FYI - For Your Innovation

We are joined by our very own automation, energy, and space analyst, Sam Korus. Our topic of conversation is automation in the food industry and how robotics “in front and back of house” might change the industry. A simple reaction to more automated jobs is that it decreases the demand for human roles. However, Sam explains how further automation can actually stimulate human employment through price drops and demand increases. We chat about what sorts of roles can be fulfilled by robots currently and the types of services that are already in place in certain locations. Sam quickly explains how the predicted job increase could work and shares with us his research findings for automation in the food industry. Sam will talk about collaborative robots, use cases coming out of China, and more.

Welcome back to FYI, the For Your Innovation Podcast from ARK Invest. Today on the show we are joined by two special guests. First we have, Catherine Wood CEO and CIO of ARK Invest, as well as a her mentor, former professor, and advisor to ARK Investment Management LLC, Dr. Art Laffer. You might know […]

Welcome back to FYI, the For Your Innovation Podcast from ARK Invest. Today on the show we are joined by two special guests. First we have, Catherine Wood CEO and CIO of ARK Invest, as well as a her mentor, former professor, and advisor to ARK Investment Management LLC, Dr. Art Laffer. You might know Dr. Laffer from his famous Laffer Curve. He first gained prominence during the Reagan administration as a member of President Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board. Dr. Art Laffer is also the founder and chairman of Laffer Associates, an institutional economic research and consulting firm, as well as Laffer Investments, an institutional investment management firm utilizing diverse investment strategies. In today’s episode we reflect back on Dr. Laffer’s time in the Reagan administration, and what technology and economics was like back in the 80s. We also unpack exactly how the Laffer Curve works, and why cutting taxes can actually result in generating more income for a country as a whole. Finally, we dive into the intricacies of the US-China relations, why they are critical for economic advancement, and the incredible opportunities that lie within free trade. For all this and more, be sure to listen in to today’s episode!

In this episode we are joined by our very own crypto-analyst, Yassine Elmandjra, to talk about the idea that Bitcoin is becoming increasing centralized. This narrative has been growing over the last while with bigger entities supposedly controlling larger portions of the blockchain. Yassine shares his perspectives, ultimately showing that this argument has some serious […]

In this episode we are joined by our very own crypto-analyst, Yassine Elmandjra, to talk about the idea that Bitcoin is becoming increasing centralized. This narrative has been growing over the last while with bigger entities supposedly controlling larger portions of the blockchain. Yassine shares his perspectives, ultimately showing that this argument has some serious flaws and that the blockchain has attributes that can prevent so-called “market control”. In our discussion, we cover the basics on the blockchain, mining, and the threat of a “51% attack” before going on to talk about pool centralization and its non-desirability. All of this is explained with the history of Bitcoin in mind. We are looking at the developments in blockchain technology from the last few years. For all this and much more, be sure to tune in!

Our guest today is ARK’s very own Director of Research, Brett Winton. He is here on the podcast today to talk about the recent article he published titled Moore’s Law Isn’t Dead, It’s Wrong. Long Live Wright’s Law. In his piece and during this conversation, Brett unpacks the concepts in question and what sparked his desire to make this argument. He explains the popularity of Moore’s Law, used to forecast the growth of technologies, and goes on to show why he thinks it is not the best model for the task. Brett posits that Wright’s Law is better for this application and gives reasons and examples to back up his thesis. For instance, we will discuss electric vehicles, genome research, computing, and nuclear power. Be sure to join us on today’s episode!

On the show today we welcome Chris Burniske of Placeholder, a venture capital firm that invests in cryptoassets. Chris is a friend and former colleague of ours at ARK Invest and he will be discussing all the latest developments in the crypto space as well filling us in on Placeholder’s projects and founding ideas. Yassine Elmandjra (ARK analyst) is also here to help conduct the interview and further our probing of Chris’ expertise. We aim to provide a review of the past year and get into the idea of defining a new economy before breaking down some of the key areas of interest relating to Bitcoin. Chris unpacks store of value and medium of exchange, what the future may look like, volatility and much more on the vanguard of the crypto world. The discussion turns to some other prominent cryptocurrencies before looking at regulation and global approaches to the growth of the cryptoassets. For all this and much more be sure to tune in! (Note: This episode was recorded 11/07/2018)

Welcome back to another episode of the For Your Innovation Podcast. Today on the show we are joined by Sam Korus, ARK’s Thematic Analyst covering robotics, energy storage, and space exploration. In this episode we are going to talk about the fundamental materials you need to build a future powered by electric vehicles and digging into the question of whether or not the earth has enough of those core minerals, like lithium, cobalt, and manganese. Sam has been researching the fundamental ingredients of batteries and where we are in the state of batteries for a long time, so it is really exciting to get his take on exactly where we are and what research and innovation has planned for the next few years. For an incredible conversation, stay tuned to today’s episode!

On the show today we welcome Professor Henry Greely from Stanford to talk a about the recent developments in the genetic field and particularly the latest controversy around CRISPR technology. Professor Greely is the Director at the Center for Law and Biosciences at Stanford, he’s a Professor of Genetics at the Stanford School of Medicine, and a Chair at the Steering Committee of the Center for Biomedical Ethics.

Inside this episode we get a background on gene-editing and CRISPR technology. Prof. Greely breaks down the basic story of Dr. He Jiankui, a Chinese scientist who conducted a gene-editing experiment with twin babies, causing serious concerns in the scientific community and raising ethical questions. From there we discuss alternatives to CRISPR and ways in which the technology could be utilized more conscientiously in the future. In this context, we will also give some attention to the global position of China and the political landscape. For all this and more be sure to tune in!

Welcome back to a new episode of FYI, For Your Innovation Podcast, a podcast exclusively focused on disruptive innovation. Today on the show Yassine Elmandjra will be co-hosting the podcast with James Wang. We will be diving into the recent announcements at the AWS re:Invent Conference and what it means for the cloud computing space as a whole. Just how Amazon is the everything store for consumers, it seems like Amazon Web Services (AWS) is really the everything store for business and enterprise computing. Inside this episode we explore how Amazon has been able to take over an increasing amount of verticals, their shift into the enterprise software space, and how they are strategically eliminating the competitive edge of other companies with each new product release. We also dig into the importance of owning the customer relationship and why that has given Amazon a much greater insight into the consumer market on all fronts. For an incredible conversation on Amazon’s disruptive innovation, stay tuned in to today’s episode!