Video ► Do you speak carbon?
Today carbon is considered a dirty word; consigned to dirt, dust, something that’s in the air, something that is dark. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Taking many forms, from diamonds to exhalation of CO2 as a gas, carbon can be used for good. And that’s the idea behind Carbon Productivity. As we struggle with climate catastrophe, this remarkable
Video ► John Elkington: Grit in the corporate oyster
John Elkington wants to take sustainability exponential. No pigeon steps on his watch. As a pioneer of the sustainability movement for over 30 years (since before the concept was born), the prolific author and Chairman/ ‘Chief Pollinator’ of think tank and advisory firm Volans is responsible for coining the well-loved business phrases ‘Triple bottom line‘ (that’s profit, people and planet) and
Video ► Jessi Baker: Every product has a story
Do you know where your handbag comes from? Knowing more about where products come from is vital to brands and retailers – and being aware if there slavery or huge environmental damage in their supply chain is integral. Jessi Baker is the woman behind Provenance, a software company that uses novel technologies like the blockchain (a word that people
Video ► Enter the Matrix with Herman Narula
Perhaps the grandest challenge that exists is being able to answer “what if?” What happens to a city when all the cars start to drive themselves? Or when a certain policy is implemented, or an economy or a piece of physical infrastructure fails? The answers may just lie in the virtual worlds of Britain’s hottest tech startup, Improbable. Already
Video ► Andrew McAfee: This is the warm-up act
Tech progress is changing the world in profound ways and letting us do more with less. Industries from communications to education to health care are being transformed, and technological barriers are falling. Acclaimed MIT Professor Andrew McAfee feels fortunate to have a front row seat to watch the “next industrial revolution unfold”. As principal research scientist, the self-described “wannabe
Video ► Bye bye banks! The Robin Hood of currency exchange
Estonian adventurer Taavet Hinrikus is transforming the financial industry by creating money without borders: “If banks had been thinking how to give customers a quick, cheap way of transferring money, they could have done it a long time ago. But there’s something in the water that they’re drinking that’s preventing them from doing it.” After starting Skype, he created TransferWise to help money
Video ► Zenia Tata: Smiley serial social entrepreneur
Space buff, scuba diver and pilot; Mumbai-born Zenia Tata was a social entrepreneur “four or five years before we even knew we had a place in the world!” Inspired to do good by her grandmother, who contributed in slum areas near her home, today Tata is XPRIZE‘s Executive Director of Global Development, Passionate about using exponential tech for
Video ► Ryan Bethencourt: Biotech in his genes
Ryan Bethencourt plays with the substance of ‘us’ – our DNA – through marrying biotechnology advancements with successful business models. Just don’t accuse him of playing God. “I am playing God as much as any computer programmer does or mechanic or engineer who builds planes, makes us fly in the sky when we don’t have wings.
► Best Breakthrough Videos of 2016
As we enter a new year, it’s time to look back at our recent videos for Project Breakthrough. Whether it’s the ex-American football player-turned-food saviour, the ex-Panamanian prisoner demanding transparency or the ex-travel writer fighting toxics, these nine FutureHeroes all have one major thing in common. They are all ex-ponential leaders. And they’re all disrupting entire industries – from food to
Video: A History of Architecture
The future of construction goes far beyond 3D printable homes or smart cities. In this video created for Beyond Building Barcelona 2015, Atlas FutureHero Tomás Diez breaks down the history of technology applied to human housing, from its origins to the possible future. With his work a IaaC and Fab Lab Barcelona, Tomás is interested in how the history
