Gene editing in agriculture & food: Accelerating the second green revolution

Posted on March 16, 2018March 16, 2018 by Chris Sworder

Why are we talking about this? Pressure on global resources to support our food system is growing, and even outpacing ability to meet demand. Genetic engineering is a useful tool to maximize yield in an increasingly resource-stressed world. “CRISPR-Cas9 is a step change for agritech, it allows plant breeders to implement the vast wealth of knowledge accumulated in the last hundred years into a wider range of crop plants. It has and will continue to accelerate crop science research into... Read More »

A Feeding Frenzy in Agriculture – Cannibalism and M&A Prey

Posted on February 21, 2018February 21, 2018 by Chris Sworder

It’s always difficult to get a big picture of the agriculture industry. It’s huge. However, two big things are important: mega-mergers and bountiful exits. Big companies In recent years, we have seen a number of mergers that would see large percentages of market share across the Agriculture & Food sector concentrated in an even smaller number of companies. Just as one small example, with this set of mergers shown on the right, 70% of the world’s pesticide market and 83%... Read More »

A Year in Review: A look back at the 2017 Global Cleantech 100

Posted on January 10, 2018January 11, 2018 by Chris Sworder

As we look forward to the release of our 2018 Global Cleantech 100 (GCT100) on stage at Cleantech Forum San Francisco on January 22nd, we thought this would be a good opportunity to take a look back at how both our 2017 Global Cleantech 100 fared since making the list last January, and of our GCT100 alumni, in general. The Global Cleantech 100 Program The Global Cleantech 100 list is our barometer reading of the global innovation community's shifting views... Read More »

Feeding Fish to Fish: How Insect Farming Fixes Fishmeal

Posted on December 7, 2017December 7, 2017 by Chris Sworder

At the beginning of 2017, I wrote a piece of research quoting Winston Churchill’s 1932 article Fifty Years Hence, in which he predicted that we would all be eating chicken grown in laboratories. While that is slowly becoming a reality (through companies such as Memphis Meats), there is another area of protein consumption that would likely have seemed even more absurd in 1932 – aquaculture. Currently, to produce 1kg of farmed fish ready for human consumption, it takes 1.5-2kg of... Read More »

Report Launch @COP23 Global Cleantech Innovation Programme Country Innovation Profiles 2017

Posted on November 15, 2017November 27, 2017 by Chris Sworder

Report Launch @ COP23 Bonn: The Global Cleantech Innovation Index 2017 – Global Cleantech Innovation Programme (GCIP) Country Innovation Profiles As part of our Global Cleantech Innovation Index programme this year, Cleantech Group took a closer look at 8 countries that are participating in the Global Cleantech Innovation Programme (GCIP). The programme, an initiative of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF), is conducted in Armenia, India, Malaysia, Morocco, Pakistan, South Africa, Thailand and Turkey.... Read More »

Taking Oil Out of the Big Rig: Electrification of Haulage Trucks

Posted on September 28, 2017September 29, 2017 by Chris Sworder

As we trundle towards the unveiling of Tesla’s semi-truck, provisionally set for October 26th, we thought this would be a good time to scope out what is happening in the world of electric trucks. Transportation and logistics, especially due to the high levels of venture capital investment in recent years, has become a cornerstone of CTG research. From autonomous vehicles, solving traffic, lithium commodity markets, bike sharing, and even flying cars, evaluating trends in mobility has been a major focus. The... Read More »

Solving Traffic: The highway, the smart way, and the long way off

Posted on July 27, 2017August 1, 2017 by Chris Sworder

The term ‘smart city’ implies that cities can be dumb. To the city-dweller, this is often acutely clear when stuck in traffic. In the UK, a recent TomTom Traffic Index report found that the average commuter in Britain will spend five days of every year stuck in traffic. That equates to 47 weeks’-worth[1] in an average lifetime of sitting behind the wheel not going anywhere fast. My own city of London comes in as the 20th most congested city in the... Read More »

2017 Global Cleantech Innovation Index: A look at where entrepreneurial clean technology companies are most likely to emerge from over the next 10 years – and why.

Posted on June 13, 2017June 13, 2017 by Chris Sworder

The new edition of the Global Cleantech Innovation Index (GCII) has just been launched. The Index, previously produced in 2012 and 2014, explores where, relative to GDP, entrepreneurial clean technology companies are most likely to emerge from over the next 10 years – and why. It remains the only study (we know of) seeking to look at why entrepreneurial companies developing sustainable solutions seem to spring up in certain geographies, and which economic, social and environmental conditions cultivate hotbeds for... Read More »

Alternative Proteins: Cultured Meats and the Buzz about Bugs

Posted on March 14, 2017March 14, 2017 by Chris Sworder

Alternative and sustainable proteins is a fizzing sector in the agriculture & food industry at the moment, and over the past months CTG has tried to measure the froth. The protein cycle is complex, and while there are many interesting areas of innovation across this supply chain, we have focused in on three: cultured products, plant-based alternatives, and insect-based alternatives. Below is our quick overview of what we are seeing in terms of innovators and investors, but for a closer look please... Read More »

The Smarter Grid: The Evolution of Virtual Power Plant Software

Posted on October 28, 2016October 31, 2016 by Chris Sworder

Two weeks ago we looked at The Evolution of Smart Grid Venturing, tracing its development from smart meters and data management apps to the Internet of Things to today's diaspora of customer-sited generators and energy management products in an increasingly connected world. This week, we will drill further into this theme, taking a look at the role Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) will play in the next-generation energy grid. The principle is not new. Joined up generators are more useful to grid... Read More »