

World Changing Ideas
Fast Company
What if we spent more time thinking about solutions rather than problems? Are you looking for more positive news? World Changing Ideas travels around the globe to find the leaders, experts and activists who are dreaming big and working to change the world for the better. With a focus on the environment, social justice and innovation, these are stories that will get you thinking. World-changing ideas come in all shapes and sizes. Join the conversation with solutions journalist and filmmaker Amelia Hemphill.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Mar 9, 2022 • 17min
What Will It Take to Get 40 Billion Tons of CO2 Out of Our Atmosphere?
When it comes to curbing greenhouse gas emissions, the words decarbonize and carbon negativity get bandied about. To help dissect what those mean, Talib chatted with Simon Nicholson, an associate professor in the School of International Service at American University and the director of the Institute for Carbon Removal Law and Policy.Gaurab Chakrabarti is the CEO and co-founder of Solugen, a company that uses plant-powered technology to produce molecules more sustainably than traditional chemical companies. It also happens to be completely carbon negative.

Mar 2, 2022 • 21min
How Do We Get More People to Care about Climate Change?
On this episode, we’re talking about something that’s at the heart of the climate crisis - how do we get more people to care about it? Fast Company Senior Staff Editor Jeff Beer joins Talib to discuss it.

Feb 23, 2022 • 20min
What Does Our Future Look Like with Climate Change on the Horizon?
We're kicking off a new season by delving into our world's most challenging issue: climate change. We all know that it's a crisis we need to fix before it's too late. Instead of focusing on the doom and gloom though, we're going to look at the innovative ways entrepreneurs and scientists are tackling it.Dr. Kim Cobb is a climatologist at Georgia Tech and she lays out the very real goals we need to set for ourselves in the next coming decades. Then, Fast Company Senior Editor Morgan Clendaniel chats about what to expect this season.

Feb 16, 2022 • 17min
Innovation Unrestricted - How Companies can Incorporate Diversity and Inclusion into Product Design
In this episode, host Abigail Bassett is joined by Lenovo’s Calvin Crosslin to talk about how companies can incorporate diversity and inclusion into their product design - plus a conversation with Carnegie Mellon’s Eric Anderson about how ensuring the inclusivity and accessibility of products has become a business imperative.

Feb 9, 2022 • 19min
Innovation Unrestricted - Designing Products and Communities With Sustainability and Innovation in Mind
In this episode, host Abigail Bassett is joined by Lenovo’s Vlad Rozanovich to talk about how the tech company looks at product design through a sustainability lens - plus a conversation with actress and activist, Sophia Bush on a bold new Lenovo-led initiative to help prevent the extinction of endangered species and support a local community on its journey to sustainability.

Feb 2, 2022 • 1min
We're Back and Starting Something New!
We’re kicking off this new season with a special series completely dedicated to climate change. We’ll cover everything from the decarbonization of the chemical industry to how we can take plastic out of our cleaning supplies. We’ll be talking with people who saw a problem and were determined to fix it.Tune in every Wednesday starting on February 23rd.

Jan 26, 2022 • 8min
How Motorcycles Can Help Save Wildlife Around the World
We cover a lot of creative ideas on the show but they’ve all been tools or innovations that mainly help people. So, today we’re going to take a look at something that will benefit animals. Specifically: endangered species.Talib talks about his chat with Cake Founder Stefan Ytterborn about how e-bikes are helping anti-poaching efforts in Southern Africa.For more info, check out: ridecake.com and wildlifecollege.org.za

Jan 19, 2022 • 10min
How Your Favorite Ice Cream or Chocolate Might Be Made Out of Fiber Instead of Sugar
Hey everybody, welcome back and hope you all had a healthy and happy holiday season!January is a month for reflection and fulfilling resolutions so we thought we'd talk about sugar-or rather-a new sugar substitute. Talib chatted with Supplant's biochemist, Tom Simmons and Per Se Chef Thomas Keller to discuss their partnership of using fiber-based sugar in foods, including Per Se's shortbread recipe.To find out more, check out Supplant at supplant.com.And to learn more about their partnership with Per Se: https://www.fastcompany.com/90699806/this-low-calorie-high-fiber-natural-sugar-substitute-is-already-in-thomas-kellers-kitchens

Jan 12, 2022 • 17min
THE YEAR AHEAD: Innovation for All - Connecting Through Caring: How Purpose-Driven Brands are Earning Customer Loyalty
The Year Ahead: Innovation For All is a new mini series from FastCo Works and Capital One. Join host Julianne Pepitone as she explores how companies can focus on their core values and develop more authentic mission statements.In this episode, Julianne talks with Capital One President of Financial Services Sanjiv Yajnik about why he thinks innovation is not just something applied to high tech tools, but a vital element in forming meaningful customer connections.

Jan 5, 2022 • 20min
THE YEAR AHEAD: Innovation for All - Why Personalized Artificial Intelligence Could Be the Next Big Thing in Tech
Every major successful technology goes through key phases - from early adopter beta testing to 1.0 rollouts to mainstream adoption. Artificial intelligence is no different as it went from research lab demonstrations to business tool to consumer-focused digital assistants and more. AI is now an established technology but one with a lot of untapped potential. And one of the key areas of AI development is around making it more personalized to users, customers and business workers.On this episode, Robert Pulciani, Capital One executive vice president of AI and machine learning product, talks about what a personalized AI future will look like, what the benefits could be and what guardrails need to be in place.


