The Innovation Bridge Building Pathways To A New Era Of Business

Michael Shribman is president and founder at APS Global Partners Inc. and Medias Health Inc. Innovation isn’t just a trendy term—it’s what keeps businesses and economies alive. I’ve built and sold multiple companies, and one lesson stands out: The ability to innovate determines who thrives and who fades away. But innovation isn’t just about cutting-edge technology or game-changing scientific discoveries. It’s a mindset, a culture and a relentless pursuit of better solutions.

Many believe groundbreaking innovations come from lone geniuses—visionary leaders working in isolation. While figures like Steve Jobs are often credited with reshaping industries, their success wasn’t achieved alone. It was built on cultures that embraced collaboration, risk-taking and relentless iteration. MIT Professor Eric von Hippel’s research challenged the lone genius myth. He found that roughly 80% of major innovations in scientific instruments came from end users, not just R&D teams. This highlights a crucial point: Innovation is about solving real problems, not just having a single brilliant idea.

A conversation with the CEO of Flagship Pioneering. What are CEOs across industries doing to build resilience and strong cultures in an age of uncertainty? In this Future of Business series, IdeaCast hosts Alison Beard and Adi Ignatius sat down with four leading CEOs to understand where global business is going. In this episode, host Alison Beard speaks with Noubar Afeyan, the CEO of Flagship Pioneering and Chairman of Moderna. Afeyan shares the organizational models and practices that work best to produce innovation, the difference between managing risk and managing uncertainty, and what separates true breakthrough innovation from everyday, incremental improvements. ALISON BEARD: I’m Alison Beard, and this is the HBR IdeaCast.

Today, we’re bringing you the third in our series of interviews with CEOs of major companies that we recorded during our recent Future of Business event. Noubar Afeyan is the founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering and co-founder and chair of Moderna, the mRNA vaccine company. He thinks deeply about how man and machine can work together to solve some of the world’s largest problems, whether they’re in the world of science, business, or society. Now, we’ve spoken to him on IdeaCast before, back in 2021, to talk specifically about leadership and innovation lessons learned in the development of Moderna’s COVID vaccine, but things move fast in today’s business... He’s a trained biochemical engineer, entrepreneur, and executive who has helped spawn more than 100 life science and technology startups. He has a unique vantage point as to what really works when it comes to effective innovation.

3. Strategies for Connectivity in a Fragmented World 8. Guiding Teams Across Uncertain Waters 9. The Way Forward in Building Lasting Bridges

In the whirlwind of the modern era, where technological advancements and global events shape the very fabric of our existence, embracing change is not just a choice but a necessity. The ability to adapt, pivot, and transform in response to the unpredictable currents of our times is a defining characteristic of successful individuals and organizations. This agility is particularly crucial in an age marked by disruption, where traditional paradigms are being challenged and new ones are emerging with astonishing speed. From the perspective of businesses, the digital revolution has democratized information and leveled the playing field in unprecedented ways. startups can now compete with established giants, thanks to the power of cloud computing and social media. However, this also means that companies must be ever-vigilant and ready to evolve, lest they become obsolete.

For individuals, the gig economy and remote work have opened up a plethora of opportunities, but they also demand a new set of skills and a proactive approach to lifelong learning. Innovation Bridge is a pre-landing service that places individuals and organizations at the center of diverse ecosystems to: Innovation Bridge helps you uncover the linkages within an ecosystem and assess market opportunities through various lenses of entrepreneurial capital: Whether you’re looking at expanding into a new market or attracting inbound businesses and foreign investment, unpacking these factors is critical to success. Sign up to receive updates about Venture Café’s global community! Insights that sharpen decisions and accelerate enterprise-wide impact.

The Hidden Driver of Workforce Polarization We recently published an article that’s really stuck with… Midlevel leaders are at the heart of every major shift in a business. See how… Learn how Harvard Business Impact shape the best minds in leadership, continuously raising the bar…

People Also Search

• The Innovation Bridge: Building Pathways to a New Era of Business ...
• Redefining Innovation for a New Business Era - Korn Ferry
• Innovation: The Lifeblood Of A Thriving Business And Economy
• How top performers drive innovation and growth | McKinsey
• AudioFuture of Business: Moderna's Founder on Innovation That Breaks ...
• Building Bridges in the Age of Disruption - FasterCapital
• Innovation Strategy: The Bridge to the Company's Future - Springer
• How "Better World" Innovation Is Redefining Business Success
• Innovation Bridge - Venture Café Global Institute
• Scale Innovation with Speed: The ABCs of Leading Innovation