Leading Business Media Brand and Top Research University
Collaborate to Explore the Ideas, People, and Innovations Reshaping the Future
WASHINGTON, Nov. 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Fast Company, the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business and innovation, and Johns Hopkins University, the nation’s first research university, will host the inaugural World Changing Ideas Summit on November 19, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Held at the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Bloomberg Center, the World Changing Ideas Summit will convene leaders from business, government, and academia to create connections, spark big ideas, and move them into action.
The World Changing Ideas Summit is a unique collaboration between two of the most innovative forces in media and academic research. It is inspired by Fast Company‘s World Changing Ideas recognition program. This editorial list is heading into its ninth year of honoring products, concepts, companies, and policies designed to make the world safer, cleaner, more sustainable, and more equitable.
“In partnership with Johns Hopkins, the World Changing Ideas Summit stands apart from most of Fast Company‘s special events; two very different organizations, aligned in a commitment to innovation, will convene around bold, game-changing ideas. Ideas that are foundational to a better world, society, and positive business outcomes,” says Brendan Vaughan, editor in chief of Fast Company.
The Hopkins Bloomberg Center is a preeminent academic and convening hub designed to foster dialogue and discovery and to provide multidisciplinary expertise to drive innovation and forge evidenced-based policy solutions. From their Discovery Series that bring CEOs, renowned journalists, and academic experts on AI and Space together to have deep and insightful conversations on emerging technologies, to their Authors & Insights and Stories That Matter series featuring discussions with prominent authors and award-winning filmmakers, the Hopkins Bloomberg Center brings together the brightest minds to translate research and discovery into impact.
“This Summit honors 150 years of Johns Hopkins University’s legacy of groundbreaking research, transformative ideas, and lasting global impact. The Hopkins Bloomberg Center has established itself as a vital public square and incubator for innovation, discovery and connection, and we are excited to partner with Fast Company for this milestone event,” says Cybele Bjorklund, executive director of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center.
Featured speakers include:
- Calvin Butler, President and CEO, Exelon Corporation
- Barbara Humpton, CEO, USA Rare Earth
- Trevor Paglen, Artist, Trevor Paglen Studio
- Nate Soares, President, Machine Intelligence Research Institute; Coauthor, If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies
Health
- Therese Canares, Founder and CEO, CurieDx; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
- Colton El-Habr, Cofounder, Orbit
- Gabriel Jones, Cofounder and CEO, Proprio
- Akhila Kosaraju, President and CEO, Phare Bio
- Hongquan Li, Cofounder and CEO, Cephla
- Molly Mulligan, Chief Operating Officer, SpaceMD
- Alex Szalay, Astrophysicist, AstroPath
- Janis Taube, Pathologist, AstroPath
Space
- Terik Daly, Planetary Scientist, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
- Dennis Woodfork, Mission Area Executive for National Security Space, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
Technology/AI
- Lauren Gardner, Director of the Center for Systems Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University
- Kunal Parikh, Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University; Cofounder and President, Visilant
- K.T. Ramesh, Alonzo G. Decker Jr. Professor of Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University
- Jordan Shuff, Executive Director and Founder; Research Engineer, Visilant; Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute
- Smitha Shyam, Senior Director of Engineering, Waymo
- Mike Wolmetz, Human and Machine Intelligence Program Manager, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
Academia
- Beth Blauer, Vice President of Public Impact Initiatives, Johns Hopkins University
- Anton Dahbura, Co-Director, Johns Hopkins Institute for Assured Autonomy; Founder, Johns Hopkins University Sports Analytics Research Group
The one-day summit invites attendees to engage deeply with the ideas, people, and innovations reshaping the future through dynamic mainstage sessions, hands-on innovation labs, and real-time problem-solving workshops.
Talks, topics, and breakout sessions will include:
- From Stars to Cells: How the Night Sky Helps Fight Cancer
- Radical Vision: How AI Enables New Ways to See
- The Cutting-Edge of Brain-Computer Interfaces
- Drug Discovery at Digital Speed
- Lessons from Creation of the COVID-19 Tracker
- How a Startup Is Using VR-Style Headsets to Decode the Brain
- AI on the Field: How Advanced Data Will Change Sports
- From Bits to Atoms: AI’s Potential to Revolutionize the Physical World
“Ideas are meant to move, and the best thinking should create change. Summits like these are designed to help challenge how we see the future—and can transform our organizations and the world,” adds Vaughan.
For more information, and to register for the World Changing Ideas Summit, visit:
https://events.fastcompany.com/world_changing_ideas_summit/home
About Fast Company
Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business, innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on the future of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with fellow business publication Inc. For more information, please visit fastcompany.com.
About Johns Hopkins University
For nearly 150 years Johns Hopkins University has been dedicated to advancing knowledge for the world through the work of faculty, clinicians, researchers, and students who have pioneered historic discoveries across 10 academic divisions and the Applied Physics Laboratory. Founded in 1876 as America’s first research university, Johns Hopkins has been the leading recipient of competitively awarded federal research and development grants since 1979, a compact with the U.S. government that has advanced global innovations that have helped keep the United States at the forefront of science, medicine, and technology.
About Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center
The Hopkins Bloomberg Center pairs the power of nearly 150 years of research leadership with a deep commitment to democracy and government partnership in a vibrant new convening space. Building on Johns Hopkins’ history as the nation’s first research university, the Hopkins Bloomberg Center serves as a nexus for trusted academic experts, global leaders, policymakers, artists and students to partner in finding solutions to global challenges and opportunities for human advancement. State-of-the-art facilities offer dynamic learning experiences and adapt to emerging disciplines.
SOURCE Fast Company
