innovation Archives

Collage featuring a hand filing papers, an airplane, and numerical data on a grid background. Text reads "The Night Crawler: A Journey for Investigative Investors.

An investigative approach to stock investing

Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.

Smiling man in a dark vest and light shirt, exuding leadership, sits indoors in front of window blinds with a curved floor lamp, embodying harmony.

Business

The Julian Metcalfe interview: Charisma, grit, and “that feeling of harmony”

The founder of gourmet fast food juggernauts Pret and Itsu unpacks the meaning of success and what really inspires him.

A stylized image showcases poker chips and a green Swiss army knife, intricately overlaid with circuit patterns, hinting subtly at AI risk. The word "Nightcrawler" graces the top, adding an enigmatic touch.

Business

The risk of outsourcing judgment to AI

Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.

Abstract collage with red dice and handwritten text overlay, featuring a hand writing with a pen. Against a background of grid and bookshelf patterns, it captures an existential crisis. The title "The Night Crawler" hovers above, probing life's uncertainties.

Business

The “existential crisis” of knowledge work

Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.

Business

How “Pasteur’s quadrant” enlightens the invention-innovation challenge

Groundbreaking invention does not always translate to commercial benefits. The challenges that faced Microsoft Research help explain why.

Hexagonal map showing Europe, parts of Asia, and North Africa in varying shades of green and gray, with clusters of red and purple indicating specific regions.

Strange Maps

GPS jamming, a weapon in hot and hybrid wars, will soon be obsolete

“Gyroscope-on-a-chip” technology could soon enable us to navigate over long distances without GPS.

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Business

How tiny experiments can lead to exponential outcomes

Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.

A person with long dark hair beams with creativity, wearing a tiger print jacket, set against a vibrant blue background.

The Long Game

The Anne-Laure Le Cunff interview: How to become “the scientist of your own life”

Neuroscientist and author Anne-Laure Le Cunff discusses the lasting benefits of uncertainty, curiosity, and the experimental mindset.

Collaged image with a Buddha statue, newspapers on finance, and text "The Nightcrawler" against a grid background. Featuring stock market graph details, it embodies the concept of mujo—impermanence—in the ever-changing financial landscape.

Business

Investing in an impermanent world: Lessons from mujō

Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.

Collage featuring a black and white portrait of an older man exuding priceless conviction amidst abstract patterns and aerial river imagery, with the title "The Nightcrawler" at the top.

Business

When research is cheap, conviction becomes priceless

Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.

A green football field features Sweden's flag on the left half. A hand, embodying Swedish pragmatics, draws an upward zigzag line with chalk across both halves, resembling a stock market chart.

The Long Game

The lasting genius of “Swedish pragmatics” in soccer and startups

Stockholm has been called a “unicorn factory” for its success with new businesses. A unique connection with sports philosophy helps explain why.

A football player, an OKR genius on the field, throws a ball amid overlaid statistical charts and abstract shapes.

Business

How John Doerr used football to land OKRs

The legendary investor explains the transformative Objectives and Key Results goal-setting framework with an imaginary Super Bowl strategy.

Basketball player in a yellow jersey with number 8, showcasing his leadership mentality, prepares to shoot a jump shot on the court.

Business

How poker and Kobe shaped a Silicon Valley leader

Webflow CEO Linda Tong tells Big Think how her lifelong love of sports has guided her ascent to the C-Suite.

An athlete skillfully executes the Fosbury Flop, soaring gracefully in mid-air over the high jump bar, while colorful flags flutter and spectators watch in awe.

Business

Innovation essentials: How the “Fosbury Flop” demolished a “local maximum”

The story of how the world high jump record was smashed in 1968 contains golden lessons for business and innovation.

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Business

The rising value of in-person connection

Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.

Red ants on green leaves with purple abstract shapes and squares in the background, symbolizing how AI for stronger teams can create a vibrant, interconnected ecosystem.

Business

5 ways AI can create stronger teams

Jotform CEO Aytekin Tank highlights an AI-powered pathway towards more productive and more creative teams.

Collage of a man speaking, an electricity pylon, and the title "The Nightcrawler" on a graphic background, hinting at the integration of next-gen AI.

Business

Investing in the next generation of AI

Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.

An open magazine displays a snapshot of AI efficiency: on the left page, a person types diligently on a laptop, while the right page showcases an abstract blue and white digital design, symbolizing the seamless integration of technology and human creativity.

Business

Why AI for business means a revolution in efficiency

Philosopher and author Christopher DiCarlo outlines the key areas where AI continues to reshape the labor landscape.

A person stands on stage with four humanoid robots, powered by NVIDIA technology, presenting to an eager audience.

Business

The inside story of NVIDIA

Welcome to The Nightcrawler — a weekly newsletter from Eric Markowitz covering tech, innovation, and long-term thinking.

A grayscale portrait of a man with short hair, wearing a collared shirt, is framed within a colorful, abstract background that symbolizes progress with less reliance on cellphones.

Business

Why the medium is still the message

Yondr CEO Graham Dugoni unpacks the technological zeitgeist in this exclusive Big Think interview covering media ecology, leadership, AI, human connection, and much more.

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The Future

How cryopreservation could end death as we know it

Other plans for the tech: organ banking and deep space travel.

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Business

Why 2025 will take us closer to the “Turing horizon”

Chetan Dube — founder and CEO of Quant — tells Big Think why a pivotal and monumental year for agentic AI has just begun.

A sleek supersonic jet labeled "Overture" by Boom flies above the clouds against a clear blue sky.

The Future

How Boom is resurrecting supersonic flight

“You’ll be able to fly twice as fast as a Boeing or Airbus, and it’ll be like the cost of flying business today.”

A man with curly hair wearing a suit and headset microphone gestures while speaking on stage.

The Long Game

The Rory Sutherland interview: Bees, magic, and the folly of “Laplace’s demon”

Why the advertising legend — and author of Alchemy — believes that inefficiency can be genius and insects can unlock innovation.

A digital illustration of a human brain with blue veins and a glowing light at the top, set against a black background.

The Future

How Neuralink’s chief competitor is tapping into the brain without surgery

“Neurotech is not just about the brain,” says Synchron CTO Riki Banerjee, explaining how their tech can help with paralysis, brain diseases, and beyond.