Wanda Meloni
Co-Founder & Managing Director, Innovaris Labs. Thirty years at the intersection of creativity, technology, and storytelling.
"Tech evolves. Stories endure. Creativity is timeless."
The throughline
I've spent nearly three decades studying how stories move through technology — from the first wave of 3D graphics and game engines to the platforms reshaping entertainment today. What hasn't changed is the underlying thesis: the format shifts, but narrative is still the strategy. That's the lens I bring to every report, every client conversation, and every stage I stand on.
Today I lead Innovaris Labs, a strategic consulting and analyst firm built around that idea. I work with companies at every scale — from Intel, Sony, Disney, Epic Games, and Unity to early-stage studios and founders — helping them read where creative technology is headed and build strategy around story rather than around the tool of the moment.
How I got here
My career started in market research and analysis, authoring reports that tracked the impact of 3D graphics, game engines, digital media, gamification, and immersive technology as they moved from novelty to infrastructure. In 2009, I coined the term "Gaming Renaissance Movement" in a Game Developer piece written in the middle of an industry layoff wave — documenting the surge of indie studio formation that followed. It's a framework I still return to; the pattern repeats.
I hold an MBA in International Management, which shapes how I think about the macro and micro forces — market, organizational, cultural — that determine whether creative work actually finds its audience.
Featured in: Fortune · Fast Company · Wall Street Journal · New York Times · LA Times
Speaking: CES · GDC · NAB · GamesBeat · HPA
Where the work lives
Innovaris Labs runs across three channels, each doing a different part of the same job — tracking where creative technology and storytelling are headed, and making that legible for people building in the space.
The Signal
Analysis on the deals, tools, and shifts reshaping games, film, and interactive media — read through a story-first lens.
Inside the Story Lab
Conversations with the people building the next generation of creative technology and the stories it makes possible.
The Story Animal
How narrative has served as the foundation of human civilization — from prehistoric storytelling through AI.
Sardinia, and the long view
My paternal family is from Sardinia, and the island's mythology, art history, and largely untapped storytelling potential have become a throughline in their own right — informing both my professional frameworks and the small-group tours I lead there. I'm based in San Diego, California.
Read The Signal, or come on the show.
Experimenting, iterating, and co-creating in real time — join in.
