Tech Can't Save Us

In this week's episode, we speak with  Zoe Philpott—Co-Founder of 2zero3zero and creator of Ada. Ada. Ada—who speaks on storytelling, creative innovation, and gender equality in tech. Zoe is an award-winning experiential storyteller who breathes never-been-done-before ideas into existence. Her penchant for turning complex thoughts into moving experiences has made robots dance for Ford Motor Cars,...

In this week's episode, Olivia DeRamus, award-winning founder and CEO of Communia , shares her mission of re-imagining tech in its best possible form to connect, inform, and uplift women and marginalised genders. Olivia describes her goal as an attempt to "revolutionise and rethink how women connect with others and themselves" and talks about how tech can "improve women's lives in a way that has n...

In this week's episode, we speak to Jonny Burch, Founder of Progression , about his goal to help teams around the world define the skills needed for their staff to grow.  "If you're passionate about something, you'll be better at it," Jonny explains. "If you're not fundamentally excited by your day-to-day work, then it's going to be a miserable 8 hours." He describes the relationship between passi...

In this week's episode, Paul Finnis, CEO of the Learning Foundation and Digital Poverty Alliance, lets us in on his inspiring work, helping children achieve their full potential through the effective use of technology, with an ultimate goal to end digital poverty by 2030. "We kept finding enormous numbers of young people who were not connected at home at all or have limited connectivity," he expla...

In this week's episode, we talk to Aerica Shimizu Banks, Founder of Shisho, about her journey in building an intersectional equity approach in tech and policy. Aerica employs a holistic and data-driven approach to her work with Shisho, shaped by her own experiences with environmental justice, policy, and tech. Her triple bottom line is "people, planet, profit." "Racism, civil rights and the enviro...

"Founders are facing problems that are not just hurdles — but ‘stop all work in progress,’" explains Charlotte Clark, co-founder at Base Ventures. “What is a deal breaker in your startup journey, versus something you just have to figure out how to manoeuvre around?" That question is at the heart of what Base Ventures offers the startup world. Having experienced what it’s like to be lost in the sta...

In this week's episode, Catherine Lethbridge, Head of Strategy and Marketing at Workfacta, lets us in on her innovative work at Workfacta and the product's ability to create "management zen." "Anyone running a business or a team is constantly fire-fighting," she mentions, "and anyone who says otherwise is lying." As someone who has managed across industries, Catherine has created the prized "star...

In this episode, Phil McParlane, founder and CEO of 4dayworkweek.io , shares his insightful take on the four-day work week and why it’s a far more valuable practice than people give it credit for.  “If you worked five hours in a row, the fifth hour would definitely be less productive than the first,” he explains. “It’s the same logic with the traditional work week; stuff just doesn’t get done on F...

How do we use virtual reality (VR) to train the workforce of the future? Professor Adam Ganz is doing the work to answer that important question. As one of the leaders of StoryFutures Academy at Royal Holloway University of London, Ganz is placing innovative storytelling at the heart of next-generation immersive technologies like augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and virtual reality. Pro...

Human resources (HR) often gets a bad rap. Whether it’s forcing people back into the office after a pandemic or mismanagement of legitimate employee grievances around issues related to identity (race and gender, for example), it seems like someone always has a bone to pick with HR. Joseph Ifiegbu is out to change that. Leveraging next-gen HR analytics, Joseph and his team at Eqtble are helping com...

“Two things that were clear from how people spent their time during the pandemic – they were doing a lot of drinking and wanking." Heather Morrison doesn’t mince words. As the Co-Founder and CEO of Bump’n, Morrison and her team have pioneered the world’s first accessible sex toy. The Bump’n Joystick is a flexible bed buddy with gender fluid design that users can hug and attach their favorite sex t...

Charlotte Cramer gets healthtech. She and her team at Plastic Studio leverage their backgrounds in applied neuroscience and behavioural psychology to bring a human-centered and trauma-informed approach to user research and design in healthcare. That’s why we brought her on the pod to discuss identity-focused healthtech startups (like Him & Hers and Folx), her work with Children’s Hospital Los...

This week on Tech Can't Save Us, we welcomed Dr. Giulia Barbareschi, disability innovation researcher, who holds a PhD from University College London and previously worked for the World Health Organization providing assistive technology to the Global South.  Dr. Barbareschi is currently a Research Fellow at the Keio School of Media Design in Yokohama, Japan where she leads a project called “Artist...

Welcome to Season 2 of Tech Can't Save Us! In this episode, we welcome Chris Sisserian, Head of Intelligence @ Sifted. His team is responsible for putting out weekly briefings that cover the early-stage tech ecosystem in Europe. Their most recent briefings have covered hot topics like femtech, last mile delivery, and online groceries. We kick off the episode discussing tech for good headlines such...

Have you ever thought about the environmental impact of the websites you visit daily?  How about the carbon output of your Netflix queue? Tom Greenwood sure has. He's even written a book on issues like digital pollution, website efficiency, and sustainable web design.  We talked to Tom about his agency's efforts to make web design and development a bit greener, as well as how he's helping to raise...

How do tech for good funders decide where to invest? Where do they place their bets and why? We dug into that big fat question with Paul Miller, Managing Partner and CEO at Bethnal Green Ventures, one of Europe's leading tech for good funders. During our chat we discussed the contours of the tech for good landscape, its explosive growth, and how funders like Bethnal Green Ventures are staying nimb...

Shiti watched her grandmother struggle with symptoms of diabetes and dementia. Some of those symptoms included declining mobility and mental health. Naturally, her next move was to build Breathe Happy, an AI platform for posture correction. Breathe Happy includes multiple different products, one of which is a longevity platform that helps older adults move, breathe, and connect. In partnership wit...

The digitisation of fashion is upon us. Being locked down with all their possessions for the past year, people have begun to reconsider their relationship with their wardrobes. At the same time, there's a huge push for the fashion industry to behave more sustainably. Enter Little Black Door. A social wardrobe app that helps people see what they own while sharing and styling their wardrobes with fr...

What are "digital rights" and how do we secure them in our modern era? Arda Awais and Savena Surana are at the forefront of answering this critical question through their organization Identity 2.0, a creative studio working at the intersection of digital rights, technology, and identity.  In this episode, we discuss their efforts to use provocative and progressive art exhibits to push forward conv...

In this episode of Tech Can’t Save Us, CEO and Co-Founder of Literal Humans Paul David talks to Katie Boody-Adorno, Founder of LEANLAB Education , a Kansas City-based nonprofit that builds communities and launches transformational innovations into K-12 schools. Katie is a former teacher with deep expertise in education who always finds herself in the startup phase of organizations. She founded LEA...

In this episode of Tech Can't Save Us, CEO and Co-Founder of Literal Humans Paul David talks to Sophia "Puff" Story, Co-Founder of 3 Sided Cube, a tech consultancy that builds digital products for tech for good brands. At 3 Sided Cube, Puff helps tech for good founders create products like mobile apps and web apps during the earlier stages of their founding journeys. When founders are looking for...

In this episode of Tech Can't Save Us, CEO and Co-Founder of Literal Humans Paul David talks to Prateek Agarwal, Founder of Calgee, a new startup on a mission to create the world's most sustainable and high-quality health supplements. Prateek talked about his personal health journey and how it led him to develop Calgee's first product, a vegan Omega-3 nutritional supplement. The short story: Prate...

In this episode of Tech Can't Save Us, CEO and Co-Founder of Literal Humans Paul David talks to Milosz Falinski, Founder of Luminous, a consultancy working with emerging tech leaders on a mission. Milosz helps tech founders create products and services that customers can't live without. He provides mentorship and part-time Chief Product Officer (CPO) services to multiple companies. Milosz also off...

In this episode of Tech Can't Save Us, CEO and Co-Founder of Literal Humans Paul David talks to Tiernan Mines, Co-Founder of Hello Lamp Post, an innovative tech for good product that brings cities and their citizens closer together.  Hello Lamp Post allows people to have two-way 'chats' with their surroundings, providing people with key local information, while gathering important perceptions, opi...

In this episode of Tech Can't Save Us, CEO and Co-Founder of Literal Humans Paul David talks to Rima Patel, Co-Founder of Impactful, a social innovation agency that is revolutionizing corporate social responsibility by unlocking the social impact in commercially driven businesses. Impactful's bold mission is to transform the role of businesses in society. Rima and Paul discussed companies' varying...