Zenseact's Jonas Ekmark new chair of MobilityXlab

Congratulations and welcome on board! As the new chair of our Steering Board for the next 12 months, you are probably keen to set your footprint on things. What plans do you have in place for MobilityXlab?

Firstly, I think MobilityXlab is working great, so there is no need to change anything drastically. If we look at improving our processes, I think we could be better at global outreach, where we reach regions of the world in which we are not so active today. Other than that, I think we as partners can collaborate more than we do. As we want to make this ecosystem even more substantial, this step is vital. So far, the collaboration has been mainly between partners and startups.

You have been working with MobilityXlab since we started in late 2017. Why do you think this collaboration platform works so well?

When we started, we were concerned that we would be feeling like competitors amongst the partners. I have not felt like that at all. We have realized that we are more friends than competitors and are better off helping each other out and collaborating. MobilityXlab is acting as the neutral interface and facilitator between us as partners and the startups. That enables us to share knowledge and challenges and have joint discussions. It really works!

Any other things you have learned during your time with MobilityXlab?

It is essential to have a good interaction between the industry partner’s development teams and the startups from the word go. If you don't give a startup the proper access, it can quickly become a side-activity that you can't make much of in the longer business perspective. Another thing that has struck me over the years is that so much depends on the relationships and how well people collaborate. It is vital to have an open mindset to succeed!

Finally, what would you say future mobility is to you?

I think there are several important factors that are important if you want to pioneer future mobility. First and foremost, it will be all about software-defined products. As an industry, we need to innovate faster and know what is going on in the market to be able to improve our products quickly. We also need to keep on building our ecosystems and platforms to speed up innovation. To sum all of this up; the collaboration we need to facilitate this is enabled by MobilityXlab!

Background
The role as chair is circulated between the six founding partners of MobilityXlab; CEVT, Ericsson, Veoneer, Volvo Cars, Volvo Group, and Zenseact in alphabetical order. All partners have an equal share in the innovation hub and have one vote each.

Jonas Ekmark has been employed at Zenseact for 4 years. When he is not collaborating to find the future of mobility, he is the Head of Collaboration & Technology. In his spare time, you will find Jonas Ekmark playing the piano or spending time with his wife and kids.

RECOMMENDED! Listen to #mobilitytalk 3 here
A talk about the future of mobility between Jonas Ekmark Zenseact, and Katarina Brud Director MobilityXlab.