Here at ARK, the number one question we hear is: has innovation bottomed? Steven Vannelli is seeing signs that innovation may have hit the bottom and that there might be a significant turning point ahead. Steven is Founder and CEO of Knowledge Leaders Capital and Chief Investment Officer of the Knowledge Leaders Funds. There, he oversees investment strategy, asset allocation, and security selection, and leads development on the firm’s analysis of intangible capital, studying how it affects corporate profitability and wealth creation. According to Steven’s most recent Quarterly Strategy Report, global innovation appears to have bottomed, and in this episode, he breaks down what he means. We take a deep dive into the stats that suggest that innovation could be relatively undervalued from a historical perspective. “[Intangible assets aren’t] all necessarily hardcore ones and zeros, bits and bytes. A lot of it is investments that companies make into their people or make into their processes.” — Steven Vannelli Key Points From This Episode: The motivation behind Knowledge Leaders and their unique focus on intangible assets. Indications that innovation as a factor bottomed earlier in 2022, according to Steven. Defining intangible assets and some examples that illustrate their value. Understanding the relationship between present intellectual property and future earnings. A look at the first quintile of the S&P 500 and what it means for innovation. Where research and development spenders in the S&P 500 are concentrated. Steven shares his view on how companies can benefit from capitalizing on R&D. Indices that Steven uses as proxies for innovation. The Bloomberg R&D Leaders Index versus the Goldman Sachs Non-profitable Tech Index. A look at financial leverage based on reported data. The potential merits of comparing the 2000s boom and bust cycle with innovation today. Potential ramifications of the tech race between the U.S. and China. How geopolitical risk can slow innovation.

With steadily increasing technological advancements and a new way of living with the global pandemic, Data as a service (DaaS) has become a very attractive business model. Taking full advantage of the growing internet is today’s guest, CEO of privately held SafeGraph and the host of The World of DaaS podcast, Auren Hoffman. To paraphrase our guest, SafeGraph sells data about physical places, they sell a collection of facts. Auren’s background as a software engineer launched him into the world of tech, and he explains why he believes DaaS is so important in today’s world. We learn that SafeGraph prioritizes data over analytics, why trading datamay be / appears to be better for business than selling it, and why value and accuracy could be / he believes, etc more important than data quantity. Software tools are leading to both market concentration and fragmentation, and we see how software’s evolution to be more text-prompt-based can be great for the everyday consumer. Auren is also an angel investor and he tells us what he prefers investing in and why he finds the current market so fascinating. Before discussing the slippery slope of universal standards, our guest shares why podcasting brings him joy and why being able to switch between platforms and systems is becoming a major selling point. Auren is encouraged by the competitive nature of the data space and he explains why traditional banks have a tough battle to deal with. “The most important thing in data is that it’s true because you’re just selling facts. Hopefully, you have a lot of facts. Hopefully, those facts are facts people want.” — @auren Key Points From This Episode: Introducing today’s guest, DaaS expert and serial entrepreneur, Auren Hoffman. Auren’s business background and how he got into tech. What SafeGraph does as a business. The definition of a “data as a service” (DaaS) company and why it matters in today’s world. How dealing in data is simply working with facts. Whether Auren has been tempted to add analytics to his data-focused business. How Auren feels about the ever-increasing capabilities of data software tools. How his business’s data class differs from the others that prioritize analytics. Data-direct monetization and why it’s a bad idea for businesses to adopt the trend. Why Auren believes trading data is more beneficial than selling it. The difficulties of being in the data business. Why Auren’s company needs to provide both the facts and the interpolation between them. According to Auren, how data quantity is not enough and why value and accuracy also matter. The tipping points within data accuracy. SafeGraph’s prototypical customer. How Auren bills his clients and why he thinks more people are able to use modern data software. Whether software tools are leading to market concentration, fragmentation, or both. How Auren’s customers are implementing the data they receive from him. Why data software is evolving to be more text-prompt-based. How SafeGraph is competing with Google, just like everybody else. What Auren is investing in and what he finds interesting about the current marketplace. How he approaches the problem of customer acquisition within SafeGraph. Why Auren, as a CEO, is running a podcast. How to navigate systems that have become resistant to changes in processed data. The slippery slope of universal standards, and why Auren believes they are still important. What Auren thinks about the competitive nature of the current data space. The displacement of customer-sticking in banking.

When his six-year-old daughter was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, Tom Whitehead was determined to do whatever it took to save her life. In 2012, Emily Whitehead became the first patient enrolled in a clinical trial of a new immunotherapy treatment known as CAR T, which would ultimately turn her immune system into a powerful weapon against cancer. A decade later, this cancer treatment is now widely used and has gone on to save hundreds of lives. Today, in this special double episode of For Your Innovation, you’ll not only hear from Tom Whitehead as he shares the details of their miraculous story, recounting the innovative research, faith, and support that got them through the most difficult time of their lives, but you’ll also gain additional insight into CAR T therapy from biologist and infectious disease physician, Dr. Alexander Marson. Dr, Marson is a Professor at UCSF and the Director of the Gladstone-UCSF Institute of Genomic Immunology. His lab focuses on adapting CRISPR genome editing techniques to human immune cells in order to understand the genetic programs controlling immune cell function and to manipulate T cells to generate cell-based therapies for a wide range of diseases, including cancer. For a fascinating look at the patient/family/caregiver experience of cancer immunotherapy, intersected with that of a scientist who works on these novel and innovative therapies every day, listen to today’s episode! “T-cells are a central cell type that we can engage in a number of different ways to start orchestrating responses to treat cancer.” — @MarsonLab Key Points From This Episode:

Today’s guest is MIT professor, chemical engineer, scientist, inventor, and investor Dr. Bob Langer. Dr. Langer has over 1,400 granted or pending patents and has been cited 374,000 times (and counting)! As a co-founder of Moderna, he has great insights into the potential of mRNA to treat diseases of various descriptions. Joining us to pick this extraordinary mind is clinically trained entrepreneur, Dr. Charlie Roberts. In this conversation, we discuss emerging biotechnologies, the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in this space, as well as what might be attributed to the current downturn of the market. Dr. Langer lists potential time-to-market accelerators for new therapies and vaccines and shares his advice for those looking to make an impact from an academic and/or entrepreneurial standpoint. Tune in to hear more about the innovations Dr. Langer has been involved in over the years, and what we can look forward to in the future! “I don’t see much limit in terms of what messenger RNA can be used to treat.” — Dr. Bob Langer Key Points From This Episode: Dr. Bob Langer highlights his favorite patent. Dr. Langer’s career achievements. Some factors impacting the current biotech market downturn. The correlation between magic and science. What mRNA is and why it’s an ideal candidate for treating disease. The personalized cancer vaccines Merck and Moderna are currently developing. Under what circumstances mRNA isn’t the solution. The emerging biotechnologies Dr. Langer is most excited about. The applications of organs on a chip. The potential of AI in the biotech space. Potential time-to-market accelerators for new therapies and vaccines. How to make an impact in the academic and entrepreneurial biotech spaces. The importance of understanding intellectual property. The team aspect of innovation. Dr. Langer’s tales of perseverance. Strategies for enforcing IPs. Dr. Langer’s delivery expertise. How he’s balanced his work and family life over the years.

The world of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology is a rapidly evolving sector that has grown tremendously in popularity in recent years. However, the original philosophy of crypto and blockchain has been altered by interests in capital gain and convenience, eroding the founding ethos of the technology. This was not acceptable to today’s guests, Arthur and Kathleen Breitman, who decided to build a blockchain technology that ensured the original spirit of the technology was preserved. Arthur and Kathleen are the creators of Tezos, a public blockchain that enables decentralized governance by allowing self-amendments. In today’s conversation, we dive into the underlying Tezos protocol and discover the various ways people are applying it. We learn what a rollup is, the different versions of rollups, and what data availability is as a concept. Hear about their approach to scaling, how scaling has changed from a research to an engineering problem, and why the Breitman’s believe gaming will catalyze the next wave of users of blockchain technology. “I started my journey by thinking: Bitcoin, it’s not an algorithm. It’s not a software. It’s a network. It’s consensus around a ledger.” — @ArthurB Key Points From This Episode: Background about our guests and what got them interested in crypto. The motivation for Arthur and Kathleen to build their own blockchain. How the narrative around cryptocurrencies has evolved and where Tezos fits in. How Arthur and Kathleen formed the idea of on-chain governance as a middle ground. An outline of the upsides and downsides to the on-chain governance approach. The shift in motivation and ethos of the average crypto-user. Past updates and the current state of the network. Whether scaling is achieved by upgrading the core or Layer 2. What data availability is as a concept and why it is essential. A breakdown of a rollup and the various approaches to scaling. What rollup approach the Tezos network uses to scale. The many ways people are using the Tezos network. How Arthur and Kathleen measure the growth and use of the Tezos network. What they think will cause more people to adopt the network in the future. Why venture capitalists have become interested in cryptocurrencies. Comparing the railroads of the 1900s with public blockchains that exist today. Ways in which capitalization of crypto and blockchain technology will be overcome. An outline of the future for Tezos and how the community is involved. Arthur and Kathleen’s take on the regulatory environment and how it’ll change in the future.

Today, Will Summerlin hosts a conversation with Manu Sharma, founder and CEO of Labelbox, a privately held data curation and artificial intelligence (AI) company. In the episode, Manu unpacks the role of AI in powering real-world solutions, discusses why he believes the AI paradigm shift is really all about data, and what motivates him to create a product suite to orchestrate AI activities. We also dive into the rapid AI driven transformations that enterprises are facing today, how they navigated solutions for data engines before Labelbox, and what the impact of unsupervised learning is on the need for labeling. You’ll hear why Manu believes AI is more accessible than ever before, and how John Deere is implementing artificial intelligence in their daily work. Additionally, you’ll hear about the role of the government, and about remote and in-person culture. “These computer systems are getting better and better. They are going to be able to abstract and generalize knowledge from their natural interactions humans have.” — @manuero Key Points From This Episode: How Labelbox tries to improve mission-critical AI systems across industries by building software products. Manu’s experience working in satellite imaging at Planet Labs before starting Labelbox. What it was like to see AI applications powering real-world solutions for the first time. Why the Manu believes the AI paradigm is really all about data. How the need to create a product suite to orchestrate AI activities motivated Manu to create Labelbox. The rapid AI driven transformations that enterprises using Labelbox experience today. How enterprises navigated solutions for data engines before Labelbox. How Tesla has built a data engine to create a closed loop system. What AI labeling actually is. The impact of unsupervised learning on the need for labeling. Three layers of AI capabilities. Why AI is accessible to everyone today. How AI powers John Deere’s tractors through See & Spray technology. The biggest challenge that AI adopters are facing today. Manu’s prediction for the rate of progress in AI technology. Government progress in AI and digital warfare. The importance of finding people who are on board with the values of the company. Why Labelbox has embraced remote culture. Working together in person and building a team culture at Labelbox.

On this episode of For Your Innovation, we showcase Episode 34 of our monthly video series, “In the Know,” from October 7, 2022. ARK CEO, CIO and Founder Cathie Wood, weighs in on M2 growth, inventory pile-ups, liability driven investing, commodity prices, and why we believe the Fed is making a mistake as they base policy on lagging economic indicators. She discusses fiscal policy, monetary policy, market signals, economic indicators, and innovation. To read our full open letter to the Fed, click here. To watch the video version of In The Know, click here.

Please note: as of 6/30/22, ARK’s clients own greater than 1% of the shares outstanding of Beam Therapeutics Inc. On today’s episode, ARK analyst Ali Urman hosts the inventors of the adenine base editor (ABE) and the cytosine base editor (CBE) Nicole Gaudelli and Alexis Komor, respectively. Nicole is the Senior Director and Head of Gene Editing Platform Technologies at Beam Therapeutics, and Alexis is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry DNA damage and repair and Genome editing at the University of California, San Diego. Alexis and Nicole worked together to develop a pair of CRISPR base editors, capable of engineering precise single-base substitutions. In today’s conversation, Alexis and Nicole discuss their discovery of base editing, what base editing is, how they grew interested in the space and what the future applications of this discovery might be! Key Points From This Episode Alexis and Nicole on the discovery of base editing What exactly base editing is How Alexis and Nicole grew interested in base editing Alexis’ interest in directed evolution How CRISPR and antibiotics integrate What itwas like working with Dr. David Liu The potential disease curing applications of base editing Why Alexis decided to go into academia rather than corporate Why Nicole decided to go into industry instead of academia

On today’s episode, ARK analysts Max Friedrich and Will Summerlin are joined by co-founders and co-CEOs of Titan, an online investment management platform, Joe Percoco, and Clay Gardner. In this episode, we hear how these business partners met and founded their company, their mission, and vision, how they remove the ‘middleman,’ and more. We also discuss what Titan believes prevents investors from trying to build a distribution channel, and what information investors care about the most. Joe and Clay also share some new strategies they’ve launched on their app, and we delve into how they see their user experience evolving and what their biggest challenges have been thus far. This dynamic duo also tells us their entrepreneurial story, how their vision has changed, and they give out some advice to their younger selves. “I think the world needs to remove these barriers, as opposed to just making wealthy people richer.” — @virtualclay Key Points From This Episode: An introduction to today’s guests, Joe Percoco and Clay Gardner. How Joe and Clay met. How Joe and Clay founded Titan. Joe and Clay explain what Titan is and what their mission is. What is happening with asset classes today. What prevents institutional investors from trying to build a distribution channel with retail. How Titan tries to remove the ‘middleman.’ What information Titan believes investors care about the most. The new strategies launched by Titan and how investors can engage with them on the app. The details associated with Titan’s new interval funds. The feedback Titan has gotten up until this point. How Titan sees the user experience and the product mix evolving in the future. Joe and Clay’s entrepreneurial story and how their vision has changed over time. Joe and Clay share some advice for their younger selves. What Joe and Clay they look for in an ideal venture partner. The biggest challenges Titan is facing and what Joe and Clay are doing to overcome them.

In this episode of For Your Innovation, we sit down with multi-hyphenate Kimbal Musk to talk about food justice, Big Green, and its latest branch, Big Green Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). Billed as the first non-profit-led philanthropic DAO, this experiment is aiming to use the power of decentralization and automation to impact lives on the most basic level. Kimbal shares a little about why this work has him so excited and feels like the natural progression of the efforts he has been making in the past years, before we dive into the ethos behind Big Green, and how they are tackling the constant challenges that are associated with this kind of philanthropy. Our guest also unpacks the intricacies of fundraising, the impacts of the pandemic, and what transparent growth means to him. We get to look ahead to the future vision of the project, and Kimbal talks about the cyclical nature of growth seasons in all industries and how this compares to the projects for decentralized technology. “If nothing else comes of the DAO, the community itself is the most wonderful, beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in the non-profit space, and I’ve been working in this space for 12 years.” — @kimbal Key Points From This Episode The current work and projects that are getting Kimbal most excited. The three ways that Big Green approaches trying to change lives through growing food. Kimbal’s reflections on the challenges facing philanthropic work. How Big Green DAO aims to tackle some of the fundraising issues. The pivots and shifts that Big Green made in response to the conditions of the pandemic. The transparent growth of Big Green DAO and how automation makes vetting easier. Confronting concerns around the ability of donors to vote. Kimbal shares his aspirations for Big Green DAO in the near future. The evolution of Kimbal’s crypto philosophy and the cycles of bubbles. Early attitudes towards Big Green DAO, and the usefulness of branding it an ‘experiment.’ Where to learn more and get involved with this great project!