Engineering often builds systems to withstand extreme forces. Nature's ecosystems build interconnected systems that never experience them through geometric redirection.
Woodpeckers don't have super-strong skulls that absorb 1,200 G-forces—they instead have interconnected geometric features that fragment and redirect energy, so the brain never experiences the full impact. Alain Bujold, a visionary R&D expert with 27 years of experience leading over 140 projects and holding 18 patents, reveals how ecosystemic thinking transforms protection.
Unexpected Paradigm Shifts:
→ Ecosystemic Energy Management: Nature doesn't isolate protection—bone, geometry, and material work as an interconnected ecosystem to redirect forces
→ Energy Redirection Over Absorption: Natural ecosystems fragment and redirect kinetic energy through surface geometry—never experience the full force
→ Systems Within Systems: Alain's "local and global" R&D methodology mirrors nature's approach—component details + ecosystem-wide performance
→ Shape + Resonance = Protection: Surface geometry controls wave behavior across protective ecosystems
Economic Reality: 2 million TBI cases annually in the US, 400,000 children hospitalized. Military load-carriage injuries cost billions.
The Innovation: Woodpecker-inspired helmet geometry that fragments and redirects impact energy through controlled surface patterns—moving beyond material strength to force redirection through shape alone.
Opportunity: Ecosystemic energy redirection could revolutionize aerospace (spacecraft hulls that redirect debris impacts), architecture (buildings that redirect earthquake forces), and automotive (crumple zones across vehicle ecosystems).
Getting There: Stop asking "How do we build stronger materials?" Start by asking: "How can we design ecosystemic geometry where interconnected elements ensure our system never experiences the full destructive force?"
#EcosystemicFutures #Biomimicry #EnergyRedirection #GeometricDesign
Guest: Alain Bujold, R&D Innovation Strategist | 27 Years, 140+ Projects, 18 Patents
Host: Dyan Finkhousen, CEO, Shoshin Works
Series Hosts:
Vikram Shyam, Lead Futurist, NASA Glenn Research Center
Dyan Finkhousen, Founder & CEO, Shoshin Works
Ecosystemic Futures is provided by NASA Convergent Aeronautics Solutions Project in collaboration with Shoshin Works
Linear thinking squanders $500 billion annually. The revelation? Ecosystemic collaboration across value chains unlocks it.
Textile innovators shatter assumptions—strategic design choices create immediate circular economics. Dr. Rawaa Ammar, Chief Sustainability & Impact Officer at Resortecs, reveals a counterintuitive reality: While companies optimize in isolation, the industry collectively discards $500 billion in materials (equivalent to one garbage truck of textiles every second). Ecosystemic design captures 85-90% through active disassembly—but only when entire value chains collaborate.
Unexpected Paradigm Shifts:
→ Value Chain Orchestration: Success requires collaboration across entire ecosystems (brands, collectors, recyclers)—silos prevent circular economics
→ Scale Inversion: Siloed, manual processes hit scaling walls—you can't "hire more workers" for circular economics
→ Critical Materials Redefinition: Cotton becomes strategically critical when supply chains break (Suez Canal delays cost billions)
→ Policy Innovation Engine: EU's 16 textile regulations generate ecosystemic collaboration and profit centers
Economic Reality:
→ 100 billion garments produced annually, <1% recovery vs 75% for paper
→ Active disassembly: 15x faster processing, 3.3x yield optimization
→ UN study: 110 billion euros at risk, 54 trillion savings potential
The Innovation:
Smart stitching threads dissolve with targeted heat, enabling automated disassembly at scale. Design-for-circularity transforms costs into revenue streams.
Opportunity for Other Sectors:
Considering the space economy as an example - where resupply is constrained and every gram costs thousands to transport - could the incorporation of design for disassembly enable a greater economic impact through in-space repair and material recovery?
Getting There:
Stop asking "How do we dispose efficiently?" Start by asking: "What if 90% of our material value was designed for profitable recovery across our entire value chain?"
#EcosystemicFutures #CircularEconomy #DesignInnovation #MarketTransformation
Guest: Dr. Rawaa Ammar, Chief Sustainability & Impact Officer, Resortecs | PhD Earth & Environmental Sciences
Host: Dyan Finkhousen, Founder & CEO, Shoshin Works
Series Hosts:
Vikram Shyam, Lead Futurist, NASA Glenn Research Center
Dyan Finkhousen, Founder & CEO, Shoshin Works
Ecosystemic Futures is provided by NASA Convergent Aeronautics Solutions Project in collaboration with Shoshin Works.
Global consensus is the enemy of market efficiency. The solution lies in interconnected market ecosystems that work, while others debate.
Many business leaders assume that global alignment is necessary first, followed by implementation. But ASEAN is proving the opposite—regional market ecosystems can out-innovate global bureaucracy. Dr. Renard Siew, President of the Malaysia Carbon Market Association, breaks down the economics: Compliance-integrated exchange markets trade $200-300 billion annually, while voluntary efficiency trading platforms remain at $2 billion.
The disparity reveals massive market inefficiencies—pure economic opportunity.
Economic Reality (from ASEAN's emerging integrated industrial exchange ecosystem):
→ 70% of verification methodologies use VERRA standards, but a lack of mutual recognition fragments liquidity
→ Malaysian industrial efficiency projects can't access Indonesian buyers due to fragmented exchange systems
→ ASEAN's energy-intensive industries face international trade barriers without integrated industrial exchange mechanisms
The Innovation: Regional frameworks with mutual recognition create integrated exchange ecosystems while maintaining the integrity of verification. The ASEAN Common Framework demonstrates how interconnected market building drives economic efficiency.
The Paradigm Shift:
→ Old thinking: Global standards → Implementation → Scale
→ New thinking: Regional cooperation → Market liquidity → Velocity → Scale → Global relevance
Trade Implications: As international trade barriers increasingly target industrial efficiency standards, regions with integrated industrial exchange ecosystems gain a competitive advantage. Connected market building beats regulatory isolation.
Strategic Question: Ask yourself... "Which 3-5 key partners can we build mutual recognition with to create a liquid market for our efficiency improvements?"
Most efficiency improvements aren't pursued because companies can't find verified buyers for the results. However, the right regional partners could help you resolve that issue overnight.
Getting There: In your industry, where can regional cooperation create working markets while global standards remain stuck in committee?
#EcosystemicFutures #IntegratedExchanges #MarketEcosystems #MarketEfficiency #RegionalOrchestration #TradeCompetitiveness #PerformanceMarkets
Guest: Dr. Renard Siew, President, Malaysia Carbon Market Association | PhD Civil & Environmental Engineering
Host: Marco Annunziata, Co-founder, Annunziata Desai Advisors
Series Hosts:
Vikram Shyam, Lead Futurist, NASA Glenn Research Center
Dyan Finkhousen, Founder & CEO, Shoshin Works
Ecosystemic Futures is provided by NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Convergent Aeronautics Solutions Project in collaboration with Shoshin Works.
🔗 How do you scale from a startup to $2 billion in revenue while transforming healthcare delivery models?
Denise Hatzidakis cracked this code at WellBe Senior Medical, directing 8,000 developers at Deutsche Bank (achieving 40% faster delivery), and enabling $50+ million in hospital savings at Premier Healthcare Alliance. Her strategic approach reveals why disconnected systems limit healthcare #ROI despite record spending:
The Data Reality:
→ 70% of health outcomes stem from social determinants—yet most systems ignore this data
→ Frail seniors average 10-12 chronic conditions but use 911 as primary care
→ US healthcare spending leads globally, but delivers suboptimal longevity outcomes
→ Fragmented EHRs, labs, and pharmacy data prevent holistic care
The Network Solution:
Strategic #healthcareAI adoption that connects—not just digitizes—creates measurable ecosystem transformation. When payment models align with health outcomes rather than treatment volume, connected networks turn prevention into profit centers.
💡 Denise's Strategic Framework:
🔬 Market Implications:
As AI evolves from isolated tools to network-connected intelligence and value-based care becomes more prevalent, connected care networks will render traditional fee-for-service models obsolete.
The organizations building these connected ecosystems today will capture tomorrow's healthcare market.
What disconnected system in your portfolio needs strategic network transformation?
#EcosystemicFutures #ConnectedCare #ValueBasedCare #HealthTech #AIImplementation #DigitalTransformation #HealthcareInnovation
Guest: Denise Hatzidakis, Chief Technology, Product, Security Officer, Vori Health
Host: Marco Annunziata, Co-founder, Annunziata Desai Advisors
Series Hosts:
Vikram Shyam, Lead Futurist, NASA Glenn Research Center
Dyan Finkhousen, Founder & CEO, Shoshin Works
Ecosystemic Futures is provided by NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Convergent Aeronautics Solutions Project in collaboration with Shoshin Works.
Cultivating Tomorrow: The Ag-Powered Future
🌱 How do you ensure humanity thrives when traditional agriculture faces supply chain disruptions and geographic constraints?
Most food security solutions focus on single variables, such as increasing yield, improving efficiency, or reducing costs. But as global populations urbanize and supply chains become more complex, we need ecosystemic solutions that work both on Earth and beyond.
Celina Roquet is pioneering this integrated approach.
From her work with French startup Towerfarm, she's demonstrating how vertical farming isn't just about growing plants in cities—it's about creating controlled ecosystems that can adapt to any environment. By manipulating over 60 growth parameters, including light spectra, nutrient cycles, and atmospheric conditions, these systems achieve water autonomy through closed-loop transpiration and produce pharmaceutical-grade compounds year-round.
→ Eliminating seasonal and geographic constraints on medicinal plant production
→ Creating hyper-local food systems that reduce supply chain vulnerabilities
→ Developing plant cultivation protocols for Mars colonization
→ Advancing from simple leafy greens to complete nutritional ecosystems
Traditional agriculture takes what nature provides. Controlled environment agriculture engineers what life requires. The implications extend far beyond food security. When pharmaceutical companies can't source active ingredients due to geopolitical disruptions or climate events, indoor cultivation of medicinal plants becomes critical infrastructure. When space missions require self-sustaining life support systems, plants provide oxygen, food, medicine, and psychological well-being.
📌 The broader insight: This isn't just about farming efficiency.
This represents a fundamental shift toward engineered ecosystems that can thrive in any environment, from urban rooftops to lunar colonies. The same principles that enable plant growth in Martian conditions are also solving food security issues in desert cities today. The key lesson from Celina Roquet, biotechnology expert and sci-fi author: "Be curious, explore and test and learn," because the future of human survival—whether on Earth or Mars—depends on our ability to take plants with us and adapt them to any environment.
📢 Constraint-driven innovation creates survival solutions. Ecosystemic thinking creates infinite adaptability.
What extreme environment in your industry is waiting for this kind of integrated biological approach?
#CultivatingTomorrow #VerticalFarming #SpaceAgriculture #FoodSecurity #Biotechnology #Innovation #Sustainability #EcosystemicFutures #PlantScience
Guest: Celina Roquet, Biotechnology Expert, Plant Institute of Biotechnology Graduate, Sci-Fi Author
Host: Marco Annunziata, Co-founder, Annunziata and Desai Advisors
Series Hosts:
Vikram Shyam, Lead Futurist, NASA Glenn Research Center
Dyan Finkhousen, Founder & CEO, Shoshin Works
Ecosystemic Futures is provided by NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Convergent Aeronautics Solutions Project in collaboration with Shoshin Works.
Vertical Integration: NEOM's Ground-Up Approach to eVTOL Ecosystems
🚁 How do you build the future when no blueprint exists?
Most breakthrough technologies fail not because of technical limitations, but because we try to solve them sequentially: we develop the technology first, then figure out the regulation, then build the infrastructure, and then train the people.
NEOM is rewriting this playbook entirely.
In 2023, they conducted Saudi Arabia's first eVTOL flight in conditions no aviation authority has ever certified for—50°C+ desert heat, dust storms, and coastal corrosion that would ground conventional aircraft. But the real innovation wasn't the flight itself. It was flying while simultaneously co-developing regulatory frameworks with GACA and designing air corridors integrated with urban planning. → Building energy grid infrastructure for vertiports → Training pilots for software-defined aircraft → Modeling economics
across 32 million future residents.
Traditional aerospace development typically creates delays of 5-7 years between technology readiness and market deployment. NEOM's cross-functional working groups, which bring together OEMs, regulators, urban planners, and energy providers, are eliminating those delays by building the entire ecosystem in parallel.
The broader insight: This isn't just about flying cars. This integrated development model applies to any breakthrough technology that requires multi-stakeholder coordination, such as space commercialization, quantum computing infrastructure, autonomous systems, and biotechnology deployment. The key lesson from Borja Blond, CEO of AAM Operator at NEOM: "The only way to predict your future is to create it," and creating it means building supporting ecosystems alongside the technology, not after it.
* Sequential thinking creates innovation bottlenecks. Ecosystemic thinking creates innovation acceleration. *
What breakthrough technology in your industry is waiting for this kind of integrated approach?
#EcosystemicFutures #TechnologyDeployment #eVTOL #SystemsThinking #Innovation #NEOM #AerospaceEngineering #RegulatoryInnovation
Guest: Borja Blond Fdez de Arroyabe, CEO of NEOM Vertical Mobility Operating Co
Host: Dyan Finkhousen, Founder & CEO, Shoshin Works
Series Hosts:
Vikram Shyam, Lead Futurist, NASA Glenn Research Center
Dyan Finkhousen, Founder & CEO, Shoshin Works
Ecosystemic Futures is provided by NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Convergent Aeronautics Solutions Project in collaboration with Shoshin Works.
As AI systems approach and potentially surpass human cognitive benchmarks, how do we design hybrid intelligence frameworks that preserve human agency while leveraging artificial cognitive enhancements?
In this exploration of human-AI convergence, anthropologist and organizational learning expert Dr. Lollie Mancey presents a framework for the "cognitive revolution,” the fourth transformational shift in human civilization following agricultural, industrial, and digital eras. Drawing from Berkeley's research on the science of awe, Vatican AI policy frameworks, and indigenous knowledge systems, Mancey analyzes how current AI capabilities (GPT-4 operating at Einstein-level IQ) are fundamentally reshaping cognitive labor and social structures. She examines the EU AI Act's predictive policing clauses, the implications of quantum computing, and the emerging grief tech sector as indicators of broader systemic transformation.
Mancey identifies three meta-cognitive capabilities essential for human-AI collaboration:
Her research on AI companion platforms reveals neurological patterns like addiction pathways. At the same time, her fieldwork with Balinese communities demonstrates alternative models of technological integration based on reciprocal participation rather than extractive
optimization. This conversation provides actionable intelligence for organizations navigating the transition from human-centric to hybrid cognitive systems.
Key Research Insights
• Cognitive Revolution Metrics: Compound technological acceleration outpaces regulatory adaptation, with education systems lagging significantly, requiring new frameworks for cognitive load management and decision architecture in research environments
• Einstein IQ Parity Achieved: GPT-4 operates at Einstein-level intelligence yet lacks breakthrough innovation capabilities, highlighting critical distinctions between pattern recognition and creative synthesis for R&D resource allocation
• Neurological Dependency Patterns: AI companion platforms demonstrate "catnip-like" effects with users exhibiting hyper-fixation behaviors and difficulty with "digital divorce"—profound implications for workforce cognitive resilience
• Epistemic Security Crisis: Deep fakes eliminated content authentication while AI hallucinations embed systemic biases from internet-scale training data, requiring new verification protocols and decision-making frameworks
• Alternative Integration Architecture: Balinese reciprocal participation models versus Western extractive paradigms offer scalable approaches for sustainable innovation ecosystems and human-technology collaboration
#EcosystemicFutures #CognitiveRevolution #HybridIntelligence #NeuroCognition #QuantumComputing #SociotechnicalSystems #HumanAugmentation #SystemsThinking #FutureOfScience
Guest: Lorraine Mancey, Programme Director at UCD Innovation Academy
Host: Marco Annunziata, Co-Founder, Annunziata Desai Partners
Series Hosts:
Vikram Shyam, Lead Futurist, NASA Glenn Research Center
Dyan Finkhousen, Founder & CEO, Shoshin Works
Ecosystemic Futures is provided by NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Convergent Aeronautics Solutions Project in collaboration with Shoshin Works.
The $13 trillion construction industry is experiencing its first systemic transformation in decades.
In this groundbreaking episode, we examine how advanced technologies are dismantling the silos that have trapped the $13 trillion construction industry in decades of declining productivity. Francesco "Frio" Iorio, CEO of Augmenta and pioneer of generative design, reveals how construction is transforming from a fragmented collection of isolated specialists into an integrated ecosystem of collaborative intelligence.
From creating the world's first AI-designed public school in rural Michigan to developing "surrogate master builder" systems that seamlessly coordinate complex building trades, Iorio demonstrates how ecosystemic thinking is finally breaking through the barriers that prevented construction from achieving the efficiency gains seen in manufacturing. This conversation illuminates how AI serves as the connective tissue, transforming siloed expertise into a unified system intelligence that can adapt to supply chain disruptions while enabling both rapid response and long-term strategic planning.
Highlights
#EcosystemicFutures #ConstructionAI #GenerativeDesign #SustainableBuilding #UrbanFutures #AITransformation #SupplyChainResilience #ProductivityRevolution #SystemicInnovation
Guest: Francesco "Frio" Iorio, Co-Founder and CEO of Augmenta
Host: Marco Annunziata, Co-Founder, Annunziata Desai Partners
Series Hosts:
Vikram Shyam, Lead Futurist, NASA Glenn Research Center
Dyan Finkhousen, Founder & CEO, Shoshin Works
Ecosystemic Futures is provided by NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Convergent Aeronautics Solutions Project in collaboration with Shoshin Works.
How can higher education cultivate versatile, adaptable graduates prepared to navigate the increasingly complex systems of our technological world?
In this episode of Ecosystemic Futures, we engage with Dr. Lisa Kahle-Piasecki, whose expertise spans business education, workforce development, and technological innovation. The conversation explores how Heidelberg University, a 175-year-old institution with just over 1,000 students, creates Renaissance-style graduates with resilient competency portfolios through international collaboration, community problem-solving, and ethical technology integration. Dr. Kahle-Piasecki shares insights about developing students who can thrive across
disciplines, cultures, and career transitions while addressing complex systemic challenges.
Highlights
The discussion reveals how effective education today must cultivate Renaissance-style graduates with versatile competencies spanning technical knowledge, ethical reasoning, cultural intelligence, and systems thinking. Dr. Kahle-Piasecki demonstrates how educational institutions can serve as transformative hubs where students develop depth in their disciplines and the breadth of perspective necessary to connect diverse systems, preparing them to address the complex, interconnected challenges that define our future.
#SystemsThinking #CrossDisciplinaryEducation #ComplexSystemNavigation #AdaptiveLearning #TechnologyEthics
Guest: Dr.Lisa Kahle-Piasecki, Associate Professor of Management, Phyllis M. Chelovitz Endowed Chair in Business Administration, Heidelberg 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
Ecosystemic Futures is provided by NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Convergent Aeronautics Solutions Project in collaboration with Shoshin Works.
How can we transform fragmented urban transportation networks into resilient, adaptive ecosystems that drive economic value while addressing complex societal challenges?
In this episode of Ecosystemic Futures, host Marco Annunziata engages with Robin Hutcheson, whose multifaceted expertise spans the complex urban transportation ecosystem. The conversation explores how cities generate more than 80% of global GDP despite occupying limited physical space, and function as dynamic testbeds for next-generation mobility systems. Drawing from her leadership roles at USDOT, FMCSA, and city transportation departments, Robin shares data-driven insights about the 43,000 annual highway fatalities in America and the disproportionate impact on pedestrians.
Highlights
The discussion reveals how orchestrating urban mobility requires coordinated physical and digital interventions that break traditional sector boundaries. Robin demonstrates how systems-based orchestration can transform our fragmented approach to urban mobility into adaptive, resilient networks that simultaneously unlock economic value, reduce negative externalities, and create more equitable outcomes—a model applicable to multiple complex system transformations beyond transportation.
#EcosystemOrchestration #DigitalTwinInfrastructure #SystemsTransformation #TransportationFinance #ComplexAdaptiveNetworks #UrbanMobilityValue #CrossSectorCollaboration #NextGenCityDesign #DataDrivenUrbanization #ConvexInnovation
Guest: Robin Hutcheson, Hutcheson Advisory, LLC
Host: Marco Annunziata, Co-Founder, Annunziata Desai Partners
Series Hosts:
Vikram Shyam, Lead Futurist, NASA Glenn Research Center
Dyan Finkhousen, Founder & CEO, Shoshin Works
Ecosystemic Futures is provided by NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Convergent Aeronautics Solutions Project in collaboration with Shoshin Works.
How do boundary zones fuel innovation breakthroughs in complex organizations?
Join host Marco Annunziata as he welcomes Jaspar Roos, a member of the European Commission's OISP innovation group and founding partner of the Human and Tech Institute. With MIT credentials in AI Strategy and implementation experience with ISO56001 innovation frameworks, Jaspar examines how ecosystemic models are reshaping societal governance and network orchestration systems.
This conversation explores how 80% of employees, typically outside headquarters, remain disconnected from innovation initiatives, despite organizations investing heavily in AI and digital transformation. Jaspar presents neuroscientific evidence on how the "water cooler effect" creates cognitive transformation: when employees step away from structured work environments, dopamine release facilitates relaxation, leading to the serendipitous interactions that drive breakthrough thinking.
Analyzing case studies from his portfolio of digital innovation projects, Jaspar reveals the dialectical tension between conformity and transformation. He examines how successful organizations like Amazon implement synchronous communication protocols to overcome innovation paradoxes, while drawing parallels to the Swift financial network's transformation. This episode offers a systems-thinking approach to understanding how innovation emerges at ecosystem boundaries where traditional operating norms are being replaced with new economic engines for the digital era.
Guest: Jaspar Roos, Founder and CEO of Limpid & Co
Host: Marco Annunziata, Co-Founder, Annunziata Desai Partners
Series Hosts:
Vikram Shyam, Lead Futurist, NASA Glenn Research Center
Dyan Finkhousen, Founder & CEO, Shoshin Works
Ecosystemic Futures is provided by NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Convergent Aeronautics Solutions Project in collaboration with Shoshin Works.
#EcosystemicFutures #SystemsThinking #InnovationScience #Futures #NeuroscienceOfCreativity
How might understanding the interconnected nature of quantum physics, consciousness, and anomalous phenomena transform our approach to ecosystemic innovation?
This episode of Ecosystemic Futures explores how seemingly disparate knowledge systems form an interconnected knowledge ecosystem. Dr. Hal Puthoff, Dr. Diana Pasulka, and John von Blauch join hosts Dyan Finkhousen and Anna Brady-Estevez to reveal how our compartmentalized approach to knowledge has limited our understanding of complex phenomena that transcend traditional boundaries. The conversation examines how space-time metric engineering and quantum entanglement could provide frameworks for understanding extraordinary historical anomalies and future technological development.
By embracing a more holistic, ecosystemic approach to science, consciousness, and innovation, we may unlock transformative capabilities that address humanity's most pressing challenges while fostering greater harmony within our planetary and social ecosystems.
Highlights
• Quantum Entanglement as Ecosystemic Reality: The universe operates as an interconnected system where consciousness and matter dynamically influence each other through quantum processes
• Breaking Knowledge Silos: How artificial boundaries between science, spirituality, and historical wisdom have crippled our understanding of phenomena that defy conventional categorization
• Consciousness as Technology: Evidence suggesting certain mental states directly manipulate quantum fields, potentially revolutionizing how we approach propulsion, energy, and communications
• Pattern Recognition Across Time: Striking parallels between historical accounts of anomalous phenomena and cutting-edge physics models reveal consistent underlying principles
• From Fragmentation to Integration: How merging diverse knowledge ecosystems creates resilient frameworks for technological breakthroughs that harmonize with natural systems
Guests:
Dr. Diana Pasulka - Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina; Author of "American Cosmic"
John von Blauch - Grand Prior of the United States, Knights Templar Order of the Temple; Scholar of Western esoteric traditions
Dr. Hal Puthoff - Physicist and Director of EarthTech International; Former lead of government UAP research programs
Hosts:
Dyan Finkhousen, Founder & CEO, Shoshin Works
Anna Brady-Estevez, Founding Partner of American Deeptech
Series Hosts:
Vikram Shyam, Lead Futurist, NASA Glenn Research Center
Dyan Finkhousen, Founder & CEO, Shoshin Works
Ecosystemic Futures is provided by NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration Convergent Aeronautics Solutions Project in collaboration with Shoshin Works.
#EcosystemicThinking #QuantumEntanglement #SystemsTransformation #IntegratedKnowledge #InterdisciplinaryScience #KnowledgeEcosystems #EmergentTechnology
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:
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:
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 company 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:
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:
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
In this eye-opening episode of Ecosystemic Futures, hosts Marco Annunziata and Vikram Shyam welcome Dr. Giulia Ajmone Marsan, Head of Startups and Inclusion, at the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia. Dr. Marsan challenges conventional wisdom about innovation with complex data. In just 20 years, the global share of patenting activity from OECD countries has dropped dramatically by 20 percentage points, signaling a significant shift in the geography of innovation.
The conversation highlights how emerging markets are becoming powerful engines of innovation. Dr. Marsan provides fascinating examples of innovation born from necessity, including Southeast Asian fintech "super apps" that have brought banking to millions of previously unbanked individuals, Estonia's digital government revolution built from scratch after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and Brazil's central bank-led open banking policy that has sparked a fintech transformation.
Dr. Marsan explains how the absence of legacy infrastructure often becomes an advantage, allowing emerging economies to leapfrog directly to cutting-edge solutions. She discusses the phenomenon of "Silicon Bali," where digital nomads are transforming tourism-dependent economies into knowledge hubs.
She examines how talent mobility, diaspora connections, and targeted visa programs are reshaping global innovation ecosystems. The conversation also addresses the critical balance between opportunity and inequality, exploring how innovation can advance sustainable development goals while requiring thoughtful policy to ensure benefits are widely shared.
Highlights
• Shifting Innovation Geography: Patent activity from OECD countries dropped 20 percentage points in just two decades, with innovation hotspots emerging across Southeast Asia, India, Brazil, and Africa
• Financial Inclusion Revolution: How Southeast Asian super apps evolved from retail platforms to provide e-wallets, microloans, and microinsurance to previously unbanked populations
• The Leapfrog Advantage: Countries without legacy infrastructure (like Estonia after the Soviet collapse) can build more innovative systems from scratch
• Talent Mobility as Catalyst: The rise of "Silicon Bali" and how entrepreneurship visas and digital nomad programs are reshaping local economies
• Digital Public Infrastructure: India's and Brazil's government-led innovation initiatives that created open platforms for entrepreneurial growth
Guest: Dr. Giulia Ajmone Marsan, Head of Startups and Inclusion of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia
Hosts:
Vikram Shyam, Lead Futurist, NASA Glenn Research Center
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 data-driven episode of Ecosystemic Futures, host Marco Annunziata interviews Dr. Tiffany Vora, a molecular biologist, Singularity Fellow in Biotechnology, and Vice President for Innovation Partnerships at ExploreMars. Drawing from her background in pharmaceutical research, teaching at Stanford University, and extensive work in space innovation, Dr. Vora examines how synthetic biology advances
the development of specialized biosystems for space exploration.
The discussion explores her recent publication "Space Synthetic Biology: A Paradigm for Sustainability on Earth and Beyond," detailing how technological convergence enables us to read, write, and engineer the source code of life with unprecedented precision. Dr. Vora presents research on how advanced biosystems can solve critical space exploration challenges through on-demand manufacturing of medicines, materials, and food.
The episode offers actionable insights for leveraging genetic chassis organisms, flight-tested hardware for biological manufacturing, and shelf-stable reagents that deliver value for space missions and remote Earth locations. Dr. Vora outlines how these advanced biosystems can form the foundation of circular economies in space habitats where waste becomes valuable feedstock for new biological production cycles.
Highlights
Join us for this exceptional discussion.
Guest: Dr. Tiffany Vora, Singularity Fellow in Biotechnology, and Vice President for Innovation Partnerships at ExploreMars
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 fascinating episode of Ecosystemic Futures, host Marco Annunziata interviews Himanshu Bharadwaj, a design strategist who applies cognitive science principles from Eastern traditions to modern digital
ecosystems. Trained at the National Institute of Design and Syracuse University, Bharadwaj presents empirical observations on how his Joyful Design methodology measurably improves innovation outcomes and team performance.
The discussion examines the quantifiable limitations of current AI systems in replicating human consciousness, contrasting computational pattern recognition with the neurological cross-connections that drive human creativity. Bharadwaj references research on widespread workplace burnout (25% of Americans now take antidepressants) and presents case studies of ancient mind-training techniques that have transformed organizational systems.
The episode offers actionable frameworks for ecosystem architects to integrate these evidence-based approaches into their design processes. It specifically emphasizes how changing brain physiology
through targeted interventions can enhance divergent thinking, problem-solving capacity, and ecosystem resilience.
Highlights
Join us for this exceptional discussion.
Guest: Himanshu Bharadwaj, experienced design and strategy leader with a unique blend of Design Thinking, business strategy, and cognitive science.
Host: Marco Annunziata, Co-Founder, Annunziata + Desai Partners
Series Hosts:
Vikram Shyam, Lead Futurist, NASA Glenn Research Center
Dyan Finkhousen, Founder & CEO, Shoshin Works
