☕️ Innovation Espresso #4
☕️ Innovation Espresso #4
AI trust and empathy, human stem cell breakthroughs, and a million-dollar Doritos ad challenge, plus your weekly shot of corporate venturing insights.
Welcome to Innovation Espresso, a quick yet powerful dose of curated news, articles, videos, reels, newsletters, and podcasts that I've found particularly interesting throughout the week. While I focus on Open Innovation and Corporate Venturing, you'll find this quick yet potent dose covers more ground. Enjoy with your morning coffee!
💊 Innovation Pills
Here's what happens when you tell two AIs who host a podcast that they're… AIs
Ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati reportedly raising funds for a new AI venture
Human stem cells restored vision in monkeys—can we scale it for humans?
How voice tech could be transforming conversational AI
Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 takes on your computer.
Tesla’s missing bitcoin—the big crypto mystery
Think you can make a better Doritos ad than Doritos? Prove it, and you’ll win $1 million
Apple’s iPhone satellite messaging saves lives during Hurricane Helene
☕️ Your weekly sip of Corporate Venturing News
Perplexity’s $8B Valuation? AI search startup Perplexity is reportedly aiming for an impressive $8 billion valuation in its latest fundraising round. Investors seem confident that AI’s next frontier might just be here. TechCrunch
AgTech CVC Boom: Agtech corporate venture capital is seeing a surge in interest and funding, with 2024 bringing a spotlight on sectors like precision agriculture and sustainable practices. This year’s trends are all about feeding the planet more efficiently. Global Venturing
Smaller Corporates Embrace Venture Building: As venture building catches on, smaller corporations are leading the way, investing in startups that align closely with their core business values, helping to shape agile, innovation-first approaches. Global Venturing
Terray Therapeutics Secures $120M: In a show of confidence in AI-powered drug discovery, Terray Therapeutics closed a $120 million Series B. This funding will drive their pipeline of small molecule therapeutics forward. Terray Therapeutics
Kick Raises $9M to Automate Tedious Tasks: Fintech startup Kick has raised $9 million to make life easier for finance teams by automating “the boring stuff.” With this funding, the company aims to streamline complex workflows in finance. Medium
Shipping Decarbonization Takes the Stage: As shipping’s environmental impact comes under scrutiny, several startups are emerging to tackle decarbonization in the sector. New approaches and technologies are on the horizon to help clean up this essential industry. Sifted
📹 Something to watch
Does this video make you feel sorry? It brings to mind Bill Gates’ 1975 vision of “a computer on every desk, in every home”—and now Elon Musk sees a future with a robot in every household. With mass production, these robots could someday cost less than a car, making this vision realistic yet unsettling.
One reason? Humans naturally empathize with things that move, which is why some people even name their Roombas or Roborocks (my roomba’s name is Alfred). Imagine the trust we’d place in a robot that feels like family—what if a malicious hacker exploited that trust to sway our decisions? Our empathy for robots grows as they become more lifelike, but the implications could be massive.
Will household robots become the next revolution, like computers and smartphones? Watch the video and let me know your thoughts in the comments.
Source: Briefinn
🎧 Something to listen
In this episode of Open Innovation Talks, Alberto Onetti interviews Kyle Basler-Reeder, Global Open Innovation Lead at ExxonMobil, to discuss the Venture Client model as a structured approach to external innovation. Kyle delves into the core questions companies need to address for effective open innovation: timeline, budget, intellectual property, and readiness level. He also shares tips on aligning Business Units from the start and the importance of internal landscape mapping. If you’re exploring how to integrate innovative solutions within a large organization, this episode is packed with practical insights!
🛠️ Something to try
Struggling to balance work tasks, meetings, and personal priorities? Reclaim is a smart scheduling tool designed to help you manage your time efficiently. It automatically blocks out time for your to-dos, routines, and even breaks, making it easier to stay focused and productive. Try it here
🥐 Espresso is not enough?
When it comes to decision-making, what happens when our choices seem to conflict with each other? This deep dive explores the complexities of balancing multiple, often opposing priorities, and how to make peace with the trade-offs we face in business and life. If you're wrestling with competing choices, this article is a must-read. Read more here
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See you next week,
Davide