Luminary Labs

At Luminary Labs, we're connectors at heart. For the eighth year, we've surveyed our team and extended network to identify where innovation leaders, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners will converge over the next 12 months. Our latest list includes over 150 events across the future of health, the future of work and education, scientific discovery, and infrastructure — plus the cross-cutting themes that connect them all. From SXSW EDU and SynBioBeta to Climate Week NYC and HealthNext Summit, this curated guide highlights where conversations shaping our future will unfold in 2026. Where do you go to expand your network or find inspiration for your next big idea? Drop your favorite conference in the comments — we'd love to add it to our guide. See the full list: https://lnkd.in/eUQ2HKRT

When designed thoughtfully, open innovation programs don’t just surface solutions — they can catalyze lasting innovation ecosystems. Our latest Open Innovation Outcomes Survey found that nine out of 10 winning teams (89%) continued developing their solutions after their challenge. And 62 of those teams have collectively raised at least $630 million in post-challenge capital. What drives these outcomes? How does open innovation compare to venture capital and grants? What role does incentive design play? Join us next Monday, December 8 at noon EST for a live conversation exploring these questions with open innovation leaders. Speakers include: → Sara Holoubek, Founding Partner and CEO, Luminary Labs (moderator) → Kelvin K Chan, PhD, MTS, MPH, former Director, Fund for Early Learning (FUEL) at Robin Hood → Lorin Hamlin — Independent Consultant, former head of Open Innovation at Under Armour → Steve Rader, former Program Manager, NASA's Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation Learn more and register:  https://lnkd.in/eDh4ht9A

Looking for a professional services career path that is both high-performance and high-impact? Luminary Labs is hiring early career talent (2-4 years of experience) for the following roles in NYC: ➕ Senior Associate: You have earned your analytical chops and are a big-picture thinker who is comfortable identifying connective patterns and crafting a story from research and analysis. You are known for being a flawless executor while keeping projects on time and on budget. Your positive attitude and exceptional people skills are an asset. You are hungry to learn and grow while delivering results that exceed client expectations. Apply here: https://lnkd.in/grvYk4p6 ➕ Associate: You are known for quickly ramping up on any subject and for synthesizing large amounts of information to tell a story. You enjoy solving problems, large and small, and think both critically and expansively in doing so. Having worked in or for large organizations, you partner well, knowing the conditions for success to advance decisions. You have experience super-flexing across a range of activities, sometimes outside of your comfort zone. You are passionate about technology and the opportunities it presents to clients. Apply here: https://lnkd.in/gT5Bgk8d ➕ Senior Communications Associate: You’re an action-oriented marketer who is motivated by the win. You have experience in strategic communications and marketing, either as part of an in-house team or in an agency or consulting environment. You get excited about rallying around a common goal, engaging audiences and communities, crafting high-impact messaging, exploring new technologies and media, and working with a team to form and deploy an effective communications strategy. You love driving impact through a well-run campaign. With a strong grasp of digital platforms, you look forward to checking your web and social analytics, and get excited about optimizing and iterating to achieve outcomes. Apply here: https://lnkd.in/eKRXNRQ3 Unfortunately, I am not able to respond to direct inquiries –– kindly see the links above to apply. A real human will read every application. Best of luck!

What will it take to address the loneliness epidemic and build social connection in the coming decades? Luminary Labs’ Sara Holoubek weaves together current trends, research, policy and practice and provocative framing to approach solutions, in the latest article in the #nowcasting series.

What's the real ROI of open innovation? Our latest Open Innovation Outcomes Survey provides an answer: When designed thoughtfully, open innovation programs don’t just surface solutions — they can catalyze lasting innovation ecosystems. Our survey found that nine out of 10 winning teams (89%) continued developing their solutions after their challenge. And 62 of those teams have collectively raised at least $630 million in post-challenge capital. What drives these outcomes? How does open innovation compare to venture capital and grants? What role does incentive design play? Join us Monday, December 8 at noon EST for a live conversation exploring these questions with open innovation leaders. Speakers include: → Sara Holoubek, Founding Partner and CEO, Luminary Labs (moderator) → Kelvin K Chan, PhD, MTS, MPH, former Director, Fund for Early Learning (FUEL) → Lorin Hamlin, Independent Consultant, former head of Open Innovation at Under Armour → Steve Rader, former Program Manager, NASA's Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation Learn more and register: https://lnkd.in/eDh4ht9A

Americans have never been more connected. And we’ve never been more alone. Worldwide, the internet reaches 6 billion people. There are more mobile devices than humans on Earth. Global literacy has increased more than sevenfold since the 1820s. The barriers that limited human connection for millennia collapsed within a generation or two, creating more opportunities to connect than any previous era in human history. Yet despite this unprecedented capacity for connection, Americans are often choosing solitude. Heading into the Thanksgiving holiday, we’re reflecting on opportunities to design social infrastructure for modern America: It’s more diverse, more mobile, more digital, and still fundamentally human. In the latest article in our Nowcasting series, Sara Holoubek explores what the paradox of connected isolation in modern America means for our families and communities, our organizations, and our policies. The article pose key provocations future-ready leaders should be asking today, including: > What would it look like to normalize talking about loneliness in your personal and professional relationships? > How does your organization measure or improve employee connections? > How might the government measure community health and social capital as economic indicators? Read the full article in the Lab Report: https://lnkd.in/eThqJweT Subscribe to the Lab Report to get the next Nowcasting article delivered to your inbox: https://lnkd.in/g5TUnCTY If you have burning questions about our present moment, or if you’d like to chat with us about how to use nowcasting as part of your own organization’s planning and strategy, we’d love to hear from you: Email nowcasting@luminary-labs.com to connect with us.

Coming back into the week still thinking about the conversations at #BHT2025. This session in particular, on providing veteran and military families with mental health support, has stayed with me due to its great relevance to my community and to Reflect. Moderated by Ben Alsdurf (Luminary Labs), the panel brought together Terri Tanielian, Matthew Miller, PHD, MPH (A-G Associates), and Dr. Blas Villalobos (Centerstone), the latter two veterans themselves, who shared deeply informed and personal perspectives on what it takes to truly support veterans and active duty soldiers. A few key insights for me were: 1. Veterans are not a monolithic group. Their experiences, challenges, and needs vary widely, and the solutions we design must reflect that diversity. 2. Building trust is everything, and it starts with understanding military culture and communicating in ways that feel authentic. 3. Effective programs address the whole person, not just mental health symptoms, connecting support for employment, housing, and financial stability. 4. Collaboration is key: public agencies, community organizations, and innovators must work together to create a true continuum of care that bridges the VA, DoD, and civilian systems. This conversation was very relevant for us, as Reflect has worked with soldiers and reservists of the IDF, including intervention programs for those returning from the war, and ongoing collaboration with the Ministry of Defense. In the Israeli military culture, too, seeking mental health help is still seen as a sign of weakness. But as the country faces unprecedented waves of trauma and PTSD, there’s growing recognition that acknowledging and addressing stress is an act of strength. Still, asking veterans to hold a soft calming device and meditate is a bit much, and it takes cultural sensitivity and reframing, and helping them see self-regulation not as vulnerability but as resilience. Seeing how these challenges echo across nations is both moving and affirming, and highlights how important the work is. #BHT2025 #Veterans #MilitaryMentalHealth #BehavioralHealth #DigitalHealth #PTSD

This report on the impacts of open innovation by Luminary Labs is a real eye opener! I am looking forward to this panel discussion!

Planning your 2026 conference calendar? Start here. For the eighth year, we’re crowdsourcing the most anticipated conferences and events across health, science, education, workforce, and infrastructure. We organize the responses and publish a curated list of some of the most interesting gatherings across our focus areas — helping leaders discover meaningful convenings and plan time for connection, inspiration, and learning. We'd love to know what's on your radar for 2026. The survey takes two minutes, responses are anonymous, and we promise zero spam. Whether it's an event you attended this year that you're already planning to return to, or a new gathering you're excited to discover, we want to hear about it. ▶️ Complete the brief survey: https://lnkd.in/eF-CwnXP ▶️ Subscribe to the Lab Report to get the final list delivered to your inbox next month: https://lnkd.in/g5TUnCTY 

What's the real ROI of open innovation? Our latest Open Innovation Outcomes Survey provides an answer: When designed thoughtfully, open innovation programs don’t just surface solutions — they can catalyze lasting innovation ecosystems. Our survey found that nine out of 10 winning teams (89%) continued developing their solutions after their challenge. And 62 of those teams have collectively raised at least $630 million in post-challenge capital. What drives these outcomes? How does open innovation compare to venture capital and grants? What role does incentive design play? Join us Monday, December 8 at noon EST for a live conversation exploring these questions with open innovation leaders. Speakers include: → Sara Holoubek, Founding Partner and CEO, Luminary Labs (moderator) → Kelvin K Chan, PhD, MTS, MPH, former Director, Fund for Early Learning (FUEL) → Steve Rader, former Program Manager, NASA's Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation Learn more and register: https://lnkd.in/e56tjVnq