Better Innovation

This week, we’re thrilled to speak with Sandra Ro, CEO of the Global Blockchain Business Council, and one Jeff’s favorite collaborators in the innovative technology community. Sandra’s positive influence in the blockchain community is significantly helping this potent technology flourish and illuminating how people and organizations can improve their resiliency. As we watch digitalization flourish and accelerate at an unprecedented speed fueled by the pandemic, there is an acute need for better data management across old and new networks. This surely includes improved data privacy and security, smart government regulation, and mass education of the many participants in these new innovative technology systems. Sandra discusses how blockchain could be of the highest utility to the world within the healthcare sector; notably, to improve access to health records, and vastly improve the patient experience.  Join Sandra and Jeff as they discuss the many dimensions of this transformative technology.    

Rumi Morales has seemingly done it all . . . she has worked at traditional financial institutions, advised blockchain startups, and at one point was even a lounge singer! She knows so much about the power of reinventing oneself. Rumi has adopted this unique philosophy of reinvention throughout her career. Over the years she has played the part of a forward-thinking innovator at century-old traditional organizations, while also venture investing in artificial intelligence, deep learning, predictive analytics, and quantum computing. Institutional Investor said Rumi was one of the “most powerful dealmakers in financial technology” two years in a row, and Crain’s recognized her in their esteemed “40 Under 40” list. How did Rumi achieve this success? On this episode Jeff and Rumi talk about the power of reinvention; in financial systems, businesses, and frankly life in general. Rumi shares her thoughts on how institutions can reinvent themselves to better prepare for disruption through innovative technologies. Jef

In this episode, Jeff talks tech governance with Shelia Warren, Head of Blockchain, Data, and Digital Assets at the World Economic Forum. While tech leaders often think that governance hinders innovation, Warren argues that a basic governance framework can help solution developers think more deliberately about their products and build more inclusive experiences for users, which ultimately translates to higher adoption. Warren also posits that good governance practice increases public confidence in new technologies, in sharp contract from the negative aspects of largely unregulated technologies or crypto assets (think, bitcoin). Jeff and Sheila also discuss the implications of “self-governance” in decentralized systems like blockchain, and the need to align tech developers and policy specialists. Join us for an in-depth conversation that just may change the way you look at governance in tech.

Our third season of Better Innovation was like no other. COVID-19 caused us to refocus our strategy; we took our own advice and had a series of ‘innovation pivots’ along the way. This led to a season filled with diverse topics - from artificial intelligence, to technical convergence, and ultimately a deep dive into what it means to innovate during a crisis. In this wrap-up episode, Jeff recaps a season of thought-provoking interviews from a truly memorable group of guests. We introduce emerging trends - such as, advanced technology governance, proliferation of private / public partnerships, and sharing data through new cooperative and trust models. In early March, we paused our artificial intelligence theme, and focused the remainder of the season on COVID-19 and Crisis Innovation. We had fascinating interviews with leaders who are innovating for the next phase of this crisis and beyond; those change-agents who are making it a safer and prosperous world for all of us. To close out the episode – and the season

In a few short years, there will likely be 10x as many IoT devices on the planet than humans. We’ve never had more data, but how do we utilize it without compromising privacy? This week, Jeff is joined by Dr. David Bray, inaugural Director of the GeoTech Center with the Atlantic Council. David knows how to innovate in a crisis. He has been on the front lines of the response to 9/11, anthrax attacks, SARS and now COVID-19. These crisis experiences exhibit the importance of data to help solve and prevent the world’s most difficult problems. Join us for an insider’s look at the future of data sharing through new trust and cooperative models.

This week, we’re joined for the second time by Steve Blank—innovator, educator and founder of lean start-up theory. Organizations of all types are seeking a return to growth. Steve has applied his lean theory to institutions reemerging from the pandemic; in search of unique ways to accelerate innovation. Steve and his team are running multiple 5-day virtual workshops at Stanford, called ‘Hacking 4 Recovery,’ designed to develop new business models for this new economy emerging. Steve provides practical tips from these workshops, designed for institutions – public and private - to reconfigure and reinvent their strategies. Join Steve and Jeff as they break down what leading organizations can do to thrive in our new world.

This week, we’re talking to Pete Newell, retired U.S. Army Colonel, CEO of BMNT (a government consulting/innovation firm), and close collaborator of former guest Steve Blank. Pete has helped entrepreneurs and organizations across the globe apply the innovation lessons he learned in the Army to better perceive when significant – and disruptive - change is near. Now, amidst a global pandemic, those lessons are needed more than ever to respond to the demands of this crisis for a better, safer future. We learned from Pete that to successfully innovate through a crisis, we must be incredibly prepared and nimble - ready to adapt to a rapidly changing environment. Successful crisis innovators react and respond well to signals . . . those flares in the sky signaling that distress is near. Pete’s lessons from his time innovating in the military are important to all of us COVID-19 crisis innovators. Tune-in for lessons on adapting in a storm, and stay tuned for next week’s return guest—Steve Blank!

This week, we’re back with the Safe Paths team as Jeff sits down with its founder, MIT Associate Professor Ramesh Raskar. Jeff and Ramesh explore the inspiration for Safe Paths and Ramesh’s vision for establishing Path Check, a nonprofit committed to developing leading technology to slow the spread of COVID-19.   Ramesh’s inspiration for the Safe Paths technology stems from his experience at Burning Man in 2017, where he was asked to be on the receiving end of a phone booth experience called “Talk to God.” As dozens of strangers shared intimate personal details with Ramesh, he realized that it wasn’t God they were looking for, but instead an impartial broker to receive their most personal information - free of judgment and repercussion. What if technology - and AI in particular - could be that impartial broker?   Join this free-flowing conversation exploring, among other topics, the dichotomy between data privacy and its utility, through the lens of Safe Paths’ revolutionary platform.

We’re launching our new miniseries with a bang. In episode 1 of COVID-19 and Crisis Innovation, Jeff is joined by Sienna Leis from the Covid Safe Paths initiative emanating from MIT. Sienna, a graduate student at the Harvard Kennedy School, along with a few hundred volunteers within this Safe Paths movement, have created a solution to help slow the spread of Covid-19.   Jeff and a team from EY are supporting the Covid-19 Safe Paths movement with pro bono support to help stop this deadly virus. Sienna and this incredible Safe Paths movement are making such a positive difference in the world; they truly represent what it means to innovate during a crisis. Join Jeff and Sienna for a glimpse into the advancement of a movement for the public good.    

Until COVID-19 is behind us, not much else matters. Who’s getting us going again? What will it look like when we do? How can this change the world for better? We have decided to pause our Artificial Intelligence theme for Season 3, and spend the coming months focused on COVID-19 and Crisis Innovation. We’re talking to the people innovating for the next phase of this crisis and beyond; the people who are trying to understand what the future will look like, and innovating to make it a safer and prosperous world for all of us.

We’ve all heard of the so-called “sin taxes” on items like cigarettes and soda. When these harmful products become more expensive, consumption naturally decreases. What if we tried the same approach with fossil fuel consumption producing carbon emissions?    This special throwback episode features Jeff’s 2016 TEDx talk that was the impetus for Better Innovation, focused on citizen activism and the impact of a carbon tax in British Columbia. The province adopted a carbon tax that cut fossil fuel consumption by 16% without stifling economic growth — and since revenues were given back to the people by cutting other taxes, it enjoyed public support. In 2019, the carbon tax was extended throughout Canada.   While partisan gridlock may hinder a national carbon tax in the U.S., Jeff argues we could adopt it at the state level using ballot initiatives; and, perhaps extend this idea across the globe! Tune in to see how we can leverage taxes as a powerful tool for social change.

Every January, The World Economic Forum holds its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. The goal is to improve the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas. As part of our “Davos Talks 2020 ” series, Jeffrey Saviano is bringing us 6 episodes from and inspired by his time in Davos.  Government agencies and the private sector once operated in completely different spheres. Today, the public sector is ill-equipped to deal with urgent global challenges, while the private sector has plenty of capital but faces an uncertain future. In today’s episode, Jeff discusses the potential of “uncommon coalitions” between the two with Tomicah Tillemann and Dante Dispartae. Tomicah, executive director of the Digital Impact and Governance Initiative at New America, and Dante, head of policy at the Libra Foundation, cite vaccination and transit improvements as strong examples of public-private partnerships. As challenging as the

Every January, The World Economic Forum holds its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. The goal is to improve the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas. As part of our “Davos Talks, 2020 ” series, Jeffrey Saviano is bringing us 6 episodes from and inspired by his time in Davos.  As new technologies become widely adopted, they’re still controlled by small - and often, biased - groups of stakeholders. In this episode, Jeff talks with Dante Disparte, head of policy at the Libra Foundation, who wants to turn that model on its head.  Dante has spent much of his career improving institutional risk, readiness, and resilience. In his leadership role at the Libra Foundation, Dante promotes an open infrastructure of collaborative fintech platforms to bring more people into the formal economy. This collaboration - the best of the public and private sectors, and civil society - calls for uncommon coalitions to demo

Every January, The World Economic Forum holds its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. The goal is to improve the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas. As part of our “Davos Talks 2020 ” series, Jeffrey Saviano is bringing us 6 episodes from and inspired by his time in Davos.  Government agencies across the globe are tackling 21st century problems with outdated systems — and it’s little wonder that the associated public trust is at an all-time low. In today’s episode, Jeff explores open-source innovation in the public sector with Tomicah Tillemann, Executive Director of the Digital Impact and Governance Initiative (DIGI) at New America. Tomicah explains how collaborative open-source platforms can help the public sector effectively administer taxes, better allocate resources, and fight corruption. According to Tomicah, strategic partnerships with the private sector and civil society can help governments fund,

This week, we’re back to our regularly scheduled artificial intelligence programming with Navroop Sahdev, economist, futurist, Founder & CEO of the Digital Economist. Navroop is obsessed with complex systems, and the power of technological convergence to make better sense of those complexities. Navroop’s work with complex systems is heavily influenced by the natural laws of biology. Rather than studying the world in artificially created fragments, a better paradigm is to study the complex system inclusive of all its interconnected parts. Navroop has leading views on the application of converging, innovative, technologies to address problems within a complex system.

We talk to a lot of great minds on this podcast, and we always try to ask each guest what they’re reading. In this special mini-episode, you’ll hear about some of the books that inspire and inform our guests—and hopefully get a few gift ideas for the readers on your list.

For this episode, we’re going to take a quick break from Season 3’s theme of Artificial Intelligence to bring you something very special. Kate Barton, EY’s Global Vice Chair of Tax, takes over hosting duties. Kate recently attended “The Nantucket Project", where she had the opportunity to interview Phaly Pichota, CEO and Cofounder of Cibus Health and Jessica Orkin, President of SYPartners.    The interviews have some great insights on leadership, personal growth, volunteerism, mentoring and if you listen closely, you’ll even hear a mention of Artificial Intelligence.   Kate’s been a supporter of the show from the beginning, as well as a guest, so it’s a really unique opportunity to have her perspective on the other side of the mic this time. We hope you enjoy these discussions.

Emerging technologies like AI and blockchain have the potential to transform industries and entire economies — so where do governments come in? Jeff breaks it all down with Minister Ivan McKee, the Minister for Trade, Investment, and Innovation in Scotland.   Minister McKee plays a critical role in building an inclusive tech ecosystem for the public and private sectors. He and his colleagues have promoted training opportunities, integrated AI into the country’s healthcare and tax systems, and developed a regulatory framework for data privacy.   While many see emerging tech as a threat, Minister McKee views it an evolution of Scotland’s rich industrial heritage — and as a powerful tool that enables Scotland to compete on a global scale.

“What’s the relationship between AI and leadership?” This week, we bring you Part 2 of Jeff’s conversation with Dr. Tommy Weir: self-described leadership nerd, Founder and CEO of enAIble and author of Leadership Dubai Style: The Habits to Achieve Remarkable Success.    How do you measure productivity? Do you judge your workforce/team as a whole? Is it based on intuition or, worse, hearsay? Tommy’s company, enAIble, is using AI to measure productivity for leadership on an individual level, reading not just how an employee’s time is being used, but how consistent they are with their time and—most importantly—how their work performance affects their colleagues. It’s giving CEOs insights into their organizations that they’ve never had before—adding objectivity to a historically subjective problem.   Join us for Part 2 of this very special look into the bleeding-edge of AI application and how leadership can be transformed by better, smarter, clearer use of data.

“What’s the relationship between AI and leadership?” This week, Jeff is joined by Dr. Tommy Weir, self-described leadership nerd, Founder and CEO of enAIble and author of Leadership Dubai Style: The Habits to Achieve Remarkable Success. An ardent skeptic just a few years ago, Dr. Weir walks through his journey from learning to understanding leadership, to learning to understand AI to learning how AI can enhance great leaders.  How many leaders have you had in your life? How many do you remember? In Part 1 of our interview, Dr. Weir breaks down what it is in leaders that motivates or inspires us, and how that can inform who we are and how we work. He also takes us into his first look at AI a few years ago and the exciting applications that inspired his current career path.  Join us for Part 1 before we dig deeper into AI applications for leadership in Part 2.