The Innovation Civilization Podcast

The Innovation Civilization Podcast

The Innovation Civilization podcast hosted by Waheed Nabeel, and friends of Empasco, features conversations with domain experts on the topics of civilizational progress, technology, history, philosophy, and the first-principles of the ideas that shape our world.

Episodes

September 13, 2025 37 mins

We’re joined by Hassan Haider, founder and managing partner at Plus VC, one of the most active early-stage VCs in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), with nearly 100 investments since 2020 and the #1 ranked venture investor in the region (according to Forbes). From pre-seed investing across MENA to the evolution of regional stock markets and secondary exits, Hassan brings a front-row view of how the region’s startup ecosystem...

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We’re joined by Tomicah Tillemann, former U.S. State Department official and President of Project Liberty, for a conversation on the entrenched problems of the Internet and how to rebuild it from the ground up with digital rights, sovereignty, and decentralization at its core.

 

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We're joined by James Currier who explains how ‘network effects’ shape our economies, tech, civilisation and how to master that to our advantage.

James is a five-time Founder, an angel investor in DoorDash, Lyft, and Patreon, and a Founding Partner at NFX. Before becoming an investor, James was the co-founder and CEO of Tickle, one of the internet's first successful user-generated companies.

From Metcalfe’s Law to the rise of AI-po...

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We’re joined by Professor Ravi Ramamurti, founder and director of the Center for Emerging Markets at Northeastern University in Boston, who’s one of the world’s leading experts on innovation in emerging economies.

 

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We’re joined by George Sivulka, Founder and CEO of Hebbia, for a conversation on how does the future of white collar work look like with multi-agents. Hebbia is backed by some of the most legendary technology investors of our generation including Peter Thiel (early investor: Paypal, Facebook), Marc Andreesen (early investor: Airbnb, Github, Coinbase), Eric Schmidt (ex-CEO Google), Jerry Yang (Co-founder Yahoo).

George’s background ...

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We’re joined by Dante Disparte, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy at Circle, one of the biggest issuers of stablecoins (USDC) in the world.   This year marks an important inflexion point for stablecoins as adoption and key regulation kicks in. We’re glad to have some one like Dante who has worked at the intersection of finance, technology, and policy, including his role on the US Digital Currency Governance Consortiu...

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In this episode, we're joined by Professor Jomo Kwame Sundaram, a Malaysian economist and thought leader who served as the Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development at the United Nations (UN) and Assistant Director-General at the FAO. We explore how countries in the Global South can chart their own paths to prosperity.   What makes a country truly developed? Is it just GDP per capita or something deeper?   Professor Jomo...
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In this episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with Benji Leibowitz, Chief Operating Officer at Molecule and Co-Founder of Pump.Science. Benji is at the forefront of the Decentralized Science (DeSci) movement, which utilizes blockchain technology to democratize research funding and empower scientific communities.   Benji Leibowitz has a diverse background in academic research, investment banking, venture capital, and computationa...

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In this episode, part of our brand new Emerging Market Innovation Series, we sat down with Soumitra Dutta, Dean of the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford. He's an expert on global innovation and the author of the Global Innovation Index, which is used by governments and institutions worldwide to shape innovation policy.  We're also joined by a friend of the pod, Hafidzi Razali who's the Founder and CEO of Strategic ...
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In this episode, we sat down with Daniel Eriksson, former CEO of Transparency International, to explore how corruption operates globally and what can be done to combat it.

Corruption is one of the most pervasive challenges facing the world today. But how do we dismantle it, especially when it's deeply entrenched in political systems? 

Daniel has spearheaded anti-corruption initiatives across more than 100 countries, leading advocac...

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We're joined by the US Science Envoy for AI, Dr.Rumman Chowdhury, who's a leading expert in responsible AI. We uncover the ethical, technical, and societal implications of artificial intelligence.

As AI rapidly eats up the world, the question is what happens when it doesn’t align with human values? How do we navigate the risks of bias, misinformation, and hallucination in AI systems?

Dr. Ch...

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We welcome Faisal Ali Rashid, Sr. Director at the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, to learn from Dubai's ambitious drive toward achieving net zero by 2050. Faisal, a leader in energy strategy and sustainability, oversees programs transforming Dubai’s approach to energy, water, and waste management, setting a new standard for urban sustainability in the region.

We were also joined by our friend on the podcast, Tushar Narula - a sust...

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We're joined by Dr. Denis Noble, Professor Emeritus of Cardiovascular Physiology at the University of Oxford, and the father of 'systems biology'. He is known for his groundbreaking creation of the first mathematical model of the heart's electrical activity in the 1960s which radically transformed our understanding of the heart.

Dr. Noble’s contributions have revolutionized our understanding of cardiac function and the broader fiel...

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We welcome Bryan Johnson, multi-millionaire visionary entrepreneur and founder of "Don't Die." Known as the most measured man in human history, Bryan is pushing the boundaries of human longevity by meticulously tracking his body's biomarkers in pursuit of an extended health span, not just lifespan. His 'Blueprint' protocols can be found here. Bryan's journey from revolutionizing digital payments with Braintree Venmo, which he sold...

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We welcome Mark Boggett, CEO and co-founder of Seraphim Space, Europe's biggest Space tech fund and the world's first space-focused investment fund

 

Mar...

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We're joined by Toby Coppel, Founder and General Partner at Mosaic Ventures, who has been investing in the last multiple waves of AI.

Toby's extensive career spans iconic firms like Netscape, AOL, & Yahoo, leading up to his current role at Mosaic Ventures, a prominent venture capital firm. He has been instrumental in significant investments, including a billion-dollar investment in Alibaba that yielded an $80 billion return for...

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We're joined by Ash Arora, a Partner at LocalGlobe, to discuss the intricacies of venture capital, blockchain, AI investments, and market dynamics.

LocalGlobe, one of the leading early-stage venture capital firms in Europe, ranked #1 early stage fund in EMEA...

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We're joined by tech billionaire and investor Christian Angermayer to discuss the 'Next Human Agenda,' i.e., the technological bets he's taking and how they will shape the future of humanity (in terms of computing, health, society, and governments).

Over the past 20 years, Christian has been involved in directly building a lot of unicorns and decacorns and has been involved in more than 50 IPOs or exits in the public stock market. ...

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We welcomed the author of the new book "The Levelling", Mike O'Sullivan, who's spent 20 years thinking and writing on macro economy and politics. He also served as the Chief Investment Officer at Credit Suisse and is the CEO of Harvest Innovation Advisory. We cover the end of globalisation, the future of democracy, economics, finance, geo...

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In season 2, we kick-off with America's foremost foreign policy scholar, Dr. Joseph Nye, the former Assistant Secretary of Defense and former Dean of Harvard Kennedy School of Government, to talk about how the American Century has shaped our c...

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