reduce the risk of major sabotage, is not dependent the vagaries of Mother Nature, and would diversify the energy supply. A science-based approach...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.