# The Innovation System Behind Moderna’s Covid-19 Vaccine | HBR IdeaCast | Podcast

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/harvard-business-review-7777387/the-innovation-system-behind-moderna-s-covid-19-vaccine-hbr-ideacast-podcast
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/harvard-business-review-7777387/the-innovation-system-behind-moderna-s-covid-19-vaccine-hbr-ideacast-podcast.md
Podcast: [Harvard Business Review](https://stenobird.com/podcast/harvard-business-review-7777387)
Published: 2026-07-20T11:30:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/VG1978808484.mp3
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/VG1978808484.mp3
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Duration seconds: 1805

## Resource

The Innovation System Behind Moderna’s Covid-19 Vaccine | HBR IdeaCast | Podcast 30 Nov 2022 --- Noubar Afeyan, cofounder and chair of Moderna Therapeutics and CEO of Flagship Pioneering, says that the breakthrough innovation behind the company’s Covid-19 vaccine came not as a stroke of luck, but from a repeatable process. He outlines a system called “emergent discovery” that involves working back from future ideals, pioneering in novel spaces, encouraging unreasonable ideas, and persistently questioning hypotheses. And he says this process applies to other industries besides life sciences. Afeyan is the coauthor, with HBS professor Gary Pisano, of the HBR article “What Evolution Can Teach Us About Innovation.” This episode originally aired on HBR IdeaCast on September 23, 2021. Listen to more HBR IdeaCast episodes here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzAU8TPKsJuaxff5Cp0P2DKE_tFyaWOOa You can also listen to this episode on HBR.org, and wherever you listen to podcasts: - HBR.org (transcript available here): https://hbr.org/podcast/2021/09/the-innovation-system-behind-modernas-covid-19-vaccine - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-innovation-system-behind-modernas-covid-19-vaccine/id152022135?i=1000536391404 - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/67JOI782PG96G0JU0rMaYs?si=4866c6aef29b4ac9 - Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/hbr-ideacast/episode/the-innovation-system-behind-modernas-covid-19-vaccine-87020210 - Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLmhhcnZhcmRidXNpbmVzcy5vcmcvaGFydmFyZGJ1c2luZXNzL2lkZWFjYXN0/episode/dGFnOmF1ZGlvLmhici5vcmcsMjAwNi0wNS0wODppZGVhY2FzdC4wODIw?sa=X&ved=0CAIQuIEEahcKEwjYno6K3NH7AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQLA Series Description: A weekly podcast featuring the leading thinkers in busines…

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