Mick Ebeling

Collaborating with unlikely characters to tackle seemingly impossible challenges and finding innovative ways to overcome them, is what Mick and Not Impossible Labs have done for the last 10 years. OK… now introduce a global pandemic. What the heck do we do now? How do we maintain an innovation culture in our very disrupted and strange new world? How do we embrace experimentation as a pathway to breakthroughs? In this conversation, Mick will briefly explain the origin of Not Impossible, the NI design process, and dive deeper into Not Impossible’s newest world changing solutions.

Peter Drucker’s famous quote “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” has never been more true – and needed – than today. Finding innovative ways to be nimble and creative in the midst of one of the most turbulent periods in modern history, (social unrest, political strife, a pandemic) will not only inform which companies will survive, but those that will thrive. The creative revolution has been democratized. The leaders’ role to mine and nurture creativity within their organizations have never been more critical than today. In this talk, Mick will teach business leaders the way of the “hacker-maker” and the gift of positive failure. Mick will empower leaders’ resourcefulness and remind them that the business landscape has never been more primed for breakthrough innovations… and quite possibly with the help of some zip ties and duct tape.

Since the launch of the EyeWriter and Not Impossible Foundation, Mick Ebeling has passionately studied the concept of “impossible.” All the modern conveniences we see around us were once considered impossible by people who didn’t know any better. Synthetic fabrics, cell phones, and digital watches (not to mention cars and computers) were all figments of the imagination until inspiration met execution and the impossible became a reality. In this talk, Ebeling dives deeper into “impossible,” the underlying psychological effects it has on an organization, and how to overcome “impossible” so true innovation can take place.

Say the letters “A.I.” and you may imagine of Mr. Hyde…but what if Dr. Jekyll appeared instead?  The concept of artificial intelligence, or A.I., connotes thoughts of science-fiction, Big Brother and a scary, robot-controlled world set in a dystopian future.  But what about the concept of A.I. for good? Not Impossible’s founder Mick Ebeling discusses how A.I. has the incredible potential to make the world a better place.  Citing tangible solutions from around the world as well as solutions that are being developed at his Not Impossible Labs (such as remote vaccine delivery by drones, smart sensors that register seizures and tremors caused by Parkinson’s, to intelligent electronics in prosthetics and therapeutic gait-trainers for Cerebral Palsy), Mick focuses on the most cutting edge and forward thinking ideas, advancements, and inventions in the A.I. space… but for good. By changing the narrative of what artificial intelligence can mean for the future of humanity to what it should mean, we can influence and inspire an entirely new generation of mad scientists.

Take a Hollywood producer, a NY professor, a fine artist and a hacker with a criminal record. Put them together and what do you get? A device that helped a paralyzed man create drawings using only the movement of his eyes. Collaboration comes in many form, some of them unexpected. In this talk, Mick discusses the tools necessary to become a stellar collaborator, and to recognize the traits of collaboration-worthy individuals for your next big idea.