Zag To The Zig #26 :: Self-driving no more, DeFi no more & the rosy post-Corona world
Hope you’re all doing well: physically, mentally, financially,…
Last week I talked about people’s creativity in times like these. This week we walked past this florist in Antwerp.
Nuff said.
In the Room of Hope
While governments scramble to deal with the huge stream of temporary unemployment, Unilever (not what you call a non-profit organisation) has announced a plan to keep staff and smaller suppliers financially viable, through early payments or extended credit. In good times and bad times.
🖼️ You’ve all read 20 articles about how to work remotely. Now go visit a museum remotely.
Futurists are having a ball (see what I did there 🔮🔮). Gerd Leonhard pictured the world post-corona and is very hopeful.
The ever impressive Azeem Azhar talks to Muneeb Ali of Blockstack about the need for a (Re)-Decentralised Web (link to Spotify, but also available on Apple, Stitcher or whatever your favourite podcast app is).
In the Vault
Not only crypto has had a hard time lately, but particularly the Decentralised Finance movement got hit hard. One of the key projects, MakerDAO (the one behind the DAI stable coin), got a particularly hefty shock when their automated auction system to keep liquidity didn’t perform as planned and allowed one buyer to walk away with 30,000 ETH for pretty much 0 euros. 👀👀
Yes, decentralisation is hard and covering for unknown scenarios is harder. So I appreciated this critical view - from a DeFi believer - on the ins and outs and the history of MakerDAO.
In the Tool Shed
The Boston Consulting Group has published their model for Sustainable Business Model Innovation. In-depth.
In the Tech Basement
🚚 Starsky Robotics is the company that managed to get an unmanned self-driving truck driving on the road. Now they’re shutting down. A few reasons, but this one stood out for me.
The biggest, however, is that supervised machine learning doesn’t live up to the hype.
Random ZTTZ
Why Japan is so good at returning lost property. Loved the teach-the-kids approach.
🏁 End note: 1 thing I’ll be doing this week
I’m evaluating a bunch of pitches from start-ups asking for (government) funding - both for a European blockchain program and for the Flemish Innovation Agency. Red marker at the ready. ✏️✏️