Good morning.

As this edition of my Sunday AM is published, I am on a plane on my way to Richmond, Virginia. I am excited to go to the US for the first time in more than a year. I am also excited to see great American printing companies and INKISH friends. Of course, I am also very cautious, as I don't know exactly what to expect with COVID and how three weeks of constant work and travel will influence my stress+. But I am sure Jan and I will do fine and will do amazing films - again!

Before digging into the stories of the past week, I want to thank you for the great comments and more than 2,000 people that read the first Sunday AM - very encouraging, of course.

Morten B. Reitoft

BUSINESS

One of the major topics in the past week is patents - and I am diverse in my opinion. Patents are issued to protect your intellectual rights, often part of a long time spent on research and development, often with substantial costs. With a patent, you can protect your investment, and it should be an incentive to invent more. This is good for companies and eventually also for the consumers, as they will get new innovative products. The downside is that it creates a de facto monopoly for that technology for a while, and as we all know, what monopolies do for prices is not good for consumers. So why are patents at all an issue this week? It's about COVID-vaccines. Leaders from many countries seem positive to push for a temporary hold on COVID-patents. The effect of this is uncertain, but the long-term impact on research and development of, i.e., other pharmaceuticals, can have vast consequences. At the same time, scientists and the pharmaceutical industry (of course) don't believe that freeing the patents will bring more vaccines to the market faster since it takes time to build plants, infrastructure, distribution, etc. So I am not in favor of freeing the patents, but agree there is a need for solutions to produce more vaccine faster.

And speaking of patents. The Swedish company arifiQ got a US-patents some weeks ago based on their pricing engine. When I read the press release and the patent application, I wasn't very excited about this since some of the granted patents are more generic processes than specific technologies. It's like taking a patent on "ganging," "digital print," or something so widely used that the patent can have a huge negative influence on the industry - and underscore exactly why patents on software in the EU and the US are seen so differently.

For the arifiQ patents - I am thinking about looking more into it and understanding the implications! As the industrial revolution isn't old, the impact of patents is not very transparent - and when some of the patents run out, these can be used - and who knows, create a basis for new innovations that can push the question about protectionism further. It will be exciting to see!

TECHNOLOGY

This week Elon Musk finally got his Starship safely down to earth again. It was amazing to watch, and as this is one of the largest machines ever created, to see it fly and land with a soft touchdown was truly amazing. I chose to write about this in my Sunday AM chronicle because Starship represents so many different aspects of technology. Not only Space but also a kind of Wild-West approach to conquering the unknown. Musk's visions with Starship are something we miss in the printing industry - somebody who really pushes the boundaries. Most of the technologies we see in our industry are iterations of technology already in the market, so it will be exciting to know when the next big step comes to market.

MUSIC

This time I want to share one of my favorite tunes - here played live. Very groovy, funky, and as I am a keyboard player myself, challenging to play - and well - listen to this yourself, and let me know what you think! The song is called 'Velours' and performed by the artist Anomalie from Montreal, Canada. I like!

BOOKS

The Danish investor and author Lars Tvede wrote an exciting book some years ago called 'The Creative Society' - and it's worth your time. The book speculates why empires cease to be strong. Egypt, Greece, Italy, France, the UK all had Empires that thrived and suddenly stopped being strong and important. Lars Tvede has looked into the history, and it seems there is a clear indication that the more regulated a society becomes, the more innovation fails. If you look at current times sourcing to China and other Asian countries - innovation is driven more and more from the fast-growing economies, typically in Asia. Of course, there is no one truth, but The Creative Society has some interesting findings. The inspiration I find from this book is about developing companies with a minimum of bureaucracy - and I am sure if you look at the company you work in, you might quickly see routines and ways that could be improved. That improvement will not only benefit the company but, more importantly, the customers!

Politics

The political cultures are very different from country to country. When it comes to the role of the governments, that is also very different. I live in a country where the government has used taxpayer money to stimulate the economy when the economic conditions are low - and though the Scandinavian countries have high taxes, the public service level is high. However, the 'strange' thing is when I speak with my American friends, who have insurances where we have public welfare - the cost is almost comparable - at least for a middle-class family. The political 'agenda' is sometimes less about the actual cost of living and the measures and the competition markets offer. In countries with welfare systems, the GINI index is more even, making it better for poorer people. However, high taxes can also negatively influence innovation and drive - so it's about the balance. When governments invest in infrastructure, it is sometimes doing so when the cost and repayment time is too high and too long for private investors. So when is it ok to use taxpayers' money? Well, that is where the real political fight often starts, since most people vote to favor themselves! So people without money, would of course, like to have more paid by others. Rich people, on the other side, want to keep as much to themselves as possible. Denmark is a small country, so often infrastructure projects, like building bridges, are so expensive that private money would be difficult to raise - however, in Denmark, we have created what we call OPP (public/private/corporation) where the government guarantee an investment but will have repayment and depreciation on market terms. The worst thing is when politicians are using taxpayer money on projects that could be privately funded, and when or if projects specifically favor particular voters - I think!

And with that said (and don't be upset with me if you disagree, tell me - I want to learn!) - let's talk trends!

TRENDS

I like to understand mega-trends. These non-universal industry-specific trends are interesting to learn from. One of these mega-trends is about the environment. Consumers want to buy environmentally good products, but with more and more people being a bit more superficial, I can't help think about how facts can be mixed with beliefs. Some printing companies are moving in the direction of cradle-to-cradle production - which by all means sounds great - however, recycled paper can be more difficult to use in a cradle-to-cradle production, as it's almost impossible to specify the ingredients in the recycles paper - so two trends that are something someone should be focusing on. Is white paper more environmentally good compared to gray recycled paper? The regrettable consequence is, of course, that some people may buy products that appear green rather than green products. In 2019 we tried to raise money to do an in-depth documentary about 'green.' I believe it could be fantastic to see if all the green promises from FSC, PEFC, Nordic Ecolabel, the EU Flower, etc. delivers a greener environment. Unfortunately, nobody in the industry wanted to back this project - but who knows - maybe times will change, and the need to know the facts will get people to their pockets? :-)

Thank you for reading this Sunday AM - and if you are interested to know about our US road trip, connect with me on LinkedIn and see the reports.

See you next Sunday!

For now, I hope you enjoyed the second Sunday AM as well - and see you next week :-)

May 09, 2021

Author: Morten B. Reitoft

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