Spotted: Seaweed has become a versatile ingredient used in everything from animal and human food to cosmetics, packaging, and biofuel. Yet despite such growth, experts believe the industry’s potential is still largely untapped. Currently, the vast majority of the world’s seaweed is grown in Asian countries, one of the reasons researchers consider that the “opportunities for growth in new regions and applications are high.”
One new company getting involved in the industry is Australia’s Phycoforms, which has developed a collection of commercial composites made from waste seaweed sourced from Tasmanian seaweed farms. This innovation grew out of an exploratory project during founder Shimroth Thomas’ master’s degree at Australia’s RMIT University. After graduation, at which he received a sustainability award for his work, Thomas continued his R&D programme in order to further develop and commercialise the materials.
The seaweed-based materials are biodegradable and designed to replace bricks, concrete, and more in traditional construction work. Depending on the item being produced, Phycoforms adds other materials to the seaweed, such as waste coffee grounds, seashells, and other beach detritus. The composites are available as large pressed sheets as well as in products that include tables, chairs, bowls, floor lamps, and other homewares. Thomas has also explored the feasibility of a ‘PhycoWall’.
From removing overabundant algae blooms to create new products to using seaweed to increase the lifespan of electric vehicle batteries, innovations spotted by Springwise are transforming the easy-to-grow plant into sustainable solutions in many different industries.
Spotted: In our ever-developing world, demand for raw materials surges, surpassing our supply. Until now, we have relied on increased mining and agrochemicals to try and balance supply with demand. However, this has come at the expense of our resources, environment, health, and the planet’s biodiversity.
Using a technology that’s been developing for over 35 years, Slovakian startup Ekolive is rewriting the playbook. The company has found a way to ecologically process minerals, revive mining waste, and rejuvenate contaminated or exhausted soils using microorganisms.
The company’s eco-friendly solution to the mineral supply-demand challenge harnesses the power of bacteria to remove impurities. This method enhances raw material value, accessibility, and usability of unprocessed, primary materials and secondary minerals. Ekolive’s technology can also be applied to hazardous materials like mining waste, giving newfound value to materials previously deemed useless.
But that’s not all: Ekolive discovered its technology also had amazing effects on agriculture. Managing Director Darina Štyriaková explains that the specially selected mix of minerals and microorganisms “regenerates” contaminated soils, optimises the structure of exhausted soils, and “strengthens plants in different ways.” Štyriaková adds that these results are “not created by mixing chemicals” but “by a replication of natural weathering and soil formation recipe.”
Founded in 2018, Ekolive is now focusing on commercialisation after successful validations. The company currently has five bioleaching production sites in the EU, with three more in the pipeline outside of Europe.
Springwise has previously spotted other innovations that process soil contaminants, from soil-cleaning microbes to pre and probiotics that improve soil health and crop resilience.
While some recent figures show a decline in meat consumption – notably in the UK and US – the reasons behind people’s choices are often more to do with the cost of meat than ethical judgements around animal welfare or the impact on climate. However, population growth, food security, and the climate are key concerns for governments globally, and are fuelling continued development of protein alternatives. In Singapore, it has been a key government policy to foster innovation and investment in this area to bolster domestic food security and reduce reliance on imports.
We compared notes with Jack Ellis, a Senior Associate specialising in agriculture and food at Cleantech Group, to identify the key drivers accelerating the development of meat alternatives.
1. Technology
Artificial Intelligence (AI), gene editing, 3D printing… New technologies are opening up exciting possibilities for growth in the alternative protein space, and innovative startups are pioneering their use.
“It feels like there is momentum building around AI, and startups are putting it to different uses,” says Jack. US startup Climax Foods utilises AI to design non-dairy cheese that mimics the texture and taste of several varieties, including brie, blue, and feta. NotCo, a Chilean startup that we first spotted in 2016 – which has since become a unicorn company – uses AI to analyse the smell, texture, and taste of dairy and meat at the molecular level, and then replicate it.
Gene editing can raise protein yields from raw ingredients by ‘tweaking’ the DNA of an organism to make it behave differently. It is generally different to creating a genetically modified organism (GMO), which typically refers to taking genetic material from one species and putting it into another one – a process that has been banned in the EU since 2001. In 2018, gene editing fell under the same law, but in July this year, the EU announced that this was under review. “Startups in Europe have been vocal in pushing for more regulatory clarity on this,” says Jack. “And if that clarity does come to be and progress, then there will be an uptick, at least in innovative activity and partnering.”
2. Cell cultivation
To date, cell-cultivated meat has two key obstacles: it’s expensive to produce (and so would be prohibitively expensive for consumers) and it needs regulatory clearance as a biological product. The latter first happened in 2020, when Singapore became the first country to grant approval, with the US following suit this year. Despite these blockers, startups are innovating to reduce the costs involved in cell cultivation. For example, Czech-based firm Mewery uses a technique based on microalgae to decrease the cost of cultivation by up to 70 per cent. Its range of meat-free pork should be available in 2025, pending regulatory clearance.
3. Fermentation
Food production accounts for a quarter of global greenhouse emissions, with cows and other farm animals contributing around 14 per cent. Agriculture is water intensive and uses half of all habitable land on Earth. A growing trend in making food production more resource-efficient is the use of fermentation to produce alternative proteins. Amsterdam-based agritech firm Farmless only requires one five-hundredth of the amount of land needed for animal protein production. Farmless’ process creates food packed with amino-acid complete proteins, fibre, essential vitamins, carbohydrates, and unsaturated fats. It does this by turning existing supply chains of liquid feedstock into the basis for its fermentation system. The company uses a naturally occurring single-cell organism that ferments at a rapid rate, and then, through careful selection of different microbes for different results, produces proteins and foods that can be customised to include almost any combination of macronutrients.
According to Springwise Commissioning Editor Matthew Hempstead, “With alternative proteins, there are several avenues of innovation and multiple uncertainties. But more and more businesses like Farmless are developing industrial manufacturing capabilities and are set to play an increasingly central role in transforming the agriculture industry in time to meet 2050 climate goals.”
Written By: Angela Everitt
Our November edition of Future Now shares our full list of the top ten innovations pushing the boundaries of food production, leveraging AI for greater efficiency while harnessing other technologies to create alternatives to meat. It is free for members of our Innovation Database. For more information click here.
Prince William has announced the five projects that are taking home this year’s Earthshot Prize, including an AI-powered soil carbon marketplace and a more circular manufacturing process for lithium-ion batteries.
Founded by the British royal in 2021, the annual Earthshot Prize rewards innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing environmental challenges – air and water pollution, environmental degradation, waste and climate change.
From more than 1,100 entries, a winner was chosen for each of these five categories and awarded a £1 million cash prize to help scale up the project and increase its positive impact.
GRST (top image) S4S Technologies (above) are among the winning projects of 2023 the Earthshot Prize
Indian company S4S Technologies was crowned the winner of the waste category for its efforts to provide female small-hold farmers in rural India with solar-powered conduction dryers.
Without the need for energy or expensive cold storage, these can help farmers preserve crops that would otherwise have gone to waste and turn them into sellable products, with the aim of saving 1.2 million tonnes of food waste by 2026.
To date, the company has helped more than 300,000 farmers, who have reportedly seen their profits increase by around 10 to 15 per cent.
“S4S, along with women farmers, are creating a new food ecosystem that reduces wastage and mitigates the increase in GHG emissions while meeting the world’s food needs,” said S4S Technologies co-founder Nidhi Pant.
GRST has created a water-soluble binder for EV batteries
Also among the other winners is Hong Kong company GRST, which is making electric vehicle (EV) batteries more circular by manufacturing them using a water-soluble binder.
This allows its valuable lithium, cobalt and nickel components to be recovered and reused more easily, preventing waste and reducing the need for more mining.
The resulting battery lasts up to 10 per cent longer, the company claims, while emitting 40 per cent less greenhouse gases in its production.
“The world needs a massive amount of batteries to achieve net zero by 2050, but a revolution is needed to make these batteries cleaner and more recyclable,” said GRST’s chief strategy officer Frank Harley. “Today, our water-based technology is driving this transformation.”
In the climate change category, the top prize went to Boomitra – a carbon marketplace that incentivises farmers to use regenerative agricultural practices to store excess atmospheric carbon in their soil.
This carbon storage is tracked via satellites and artificial intelligence, and ultimately sold to companies and governments in the form of carbon credits, which the company says are independently verified.
Boomitra is already working with 150,000 farmers across Africa, South America and Asia, and believes that it could store one gigaton of CO2 in soil by the end of the decade.
“We cannot restore the earth without the support of farmers, who produce the food we eat and rely on the land for their income,” said founder Aadith Moorthy.
“Our technological solution empowers farmers with the data they need to improve soil and maximise their crop yields while creating a valuable store for carbon.”
Boomitra is an AI-powered marketplace for soil carbon storage
Also among 2023’s winning projects is Acción Andina, an initiative that supports indigenous communities with ecosystem restoration in the Andes Mountains, and the WildAid Marine Program, which gives countries the tools and technology to police illegal fishing in protected marine areas.
On top of their prize money, all of the winners winners will receive a year’s worth of mentoring and support as part of The Earthshot Prize Fellowship Programme, together with the other 10 finalists.
WildAid Marine Program is providing countries with the tools to police illegal fishing
“Our winners and all our finalists remind us that, no matter where you are on our planet, the spirit of ingenuity and the ability to inspire change surrounds us all,” Prince William said in a speech at the awards ceremony in Singapore.
“The last year has been one of great change and even greater challenge. A year in which the effects of the climate crisis have become too visible to be ignored. And a year that has left so many feeling defeated, their hope, dwindling. However, as we have seen tonight, hope does remain.”
The Earthshot Prize is now in its third year, with previous winners including a greenhouse-in-a-box and a tool that creates fuel from agricultural waste.
Spotted: Geothermal energy is one of the most energy-efficient methods for providing HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) for businesses and communities alike. But the problem that has traditionally faced geothermal power is the high upfront cost of establishing boreholes to tap into this energy in the ground, especially in contrast to other readily available energy infrastructure. And for tall commercial properties or apartment blocks, traditional geothermal systems have also not been able to provide enough energy to heat or power the entire building. This is where US startup Bedrock Energy comes in.
The company has developed new autonomous drilling and subsurface modelling technology that allows borefield construction to be around three times quicker and cheaper. Crucially, unlike existing boreholes, which are often drilled 300 to 800 feet below the Earth’s surface, Bedrock drills 2,000 feet underground where the temperatures are much hotter.
Because of this, the company reduces the number of boreholes required for a project – from as much as 28 down to just eight – meaning tall commercial buildings with limited land space can still make use of this abundant energy source for their heating and cooling systems.
Using its advanced algorithms, Bedrock can accurately predict the energy transfer to buildings from the geothermal site. The company then specially designs a project’s geothermal loop field to optimise borehole location for the best long-term energy returns.
Bedrock is ready to start deploying to commercial projects soon and is currently working on a pilot project. The company recently raised $8.5 million (around €7.9 million) in seed funding, which will be used to help accelerate the manufacturing and deployment of its technology.
Many more innovators are recognising the potential of geothermal energy, and Springwise has also spotted one company that’s using Kenya’s geothermal resources to power direct air capture as well as a system that makes geothermal less water-intensive.
Spotted: The WWF estimates that between 500,000 and 1 million tonnes of fishing gear is either lost or deliberately discarded in the ocean every year, making up around 10 per cent of marine plastic pollution.
UK startup Tangle is putting this abandoned equipment, known as ‘ghost’ fishing gear, to good use, turning it into premium dog accessories. In doing so it is embodying the principles of the circular economy and helping to reduce the glut of ocean plastic.
Through partnerships with various ports, Tangle encourages fishermen to donate their old nets instead of dumping them in the ocean. This equipment is then taken to Tangle’s recycling facility where it is broken down and sorted into raw materials. These are then used to create strong and durable dog leads, bowls, and throw toys.
In addition to reducing marine litter, the products are lightweight, durable, waterproof, and non-stink, and most are produced in the UK.
Founded in 2022, the company is growing quickly, and was announced as one of the participants in the second Amazon Sustainability Accelerator in May 2023.
Tangle isn’t alone in repurposing this type of marine pollution, with Springwise spotting glasses and officewear also being made from ghost fishing gear.
Spotted: As most parents know all too well, a lot of money gets spent on toys that are played with for only a short time and then discarded or forgotten. Aside from being unnecessarily expensive, this is also environmentally unsustainable – especially as most toys are made from virgin plastics. However, at the same time, toys and play are essential to children’s development. To tackle these issues, Colombian startup Toynovo has created a circular model for toys.
Toynovo has developed a unique subscription service that allows parents and educational institutions to rent or buy ‘gently used’ toys through the platform for a monthly fee. Users can also exchange toys for new ones and sign up to receive a monthly bundle to exchange multiple toys on a regular basis.
In addition, Toynovo donates any toys that are no longer suitable for the subscription service to low-income families – extending their life further. Along with the toys, the company also provides educational materials for schools, community parks and play kits, and breastfeeding cabins for workplaces. The company has even developed its own line of (non-plastic) toys, called Joynovo.
Toynovo became a certified B Corp in 2022 and claims that it has eliminated more than 40 tonnes of carbon dioxide by extending the life of toys. The company is also expanding in other directions – exploring ways to reinforce toys so they last longer, repurposing toys made from wood into construction materials, and expanding the service to the US.
Toys are just the latest product to be offered on a subscription basis to widen access and save resources. We have also recently spotted affordable subscription models for kids’ bicycles and reusable nappies.
Spotted: The US has a huge problem with its utilities. The country’s current grid is both outdated and overloaded. And the transition to renewable energy is exacerbating this problem, as increasing electrification – driven, in particular, by the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) – creates a greater demand for power. At the same time, increasingly frequent extreme weather conditions are straining the grid beyond its ability to function. According to startup EarthGrid, tunnels are the solution to these problems.
Normally, utility tunnels are time-consuming and expensive to construct. But, EarthGrid has developed a way to bore tunnels exponentially faster and at a fraction of the cost of conventional techniques. The company’s Plasma Trenching System uses a plasma robot powered by renewable energy to trench in hard rock at speeds of up to 600 meters per day.
EarthGrid uses its plasma torches to bore underground supergrids that can be used to transmit renewable energy as well as ultra-high-speed internet, clean water pipes, and even delivery services.
The company offers two services. Its Build, Own, Operate & Maintain (B.O.O.M.) service offers a long-term lease covering the commodities flowing through the EarthGrid tunnels. Meanwhile, Boring and Drilling as a Simple Service (B.A.D.A.S.S.), is designed for customers who want to own their own tunnels.
EarthGrid has been granted Utility Status and Certificates of Public Convenience and Necessity in 34 States. A recent seed round was massively oversubscribed, raising $30 million (around €28 million), bringing the total equity to approximately $50 million raised since inception in 2016 (around €47 million).
Transporting renewable energy is becoming a big limiting factor for new projects. Luckily, a number of innovations are seeking to tackle this, and Springwise has spotted the use of modular fuel packs to transport energy and the development of thermal energy storage systems.
Spotted: The global subscription e-commerce market size is growing at a rate of more than 64 per cent each year, with analysts predicting a value of more than $904 billion by 2026 (around €850 billion). With consumers able to access many products so quickly and directly, adding circularity to the process could help reduce substantial volumes of waste and pollution. With many people keen on updating their devices as regularly as possible, e-waste is a mountainous problem affecting almost every region of the world.
Australian and Singaporean-based Circular is a subscription service designed to completely change how people consume technology. The company offers the latest devices at affordable monthly prices, and when someone wants to upgrade, the phone, laptop, or other device doesn’t just languish in a desk drawer. Instead, Circular refurbishes the device and offers it for lease to someone wanting a newer device that isn’t necessarily the latest model. When a device reaches the end of its useful lifecycle, Circular recycles it via sustainable, traceable processes.
Customers choose the length of their subscription and after being approved by Circular, receive their chosen device. Subscriptions are available for individuals and businesses, and Circular covers 90 per cent of all damage repair costs. After paying an initial launch fee for the chosen subscription length, customers pay a monthly cost that ranges from around A$44 to A$180 (from around €27 to €109), depending on the type and power of device chosen.
Despite the ubiquity of subscription services, innovators continue to find new ways to update the idea for new products and processes. In Springwise’s database, examples include a subscribe and recycle model for kids’ bikes and toys and a subscription app that provides access to electric vehicle charging availability.
Spotted: As most parents can tell you, glitter is something of a scourge – it gets everywhere and is very difficult to clean up. It is also an environmental nightmare — made from plastics, metals, and dyes, it is essentially a microplastic and easily enters the food chain. Some of the materials used to colour glitter are also toxic. In fact, Europe has already banned titanium dioxide, a compound often used to colour glitters, from use in food products.
Startup Sparxell is working to make glitter safer for everyone by using plant-based pigments specially designed to deliver the intense colours and bright shine needed for glitter and sequins. The biodegradable pigments are made from cellulose nanocrystals, which form helix-like structures that reflect light, in a similar way to how birds and butterflies achieve their bright colours.
To make the glitter, the crystalline part of cellulose is extracted and dispersed in water. On drying, the crystals form a film that reflects light and colour over a large area. The film can then be ground into a range of sizes and shapes to produce glitter. By controlling the interactions between the crystals, Sparxell can tailor-make the crystals to match a specific appearance.
Sparxell was spun out of Cambridge University and is currently seeking to raise a $2 million (around €1.9 million) seed round of funding. The money will be used to scale up production to deliver large quantities of the product.
Sustainable glitter joins a host of other eco-pigments. Recent innovations spotted by Springwise range from eco-paints made using graphene to low-heat, low-energy bio-pigments.
