In the scientific R&D space, scientists are increasingly working with software companies like Dotmatics to become AI-ready. Dotmatics offers software that is used by more than 2 million scientists globally, from Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck to research universities like MIT and Oxford.

Scientists today working on life-saving discoveries from cancer research to food scarcity struggle with having their data locked in silos, often using dozens of favorite apps to aid them in the drug discovery process. Within any lab, the collection of disparate instruments creates a time-intensive exercise to align the data outputs, which are handled differently from instrument to instrument.

And as instrumentation manufacturers update and change formats, labs find that scripts break and require updates, which halts any automated data wrangling or analysis efforts. It's an exceptionally complicated and inefficient process. That's why bringing a single drug to market costs on average around $2.5 billion dollars, takes 10 years, and for every drug that gets approved, ten thousand compounds will fail.

It's why the work Dotmatics is doing is so intriguing. Dotmatics worked with many of the top ten pharmaceutical companies in the world to develop a new scientific data platform called Dotmatics Luma. Luma can handle both the volume and complexity of data across lab instruments and at an exponential scale, but perhaps more importantly, it's built to do so in a way that scientists can easily control all on their own. Dotmatics is adding AI functionality with generative AI query—building options and, over time, predictive and adaptive AI that will greatly augment lab testing and decision-making procedures.

The goal is to bring that convoluted and expensive drug discovery process down from billions to millions of dollars, and get life saving therapeutics in the hands of patients much faster. 

Research and Education Go Hand in Hand

While the pandemic caused educational institutions worldwide to reassess their use of technology to extend access to more students, that new reality includes many students who are being left behind. These are the students who live in learning deserts—areas where there is limited access to education opportunities. 

"While this is a massive challenge, I'm optimistic about the future. However, reducing and ultimately eliminating learning deserts will mean that all of these groups will need to work together: educators, institutions, parents, businesses, the edtech industry, etc.," said Instructure CEO Steve Daly. 

According to Instructure's 2023 State of Student Success and Engagement in Higher Education, access to technology has the greatest impact on student success and engagement, but we haven't solved the accessibility gap for many learners. One-quarter (27%) of students and educators surveyed believe they live in a learning desert. 

Removing barriers to higher education opportunities is clearly the best way to help people avoid poverty. In 2022, only 4.3 percent of the people with a Bachelor's degree or higher were living below the poverty line in the United States. 

"In the past decade, the Learning Management System (LMS) has become the hub of learning for most classrooms worldwide.. At Instructure, we're anticipating student engagement and accessibility improvements after the launch of the new Canvas offline feature," added Daly. "I'm encouraged by much of the work we're seeing as government, edtech, the private sector, and more work alongside educators to make learning more accessible. If we can collectively come together in a meaningful way, we can shrink learning deserts."

The attention economy has left introverts underserved.

The future of work is always changing, and so are our habits and what we need to do to advance our careers. Goldie Chan, one of the most popular users in the history of LinkedIn, believes personal branding is only going to become more specific and focused. "I think we're going to need to be deeply intentional with who we are and how we show up both in person and online," said Chan. At her agency, Warm Robots, she works with dozens of large companies, solving, first and foremost, what will resonate with the audience.

Chan recently announced that her new book, Personal Branding for Introverts, is coming out next year with Hachette Book Group to help people further their career development. From appearing in a Microsoft commercial to speaking at Adobe Summit, VidCon, and more, she was also called 2024's Breakout Star by LA Weekly. For a large group of people who aspire to great things—and are introverted—her counsel and empowerment are welcome and appreciated by a group that was previously ignored by hustle culture or loud displays to get attention.

There's a balance of advice and energy with empathy and understanding. She's not the first to promote empathy, but she is perfecting it.