IVA’s Gold Medal 2022: Victoria van Camp – an innovator for sustainable industry
Victoria van Camp, who holds a Master’s in mechanical engineering and a PhD in machine elements, is a business leader from Kalix whose career has seen her become an inspirational powerhouse in the drive to transform Swedish industry for a sustainable future.
“We have many resources in Sweden that we can use to take a leading role in the green transition. And I am going to be involved in making it happen,” says Victoria van Camp, who has spent 26 years developing sustainable business models at the Swedish ball bearing giant SKF.
Focus on new technology and user needs
There are many reasons why Victoria van Camp has become an important role model and driving force for industrial transformation, not least her constant desire to learn new things, and her insight that the route to change often relies on an understanding of the users’ needs. At SKF, this included realising that it was not the product itself that the customers were interested in, i.e. the ball bearings. It was the function they wanted, the service of getting ‘the wheels to spin’ as efficiently and for as long as possible.
Victoria van Camp has been one of the pioneers in demonstrating how the development of new materials and the use of automation, AI and other digitally connected systems can help customers to reduce their energy consumption, for example, and extend the service life of their components.
“After all, it is the function, what the technology does for a customer or for humanity, that is so amazing!”
Ambassador for collaboration and building bridges
For Victoria van Camp, one key to the green transformation of industry has been to collaborate with the rest of society and to ensure an influx of people with the ‘right’ skills. Trying to bridge gaps and get people with more perspectives to take up engineering is a crucial factor in all this.
“We need to bring in more women, absolutely, but also people with experience from completely different professional areas, where you might have a different view of what is important and what you should spend time and research funding on.”
Jury citation for IVA’s Gold Medal
Dr Victoria van Camp is awarded the Gold Medal for her incredible ability to communicate the purpose and importance of the engineering profession, as well as her outstanding contribution as a pioneer in technology development and new business models for the transition to sustainable growth.
