Luis Perez-Breva: A Masterclass in Innovating | #11

Recorded on location in Massachusetts this is a discussion with Dr Luis Perez-Breva, the Faculty Director of MIT’s Innovation Teams; the joint enterprise between MIT Engineering and MIT Sloan to put the Institute’s deep tech advances to work to solve real-world problems. Through this, he has helped nearly 200 MIT technologies find a path to impact leading to the formation of some 40 new, enduring deep tech companies across all industries from mining to telecommunications.

Dr. Perez-Breva holds a PhD in artificial intelligence from MIT and degrees in chemical engineering, physics, and business from leading universities in Spain (Institut Quimic de Sarrià), France (Ecole Normale Supérieure), and the United States (MIT). In 2011, the Spanish government recognized his career achievements by awarding him the Order of Civil Merit of the Kingdom of Spain. His work on Artificial Intelligence and Innovation has been featured by the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, BBC, Wharton Business Radio, Entrepreneur, Zdnet, Quartz, Epsilon Theory and several other national and international media.

Luis has worked with venture capital and numerous corporations and adapted his work to develop innovating factories. Currently, Luis is developing a technology repurposing fund to rescue, recycle, and, in essence, turn around technologies analogous to how private equity seeks to turn around companies.

In this episode we explore common myths about innovating, how to minimise risk through recycling ideas and technologies, the most effective method to learn anything and much more.

00:00:00 Introduction

00:00:39 'Innovating' vs 'Innovation'

00:01:39 Breaking down what 'learning by doing' really means

00:09:23 Learning and navigating untraversed terrain

00:13:58 Finding a problem in the first place - the hunch

00:20:15 The art of applying new technologies to problems

00:23:04 The importance of leadership in cultivating a hub of innovation

00:30:31 How to manage (and use) risk

00:43:30 Could AI learn to innovate like us?

00:47:02 The real use of 'AI' systems

00:53:56 Advice for the next generation of problem solvers