The Next Stage podcast by Web Summit

Magic mushrooms are generally associated with the rave scene, or festival goers having a trippy experience. But what if these mushrooms are the future of mental health? Millions and millions have already been poured into research globally to measure the effects of the active ingredient, psilocybin.

In this episode of The Next Stage Katerina Mal-eev-ska, co-founder of mental healthcare company Compass Pathways, talks about the exciting new results from her company’s psilocybin trial.

20 percent of people experiencing what is known as ‘treatment resistant depression’ responded to psilocybin despite having not responded for years or even decades to currently approved depression treatments, says Katerina. Keep listening for more details on this groundbreaking new study.

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Research shows that news consumption for Gen Z is increasing dramatically - but only on one platform: TikTok. Aside from a small increase in news consumption on Instagram it is dramatically decreasing on all other platforms, says Sara Fischer, media reporter at Axios.

What does this mean for the future of news given that TikTok is not only a relatively new platform but has been known to circulate a significant amount of misinformation and is based in China?

Journalist Ann Curry says the good news is that Gen Z seems to be better informed and more motivated to keep up with current affairs than previous generations of young people. Besides which, all of these platforms provide a forum style way to get news, allowing Gen Z to not only see the headlines but how their peers react to those headlines. 

Listen on for more valuable insights into how journalism can win the trust - and attention - of Gen Z.

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They say the average human attention span is now just eight seconds, giving goldfish a run for their money! But at a time when most companies are focused on technology that keeps you glued to a screen, Amazon only wants you to interact with Alexa when you need it. 

In this episode of The Next Stage, Alexa head scientist Rohit Prasad explains how a philosophy of 'ambient intelligence' is driving the development of AI that blends invisibly into our environment, helping you when you need it and disappearing when you don’t.

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Netflix hit series Drive to Survive brought the thrill of Formula 1 to new audiences. Behind the scenes, technology and real-time analytics are racing at breakneck speed to give teams a competitive edge. 

Mercedes AMG Petronas is one of the most successful teams in the history of Formula 1. A difficult season in 2022 has however led to questions about the team. Can technology be the solution?

In this episode of The Next Stage Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO of Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team, and Oliver Steil, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO at TeamViewer, explain how talent and tech work together to make champions on the tarmac.

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With Meta recently laying off 13 percent of its staff, some are attributing part of its cost cutting to Mark Zuckerberg’s overly enthusiastic investment in the metaverse. An investment that has yet to pay off.

But while tech pundits bet on or against Meta’s fortunes, the company continues to develop its virtual reality tech - both in the form of virtual worlds and VR headsets.

In this episode of The Next Stage, Meta’s head of product Naomi Gleit discusses the company’s VR vision for the future, including a forecast - as she describes it - that it could be ten to 15 years before VR and AR technologies reach their full potential.

Web Summit 2023 is taking place in Lisbon on November 1-4. Get your tickets here before prices increase.

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In a world of dumpster fire social media platforms where people yell angrily at each other and divisive toxic discourse guarantees viral success, it pays to be kind. At least, this is what Jimmy Wales has learned over the years with Wikipedia. 

Jimmy - and Fandom founder Perkins Miller - have managed to grow passionate and loyal online communities where disputes rarely occur and when they do, are resolved quickly and civilly. What’s the secret?

In this episode these two founders talk about the nature of wikis, how giving control to contributors matters, and why people love to visit these platforms, even growing their own fan base due to their contributions. 

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DC’s Batman has been around for a long time. The character debuted in 1939, making him 83 years old. Since then, Bruce Wayne has gone from the printed page to the big screen and video games.

Now, a new partnership with WEBTOON sees another iteration – a slice of life webcomic with a POV character, meaning the reader sees the world through the eyes of the central character. 

In this episode of The Next Stage listen to DC Comic’s editor-in-chief Marie Javins and head of content at WEBTOON talk about new opportunities in this space including building out brand new web series like Vixen: NYC.

Marie also talks about the audience appetite for more Dark Trinity content, the new Red Hood series on WEBTOON, and how these collaborations are bringing new fans from digital over to traditional bricks and mortar comic book stores.

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Over the past decade, mental health has become somewhat of a global epidemic, says CEO of Woebot Health, Michael Evers. The pandemic has exacerbated this.

He goes on to say that globally, on any given day, there are around 60 million people seeking support for mental health issues. The problem, in part, is one of access to such services for reasons including affordability and availability of mental health practitioners. 

Clinically validated apps may be the answer. In this episode of The Next Stage listen to Michael describe how Woebot provides support in the form of AI-driven chatbots trained to deliver CBT or cognitive behavioural therapy – support that is available 24/7. Since the app launched over three years ago it has completed more than 82 million minutes of therapy with its users.

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2022 has been a whirlwind of political and financial upheaval, supply chain issues and extreme weather patterns on a global scale. We’re living in interesting times. What does this mean for seed stage startups and even Series A companies who are looking to raise money in this turbulent environment?

Matt Garratt, general partner with CRV, says that these startups are “partially being jerked around by the venture capital community who don't know how to value businesses anymore”.

Should startups be playing it safe? Is a down round the way to go over a flat round? Matt and other experts in this space including Beth Ferreira, managing partner at FirstMark, give their views in this episode of The Next Stage.

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Embracing the best practices of working from home, and better connecting with employees and customers, is what is differentiating the top businesses of today from the rest.

In this episode of the Next Stage, we gain insight into the state of play in remote working from Joseph Walsh, head of EMEA product marketing at GoTo.

GoTo is a software company providing cloud-based remote work tools for collaboration and IT management, as well as strategic guidance for companies looking to manage business resilience and connections.

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