Innovation websites, profiles, & podcasts to follow in 2020

In need of some fresh innovation resources? Here are the business blogs, news sites, social profiles, & podcasts our consultants are into this year.

Twice a day, LAUNCH Ticker sends you Twitter-like short emails summarizing the biggest things going on in the tech world. Easy-peasy.

Gartner is the world’s leading research and advisory company. Rather than waffle on, their easy-to-read articles get right to the point by telling you what’s driving, and in many cases, reinventing business success.

Dense Discovery delivers a curated mix of stuff designed to help people working on the web get stuff done, think critically, and stay inspired.

As refreshing as your morning coffee, TrendWatching drops innovation news and insights into your inbox – and keeps things interesting with a gif or two.

Weird and wonderful tech news, anyone? If you’re tired of the same old tone, sign up for Bizarro Devs

Innovation Inbox: Fast Company’s Daily Newsletter

Receive an email containing 5 new Fast Company stories about technology, design, and ethonomics every day.

Venture capital company Andreessen Horowitz’s podcast a16z features interviews with business execs, industry experts, and thought leaders about the future, tech, news, and culture trends.

Made by Stanford eCorner, this podcast features stories of entrepreneurial success by leaders from top companies like Facebook, GE, and Airbnb. Great for inspiration and developing an innovative mindset.

Editor’s Picks from The Economist

Love The Economist but have too little time to sit and read articles? Plug in your headphones and absorb them on the go with this weekly ‘audio magazine.’ You’ll hear 3 of the most influential pieces from the latest issue of The Economist read aloud.

The Intelligence – The Economist

A current-affairs podcast by Economist Radio, The Intelligence aims to deliver fresh perspectives on everything that’s happening in politics, business, science, and culture. And drawing on its global network of experts, it brings important stories that aren’t making headlines to light.

Twice a day, LAUNCH Ticker sends you Twitter-like short emails summarizing the biggest things going on in the tech world. Easy-peasy.

The World Ahead – The Economist

Okay, just one more by The Economist – we promise. Black Mirror fans will love The World Ahead. This future-gazing podcast forces you to flex your imagination by providing different perspectives on the present and discussing speculative scenarios and provocative prophecies.

The Interview – TED

Everybody knows this one, but it’s still worth mentioning. In this podcast, TED top dog Chris Anderson speaks with some of the world’s most interesting people, from Bill Gates and Tim Ferris to Monica Lewinsky. This podcast never fails to generate some intriguing insights.

Without Fail – Gimlet

Each week, Gimlet co-founder Alex Blumberg asks people who have pursued incredible things 3 questions: What worked, what didn’t, and why?

The Pitch – Gimlet

How do people sell their ideas? What makes investors tick? How can conversations bloom into business deals? Find out in this infotainment audio show as you take a glimpse into the world of venture capital.

How I Built This – NPR

Interviews with the innovators, entrepreneurs, and idealists who founded some of the world’s best-known companies. Host Guy Raz asks his successful guests about the key elements that led to their domination, but most interestingly, he zones in on how they overcame failures.

With Apple as a lens, this podcast discusses wins and losses and what it takes to be great in mobile computing and related industries.

Go inside the minds of some of the biggest names in business and find out how they manage to consistently think outside the box.

A Harvard Business Review podcast about how AI and other technologies are transforming business and society.

Why read a case study when you can listen to one instead? Speaking of which, we must add ‘record our case studies to the to-do list…

Interested in fintech, banking, technology, and financial services? Us, too! This podcast by financial services consultancy 11:FS sees its experts discuss the latest news, developments, and trends within the industry.

The future of everything – WSJ

Journalists from the Wall Street Journal interview big names in science and tech about the innovations that are changing our day-to-day lives.

Women In Innovation delivers insightful, no nonsense content on everything going on in the field of innovation. Discover insights from leading ladies in the business and find monthly podcast, article, book, and video recommendations. Women In Innovation also connects profiles through mentorship services and via monthly events in London, New York, and San Francisco.

Stratechery blog & Exponent Podcast

Stratechery delivers simple, well-thought-out insights into the business and strategy of technology and breaks them down in ingeniously simple visualizations. No time for long reads? Stratechery’s author Ben Thompson also hosts a podcast called Exponent alongside business analyst and HBR writer James Allworth. Definitely worth a listen.

A speaker, writer, and generally interesting person to follow on social media, Tom Goodwin breaks down advertising, business, media, and digital transformation trends.

You’re not following us on LinkedIn yet?! Just kidding, that’s okay. But if you want to, click here.

One of our consultants recently attended a talk by Scott Galloway – marketing professor at New York University Stern School of Business – and was inspired, to say the least. His LinkedIn posts are full of helpful insights, predictions, and unique perspectives.

Nadia is a service & strategic designer, researcher, and content creator with a focus on emerging tech. Her social posts, newsletter, and articles are full of interesting tidbits on everything from trends to wellbeing tips. And her writing style is like an oasis in the desert of jargon that’s out there.

You likely already know this one – who doesn’t? But we couldn’t create a list like this without mentioning Tim Ferris. A number of our consultants follow him on social and listen to The 4-Hour Workweek author’s podcast, The Tim Ferris Show. With a backlog of more than 300 episodes, it features interviews with famous folk about the secrets to their continued success.

Yes, Indiegogo. As a crowdfunding site, it’s the perfect location to source funding for your new concepts and spot innovative products before they go mainstream.

If you’ve been following our site for a while, you’re already onto this. So sorry to bang on about it again, but our consultants are fans, and we think everyone else should be, too. Springwise is an innovation-oriented news service that helps you stay up-to-date with piping hot innovations from every industry.

Backed by the Financial Times, Sifted is a fresh site offering interviews and insights around everything that’s going on in the EU startup world. Check out their interview with our co-founder Phillip De Ridder – he shared some predictions around the future of the innovation consultancy game.

Another oldy but goody, Wired features juicy culture, business, science, and design insights. Yeah, it’s paywalled – users can only access up to 4 articles per-month without payment, but the pricing is pretty fair.

A non-profit, principled media outlet, Ensia covers issues related to the environment and discusses practical solutions.

Tech Insider is loaded with high-quality technology-focused insights from journalists who know what they’re doing.

Follow Sustainable Brands (SB) for the latest design approaches, business models, products, and services related to sustainability challenges. And keep an eye out for the events SB organizes around the globe – they’re ideal for brand innovators working on eco-friendly business initiatives.

Futurism is a juicy spot for news and stories about the future. Check it out if you’re into enhanced humans, AI, sci-fi visions, future society, and the medicine of tomorrow. Plus, their Instagram has some funny cartoons.

Owler is a digital business database with 13+ million public and private company profiles. Our consultants check it for annual revenue reports, employee counts, and more. You can follow companies and get customized alerts, quickly conduct competitor/client research, monitor your business’s image, or uncover new opportunities. At time of writing, it was about to become a paid service, though – sorry.