Innovation

I've worked in a lot of different types of business in my career, and you can certainly get tied in knots when you want to create a great 'thing' but can't figure the business model to make it work. My approach was simple- if I didn't make those businesses profitable, I couldn't' innovate. Nobody will fund innovation in perpetuity – you need to make money; you need to deliver value to your customers. When people ask me whether we want growth or profit, I say yes! Both!

The potential of wearable health monitoring is enormous, and under appreciated by a lot of society, because version-1 of wearables were – to put it politely – underwhelming. The health care industry spends a lot on curative costs… and if you shift the curative to the preventative, you can save a tonne of money and have better outcomes. That's the future of medicine… being able to see a doctor before something happens, not after.

There will be no cure for cancer until real doctors with real patients in real hospitals can attempt an innovation. The court is primarily interested in the effort made, in the attempt. That is what truly counts.

Co-Founder of Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Agency

Since patenting sheepskin shoes or their design and feel wasn't possible, we adopted a proactive company mantra: we aimed to lead, to be the first out of the gate and then run faster. While presenting our latest products, my mind was already crafting the next year's innovations, things that did not yet exist and our competitors couldn't copy.

By exploring the unknown, we prepare ourselves, getting us closer to the cutting edge of science and, possibly, readying us for the next giant leap. Fortune favours the prepared mind.

Theoretical Physicist & Public Advocate for Science and Atheism

In the future, these kinds of blood tests will become commonplace. They will allow us to offer treatments for Alzheimer's disease 10, 20, or even 30 years before symptoms start to manifest, much like how we currently handle cholesterol. This early detection and intervention will be our strategy for combating Alzheimer's.

Alzheimer's disease researcher and Harvard Medical School neuroscientist

What seemed like trash to this giant software company was akin to Aladdin's treasure for a 12-year-old. I recruited my older sister as my business partner, and we began to gather discarded floppy disks using my youngest sister's pram. As an added bonus, we offered same-day delivery, a feature that we cheekily called 'Amazon Now'.

Our core belief is in the immense potential of technology as a force multiplier, particularly when it's rendered accessible and intuitive. From the onset, we have viewed the internet through the lens of software, rather than merely brochureware. We view ourselves as an innovation agency, one that marries the spheres of art and technology.

Open-source evidence is essentially public information available to anyone and can be traced back to its original source. We've always maintained transparency in our methodologies and the step-by-step processes we employ to validate an image or investigate. Thus, our work can be reverse engineered. If there are any flaws in our methodology, they're readily apparent.

Founder of Bellingcat, open-source investigation journalism network

For instance, while AI can generate images that appear real, it cannot create convincing backgrounds that can be geolocated, since they do not correspond to actual places.

Founder of Bellingcat, open-source investigation journalism network

From around 2007 onwards, a new era dawned, marked by the widespread adoption of smartphones, essentially equipping every person with a sensor device. In tandem, social media platforms proliferated, facilitating incessant information sharing. Concurrently, Google services like Earth and Street View began to provide unprecedented access to geospatial data, granting us both the means and the method to verify a plethora of information.

Founder of Bellingcat, open-source investigation journalism network

Consider a significant issue, something genuinely worth addressing, a problem whose solution would make the world a better place. The subsequent step is to identify who has this problem. If you find yourself to be the sole bearer of this issue, consulting a therapist might be a quicker and less expensive option than launching a startup.

Co-founder of Waze, GPS navigation app acquired by Google

I see myself as the pioneering 'zero'—the inaugural integration of a human with technology, aiming for an autonomous growth trajectory. The introduction of zero transformed mathematics, art, physics, and more. Now, it's humanity's turn.

Biohacker & Blueprint Project Founder focused on extreme longevity optimization

While many were focused on selling routers and switches, I envisioned a more transformative goal: changing the way the world works, learns, lives, and plays via the internet... we must sell outcomes, driven by technology, rather than just selling products.

Former CEO of Cisco Systems, led company through internet boom era

Dyslexics, like me, often possess above-average intelligence, but we grapple with sequential thinking. Instead of thinking linearly from A to B to C to D, we jump from A to B to Z. Over time, I've learned to turn a perceived 'weakness' into a strength.

Former CEO of Cisco Systems, led company through internet boom era

Growing up in West Virginia, we were at the forefront economically— the chemical and coal mining center of the world. However, due to an inability to adapt to changing market dynamics and transitions, our position plummeted to the bottom ranks among the US states... I firmly advocate the idea of reinventing oneself every 5 years.

Former CEO of Cisco Systems, led company through internet boom era