FYI - For Your Innovation

From manufacturing to universities, companies and institutions are in turmoil across the board. During the time of COVID-19, businesses are being forced to look for better, faster, or cheaper solutions to the problems that they’re facing. Increasingly new technologies can provide help. We take a look at how businesses, brands, organizations, public services, and institutions are having to make drastic shifts in order to survive and adopt new solutions such as drones, 3D printing, autonomous driving, and online education. As the world makes behavioral shifts to the “new normal,” we are seeing how people are beginning to move toward automation in multiple areas of their lives – be it food delivery, pursuing education, or catching a ride. The entire world is at a tipping point where we are being forced to embrace the move to automation… who will be left behind? “We don’t think that automation is going to remove jobs, we actually think it will add jobs, but it will displace people.” “The cost of delivery by a human is about $1.60 per mile. With an autonomous delivery robot, it could be as low as $0.06 per mile.” Key Points from This Episode: Learn more about customer responses to companies like Waymo, Meitwan, and Geely. The economic benefits of human-delivered goods versus robot-delivered goods. Discover how different companies are approaching electric automobility. COVID-19’s impact on ride hailing markets and companies like Tesla, Uber, and Lyft. How flying and ground drones are being employed for food delivery and medical check-ups. Learn more about the behavioral shifts towards using available technology platforms. Find out how 3D printing is serving the manufacturing process across a range of industries. Discover how more ventilators where built and used in Italy using 3D print technology. The surge in online education: How universities across the globe are adapting their courses.

The current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has saturated media across the globe. The information available to us is vast, expansive, and can be all-consuming. But a lot of this information is, understandably, geared heavily toward medical and social topics. In this episode, we explore the impact of covid-19 on fintech companies. We ask the question, what does this mean payment methods and the future of transactions across the globe? George Whitridge and Max Friedrich, FinTech analysts at ARK, talks about how various countries have responded to the push for contactless payment methods, the economic benefits we’re seeing in contactless payments, and how companies and brands such as Zillow, Cash App, and DocuSign are responding to the current crisis. We also take a look at the response to the pandemic by The Small Business Administration and US banks, and why startups who live in uncertainty, are more likely to master this crisis than older business models. We ‘round off with some fascinating stats about just how dirty your credit and debit cards really are. If germs were a currency, perhaps we’d all still be in business? Tune in. “Innovative companies that are used to uncertainty are likely to master this coronavirus challenge.” “It really pays off if you have the consumer at a digital touchpoint.” Key Points from This Episode: The impact of WHO urging consumers to use contactless payments instead of cash. How the USA, South Korea, Emirates, India, and Ghana have responded to WHO’s advice. Is the Corona Virus the global need contactless payments have been waiting for? How digital wallets and digital payments impacted India’s economy: A 2016 case study. Discover how the Corona Virus has increased transaction habits in Grocery e-commerce. Merchants and software services: The two eco-systems Square is currently operating in. Benefits of having the consumer at a digital touch point to influence, inform, and incentivize. What we are seeing on Twitch that we are not seeing from any other payments company. Discover how small business payment processor companies, like Square, are functioning. Find out how brands like Cash App are reinventing what the dollar sign really means. The creative ways companies like Zillow are serving their consumers in this time of crisis. Learn more about the response from The Small Business Administration and the banks. Why your debit and credit cards are dirtier than cash – according to scientific studies. What a McDonald’s door-handle, NYC bicycles, and your credit card all have in common.

This week we are joined by Chip Paucek, 2U’s Co-Founder and CEO. 2U is one of the leading online education software platforms. At ARK we often say disruptive innovation gains traction in tumultuous times. There’s perhaps no better example than in the education space. For six years 2U noted that one of the biggest challenges was fighting the stigma of online education, and then in the midst of COVID-19 nearly every school has been forced into an online only setting. Tune in to hear Chip walk us through 2U’s critical role in helping schools’ transition from the classrooms to online. We talk about the challenges of 2U, how online learning can create more engaging classes, and how 2U’s scale can help lower the cost of higher education. “High quality education online isn’t just about being in a live classroom via Zoom or Google Hangout.” “At one point we won’t call it online education anymore, we will just call it higher education.” Key Points From This Episode: 2U’s role in transitioning both itself and its partner schools online during the COVID-19. 2U’s founding principles and what makes it unique. The difference between a lecture on Zoom and a program specifically designed to be online. Professors’ reactions to teaching online for the first time. The history and potential future of online education. Looking at education as an elastic good and creating a sustainable business model. Comparing online education outcomes through 2U and Gallup’s first survey. Reasons enterprises are turning to short courses and bootcamps. The lasting power of university brands. 2U’s global expansion. Chip’s favorite brand, book, and the next short course he plans to take.

As the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to strengthen its grip across the globe, it’s natural to feel a sense of dread and despair. However, we believe that tumultuous times can be the best catalysts for innovation, and this pandemic is no exception. In this episode, Simon Barnett and Ali Urman, ARK’s genomics analysts, are here to discuss developments in genomics and biotech, underway in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Simon sheds light on the declining cost curve of DNA sequencing, which allowed scientists to sequence the virus in a handful of days—a stark contrast to the six months it took to sequence the SARS virus. We also discuss improvements in diagnostic tools like synthetic biology in the context of this pandemic. Ali zooms further in on some preventative medicine and vaccine developments. While traditional vaccines use the virus itself, companies like Moderna, Inovio, and Arcturus Therapeutics, among others, are working on a range of unconventional and potentially groundbreaking preventative measures. We also look at how existing anti-viral drugs are being repurposed for the treatment of COVID-19. Lastly, we take a look at auxiliary areas where we have seen an increase of innovations. Simon highlights how telemedicine, organ transplant, and blood safety measures have seen growth during the crisis. Many of the developments are breaking down FDA barriers. We hope that these developments galvanize innovative approaches to prevention, diagnoses, and treatments not only for COVID-19 but for other diseases as well. Be sure to tune in today! “This type of turmoil, we think, forces people to think differently, maybe take new strategies or new approaches to dealing with issues.” “We think that instances like this, these compressed, tumultuous time periods, where people are having to throw out how they’ve always done things and think about things in a new and different light, this is actually one of the best times for new and innovative technologies to ma Key Points From This Episode: The genomic and biotech companies who are doing innovative work. How the DNA sequencing timeframe for SARS and MERS compares with COVID-19. A look at other developments in DNA sequencing in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. Insights into some of the diagnostic tool developments such as synthetic biology. Find out about Moderna’s alternative development to the viral vaccine for COVID-19. Self-replicating RNA vaccine: How it works and who’s leading the development charge. Inovio’s DNA vaccine, how it works, and some the of benefits. How existing anti-viral therapies are being repurposed for the COVID-19 vaccine. Innovation is helping break down FDA barriers. The take-off of telemedicine. How the face of transplant care is changing in light of COVID-19. What usually happens with blood supply during an outbreak and the current innovations.

Here at ARK we are always talking about disruption and now we are faced with huge disruption. The coronavirus outbreak has massive implications on many levels for the whole world, not least of which is the need for many people to work remote where possible. This episode is a discussion about what that looks like during a time of mass quarantine. We are focusing our discussion on the realms of communication and entertainment. First of all, we discuss video conferencing and naturally, our eyes are on Zoom. Having grown rapidly in the last few years, Zoom will probably prove to be even more important as social distancing is enforced. From there we turn to messaging and texting in a professional context, looking at Slack in particular. We consider some of the other concerns in this period of remote work, particularly security and how the cloud has helped businesses alleviate security concerns. The conversation then turns to entertainment, as we first look at professional sports events, almost all of which have been postponed or canceled, and what might take their place in people’s lives. We can already see E-sports growing, even before the outbreak. We finish off talking about television and movies, arguing that on-demand services will probably strengthen under current conditions with traditional cable suffering due to the absence of sports. Listen in to get it all! “I think with the absence of live sports what we are really starting to see is online gaming taking off.” “There will obviously be a fall off when we do resume normal life but I think it is demonstrating this idea that watching virtual sporting events and virtual games is actually very entertaining.” Key Points From This Episode: The new outlook on working from home in a time of crisis Eric Yuan, the beginnings of Zoom and the rise of video conferencing software. How Zoom has managed to gain market share. Possible problems and roadblocks for Zoom as more people need more time on video. Zoom’s hardware, in-house data centers and excess capacity for scaling. Reasons for Zoom’s hyper-competitiveness in today’s market. Real-time, quick communication through text messaging; Teams versus Slack. Security concerns in the remote work realm and the benefits of cloud applications. The outlook for these high-value companies in the context of coronavirus. Looking at entertainment right now and the rise of gaming in lieu of live sports. Twitch-streamed virtual sports events and the possibility of celebrity partnerships. Regular, amateur gaming numbers in the US with new big event games. On-demand television and movie entertainment.

Our guest for this week’s episode is Nic Carter, Partner at Castle Island Ventures and Cofounder of Coinmetrics.io. In this episode, we dive deep into some of Nic’s current cryptocurrency obsessions. We start off covering the history of Bitcoin’s predecessors, leading to an interesting realization that the crypto industry today may be forgetting the lessons drawn from previous attempts to create a private money. We then shift the conversation to stablecoins and the implications of their continued growth. In doing so, we highlight that stablecoins today are virtually no different than reserve-backed currencies of the past. We end the conversation on an interesting theory that, contrary to popular belief, crypto may actually be good for the dollar. We explore different cases of dollarization and the heterogenous mechanisms by which they’ve emerged. Tune in for all of that and more! “Bitcoin is sufficiently decentralized so far that it’s avoided this kind of key man risk – the ability for the government to raid the offices of someone somewhere and shut the system down.” “You could store a billion dollars’ worth of Bitcoin in a single unit public-private key pair. This allows for extremely strong ownership, especially in countries where the banking system doesn’t work very well.” Key Points From This Episode: How Nic became Fidelity’s crypto analyst after a brainstorm with former ARK analyst Chris Burniske. Bitcoin’s most underappreciated property: ‘auditability’ The birth of Coinmetrics Anonymity, reliability, and the distinction between digital cash and electronic money. Bitcoin is the culmination of disparate prior technologies. A history of Bitcoin’s ideological predecessors: E-Gold and Liberty Reserve. The fundamental role centralization played in Bitcoins predecessors’ downfalls. The appeal of fiat-backed stablecoins. Why it is unlikely that Ethereum will unseat Bitcoin, and Libra’s loud ploy to overthrow centralized currency. Dollarization: benefits, adoption patterns, and how successful iterations are bottom up. Why crypto is potentially good for the dollar due to the dollar’s desirability. How credibility, not just technology, affects the adoption of new payment systems. The benefits of seedless mobile wallet setups.

Today’s guest is Matt Zeiler, Founder, and CEO of Clarifai. Clarifai is one of the first startups to apply modern deep learning for image recognition. Their tools are currently used by clients like Staples, OpenTable, and the US Department of Defense (DoD). In this episode, Matt sheds light on the company’s founding story and how an internship at Google was the catalyst for the creation of Clarifai. He also talks about what it’s like competing against industry giants like Facebook and Google. Clarifai’s algorithm and their ability to collaborate rather than compete with their clients truly sets them apart. Matt also sheds light on the benefits of the network effect for both the customers and the company. Matt talks about some of the interesting use cases of their technology, like Trivago, which uses image recognition to organize hotel photos or how the DoD uses it in natural disaster recovery. Matt believes that AI is a great service to the government in helping citizens in many ways, and Clarifai is incredibly proud to be a partner. Tune in to learn more about AI image recognition and be inspired by Matt. “At Clarifai, we don’t compete with our customers. We want to be seen as that partner that is going to take your data, learn from it to solve your business problems together.” “I really think that AI is going to be better than humans in so many different ways, and it’s already better than humans in a lot of ways for very specific use cases.” Key Points From This Episode: Learn more about Matt’s background, his Ph.D., and what ultimately led him to start Clarifai. Seven years on: Clarifai’s products, their customers and how they use the products. Some of the other applications of AI that Clarifai is potentially interested in getting into. How Clarifai aims to gain a competitive advantage. Why the API model works so well in the AI image recognition space. The different mix of products Clarifai customers use and why they choose them. Learn about the benefits that customers get from sharing their information on Clarifai. Why there is not really a limit to how large Clarifai’s model can grow. Where Matt sees Clarifai’s potential labeling feature taking the company in the future. Matt’s experience of working with the government and why he is proud to work with them. How AI could be used in natural disaster recovery efforts. The potential of video in the space, the neural network structures, and various use cases. Matt’s insights into the AI competition between the US and China.

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) is dominating most headlines of every news channel in the world. To learn more about this virus and its implications we talked to Professor Isaiah Arkin. He is the Arthur Lejwa Prof. of Structural Biochemistry at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the former Vice-President for Research and Development at the University. He holds a Ph.D. from the Yale School of Medicine in Cell Biology. Professor Arkin’s research has succeeded in shedding new light on the inner workings of flu viruses and in particular how a virus avoids anti-viral therapy. In this episode, Prof. Arkin clarifies some of the misconceptions around the coronavirus and draws parallels between the common flu and SARS. We discuss the threat level of the coronavirus, what we can expect from the disease, how we can control it, and whether the global fear is justified. In the second part of the show, we discuss immunotherapy, which he believes is ‘the next big thing’ in healthcare. He walks us through what the future of cancer research holds, why we should look to the natural world for answers and highlights some interesting research that is currently happening. As usual, our interaction with the Hebrew University was a fruitful one and we look forward to engaging more at NEXUS: Israel 2020 in New York.

This week’s guest is Chip Wilson, entrepreneur, philanthropist and most notably, the founder of apparel company Lululemon. Long before Apple and Tesla opened their owned stores, Lululemon pioneered the concept of vertical retail in North America. Unlike other sports apparel companies that sold to retailers, Lululemon designed products were sold exclusively in its own stores. By owning all aspects of design, marketing, and retail, it commanded software like gross margins. In this episode, Chip gives his insights on Lululemon’s business model, why Kit and Ace didn’t take off and his latest involvements in Amer and Anta, which some are calling the Nike of China. We are excited to discuss with Chip his innovative business model approach and how Lululemon was able to become brand pioneers, carving out a corner of apparel and creating the athleisure market.

Eleven years since the creation of Bitcoin, its security model is still not agreed upon. Our guest today goes by the Twitter pseudonym Hasu (@hasufl), an independent cryptocurrency researcher who publishes work on the subject of non-sovereign money and has taken a recent interest in Bitcoin’s security model. We kick off our conversation with a recognition of the power of pseudonymity in the digital realm and the implications of our ability to access an abundance of information in a post-internet world. We then take a deep dive into the world of Bitcoin, unpacking its security model. We begin with an explanation of Satoshi Nakamato’s explicit design goals to achieve the properties of an apolitical monetary system. We introduce an intuitive way of thinking about proof of work, highlighting Bitcoin’s innovative ability to coordinate trust, and facilitate the transfer of value without relying on a centralized authority. We explain why Bitcoin needs mining and how the network incentivizes miners. We place particular emphasis on the economic incentives required to secure Bitcoin and a potential shift in these incentives over time. We finish with an outline of countermeasures against a potentially weakening security model, in hopes to further encourage conversation. Key Points From This Episode: The transition from information scarcity to information abundance since the internet. Democratic values provided by the internet and its culture of pseudonyms. Satoshi’s design goals and Bitcoin’s security principles Why Bitcoin needs mining Timestamping with Nakamoto consensus Miners’ influence on the network: what miners can and can’t do How to think about proof-of-work What secures Bitcoin: a combination of cryptography and economic incentives Acknowledging a shift in Bitcoin’s security model from block rewards to transaction fees Countermeasures to Bitcoin’s changing security model Tweetables: “Money and finance are spaces that have historically had huge barriers to entry and largely been protected from disruption. Cryptocurrency is able to exist outside of the curfew of government regulation.” — @hasufl “The market value of rewards is tied to the health of the network. As a result, the entire balance sheet of miners is tied to the health of the network. If users lose faith, miners lose their investment.” — @hasufl “If there ends up being a problem, and we are in a hurry to fix things, then it’s way easier to make a mistake, adopt an imperfect solution, or implement something without full community buy-in.” — @hasufl