Innovation Answered InnoLead

We talk AI, employment disruption, UBI, corporate innovation, and the future of the automotive industry with Evangelos Simoudis, an author, investor, and advisor based in Silicon Valley. 
At Synapse Partners, he invests in early-stage startups that develop enterprise software and AI applications and also advises big companies and governments on the use of data and AI to address strategic problems. 
"This is not the first time that we've seen this bringing together of both anxiety and excitement" around AI, Simoudis says. "My perspective is colored by the fact that I've seen three other AI springs, as I call them. ...I will say that the optimist in me sees advancements in every one of these AI springs."
Simoudis is also the author of several books, including Transportation Transformation and The Flagship Experience, published in late 2023. He is also a close observer of the corporate innovation and startup ecosystems in Silicon Valley, and he writes a blog called “Re-Imagining Corporate Innovation with a Silicon Valley Perspective.”

 

From six years spent at Starbucks to designing a new countertop coffeemaker that cranks out cold brew, Mesh Gelman has been working at the cutting edge of coffee.

During his time at Starbucks, he witnessed the rising popularity of cold beverages, a trend that his new startup, Cumulus Coffee Company, aims to capitalize on.

In this podcast episode, we talk with Gelman about coffee trends; developing a new product from scratch; the difference between big organizations and start-ups; and his past work as an innovation consultant.

In this episode, we catch up with Geoffrey Moore, the best-selling author, consultant, and venture capitalist whose groundbreaking work has shaped how we think about innovation strategy.
If you’ve ever talked about a technology "crossing the chasm" from the realm of early adopters into the early majority, or your company has put a high potential project into the incubation zone, you’ve been using language given to us by Moore. His best-selling books including Zone to Win, Inside the Tornado, and Crossing the Chasm — and lately, he’s been publishing a series of insightful LinkedIn articles on topics including the future of the office…rethinking personalization… and why it’s time to stop talking about generative AI and start doing something with it.
Listen to the episode to hear the full conversation. 












 

In this episode, we talk about the challenges of innovating in biopharma with a veteran of that industry, Dan Seewald. Seewald is the former Head of Worldwide Innovation at Pfizer, the $100 billion pharma giant headquartered in Manhattan, and now the founder and CEO of the consulting and training firm Deliberate Innovation. Among the questions that InnoLead CEO Scott Kirsner covers with Seewald:
How do you create space for new ideas in a regulated industry? What's your advice on exploring the potential of AI?  How do you effectively communicate an internal innovation initiative? How do you deal with all of the legal and compliance colleagues who are very good at saying "no" to new ideas? What he'd do differently if he was starting over at Pfizer. This episode was hosted by Scott Kirsner and edited by David Swope.

Who’s leading the charge on generative AI in big organizations? How are they managing the tension between moving quickly and not making major missteps? And what use cases are they moving forward with? 
In this episode, we dive into the rapidly-evolving world of generative AI with Paul Baier, the CEO and co-founder of GAI Insights. 
Baier talks about the vendor landscape and shares several examples of first-mover companies, including McDonald's and Walmart, that are making strides in deploying generative AI.
You can subscribe to our podcast, “Innovation Answered,” on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Podcasts.
Scott Kirsner hosts this episode; Hadley Thompson produced it.

"For too long," says Todd Dunn, "many organizations have not developed innovation as a strategic and ongoing source of competitive advantage. Instead, some organizations have used it for reputational points in the public eye, but not to deliver measurable value to consumers, customers and the company."
That's a big problem, argues Dunn, who was most recently the Vice President of Enterprise Innovation at Advocate Health. Advocate is headquartered in Charlotte, NC, and it’s the fifth biggest nonprofit health system in the US. 
In this episode, we talk with Dunn about what went wrong in Act 1 of corporate innovation — and what needs to change in Act 2. Our discussion was sparked by Dunn's recent LinkedIn piece, "Innovation: The Driving Force of Competitive Advantage."
You can subscribe to our podcast, “Innovation Answered,” on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Podcasts.
Scott Kirsner hosted this episode, and Hadley Thompson produced.