Coworking with Satish Rao

Coworking is a weekly segment where we spotlight Emerging Tech Brew readers who work with emerging technologies. Click here if you’d like a chance to be featured.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in tech?

We operate Newlab’s applied innovation ecosystem, pairing the resources and expertise of the private and public sectors with entrepreneurs and engineers developing transformative solutions to critical challenges across mobility, energy, and materials. Our underlying aim is to support the application and development of advanced technologies to solve our planet’s biggest challenges.

What emerging tech are you most optimistic about? And why?

Within 5G, I’m optimistic about the impact this technology can play in the world’s energy transition. Energy will soon be decentralized, making it necessary for utility and electrification infrastructure to be smarter and react quicker. While 5G will certainly usher in a fourth industrial revolution, it will also drive our ability to efficiently move electrons across a system, changing the way we operate grids, utilize renewable energy, and connect to vehicles that move people and goods.

What’s the best piece of tech-related media you’ve read/watched/listened to?

Azeem Azhar’s Exponential View is required consumption at Newlab. The podcasts, newsletters, and his book are all full of rich content with interesting points of view on how technology will impact the world.