Romi Mahajan President Pepper
Pulak Sinha CEO Pepper

Well, that’s why we build warning systems and endow people with the intelligence to act on them. And that’s why we have regulations and ask organizations to comply. It is worthwhile pausing for a moment to consider what’s at stake. When we look at the Asset Management industry as a whole, we see that it manages in excess of $120 trillion world-wide. Such sums are staggering and remind us of the famous, though apocryphal Willie Sutton story- “that’s where the money is.” The largest individual firms manage $3+ trillion. Put simply, even small failures in this industry have cross-sectoral, and fundamental effects on the economy as a whole and, ultimately, lives. We cannot afford that. Ever.

This industry cannot afford to meet the challenges of complexity, growth, regulation, compliance, and risk management with technologies that are built for other industries and ported to Asset Management after-the-fact. This industry cannot afford to meet these challenges as a technology laggard, as one so occupied with costs that it loses sight of the big picture.

Whatever the difficulties and stresses of day-to-day life in the industry, we must reject the idea that “it’s good enough.” Firms that manage hundreds of billions of dollars and dazzle investors with talk of AI, modernity, and innovation that they turn around and manage assets, dollars, and decisions on Excel are on the precipice. It is not a matter of if but when. Even the most venerable names have their “Kodak” moments when they stop paying attention to systems and cultivate a culture of dismissal.

It’s not simply a matter of efficiency, security, error management, or expedience. It’s not simply a matter of maximizing ROI by a basis point or two. What’s at stake here are “company extinction” events.

Modern business and technology have converged into a singularity. The stakes to get it right are high. Therefore it is high-time the Asset Management industry faces reality squarely.

Let’s be smart. Don’t settle for “good enough” because one day it will fail. Invest in the right systems and don’t run your business on Excel. Think of reporting requirements not as onerous but as good gut-checks. Together, united, we can build a culture of success.

Romi Mahajan, CEO ExoFusion
Dr. Swadesh Mahajan, Senior Scientific Advisor, ExoFusion

The pursuit of nuclear energy through controlled thermonuclear fusion could easily qualify as one of the grandest scientific and technical ventures in history.  As with all such gargantuan endeavors, the challenge is Herculean and has been subject to ebbs and flows in confidence.

The era of this persistent oscillation between hope and despair may just have ended, however; cautious optimism prevails after a succession of events including major new advances in the science and technology of fusion and a fundamental societal restructuring of research and development.  We’ve matriculated from talking just about fusion “research” to real and fertile discussions on commercially-viable fusion (CVF.)

Why are we optimistic?

First of all, hats off to the enormous sponsorship of fusion by governments around the world.  Here, fundamentally understanding both the science and technology was paramount, with commercialization being secondary.  That is the nature of discovery.  The recent success at NIF in achieving “break-even” is more than symbolic.  It is the beginning of a new era built on a foundation of science sponsored by Government. The bend in the road has come.

Second, the recent animation of the private sector in Fusion, with over $5 billion being raised is exciting and important.  The public-private partnerships that have ensued add buoyancy to the goal of CVF.

Third, new technologies, like the high temperature superconductors used by CFS and new physics ideas pioneered by the physics community will be crucial in fulfilling this promise.

Fourth, the possibility of large-scale simulations of new physics regimes with advanced software is a boon to the cause.

These are exciting times for fusion- for the first time we have a coalescence of all vital elements to make fusion power a reality.  The time for bullishness has come!

URL:  exofusion.co