Cathie Wood (bio below) and her ARK Invest team have released the 2025 edition of their highly anticipated Big Ideas report, an annual tradition that coincides with another significant event—the Chinese New Year. This year, as the world welcomes the Year of the Snake, a symbol of adaptability, ARK’s report emphasizes how disruptive technologies are converging to reshape industries, economies, and daily life. With a comprehensive 148-page analysis (link below), ARK presents a vision of the future where AI, blockchain, robotics, energy storage, and biotech advancements redefine global productivity and innovation at an unprecedented scale. Wood’s predictions suggest that these transformations will rival historical economic shifts, from the agricultural revolution to the industrial and scientific breakthroughs of the past.
While our focus is on healthcare, health data, AI, and crypto tokens, we’ll begin with an overview of Wood’s key predictions, all of which are linked through the concept of “neural networks” as represented in the graphic above.
A central theme of this year’s report is the rise of AI agents. We have explored this innovation in previous blogs, which you can revisit if you’d like. Wood believes that AI agents will revolutionize web searches, e-commerce, and software-as-a-service (SaaS). The financial landscape is also shifting, with Bitcoin surpassing $100K, stablecoins outpacing traditional credit networks, and decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms reaching peak trading efficiency.
Wood envisions autonomous ride-hailing services, drones, and robotrucks significantly lowering transportation and supply chain costs. As AI’s rising energy demands push the adoption of nuclear power over renewables, advancements in humanoid robotics are expected to boost small business productivity. Space exploration is becoming more cost-effective, with reusable rockets reducing satellite expenses and expanding global coverage.
Cathie Wood on Healthcare and AI
In healthcare, Wood highlights the falling costs of multiomic sequencing (the integration of genome, proteome, transcriptome, epigenome, metabolome, and microbiome) which is accelerating disease detection, targeted drug development, and organ-on-chip technology.
“The Five” Innovation Platforms
The report features a compelling slide that identifies the “Five Innovation Platforms Catalyzing Accelerated Growth.” ARK emphasizes that these disruptive technologies are not only reshaping individual industries but are converging to trigger a global GDP inflection point. AI, public blockchains, smart contracts, energy storage, robotics, and biotechnology are merging in ways that could outpace previous technological revolutions. Wood argues that while the U.S. economy is growing faster than any other high-income nation, advancements in health, happiness, and quality of life lag behind. Market domination by disruptive innovation is not just about economic opportunity—it’s about fundamentally improving human well-being. As ARK’s research suggests, those who embrace these technological shifts today are positioned to lead the transformation of tomorrow’s world.
Cathie Wood on CNBC
In a recent CNBC interview, Wood likened today’s technological landscape to the early-to-mid 90s internet boom. “We are today where we were when it came to the internet in the early to mid-90s,” she remarked. Hear it for yourself (link below). While we initially pegged this to be closer to the late ’90s, Wood’s bullish view seems more aligned with the rapid pace of change. She also pointed out, “The most underappreciated application of AI is healthcare.” Watch the interview here.
Bringing It All Home
We may not have the expertise to cover every aspect of ARK’s report, but we certainly see the convergence of technology in healthcare, with consumers gaining greater control over their data and lives. Beyond the impressive progress in multiomics, we recognize connections that others may overlook due to their disruptive nature. Just think about the shift from the Pony Express to the Telegraph for sending messages.
Healthcare, traditionally slow to adopt technology, remains a laggard—especially outside of diagnostics. The Electronic Health Record (EHR), for example, has not been the transformative tool many expected. Originally intended to simplify physician workflows and improve healthcare outcomes, the EHR has, in part due to government regulation and mandates, contributed to increased physician burnout. The question remains: are we truly better off?
As we’ve noted, there is vast data within consumers’ EHRs, but it’s often locked away, and genetic data is typically available only for specialized cases. A large majority of Americans still cannot access all their health records in one place, where AI could help enhance their lives. Today, the U.S. has over 500 different EHR systems, and AI has the potential to empower and transform the consumer’s interaction with healthcare providers and payors—especially when services are denied. We can achieve this faster, better, and cheaper than ever before.
About HealthScoreAI ™
Healthcare is at a tipping point, and HealthScoreAI is positioning to revolutionize the industry by giving consumers control over their health data and unlocking its immense value. U.S. healthcare annual spending has exceeded $5 trillion with little improvement in outcomes. Despite advances, technology has failed to reduce costs or improve care. Meanwhile, 3,000 exabytes of consumer health data remain trapped in fragmented USA systems, leaving consumers and doctors without a complete picture of care.
HealthScoreAI seeks to provide a unique solution, acting as a data surrogate for consumers and offering an unbiased holistic view of their health. By monetizing de-identified data, HealthScoreAI seeks to share revenue with consumers, potentially creating a new $100 billion market value opportunity. With near-universal EHR adoption in the USA, and advances in technology, now is the perfect time to capitalize on the data available, practical use of AI and the empowering of consumers, in particular the 13,000 tech savvy baby boomers turning 65 every single day and entering the Medicare system for the first time. Our team, with deep healthcare and tech expertise, holds U.S. patents and a proven track record of scaling companies and leading them to IPO.
Noel J. Guillama-Alvarez
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nguillama/
+1-561-904-9477, Ext 355
**Cathie Wood is the founder, CEO, and Chief Investment Officer of ARK Invest, an investment management firm specializing in disruptive innovation. She launched ARK Invest in 2014 with a focus on high-growth sectors such as artificial intelligence, robotics, DNA sequencing, blockchain technology, and energy storage. Known for her bold investment strategies and long-term vision, Wood gained prominence for her early and aggressive bets on Tesla, Bitcoin, and other emerging technologies. Prior to founding ARK, she held leadership roles at AllianceBernstein and Jennison Associates, where she built a reputation for identifying transformative trends in the market. A vocal advocate for innovation-driven investing, Wood’s insights and ARK’s research reports continue to shape conversations about the future of technology and finance.
https://www.ark-invest.com/big-ideas-2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNeOHBfMHiI