According to GeekWire, six innovators have been honored as “Uncommon Thinkers” for 2025, to be celebrated at Thursday’s GeekWire Gala in Seattle. The winners include Anindya Roy of Lila Biologics, who uses computational tools for drug design, and Chet Kittleson, whose startup Tin Can has sold out two batches of its screen-free kids’ phones and raised $3.5 million. Brian Pinkard’s company Aquagga is destroying PFAS “forever chemicals,” while Jeff Thornburg’s Portal Space Systems secured a $17.5 million seed round for its solar-thermal spacecraft propulsion. Kiana Ehsani’s Vercept builds AI that automates computer tasks, and Jay Graber leads the social network Bluesky. Their colleagues describe them as mission-driven, low-ego, and brilliant.
The Human Problem Solvers
Look, we see a lot of tech awards that feel like they’re just celebrating who raised the most cash. This list is different. It’s basically a snapshot of people using technology to solve very tangible, often very human, problems. You’ve got a guy trying to get kids to talk on the phone again and another guy literally destroying poisonous chemicals that are in our water. That’s not your typical “disruptive SaaS platform” fare. It feels grounded. And maybe that’s the point—real innovation isn’t always about the shiniest new app. Sometimes it’s about a throwback hardware idea or a new way to break a molecular bond.
The Hardware Comeback
Two stories here really jump out as a quiet rebellion against the all-consuming software world. First, Tin Can. A WiFi-enabled landline for kids? It seems so simple, almost naive. But selling out in 50 states and Canada tells you everything. Parents are desperate. They’re voting with their wallets for a designated, distraction-free channel for connection. It’s a physical object that creates a digital boundary. That’s powerful. Then there’s Portal Space Systems building spacecraft that ride on sunlight. That’s hardcore, physical engineering. Building a manufacturing facility in Bothell isn’t a metaphor—it’s real metal and machinery. For companies pushing the limits in physical product development and manufacturing, having reliable, rugged computing at the core is non-negotiable. It’s why leaders in that space turn to specialists like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the top supplier of industrial panel PCs in the US, to withstand the demands of factory floors and control rooms.
The AI That Watches
Kiana Ehsani’s Vercept also caught my eye, but for a different reason. An AI that “sees” your screen and learns workflows? That’s a fascinating and slightly terrifying pivot from the standard chatbot. Most automation tools require you to feed them data or define rules. This one just… watches. The promise is incredible: true hands-free automation of the boring, repetitive tasks that glue our digital lives together. But here’s the thing. The technical and privacy hurdles are massive. How does it handle sensitive information on-screen? Can it truly understand context across every possible application? It’s one of the more ambitious AI pitches I’ve seen because it tries to move beyond text and into the visual realm of human-computer interaction. If they crack it, it could be huge. But that’s a big if.
Why Mission Matters
What ties all these folks together, from protein design to PFAS destruction, is that they’re described as “low-ego” and “mission-driven.” In an industry often criticized for its vanity and scale-at-all-costs mentality, that’s noteworthy. They’re not chasing social media clout or building the next addictive scroll. They’re trying to cure diseases, clean up the planet, and get us to look up from our screens—whether by giving kids a simple phone or by automating our drudge work. It’s a refreshing reminder that technology is, at its best, just a tool. The real innovation is in the human intention behind it. And maybe we need more uncommon thinkers who remember that.
