XPRIZE Founder Peter H. Diamandis is in conversation with His Excellency Faisal Al Bannai, the Secretary-General of the Advanced Technology Research Council at ASPIRE, partner and sponsor of XPRIZE Feed The Next Billion. Tune in to hear these industry leaders discuss the fight against global food insecurity. His Excellency Faisal Al Bannai, Secretary General, Advanced Technology Research Council, sits with XPRIZE to chat about food security in the Middle East and how advanced research and techno...
Jul 24, 2021•33 min•Season 3Ep. 39
For this week’s Future Positive Podcast we bring you an exclusive conversation with XPRIZE Founder, Peter H. Diamandis and XPRIZE Innovation Board Member, Sergey Young. In their conversation they dive deep into all aspects of longevity and what the implications of living longer will have on the future of humanity. They also both share their own advice on how to live a longer, healthier, younger and more active existence. Sergey Young is a longevity investor and visionary with a mission to extend...
Jun 27, 2021•46 min•Season 3Ep. 38
Our Pride Month podcast take over culminates this week. For the past four weeks we have been bringing you a series of interviews conducted by Journalist Amelia Abraham with leading figures from the LGBTQ+ community who are impacting our world for the better. This week Amelia speaks to Kelly Rakowski, the CEO and founder of LEX – a queer dating app based on personal ads. Queer visibility online, and coding LGBTQ+ platforms for inclusivity are just a couple of the topics they talk about. Lex is a ...
Jun 20, 2021•25 min•Season 3Ep. 37
Continuing our Pride Month podcast take over we bring you the third in our series of interviews conducted by Journalist Amelia Abraham with leading figures from the LGBTQ+ community who are impacting our world for the better. This week Amelia speaks to Vincent Desmond, a writer and essayist living and working in Lagos, Nigeria. They sit down to discuss the issues facing the queer community in Nigeria, the very real perils of digital catfishing and the power of social media movements. Vincent is ...
Jun 13, 2021•25 min•Season 3Ep. 36
Continuing our Pride Month podcast take over we bring you the second in our series of interviews conducted by Journalist Amelia Abraham with leading figures from the LGBTQ+ community who are impacting our world for the better. This week Amelia speaks to Os Keyes a PhD candidate and lecturer at the University of Washington’s Department of Human Centred Design & Engineering. Os was also the inaugural winner of the Ada Lovelace Fellowship. Os has a background in law, data science and data ethic...
Jun 06, 2021•33 min•Season 3Ep. 35
June 1st marks the beginning of Pride Month, and to celebrate we are bringing a series of interviews conducted by Journalist Amelia Abraham with leading figures from the LGBTQ+ community who are impacting our world for the better. For our first interview, Amelia talks to designer and Queering The Map founder Lucas LaRochelle about the importance of digital queer spaces, AI and surveillance and… gay penguins. Lucas LaRochelle is a designer and researcher whose work is concerned with queer geograp...
May 30, 2021•17 min•Season 3Ep. 34
How can avatars allow us to use our senses at a remote location in real time? Will we ever be able to smell and taste remotely? For this week’s Future Positive podcast, Amelia Abraham speaks with Dr. Jacki Morie – Scientist, Artist, Educator and Senior Advisor on the A.N.A Avatar XPRIZE to answer these questions and more. We also hear from four of the semifinalist teams competing in the ANA Avatar XPRIZE who take us through their approaches to creating robotic avatars that convey a sense of pres...
May 23, 2021•36 min•Season 3Ep. 33
Converting carbon into fuel is the next exciting frontier in the ever changing energy landscape. For this week’s Future Positive podcast, we get the scoop on the future of fuel with two finalists of the NRG COSIA CARBON XPRIZE who are now successfully turning carbon into fuels. First, journalist Amelia Abraham interviews Brooklyn based Staff Sheehan of Air Company, then she catches up with Jason Salfi of Dimensional Energy based in Ithaca, New York. Staff Sheehan is the Chief Technology Officer ...
May 16, 2021•31 min•Season 3Ep. 32
Our oceans, and specifically fish, have been on our cultural menu recently with the success of the much talked about documentary, Seaspiracy and the academy award success of the film My Octopus Teacher. On this week's episode Journalist Amelia Abraham takes a deep dive into the deep blue with XPRIZE Feed the Next Billion Judge and all round fish guy, Dr Keith Cox. They explore the depths of ocean health and how cultivated and plant-based fish can really help with healing this fragile ecosystem. ...
May 09, 2021•29 min•Season 3Ep. 31
This week we peer into how the work-life balance is playing out during the pandemic. The past year has had an effect on all our working lives; from remote working and home offices to disrupted shifts, furloughs and for many unfortunate people, unemployment. For this episode, we get some insight into the reality of working lives by asking our own colleagues at XPRIZE to weigh in on this global change to work. Journalist and Writer Amelia Abraham interviews our Chief Prize Operations Officer here ...
May 02, 2021•30 min•Season 3Ep. 30
Did you miss the live reveal of the NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE hosted by WIRED Brand Labs and moderated by Wired Editor Megan Greenwell? Fear not! We hit the record button and captured it in its full unedited glory for you to listen to now. In 2015, XPRIZE launched the $20M NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, a competition to jumpstart the carbontech economy and tackle global warming. Last Monday, April 19th the winners were revealed in an online event hosted by the Wired Brand Lab. Megan Greenwell sat down w...
Apr 25, 2021•44 min•Season 3Ep. 29
This week we take you on a time travelling adventure into the past, present and future of Carbon Capture as journalist Amelia Abraham interviews XPRIZE’s own world leaders of Carbontech. First Mike Leitch, Technical Lead, NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, takes us on a whistle stop tour of Carbontech history. Before XPRIZE, he served as the Research Manager at RGL Reservoir Management, an oilfield manufacturing company based in Edmonton, Canada. There, he worked with a diverse team of engineers and scien...
Apr 18, 2021•33 min•Season 3Ep. 28
For this week’s episode we are excited to bring you a conversation between our own CEO Anousheh Ansari and the Co-Founder and Deputy CEO of Space IL Kfir Damari. Three engineers walk into a bar. On this day two years ago their team’s lander ‘Beresheet’ made its descent to the surface of the moon after a 48 day journey. What happened next didn’t exactly follow the playbook.... Established in 2011, Space IL competed in the Google Lunar XPRIZE and won the $1 Million Dollar ‘Moon Shot’ award for it’...
Apr 11, 2021•42 min•Season 3Ep. 27
For today’s episode, we’re tuning in to a conversation recorded back in May 2020. This fascinating discussion tackles issues around food insecurity, including but not limited to the impact of COVID-19 on food systems and identifying how AI can help us reach zero hunger and shape the food landscape of tomorrow. Led by Caroline Kolta, Senior Associate here at XPRIZE with contributions from Bernhard Kowatsch, Lorin Fries and Merijn Dols. Bernhard Kowatsch is Head of the Innovation Accelerator at th...
Apr 04, 2021•53 min•Season 3Ep. 26
This week we bring you a peek into our intimate futures. We are well over a year into the lockdown caused by this pandemic and our lives have changed inconceivably. Probably the biggest change though is our lack of intimacy with other people. Technology is adapting though, as it always has. The telephone made communication with a distant loved one much easier. Algorithms in dating apps allow our future partner to get automatically shifted from the ghosters, the players and the people with no tab...
Mar 28, 2021•32 min•Season 3Ep. 25
The world of rainforest conservation is quickly changing. Technology’s exponential development is enabling a wide range of advances in conservation, while simultaneously showing the limitations of humanity’s knowledge. We know now more than ever about earth’s most diverse ecosystem, yet there is so much left to be understood. On today’s podcast we bring you a discussion between two incredible conservationists, and two members of the XPRIZE Rainforest Advisory Board: Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim and Sh...
Mar 21, 2021•55 min•Season 3Ep. 25
For this week’s podcast we are bringing you another Radical Idea written by journalist Amelia Abraham and read by our host Sofia Tapia. What if we could make travel more accessible, more affordable, and more sustainable for everyone? In the future, avatar technology has the powerful potential to allow more people to see the untouched corners of the earth, while actually leaving them untouched. Introducing this week’s Radical Read: Here’s How Avatars Will Blow Travel Wide Open. Links: http://www....
Mar 14, 2021•9 min•Season 3Ep. 24
In this week's Future Positive podcats, XPRIZE’s own Neama Dadkhahnikoo sits down with A.I. entrepreneur Anita Schjøll Brede to ask her all about her experience as a thought leader and woman in A.I., her tenacity to identify problems and her incredible ability to solve them. She also shares with us which women have inspired her along the way. Anita is the CEO and Co-Founder of Iris.ai; an AI science assistant, able to read and connect scientific knowledge, that will grow up to be the world’s fir...
Mar 06, 2021•34 min•Season 3Ep. 23
This week’s podcast we are bringing you another radical idea written by journalist Amelia Abraham and read by our host Sofie Tapia. Mars Your Ulitmate Travel Guide. NASA’s Perseverance Rover made history earlier this month when it touched down on Mars, so it looks like we have liftoff! Or at least we will soon… if the Mars colonizers have their way. Are you going with them? Our Travel Guide to Mars will help you decide, or at the very least give you a whistle-stop tour of the 7 wonders of the re...
Mar 01, 2021•11 min•Season 3Ep. 22
For this week’s podcast we are bringing you another Radical Read written by journalist Amelia Abraham and read by our host Sofie Tapia. From the invention of a device to measure longitude at sea back in the 18th Century to our newest and biggest Prize ever, XPRIZE Carbon Removal, incentive prizes make the impossible possible. Find out Why We Need Incentive Prizes to truly foster genius. The XPRIZE Carbon Removal is aimed at tackling the biggest threat facing humanity — fighting climate change an...
Feb 20, 2021•8 min•Season 3Ep. 21
In this special news round-up of the Future Positive podcast we’re talking all things XPRIZE Carbon Removal – our new $100M Prize for a technology that removes carbon from the atmosphere, halting climate change in the process. First, XPRIZE’s Chief Impact Officer Zenia Tata, one of the primary designers of XPRIZE Carbon Removal, runs through one of the most common reactions to the Prize announcement – “But what about trees!” – explaining why trees are no longer enough when it comes to offsetting...
Feb 13, 2021•18 min•Season 3Ep. 20
In this bonus podcast we are bringing you a Radical Idea written by journalist Amelia Abraham and read by our host Sofie Tapia. The article was written in response to President Joe Biden rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement and just a few days later Elon Musk teasing the largest prize in human history, the $100M XPRIZE CARBON REMOVAL. These two events alone have seriously changed the future of our planet by shifting our agenda towards climate change. Released to coincide with the launch of the ...
Feb 10, 2021•8 min•Season 3Ep. 19
On this week's Future Positive our host Neama Dadkhahnikoo, Technical Lead of the AI XPRIZE chairs a virtual roundtable with a panel of female innovators in the field of AI. Andy Coravos is the CEO and founder of Elektra Labs, a company that advances healthcare by enabling safe, effective, and personalized use of connected products (wearables and other connected sensors) at home. Kishau Rogers is a Computer Scientist, Systems Thinker, Entrepreneur and CEO of Time Study Inc. A venture-backed star...
Feb 07, 2021•46 min•Season 3Ep. 18
Welcome to a special edition of The Future Positive podcast. For this week's pod our host Shlomy Kattan, Chief Advancement Officer at XPRIZE virtually sits down with two thought leaders, Desmond Dickerson and Dwayne Matthews to discuss the future of work and education whilst also giving some priceless advice on the best ways to work remotely. Desmond Dickerson is a Manager and Innovation Consultant for the Cognizant Center for the Future of Work. He’s a passionate advocate and leader for the Afr...
Jan 30, 2021•53 min•Season 3Ep. 16
Much of the fundamental research in computer science has been driven by the needs of those attempting to utilize computing for various applications, including healthcare. Today’s guest, Shwetak Patel describes a collection of research projects that leverage mobile phone technology in new ways to enable the screening, self-management and studying of diseases. By using mobile phones as healthcare devices, we can enable access and scale, helping advance health and clinical science through the conve...
Jan 25, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Season 3Ep. 15
When it comes to fighting infectious disease outbreaks, contact tracing is a key public health response. Mobile technologies including GPS, Bluetooth, cellphone masts and AI-powered big data analytics, can help collect data that helps decision-makers understand and manage the spread of pandemics like COVID-19 within their own communities. But when using this kind of technology, it’s critical to preserve personal privacy to not only maintain public trust but especially to protect vulnerable indiv...
Jan 16, 2021•51 min•Season 3Ep. 14
AI for Good, a global summit hosted by XPRIZE and ITU, about machine translation and cognitive code switching. Today’s episode explores the concept of Cosmo-uBuntu, an approach to technological innovation that addresses issues of global justice and helps us better understand personhood in AI praxis. Hosted by S. Ama Wray, an associate professor at UC Irvine and co-founder of AI for Africa, with guests Vukosi Marivate, Jose Cossa and Jackie Berry, highlight the cultural and individual differences...
Jan 10, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Season 3Ep. 13
Chess-playing computers have been better than human World Chess Champions for more than 20 years now. But when DeepMind published a preprint in December 2017 about AlphaZero, a computer program based on neural networks and mastering the games of chess, Shogi and Go, the entire world paid attention. Today’s episode, moderated by Kenneth Cukier of The Economist at AI for Good, a global summit hosted by ITU and XPRIZE, explores recent AI developments in chess and how these developments have impacte...
Jan 03, 2021•49 min•Season 3Ep. 12
A chance to listen again to one of our most inspiring podcasts of 2020. Captured during Visioneering at Paramount Studios, Peter H. Diamandis is joined by Harrison Ford and Wes Bush from Conservation International. In a thrilling discussion, they discuss the urgency to change the economics, behaviors and political will in order to save the planet. It requires the support of everyone, and will rely on technological innovation and new economic incentives to move in the right direction, quickly. Re...
Dec 28, 2020•32 min
In this modern age of technology, artificial intelligence has the unique ability to shed light on environmentally destructive practices while providing solutions to help protect our world. In today’s episode recorded at AI for Good, a global summit hosted by ITU and XPRIZE, Marcius Extavour, Executive Director of Prize Operations on Energy and Resources here at XPRIZE, chats with Andrew Zolli, Vice President of Global Impact at Planet, and Sasha Luccioni, a Postdoctoral Researcher at Mila Labs. ...
Dec 20, 2020•49 min•Season 3Ep. 11
