Welcome

You’ve landed in a corner of the internet that doesn’t shout for attention, but leans in with curiosity.

Something For The Weekend is where business, science, and society cross paths in unexpected ways. One week it might be about cars that spy on you. Another week, the hidden energy bill of AI. Or perhaps a shy physicist whose half-century-old idea turned out to explain why the Universe exists.

It’s the kind of writing that asks, “How does this really work?”, and then tells you in plain, engaging language.

The voice behind it is mine: Dr Henri Winand. These days, I’m the CEO and co-founder of AkinovA, an insurance technology company based in London. We’re building new ways for the market to handle risk, not the dry kind of insurance you’d rather avoid reading about, but the kind that shapes how businesses, economies, and even governments can cope with uncertainty.

Before AkinovA, I ran a British technology company that floated on the London Stock Exchange. Before going into business, I was a Cambridge University scientist, with a head full of equations and a pocket full of patents. I’ve worked in energy, automotive, software, and finance. I have sat on boards in Europe, Asia, the UK and the US, spoken in the Senate in Washington and the Sénat in Paris, and found myself being asked about everything from fuel cells to insurance-linked securities on live TV, and on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme.

But this publication isn’t about me polishing a CV. It’s about sharing the odd, fascinating, and sometimes unsettling insights that come from a life spent between technology and business.

Here’s what you’ll find here:

• Stories that make complex ideas digestible, whether it’s quantum fields, car telematics, or data privacy.

• Reflections on leadership and scaling companies, minus the corporate jargon.

• Quirky dives into how technologies shape our lives, for better and worse.

• A weekend-read flavour: thoughtful, curious, and maybe even a little mischievous.

What you won’t find is hype for hype’s sake. I am not interested in adding more noise to the pile. I’d rather take one story and really chew on it, until we see what’s hiding underneath.

So pour yourself a drink, lean back, and come along. Because in a world where everyone’s shouting, sometimes the most interesting thing you can do is listen closely, and ask better questions.