Last week, thousands gathered in New York City for the third day of the Fast Company Innovation Festival. Business leaders, decision-makers, and innovators convened to hear inspired conversations with the biggest names in tech, design, leadership, creativity, and beyond.

Keynotes, panels, and workshops featured speakers like Lin-Manuel Miranda, award-winning songwriter, actor, producer, and director, Ted Sarandos, Co-CEO of Netflix, Philipp Carlsson-Szlezak, Global Chief Economist at Boston Consulting Group, Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft, Brad Miller, Chief Information Officer at Moderna, Ken Moore, Chief Innovation Officer at Mastercard, and more. 

Highlights from the event included conversations around:

AI 

Robert Brunner, Founder and Partner at Ammunition Group and Lead Designer of Beats by Dre, and Jesse Lyu, Founder and CEO of Rabbit, discussed designing for AI, debated how much humanity AI objects should have, and shared why the future of AI hardware relies on the willingness to accept risks. 

Leadership

Bob Stiller, Founder of Keurig Green Mountain, Hanneke Faber, CEO of Logitech, and Ken Moore, Chief Innovation Officer at Mastercard, shared the importance of employee engagement, discussed upskilling in the age of AI, and dove into why leadership and employees are responsible for company culture.

Technology

Ted Sarandos, Co-CEO of Netflix dove into the streaming service’s journey of disruption, emphasized the need for great storytellers, and shared insights on streaming figures from the company’s biannual engagement report. 

Creativity

Lin-Manuel Miranda, award-winning songwriter, actor, producer, and director, reminisced on writitng Hamilton, announced the cast of his newest concept album based on the 1979 film “The Warriors” (releasing this October) and shared advice on tackling the creative process. 

Entrepreneurship

Elizabeth Gore, Co-founder and President at Hello Alice, Russell Jackson, Chef and Owner of Reverence, and Neal Katyal, Partner at Hogan Lovells US, discussed their legal battle with America First Legal, the importance of supporting Black-owned businesses, and the legacy of businesses standing up for what’s right. 

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