Finding Genius Podcast

NOIZ is a decentralized ad exchange platform based on the blockchain. It provides data transparency and solves the problem of an ad fraud by using a Proof of Engagement concept that validates user data. NOIZ also gives consumers control over their data privacy so they're constantly aware of what information is shared through the ad exchange network. All parties involved are connected to social impact projects, thus improving the communities in which consumers and brands exist.

Tim Bean, CEO of Fortem Technologies, provides a detailed overview of the future of airspace, drones, and drone hunters. Mr. Bean has over two decades of business and technical experience as a leader in multiple technology start-ups in Silicon Valley. Bean oversees the strategy for Fortem Technologies, and handles everything from product creation, through sales, to customer support. Bean has a vast array of knowledge in sales and engineering, with specific expertise in cyber-defense and mission-critical infrastructure applications. Bean's company, Fortem Technologies, is known for specialization in AI-enabled airspace security and safety. Notably, the company is a leader in real-time intrusion detection. Fortem Technologies can provide military-tested solutions that have the capability to alert, identify, and classify drones, unmanned aircraft vehicles (commonly referred to as UAVs), or other intruding or unlawful invaders. The airspace security expert discusses the many areas where Fortem Technologies' advances can deliver effective results. He details how US airspace is the most crowded but the safest in the world primarily because of the tight regulations enforced by the FAA, as aircraft are in communication and cooperate with each other to ensure that safety is paramount. But as some aircraft, and helicopters in particular, fly at a lower altitude, the airspace may become increasingly dangerous as drones become more ubiquitous each coming year. For these reasons, Bean states that airports are a prime area where their technology can provide for higher levels of safety. Additionally, Bean lays out the other areas in which Fortem Technologies is embedded, such as border security, oil and gas refineries, nuclear facilities, stadiums and events, essentially any place where airspace needs to be secured. Bean provides an overview of how their technology works to secure airspace. He explains the steps needed in the security process, from first identifying what is in the airspace to the integrated response for that situation. Utilizing RF listening (radio frequency) to catch RF signals between operator and drone allows for easy pick up of what Bean refers to as "careless" operators, who probably have wandered into secure airspace unknowingly. He points out that the true challenge in today's security is to combat criminal or terrorist drones that fly autonomously and emit zero RF. From espionage to terrorism, these types of drones pose a serious threat to airspace security and potentially public safety. To meet the challenge, radar is often employed to detect unidentified and potentially dangerous or criminal intrusions into highly secure areas. While jamming signals is an obvious way to deter nefarious drone type activity, this procedure is not legal in many countries due to regulatory laws. Bean's company, however, provides a means to engage illegal drones, dogfight them, net them, and carry them away to a neutral space. Bean discusses the detailed laws that are emerging in regard to protection of critical infrastructure from nefarious drone activity, and how the laws are changing as technology pushes further. Many issues come into play and a particularly important one is the regulation of flying 'beyond a visual line of sight,' which Bean discusses in detail. As he states, the FAA is in support of these regulation allowances, and as the terms get worked out we may soon be getting our hot, delicious pizzas delivered via drone.

Imbrex is pioneering the real estate industry using advanced blockchain and data distribution protocols. Imbrex's objective is to democratize real estate information and improve the transaction process. Through blockchain and peer to peer technologies, imbrex provides unrestricted, free data while laying the groundwork for tokenized transactions. imbrex, a revolutionary new global listing platform where it's free to list and search for properties. A platform where you won't be bombarded by ads. Where you're in complete control of your data. Where transactions take days, not months. A platform that pays you to participate. Imbrex connects vendors, buyers and agents over a powerful open network that rewards you for your contributions. Imbrex combines three innovative technologies – The Blockchain, Data Distribution and Digital Currencies – to create the world's most advanced Global Real Estate Listing Service. And it's completely free. Instead of money, imbrex uses a digital currency, the imbrex token, which enables frictionless transactions. Users are paid in imbrex tokens to list properties or provide market data, and tokens can be exchanged within the platform for features and services. Imbrex is hosted on a global peer-to-peer distributed network, so there are no paywalls or access restrictions. Anyone, anywhere in the world, can list properties and view listings – at no cost.

Invention Evaluator helps you assess the commercial potential of new technologies. Our analysts provide hundreds of corporations, universities and research centers around the world confidential unbiased technology analysis reports that summarize the technical merits, intellectual property research and the commercial potential of any idea or IP asset, in ten business days for $995. Visit inventionevaluator.com for a sample report.

Eli Goldstein, co-founder and CEO of SkyCool Systems (skycoolsystems.com), delivers an informative overview of his company's incredible technology that produces cooling by utilizing the cold environment of outer space. His company, SkyCool Systems, works to provide clean, renewable, breakthrough technologies that allow for more sustainable and cost-effective cooling that is efficient and decreases water loss. Mr. Goldstein's interest in energy systems and science led him to pursue and secure his PhD in mechanical engineering from Stanford University. He has since worked extensively in the field as well as in academia. Mr. Goldstein has spearheaded experimentation and testing in thermal modeling and continues to work toward advancing the science. SkyCool Systems' patented heat panel is easily installable to any roof. Once installed, the panel receives fluid that is cooled passively by sending heat to the sky. Through the use of a specially developed film that prevents heating from the sun, it is able to cool below the existing air temperature. Goldstein explains the technology behind SkyCool Systems' patented product. As he details, their specially developed film is specifically designed to mirror, and not absorb heat from the sun. While avoiding the heat absorption, the panel's film is able to emit light in the infrared that is transparent to our atmosphere, and thus it can go all the way into space. This process allows SkyCool Systems' panel to utilize outer space as a cold resource. Thus, unlike any other material exposed to the sun, SkyCool Systems' panels, via their patented technology, are able to cool down, in spite of the sun's tremendous heat. While the technology is available and successfully working to lower temperatures for structures, Goldstein muses that someday it may be possible to even have clothing that is made from materials that work off the same infrared transparency model. As SkyCool Systems' technology moves further into the marketplace, an immediate application will be to merge their panels with commercial air conditioning and refrigeration cooling systems, to allow for more efficient and productive cooling from those traditional systems. Via 'sub-cooling,' SkyCool Systems' technology can increase the cooling of the traditional systems' refrigerants with an overall goal of improving efficiency by ten to twenty percent. Goldstein explains the radiation aspects of his technology with the example of a space heater. As a space heater uses thermal radiation to provide heat to someone even though they are ten or twenty feet away, SkyCool Systems' technology can perform in a similar manner, but with cooling as opposed to heat. From supermarkets to convenience stores, office buildings to data centers, Goldstein discusses how SkyCool Systems' innovative process can increase cooling efficiency, decrease electricity usage, and do it all without needing to evaporate water. And as tech companies' data centers typically use hundreds of millions of gallons of water for their cooling systems, SkyCool Systems' process is a unique solution to decrease this massive water waste. Goldstein discusses how the use of these methods for cooling dates back to ancient civilizations, as early Persian civilizations utilized the technique to actually make ice in desert climates. By making well-insulated buildings with a hole in the ceiling that allowed for exposure to the sky, these early civilizations discovered the powerful effects of night cooling to assist them with food storage, general cooling, and more. From cooling medicines to structures, to combination work with solar thermal systems, and beyond, Goldstein's work is just the tip of the iceberg, literally and figuratively, of where he plans to take SkyCool Systems' technology.

Andy Weir, the software engineer-turned-science-fiction author, leads a delightful discussion about his journey to Mars (on paper) and how his dream of writing sci-fi became a reality. Andy Weir was a successful software engineer for many years until his first novel, The Martian, was released, and thereby released him from work commitments other than writing full time. The success of the novel allowed him to continue his passion, working as a writer, developing other ideas and concepts. Mr. Weir's step into the science-fiction world was an organic one, as he has been fascinated with space and physics since childhood, and he is now able to bring it all together into his work as an artist. As an admitted "space dork," Weir discusses his keen interest in the real world science problem of how to put humans on the planet Mars. From transportation to and from, to surviving while on the planet, Weir's interest in the potentially possible mission was one of simply curiosity, and not a concept for a novel. As Weir dove into the thinking and planning behind his 'mental mission' to Mars, he began to work through the pitfalls and system errors that could occur on such a mission. As he calculated the contingency plans for such system failures he began to think that the whole milieu—from the travel, to the problems encountered, to the fight for survival if there was a system failure—all might make for a pretty interesting novel. Thus, The Martian was born. The sci-fi author discusses the thoroughly interesting step-by-step approach he took that, to his surprise, led to a publishing deal with a major publisher. As Weir describes, he began posting chapters online, as he finished them, thinking that he would entertain his small following of about 3,000 readers and then move on to his next fun story idea. But as the interest grew it was, in fact, his readers who encouraged him to take his work to Amazon, and once it hit Amazon's massive online marketplace, the numbers started to fly. And it wasn't long thereafter that literary agents and Hollywood producers came calling… at the same time. Weir discusses the entire process, and his technical involvement along the way, of how the book became the movie. As the screenwriter was selected and the deal secured, Ridley Scott and Matt Damon came on board and the project was off and flying (to outer space)! Weir recounts an amusing story of how one former NASA flight director who was, during his tenure, in charge of mission control at NASA, stated that reading the book actually stressed him out, for Weir's accuracy regarding potential mission problems was a little too real. After the best-selling success of The Martian, Weir's publisher was ready for more. Weir details his frustrations as he worked for a year on another novel that he felt was simply not coming together, and thus he eventually scrapped it. But from the ashes arose a new idea for another novel and he was off and writing again. While Weir admits he was not happy to have lost a year on the writing of a novel that was never to be, he does acknowledge that the end result was better for everyone—readers, his publisher, and himself. His new novel, Artemis, described on his website as a "near-future thriller—a heist story set on the moon," was enthusiastically received by his publisher and they took it to the presses. Weir states that his success in the science-fiction publishing world, while somewhat an enigma, possibly hinges on scientific accuracy and of course, making them laugh, for humor captures every reader and keeps them turning the pages.

Kevin Costa, CSO and scientific co-founder at Novoheart (novoheart.com), a stem cell and biotechnology tissue engineering company, delivers a wealth of information on the study of heart problems and diseases via tissue experimentation. Costa is director of cardiovascular cell and tissue engineering at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Costa received his training at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Additionally, he was a faculty member and associate professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia University. Through extensive work in biomedical engineering, with advanced study in cell and tissue biomechanics and cardiac tissue engineering, Costa developed one of the earliest engineered cardiac tissue systems. His work is funded through many prestigious grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Whitaker Foundation, and more. Novoheart's primary goal is to innovate and impact drug discovery and the evolution of heart therapeutics with their proprietary bioengineered human heart constructs, to advance them further, into transplantable grafts for cell-based regenerative heart therapies with significantly improved safety as well as efficacy. By growing pieces of tissues that can emulate certain aspects of the human heart, Novoheart can perform laboratory testing to better understand how drugs and therapeutics might interact with a human heart. Costa explains how 90% of drugs ultimately fail and never make it to clinics to help patients, even after a decade of work with several billion dollars spent on research. He discusses how animal testing is perhaps the primary reason for drug failures in development, for animal testing is not exceptionally predictive of how a particular drug will work in a human body. And for fear of potentially extreme cardiac side effects, human testing is rarely if ever done; thus, Novoheart's testing on their laboratory-produced human tissues allows for more reliable testing that will be indicative of the actual human use of a drug. The cell and tissue engineering expert discusses many of the areas Novoheart is innovating. One such area is Novoheart's trademarked MyHeart platform, which involves multiple assays that vary in complexity. He explains that heart disease and cardiac toxicity can arise in the electrical and contractile properties of the heart, thus Novoheart has designed engineered tissues to directly address problems and issues that pertain to both of the heart's major properties. Novoheart has developed a proprietary method for differentiating human stem cells into the ventricular myocytes of the heart muscle cells that work with the large pumping ventricles of the heart. Their focus is on these types of cells as the ventricle area is where arrhythmias, cardiomyopathies, and contractile defects occur in human patients. Costa discusses the specifics of various branches of their work. He details how their methods allow them to gather detailed real information on contractility due to sensors that are integrated into their tissues, thus allowing them to measure twitch force and other variables that would be significant factors in assessing a real human heart's function and force, etc. And in regard to pump function, they devised a way to grow tissue around a silicone balloon to measure pressure and volume. The biomedical engineering expert discusses the value of laboratory-based trials for testing drug effectiveness, as the lab environment allows for optimization and experimentation to hone a more ideal solution, whereas, in human drug trials, any failures will generally end the trial immediately. Costa gives an overview of some areas of testing that he is particularly excited about, such as methods they have developed to study assays created from diseased patient cells. Their process will allow them to study the efficacy of compounds on their tissues that show symptoms of the disease in order to find methods or treatments to end those symptoms, and then utilize that information to treat real patients. The work is complex, but Costa's team strives to develop and innovate various methods to study diseases that impact heart function and performance, and as their work advances he hopes to continue to discover new means to improve heart health.

As an author, George Howard has published two books on the music industry (Berklee Press), regularly contribute to Forbes, the NYT, and have authored hundreds of widely-read articles on marketing and strategy that have appeared in publications such as The Huffington Post, Time, The Music Business Journal, and others. Music Audience Exchange (MAX) is reshaping the future landscape of music. Across billions of streams, video views, social shares, and live shows, there are massive, diverse communities of fans forming around more music and more artists than ever before. MAX has built a platform that deeply understands these audiences, and has created a model that gives brands the opportunity to enrich (not interrupt) the fan experience. The MAX Platform™ is built on proprietary data science that maps specific audience attributes to a database of 765 genres, 2.4 million artists, all 4 content types (audio, video, social, live), and a network of channels that reaches 98% of music fans in the places they're already going to for music. GHS - Advise on the integration of technology, marketing, intellectual property with an emphasis on awareness and revenue. Capabilities include Strategic Advising, Integration of Traditional and New Media (social, mobile, location-based) marketing, Branding, Technology, Legal, M&A, Business Development, and Training.

Wpromote is The Challenger Agency and they specialize in digital marketing and customer acquisition. Their team of 300+ digital marketers breathe in marketing and exhale ROI. They are energetic, dynamic, and passionate, and enjoy sharing this passion with everyone. Wpromote focuses on delivering the best digital marketing campaigns possible so that our clients sleep soundly at night and our employees are proud of what they have accomplished!

Ashish Malik, CEO of Bee Vectoring Technology (BVT) (beevt.com), delivers a fascinating insider analysis of the current state of crop protection via bees. Mr. Malik is the former VP of global marketing for biologics at Bayer CropScience where he worked on the portfolio of biological assets and strategies to advance integrated crop solutions. Before his tenure at Bayer, Mr. Malik was SVP of global marketing at the California-based AgraQuest, an international supplier of advanced biological pest management solutions founded upon natural microorganisms. Mr. Malik received his MBA, specializing in finance and marketing, from Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business and his bachelor's in engineering from Swarthmore College. With a passion for safe, healthy foods, Mr. Malik sought to bring his interests to a larger audience with Bee Vectoring Technology. BVT is a top technology company that utilizes commercially-reared bees to establish sustainable, efficient, and effectual crop control. Highly focused on agricultural innovation as well as targeted pest and disease management solutions, BVT seeks to advance global crop production while decreasing the use of chemicals. Farmers seek to expand their productivity per acre of land, but consumers are demanding fewer chemicals in the process. Thus, pollinators that help to create a higher yield with a more organic footprint are in demand. As Malik states, his company uses bees to pollinate, to deliver a safe, biological product to the flowering crops. And it is this biological product that then protects the crop from disease and pests ongoing. BVT's system thus reduces the chemical input, eliminates water waste, and often increases efficiency. The crop pollination expert explains that BVT is continually studying the ratios for success, such as how many hives per acre are necessary to deliver the right amount of biological product to maximize yield, and protection. Additionally, efficiency is also connected to temperature, as bees tend to be more productive in warmer temps. And as fruit quality and health can be improved through BVT's methods, use of their system can increase revenue per acre, as well as fruit shelf life. BVT utilizes bumblebees to implement their pollination solutions. Working with commercial bee-rearing companies, BVT's product is composed of a tray that carries the microbe that can be inserted into the commercial beehive delivered to the farmer. And with honey bees, the tray would be positioned outside the beehive. Honey bee keepers who work with the BVT system are given an opportunity to increase their revenue per hive. Malik discusses the various strategies for positioning the hives and how placement can increase productivity. But workers, tractors and farm equipment, etc. must be considered regarding placement, as the bees should not be disturbed in order for them to be able to work efficiently. And he explains how the bees systematically cover an area, as the first wave of bees will deplete the nectar in the closest flowering crops, and then the second wave will go further or deeper. Therefore, consideration of placement is always important, and refinement of the entire process is critical as well to achieve the best results. Malik states that crop protection, and agricultural inputs (products permitted for use within organic farming) are a $50 billion dollar industry, so clearly, efficient, more organic pollination is here to stay.