Podcast - ESI What's Next

While not everyone may see themselves as an entrepreneur, most people will be aware of problems or areas of improvement in their lives, or the lives of those in their communities.

The goal of the ESI programme is to help such people take matters into their own hands, to get the tools they need to make a difference, and to own their agency in making the world a better place. 

The ESI What's Next? Podcast brings student entrepreneurs together with industry and scientific experts to discuss the new enterprises that they are developing. Whether an algorithm for efficiency optimisation in healthcare or a novel way to manufacture cat litter out of otherwise wasted resources, ideas for addressing social and environmental challenges are endless and endlessly interesting!

So, tune in to find out What's Next!

Episode 9.1. Quenching the Future’s Thirst - Job van Schelven

In the first part of our mini-series Quenching the Future's Thirst, we are sitting down with Job van Schelven, Partner at PureTerra Ventures to learn about some of the challenges facing the planet’s water supply. We touch on such topics as how legacy infrastructure is causing significant water waste, how entrepreneurs pick a focus, and whether the conflicts of the future will be centered on water. Even though roughly 70% of the earth’s surface is water, issues facing water systems are often overlooked. Will humanity start paying attention before it is too late?

Episode 8.4. ESI Sustainability Challenge – Elizabete Rebezova

In a special mini-series about the ESI Sustainability Challenge, we are sitting down with Elizabete Rebezova from Renoinvestment to talk about why he and his team decided to join the ESI challenge and solve the problem they attempted to solve. We discuss such things as how to build a team of complete strangers, how to motivate house boards, and the benefits of joining a hackathon. Student Hackathons are a great way to learn about how the future is thinking about the current problems. Let’s learn about the future they envision.

Episode 8.3. ESI Sustainability Challenge

In a special mini-series about the ESI Sustainability Challenge, we are sitting down with Ricards Agapovs from Last Chance Cuisine to talk about why he and his team decided to join the ESI challenge and solve the problem they attempted to solve. We discuss such topics as how to join a hackathon when you don't know anyone, how to create new ideas, and how to prevent food waste. Student Hackathons are a great way to learn about how the future is thinking about the current problems. Let’s learn about the future they envision.

Episode 8.2. ESI Sustainability Challenge – Matiss Katanenko

In a special mini-series about the ESI Sustainability Challenge, we are sitting down with Matiss Katanenko from Green Dream to talk about why he and his team decided to join the ESI challenge and solve the problem they attempted to solve. We touch on such subjects what value hackathons bring to the individual participants, what prevents apartment owners from adapting sustainable upgrades, and how to make the transition from being a musician to wanting to start a company. Student Hackathons are a great way to learn about how the future is thinking about the current problems. Let’s learn about the future they envision.

Episode 8.1. ESI Sustainability Challenge – Karlis Karolis

In a special mini-series about the ESI Sustainability Challenge, we are sitting down with Karlis Karolis, Baltic Head of Innovations at SEB bank to learn about why the company decided to be a partner for the challenge and how they chose a problem for the participants to try and solve. We touch on such subjects as how new innovation ecosystems grow, how to balance current business needs and future innovation, and what sustainability means to a bank. Innovation challenges are a great way to foster idea generation to solve the problems that face many corporations. We’ll see if this is used more and more frequently in the future.

Episode 7.2. Ensuring Sustainability – Renata Sagatauske

In the final part of our mini-series Ensuring Sustainability, we are sitting down with Renata Sagatauskė Corporate Responsible Strategy & Development Manager from Rimi Baltic to learn about the supermarket chain’s journey to championing sustainability. We discuss such topics as how to get people interested in science, how to communicate sustainability, and how the supermarket ecosystem becomes more sustainable. To be able to meet the global challenges the world faces we need more corporations stepping up and taking the lead. By changing the options available to consumers, they can become sustainable with their dollars. Will this collaboration be enough to make a difference?

Episode 7.1. Ensuring Sustainability – Stinge Junge

In the first part of our mini-series Ensuring Sustainability, we are sitting down with Stine Junge, Global Head of the SDG Accelerator at the UNDP to learn about what it actually takes to have your startup be sustainable. We touch on such topics as how the different sustainability goals were created and how they are measured, the current status of progress on the SDGs, and why the UNDP decided to get more involved with innovation. It can often be difficult to understand all the consequences of a company's actions. It is necessary to effectively measure the right metrics. How do companies create the best processes to do this?

Episode 6.4. Are Robots Going to Take our Farms too? – Lion David

In the final part of our mini-series Are robots going to take our farms too? We are sitting down with Lion David CEO at Frontier RNG, to learn his story and reflect on the first 3 parts of this series. We discuss such topics as how to grow things in the dessert, what innovation is like in a kibbutz, and how to build innovation expertise. As climate change threatens that amount of land that can be used for agriculture we will need ways to change arid landscapes. Looking at places that are already arid we might be able to find inspirations for this issue. Maybe robots will be a solution?

Episode 6.3. Are Robots Going to Take our Farms too? – Aleksejs and Martin

In the third part of our mini-series Are robots going to take our farms too?, we bring back Martin and Aleksejs so we can have a dialogue between two different stakeholders in the Agtech. We touch on such subjects as the future of vertical and urban farming, potential of API's in agriculture, and how generation changes affect the space. Hopefully, through conversations like these we can help people and we can find ways to create farms that can meet the food needs of society.

Episode 6.2. Are Robots Going to Take our Farms too? – Aleksejs Malisevs

In the second part of our mini-series Are robots going to take our farms too?, we are sitting down with Aleksejs Mališevs from AgroRobot to learn about how they started the company and how they are helping farmers be efficient in their fields. We touch on such topics as how to go from economics to robotics, how to make robots do delicate things, and how to expand across different crops. As humanity continues to grow we are putting a greater strain on the food supply forcing farmers to look for innovative solutions to keep up with demand. How will all this innovation change the farms of the future?

Episode 6.1. Are Robots Going to Take our Farms too? – Martin Gallardo

In the first part of our mini-series Are robots going to take our farms too?, we are sitting down with Martin Gallardo, Director of Innovation, Digital, and Growth at PwC as well as a science fiction writer to learn about how robotics will change the agricultural industry. We touch on such subjects as why to be a science fiction writer, what trends should people be aware of, and what things are robots good at and not some much. Are we looking at a future where there are no longer any farmers working in the field…or is this an overblown fear?

Episode 5.4. Upcycling for Your Pets

In the final part of our mini-series Upcycling for your Pets, we are sitting down with Sarah Sunderbrink, Social Media Lead at Zooplus, to learn her story and reflect on the first 3 parts of this series. By looking at her experience with the online pet store, Zooplus, we can learn about whether or not consumers are actually asking for sustainable pet products and how pet companies need to communicate their sustainability.  We touch on such subjects as how working with pets is a dream job for someone in social media, which consumers are demanding sustainability and how you can communicate it to your audience. Are people buying into a circular pet economy?

Episode 5.3. Upcycling for Your Pets

In the third part of our mini-series Upcycling for your Pets, we bring back Maija from Zero Waste Latvia and Elvija, and Aigars from Fat Cat Leaves so we can have a dialogue between two different stakeholders around pet sustainability. We touch on such subjects as how to improve the cat owner's user experience, who is interested in sustainable pet products, and how sustainability can lead to better overall products.

Episode 5.2. Upcycling for Your Pets

In the second part of our mini-series Upcycling for your Pets, we are sitting down with Elvija Vanaga, and Aigars Reiters from FatCatLeaves to learn about how they started the company and how they are trying to make owning pets more sustainable.

We go over such topics as pivoting from paper to pets, the environmental impact of cat litter, and what cities do with all their leaves.

Pet ownership is a huge part of many people’s lives with some treating their pets similar to their children. We need to find ways to ensure we do this without destroying the Planet.

Episode 5.1. Upcycling for Your Pets

In the first part of mini-series we are sitting down with Maija Krastina, Communications at Zero Waste Latvija to learn about how to make products that have minimal environmental impact by minimizing their waste products.

We touch on topics such as what is preventing people from joining the sustainability movement, how you can use data to build credible data, and why no one understands what it means to have a landfill in their background.

Living on a planet with finite resources we can’t afford to waste any of them. We need to find a way to ensure that future generations can enjoy Earth in the same way we do.

Episode 4.3. Organizing for a Good Time

In the third part of our mini-series Organizing for a Good Time, we bring back Yuri and Justus, and Reinis so we can have a dialogue between two different stakeholders around marketplaces. We touch on such topics as how to capture consumer surplus, what is the value of search tools, and how to fuel community growth. Hopefully, through conversations like these we can help people and we can find ways to create better digital platforms.

Episode 4.2. Organizing for a Dood Time

In the second part of our mini-series Organizing for a Good Time, we are sitting down with Justus Bernhard, and Reinis Aņiskovičs from Jollity to learn about how they started the company and how they are helping families find activities to share with their children.

We touch on such topics as how families find activities, how to create a marketplace that only focused on one side of the market, and how activity small businesses can digitalize. More and more families are turning to digital solutions to help them deal with the speed of modern life.

Episode 4.1. Organizing for a Good Time

In the first part of our mini-series Organizing for a Good Time, we are sitting down with Yuri Romanenkov, Strategy Professor at SSE Riga to learn about how digital marketplaces and platforms work. The episode touches on such topics as what makes platforms unique, in what situations are platforms useful, and why are network effects so seductive.

Episode 3.4. Entrepreneurship Beyond Stigma

In this episode our host Alex Missing Link Felman sits down with Cindy Lee Alves, Founder of Ascension Institute and host of Sex on Shuffle podcast, to learn her story and reflect on the first 3 parts of this series.

They discuss such subjects as how someone learns about sex and sexuality, how the internet has changed this period of discovery, and how sexual research often leaves out the experience of marginalized groups.

Episode 3.3. Entrepreneurship Beyond Stigma

In the third part of our mini-series Entrepreneurship Beyond Stigma, we bring back Nikky from Liberos and Sara and Ksenia from Libet. This conversation will touch on such topics as why physiology is not enough to define climax, how each person has a personalized orgasm profile, and how to counteract sexual misinformation.

Episode 3.2. Entrepreneurship Beyond Stigma

In the second part of our mini series Entrepreneurship Beyond Stigma, we are sitting down with Sara Zdanovska and Ksenija Sunepe, founders of Libet a Sextech startup helping people understand their own sexual needs and desires. The rise of Sextech is leading to a period of sexual self discovery for many. In this episode we learn about such things as how someone decides to build a sextech company, how to measure and visualize an orgasm, and how you can you use data to have a better sex life. Will this lead to technology being able to understand our sexual needs better than ourselves?

Episode 3.1. Entrepreneurship Beyond Stigma

In the first part of our mini series Entrepreneurship Beyond Stigma, we are sitting down with Doctor Nikky Prause, Founder of Liberos and researcher at UCLA, to learn about her journey researching sex and sexual health and about some of the challenges that plague people today. As sex and sexuality becomes more and more out in the open, it allows us to have more transparent conversations on the topic. This one covers such areas as what research you can do in a university and what you can't, why sex is such a taboo subject, and how sex research can lead to new medical therapies. We need more conversations like these to really make progress in the world.

Episode 2.4. Helping Doctors Help Patients

In the final part of our mini series Helping Doctors Help Patients, we are sitting down with Emil Syundyukov, CTO/Founder of Longenesis to reflect on the first 3 parts of this series and see these lessons can be felt throughout society. We touch on such topics as why a programmer would work in the healthcare space, how better data management and collection can lead to better health outcomes, and the change towards value based healthcare. Ultimately, every technological industry will have to interact with the public and market at large if it wants to make a lasting change.

Episode 2.3. Helping Doctors Help Patients

In the third part of our mini series Helping Doctors Help Patients, we bring back Meri from Courage VC and Davis from Doctowell so we can have a dialogue between two different stakeholders within the digital health ecosystem. We touch base on such topics as how the healthcare system can operate more efficiently leading towards better health outcomes, how digital health products can get medical device designation, and who pushes innovation in healthcare. Hopefully, through conversations like these we can create greater knowledge in the field to propel the digital health industry to greater heights

Episode 2.2. Helping Doctors Help Patients

In the second part of our mini series Helping Doctors Help Patients, we are sitting down with Davis Auskaps, one of the founders of Doctowell a digital health startup helping doctors automate their process and communicate with patients. Davis takes us on a journey about how and why he started Doctowell, what converging trends what this a great opportunity and what it is like working with hospital owners and administrators. It is a great peak behind the curtain on how hospitals operate.

Episode 2.1. Helping Doctors Help Patients

In the first part of our mini series Helping Doctors Help Patients, we are sitting down with Meri Helleranta, a general partner at Courage VC, to learn about her journey to become a digital health investor and get an overview of the industry. We touch on subjects like the future of healthcare, how the IT revolution is causing a healthcare revolution, and how patients can take control of their own health. This is a great episode not just for people in the industry but also for how it affects everyone's day to day life.

Episode 1.1. What's Next?

In this episode of the ESI What's Next? our host Alex Felman sits down with Viesturs Sosars to discuss how to teach entrepreneurship in a practical way. It touches on such topics as what skills entrepreneurs need to learn, at what point in your career should you start your entrepreneurial journey, how to fail less painfully and how entrepreneurship is different in different parts of the world. It is the perfect entry point both for the ESI What's Next? series and your personal journey into entrepreneurship.