Ecosystemic Futures

The complex challenges of our interconnected world demand new approaches to discovery and collaboration.

In this powerful episode from NASA Convergent Aeronautics Solutions Project in collaboration with Shoshin Works, innovation expert Teri Schindler tackles how the traditionally chaotic "first mile of innovation" can be transformed from a bottleneck into an accelerator of breakthrough solutions.

With decades of cross-disciplinary expertise spanning DARPA research projects, Emmy-winning media production, and pioneering work in global sports distribution at the NBA/WNBA, Schindler brings a uniquely qualified perspective to innovation systems. She reveals how siloed expertise across disciplines is hampering our ability to solve critical societal problems at speed and scale. With knowledge publications doubling every 12 months and talent distributed unevenly across institutions, our old systems of connection are failing precisely when we need them most. Through evidence-based frameworks designed to create "structured serendipity," Schindler demonstrates how introducing the right connective tissue between disciplines creates the essential conditions for transformative discovery.

Highlights:

• ARPA-H's innovation breakthrough: 500+ ideas from all 50 states in just 10 days revealed critical blind spots in women's health while fast-tracking a $25M investment in revolutionary personalized medicine technology
• The collapse of connection: Research confirms broadcasting platforms are failing at meaningful knowledge exchange, with purpose-driven communities delivering 40% higher signal-to-noise ratios in discovery networks
• Productive friction: Evidence requirements in knowledge networks democratize access beyond elite institutions while dramatically increasing idea quality, transforming how cross-disciplinary breakthroughs emerge
• Building the innovation interstitium: Creating the essential connective tissue between disciplines that enables accurate ecosystemic intelligence in our most complex societal challenges
• The poly-intelligence revolution: Flagship Pioneering's framework for integrating human creativity, computational scale, and natural systems to create renaissance-level problem-solving capabilities in previously siloed domains

Guest: Teri Schindler, Co-founder and CEO of Herzog & Schindler and the owner of Polyplexus.com

Hosts:  

Dyan Finkhousen, Founder & CEO, Shoshin Works

Marco Annunziata, Co-Founder, Annunziata + Desai Partners

Series Hosts:

Vikram Shyam, Lead Futurist, NASA Glenn Research Center

Dyan Finkhousen, Founder & CEO, Shoshin Works

What can a 5,000-year-old textile teach us about cutting-edge technology?

In this episode of Ecosystemic Futures, presented by NASA's Convergent Aeronautics Solutions Project in collaboration with Shoshin Works, host Marco Annunziata explores the revolutionary potential of silk as a biomaterial platform with Dr. Fiorenzo Omenetto, the Frank C. Doble Professor of Engineering at Tufts University. From a chance hallway conversation to pioneering a new field of material science, Fio shares how his Silk Lab transforms this ancient textile into a technological powerhouse with applications spanning medicine, environmental monitoring, and sustainable manufacturing.

This conversation delves deep into the scientific principles behind silk's remarkable properties, the cross-disciplinary innovation process that drives discovery, and how an ecosystemic approach to innovation—bringing together academics, industry partners, and experts from seemingly unrelated fields—creates unprecedented opportunities for technological advancement. For researchers, innovators, futurists, and forward-thinking business leaders, this episode offers a compelling vision of how nature-inspired technologies might shape our collective futures.

Highlights:

• Material Magic Through Functional Properties: Silk isn't just a replacement for plastics or other materials; its unique properties enable entirely new functions that conventional materials cannot achieve, creating novel market opportunities rather than competing with established solutions.
• The Biocompatible-Technical Interface: Silk is a crucial bridge between biological and technological worlds, allowing for innovations like biologically reactive inks that can be printed onto surfaces to create low-cost diagnostic tools.
• Scaling Breakthrough: After years of lab-scale production (50-100 liters annually), industrial partners have scaled silk solution production to approximately 100 million liters per year, enabling commercial applications.
• Nature's Engineering Excellence: Biomimicry principles reveal sophisticated properties like the optical networks in orchid leaves that efficiently capture and distribute light—lessons that can inform technological solutions.
• The Ecosystem of Innovation: The most groundbreaking discoveries happen at the intersection of disciplines in environments that foster serendipitous connections—from cafeteria conversations to diverse lab compositions that bring together engineers, designers, and musicians.

Guest: Dr. Fiorenzo Omenetto, the Frank C. Doble Professor of Engineering at Tufts University

Host:  Marco Annunziata, Co-Founder, Annunziata + Desai Partners

Series Hosts:

Vikram Shyam, Lead Futurist, NASA Glenn Research Center

Dyan Finkhousen, Founder & CEO, Shoshin Works

Is your organization built for a world where 90% of organizational value now comes from intangibles? Rita McGrath explores why traditional hierarchies are dissolving into ecosystem constellations.

In this thought-provoking episode of Ecosystemic Futures, host Marco Annunziata welcomes Columbia Business School professor and strategy expert Rita McGrath to discuss how ecosystemic thinking can help organizations navigate major economic inflection points. Professor McGrath reveals how our economic ecosystem is undergoing a profound transformation. According to recent studies, intangible assets now account for 90% of S&P 500 market value, dramatically increasing from just 17% in 1975. This shift dissolves traditional

organizational boundaries and creates new ecosystem models where "the unit of value creation is small teams or even individuals" connected in constellation-like networks rather than hierarchical structures.

Highlights

• Strategic inflection points represent moments when industry assumptions fundamentally shift, creating both opportunities and threats for organizations

• Intangible assets now account for 90% of S&P 500 market value (up from 17% in 1975), transforming how value is created and captured

• The "unit of value creation" is shifting from large corporations to ecosystem constellations of small teams and individuals

• "Memories from the future" methodology helps leaders identify early warning signals of strategic inflection points before they fully materialize

• AI-powered digital twins are revolutionizing supply chains, enabling organizations to model thousands of response scenarios to disruptions in minutes

The conversation examines how interconnected global systems are being reshaped by dematerialization, with examples ranging from vertical urban farming projected to reach $35.8 billion by 2032 to Hyundai's revolutionary vertical car manufacturing facility in Singapore. Rita and Marco explore how AI-powered digital twins transform supply chain ecosystems, allowing companies like Kraft Heinz to model thousands of response scenarios to disruptions in minutes—a task that is impossible for human analysts.

As one of the world's top-10 ranked management thinkers, Rita McGrath offers scientists, technologists, and forward-thinking executives a framework for identifying early ecosystem signals through "memories from the future"—a robust methodology for navigating the transition from our petroleum-based past to our digital, ecosystemic future where intangible investment has consistently outpaced tangible investment since 2008 across major economies.

Guest: Rita McGrath, Best-selling author, sought-after speaker, and longtime professor at Columbia Business School

Host: Marco Annunziata, Co-Founder, Annunziata + Desai Partners

Series Hosts:

Vikram Shyam, Lead Futurist, NASA Glenn Research Center

Dyan Finkhousen, Founder & CEO, Shoshin Works

Could the next nanotechnology breakthrough come from a college student's laptop rather than a million-dollar lab?

In this Ecosystemic Futures episode, Marco Annunziata speaks with Dr. Aaron Santos, physicist and president of DNP123 Company. Santos examines nanotechnology as complex molecular networks rather than isolated components.

Santos explains why physics fundamentally changes at nanoscale, requiring new paradigms. Despite predictions in the 1990s of a trillion-dollar nanotechnology industry by 2015, the field evolved differently—with mRNA vaccines and semiconductor advances representing "hidden successes" that power other technologies without the nanotech label.

The conversation details how cloud laboratories and AI tools are breaking the million-dollar equipment barrier, thereby creating a research ecosystem that was previously impossible. Santos argues that nanotechnology exemplifies emergent properties in complex systems, where the collective behavior of simple molecules creates sophisticated functions—a model future nanotechnology will follow rather than the "smart nanobots" of science fiction. This extends to broader implications for society, economics, and consciousness in a world where atomic-scale manipulation reshapes our understanding of scarcity.

Highlights:

• Scale Physics: Surface area (L²) vs. volume (L³) scaling transforms force dominance at nanoscale
• Emergent Properties: Complex protein networks outperform theoretical discrete nanobots
• Research Infrastructure: Cloud labs democratize physical experimentation
• Network Theory Applications: Mathematical frameworks apply across nanoscale and macroscale systems
• Research-to-Market Gap: Critical funding void between academic research and commercial products

Santos demonstrates why network approaches now replace reductionist models across scientific domains.

Guest:  Dr. Aaron Santos, physicist and president of DNP123 Company

Host:  Marco Annunziata, Co-Founder, Annunziata + Desai Partners

Series Hosts:

Vikram Shyam, Lead Futurist, NASA Glenn Research Center

Dyan Finkhousen, Founder & CEO, Shoshin Works

In this enlightening episode of Ecosystemic Futures, Shelli Brunswick, CEO & Founder of SB Global LLC and former Chief Operating Officer of Space Foundation, reveals the measurable impact of space innovation on Earth's most pressing challenges.

The numbers tell a compelling story: The global space economy, valued at $630 billion in 2023, is projected to reach $1.8 trillion by 2035, with NASA's investments yielding a remarkable 40:1 return through commercialized technologies. Brunswick shares research showing how orbital technologies drive innovation across sectors, with the average person connecting to satellites 45 times daily without realizing it.

Highlights:

• Quantifiable impacts of Earth observation satellites on agricultural productivity, including 10% yield increases through precision farming
• The economic case for orbital debris management and in-space manufacturing
• Research regarding microgravity's effects on medical innovations, including LambdaVision's 3D-printed protein-layered lens replacements for macular degeneration
• Data-driven approaches to international space collaboration and fractional satellite ownership models for emerging space nations
• Metrics-based workforce development strategies for the space economy

For researchers, business strategists, and innovation leaders, this episode provides critical insights into how space-derived technologies are transforming our approach to sustainability, economic development, and global collaboration.

Guest:  Shelli Brunswick, Former U.S. Air Force Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Space Foundation | CEO & Founder of SB Global LLC

Host:  Dyan Finkhousen, Founder & CEO, Shoshin Works

Series Hosts:

Vikram Shyam, Lead Futurist, NASA Glenn Research Center

Dyan Finkhousen, Founder & CEO, Shoshin Works