GROUNDBREAKERS 2024: Prologis CEO, FedEx Chairman discuss Artificial Intelligence, company culture and tariffs

Event also featured Former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair and Survival Expert Bear Grylls

LONDON, Oct. 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Prologis, Inc. (NYSE: PLD), the global leader in logistics real estate, today hosted its fourth annual GROUNDBREAKERS thought leadership forum in London. GROUNDBREAKERS 2024 featured trailblazers including FedEx Chairman Fred Smith, former UK Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair and Survival Expert Bear Grylls.  

Prologis Co-founder, Chairman and CEO Hamid R. Moghadam was joined by FedEx Founder and Executive Chairman Fred Smith for the event's opening keynote. The two founders discussed technology's influence on geo-economic trends and how their companies are integrating artificial intelligence (AI).

"Manufacturing of basic items is not going to be re-introduced into the West unless robotics is introduced and changes the game," Smith said.

Moghadam said the success of AI is dependent on digitizing massive amounts of data: "The most important thing is digitizing data. If you do not have data, no amount of AI can help you in any way. Most people skip that first step."

Both leaders agreed fostering a culture of innovation is key to attracting the right talent and delivering on customer expectation.

"Culture is the only form of sustainable competitive advantage," said Moghadam. "If you explain the why to people, not only will they sign on, but they will figure out a better way to get there."

Smith added, "Most companies try to catch people doing something wrong – our culture, we try to catch people doing something right."

Panel Highlights: 

The Next Normal: The Future of Delivery
Prologis President Dan Letter engaged Dr. Stephen Peters, member of the Board of Management at Rhenus Group, Patrick Hertzke, partner at McKinsey Automotive Practice, and Alex Coates, president at Airspace, in a conversation about how consumer expectations and new technologies are changing the world of delivery.

"It's honestly exciting when you think about what AI and data analytics can do to improve or optimize the infrastructure that we have around delivery," said Coates. "Can we squeeze more efficiency out of today's infrastructure to get that right product to that right person at the right time?"

Fashion Forward: Everyone is Unique
Vogue Business Editor Kirsty McGregor sat down with Paolo Zannoni, executive deputy chairman at Prada, and Andy Ruben, founder and executive chairman at Trove, to explore trends and innovations disrupting the fashion industry.

Zannoni said consumers' expectations are changing – and creating complexity for his company and the industry: "We are facing the change from the way traditional customers shopped for luxury, even in the luxury group business. What is making our job more complex is that we have different cohorts – different cohorts are looking for different experiences."

Better Health Through Innovation and Design
Healthcare experts came together to examine how innovation in the supply chain is impacting patient health and outcomes. Naomi Grimley, senior communications lead at Oxford's Ellison Institute of Technology moderated a panel with Dr. Josh Makower, the Byers Family director and co-founder of the Stanford Mussallem Center for Biodesign, Dr. Kristin-Anne Rutter, executive director at Cambridge University Health Partners, and Peter Skillman, global head of design at Philips.

On the topic of automation, Rutter said: "There needs to be a lot coming in the automation space because of the healthcare industries coming onto this are so inefficient on how they manage process and manage patients through the systems. If we want to have sustainable healthcare systems, we're going to have to automate both the AI and robotics that we heard about."

Energy Forward: Partnerships, Democratization and Digitization
Prologis Chief Energy and Sustainability Officer Susan Uthayakumar connected with Jean-Pascal Tricoire, chairman at Schneider Electric, Toby Ferenczi, founder and CEO at Granular Energy, and Amund Vik, senior advisor at Eurasia Group. The energy experts focused on driving electrification, decarbonization and profitable business outcomes.

"At the core of energy, there are two contradictory but essential challenges: progress and sustainability," said Tricoire. "In the next 25 years, we have to provide energy to five billion more people on the planet. At the same time, we must reduce emissions by a factor of two."

Ferenczi commented: "With deployment of clean energy, the price of electricity at certain times of the day is negative. That means businesses can be paid to consume energy, and we need a total rethink of what we mean by energy efficiency. It's not only about reducing consumption but how we participate as a system of connected energy networks."

Additional panels explored racing, endurance and adaptability, and AI.

Watch the GROUNDBREAKERS 2024 Replay
Hundreds gathered in-person, and thousands virtually, for the forum, which included additional LinkedIn Live half-time and post-show commentary. All sessions from GROUNDBREAKERS 2024 are available to stream on-demand here.

GROUNDBREAKERS 2025 will be held on Oct. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles.

ABOUT PROLOGIS
Prologis, Inc. is the global leader in logistics real estate with a focus on high-barrier, high-growth markets. At June 30, 2024, the company owned or had investments in, on a wholly owned basis or through co-investment ventures, properties and development projects expected to total approximately 1.2 billion square feet (115 million square meters) in 19 countries. Prologis leases modern logistics facilities to a diverse base of approximately 6,700 customers principally across two major categories: business-to-business and retail/online fulfillment.

SOURCE Prologis, Inc.