Cleantech Insights

Does Shell’s Acquisition of Sonnen Represent our Netscape Moment?

Richard Youngman
Posted on by Richard Youngman
There were milestones on the internet’s journey to becoming what it is today, namely an all-pervasive, essential and normal part of consumer, business  and now, with the rise of IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things), industrial life. In the 1980s and early 1990s, it wasn’t clear-cut that the Internet would become mainstream. Netscape was a critical part of changing that. A web browser company, it brought the power of the Internet to millions and was able to IPO in 1995 with... Read More »

Meat Alternatives on the Move

Chris Sworder
Posted on by Chris Sworder
An FAO estimation says we are on track for a 9 billion-person planet by 2050, and along with the people comes a 50% increased appetite for protein. Traditional protein for human consumption comes from animals and fish, with soy increasingly part of the landscape. The non-traditional or alternative proteins market ($4.2 billion in 2016) is around 1% of the traditional protein market, but is expected to grow more than 25% by 2022. The drivers are both perceived health benefits and... Read More »

How Digitization is Transforming Logistics Services

Leo Zhang
Posted on by Leo Zhang
The increasing volume of global trades will put more pressure on the existing supply chain, with the logistics services sector estimated to reach a value of $16,445 billion by 2026 with a CAGR of 7.4%. A confluence of forces – Amazon and Alibaba, electrification and sustainability, autonomy and robotics, among others – are changing the logistics industry to become more resource efficient, faster, and responsive to customer needs. Digitization is a key enabler. Get additional insight into the latest trends... Read More »

Geospatial Analytics in 2019: Key Industry Trends

Josh Gilbert
Posted on by Josh Gilbert
Geospatial companies have gone through a rapid evolution over the past 24 months. In 2017, large rounds of funding went to a handful of start-ups spun out from US-based research institutions, providing new technology to a broad range of markets. In 2018, we saw an increase in funding for smaller and leaner solution providers, with market consolidation via restructuring and acquisition by large corporate players further up the satellite value chain. In 2019, we can expect further evolution of market... Read More »

Food Safety: From Problems to Opportunities

Chris Sworder
Posted on by Chris Sworder
Anyone growing, selling or eating food in the US could not have missed what seems like a growing number of recent pathogen outbreaks. There have been two outbreaks of E. coli in romaine lettuce. A cyclosporiasis outbreak was linked back to a McDonald’s restaurant. A badly timed salmonella outbreak affected Thanksgiving turkey products while another salmonella outbreak in ground beef led to the largest food recall in US history as over 12 million pounds were recalled before Christmas. However, despite... Read More »

China and Cleantech in 2019: The Innovation Ecosystem and Paths to Market Entrance

Leo Zhang
Posted on by Leo Zhang
Our recent Next-Gen Energy & Cross-Border Innovation Summit in Nanjing looked at cleantech investment trends, market dynamics and commercialization opportunities in China. This was our ninth event in China and a focal point of our efforts to guide and connect western innovation companies to Chinese partners and customers. Here, you’ll find insights into power, energy and mobility, as well as pointers on market entrance from the summit. China's cleantech lay of the land China’s market potential is perhaps the biggest... Read More »

The Role of Green Hydrogen in Global Decarbonization

Louis Brasington
Posted on by Louis Brasington
There are over 60 million tons of hydrogen produced annually, worth almost $100 billion dollars. Today, 80% of the hydrogen we produce is for three main industries: refineries, ammonia production or metal processing. Hydrogen also has the potential to be used as fuel for power and transportation. It generates zero emissions at point of use and can be produced from low-carbon electricity or from carbon-abated fossil fuels. The annual demand for hydrogen could increase tenfold by 2050 – from 8 EJ... Read More »

Virtual Reality Meets Industrial Innovation: How Technology Can Aid Creativity

Louis Brasington
Posted on by Louis Brasington
Entertainment has been one of the drivers of Virtual Reality (VR) systems with popular systems from Oculus, HTV Vive and Sony’s PlayStation VR system. Commercial applications are taking the next step, Mixed Reality (XR), overlaying graphics on top of the real world led by companies like Magic Leap and Microsoft’s HoloLens. As an enabling technology, VR/XR has the potential to touch many facets of the industries we cover, including Industrial Design, Data Modelling and Visualization. To date, problems with display... Read More »

Data Abundance – Opportunities in Planet Management

Josh Gilbert
Posted on by Josh Gilbert
Author’s note: In January 2019, I will be moderating a panel on the topic of space-based data utilization at the Cleantech Forum San Francisco. In this blog, we look at market dynamics in this segment and highlight some of the innovators who will be joining us in January to discuss these topics in more detail. I hope you will be joining us too! Modern satellites and sensors are capturing huge amounts of data – around 2.5 billion gigabytes per day.... Read More »

Fixing Food Waste with Packaging Innovation

Chris Sworder
Posted on by Chris Sworder
Only two-thirds of food grown makes it to the consumer, at which point up to half of what’s left goes to waste. Innovation in food packaging is an effective way to tackle food waste, as extending shelf life of a product reduces waste throughout the supply chain. We spoke to two innovative companies to understand more about the market: Apeel Sciences and Food Freshness Technology. We discovered that there are three significant drivers for innovation in packaging. The first is reducing... Read More »