An easy-to-use platform for creating digital workers  
CategoriesSustainable News

An easy-to-use platform for creating digital workers  

Spotted: Today, human employees spend hundreds of hours doing repetitive and mindless intellectual tasks such as data entry, client prospecting, and form-filling. Automation is the natural solution to this problem, but, traditionally, automation tools have been built by individual organisations to perform individual tasks, which creates bottlenecks for their deployment at scale. 

To tackle this, startup 11xAI has created Platform X, a user-friendly, no-code platform accessible to individuals from various professions. This technology allows for the creation and deployment of ‘digital workers’ that can streamline workflows, whether for tasks that are highly specific to an individual or organisation, or broad general purposes. 

Platform X is particularly beneficial for small businesses, which haven’t traditionally had access to automation at the scale that can be achieved by their larger peers. Without this access, small businesses risk being left behind as the economy is increasingly filled with automated agents. The ability to easily create digital workers is therefore especially important for this segment of the market.  

To demonstrate the power of its platform, 11xAI has developed Alice, a ‘digital’ sales representative that automates outbound sales efficiently and at a lower cost than humans. The company reports that Alice has so far sent over 10,000 emails, saving early adopting sales teams thousands of days of work. Its research also indicates that emails sent by Alice have three times higher response rates than those sent by humans. 

Although outbound sales were chosen to demonstrate the power of Platform X, the possible uses of the technology are extremely broad. And this potential has convinced investors, with the startup receiving $2 million (around €1.8 million) in pre-seed funding in August of this year.

Springwise has spotted other ways technology is transforming the workforce, including by predicting future skills gaps and supporting employee wellbeing online.

Written By: Matthew Hempstead

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Creating sustainable packaging with fungi
CategoriesSustainable News

Creating sustainable packaging with fungi

Spotted: Analysis of the global food packaging market predicts the value of the industry will increase every year and reach just under $600 billion (around €560 billion) by 2033, up from $335 billion (around €313 billion) in 2022. Unsurprisingly, demand for plastic food packaging remains particularly high. Seeking a scalable alternative to plastic packaging that requires no infrastructure change for manufacturers and distributors, Israeli startup MadeRight created a fungi-based option.  

Grown on a variety of organic waste materials, MadeRight packaging can be made locally, further increasing the circularity of the product and reducing its carbon footprint. The fungi used in the process feeds on industrial streams of organic waste. The resulting growth is then converted into a new biomaterial. Because the fungi grow well on a range of materials, the technology is deployable next to current food production systems, making it usable in many different environments and as a secondary market for a diversity of crop waste. 

Once the fungus has been transformed into a biomaterial, it is mixed with bioplastics, making it immediately usable in the existing machinery of current production systems. This not only makes the material more affordable, it makes it easier for businesses to switch from their current plastics to green packaging. MadeRight packaging is both biodegradable and reusable. 

The company recently raised $2 million (around €1.85 million) in seed funding, which the founders plan to use to produce a commercially viable prototype by late 2024 and continue to improve the overall production process. As part of the Fresh Start incubator, MadeRight has the opportunity to connect with other food tech startups also working on sustainability initiatives.  

From a biodegradable coating for paper packaging to naturally biodegradable packaging, innovations in Springwise’s archive highlight the myriad ways innovators are seeking to replace plastic pollution with truly sustainable alternatives.

Written By: Keely Khoury

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Creating a circular economy for anaesthetic gases
CategoriesSustainable News

Creating a circular economy for anaesthetic gases

Spotted: We don’t often think of anaesthetic gases as contributing to global warming, but 2 per cent of the UK NHS’s greenhouse gas emissions come from anaesthetic and analgesic practices. During an operation, only a tiny percentage of anaesthetic agents are absorbed and metabolised by the patient’s body, meaning that the vast majority of this volatile anaesthetic is expelled as waste. 

To address this, SageTech Medical has developed a flexible, modular system that allows hospitals to capture exhaled waste anaesthetic gas in reusable canisters in the operating theatre. The canisters are then emptied into bulk storage tanks and collected.

Captured gases are recovered and recycled to yield active pharmaceutical ingredients, which are then bottled for reuse. This process reduces the energy and carbon needed to manufacture the virgin gases, as well as the environmental impact of their release, creating a circular system.

Recent orders made by NHS trusts, including in Manchester and Hull, mean that SageTech’s circular technology will soon be in use in certain NHS hospitals. The next key milestones for the company include achieving significant UK sales and gaining the CE Mark for its SID-Dock capture machine, so that SageTech can then distribute across Europe too.

Waste anaesthetic gases are a substantial and broadly unaddressed cause of air pollution. Other recent innovations spotted by Springwise in the archive that aim to tackle causes of air pollution include concrete that cleans the air in road tunnels and DIY air filters.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

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Creating circular raw materials by upcycling tires
CategoriesSustainable News

Creating circular raw materials by upcycling tires

Spotted: According to a 2021 study, about 1.5 billion tyres end up as waste every year. But Polish company Contec has a better idea than letting tyres go to landfill, however, and is treating used tyres as a source of valuable raw materials.

Contec uses pyrolysis to break down the vulcanised rubber in the tyres. Pyrolysis is a thermochemical process in which the shredded tyres are heated to temperatures between 400-700 degrees Celsius in an oxygen-free atmosphere. This breaks down large, vulcanised rubber molecules into smaller compounds to produce soot, gas, oil, and other chemicals.

By adapting this process, Contec is able to recover rubber and steel for reuse in new tyres, oil for use in the chemical and refining industry, and carbon black, which is used as a pigment and a filler to the mechanical strength of rubber compounds used in tyre manufacture.

Although still in the early stages, Contec has developed its process to a commercial capacity. The company recently secured zł 70 million (around €15.6 million) in funding from investors HiTech ASI, Pruszyński Sp. z o.o. and Mariusz Machciński. The funding will be used to the processing capacity of their plant from 10,000 to 33,000 tonnes of used tyres a year.

Contec is not alone in the search for a more sustainable way to manufacture and recycle tyres. In the archive, Springwise has also spotted innovations such as a bio-based carbon black and tyres made from recycled plastic.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Reference

Creating biochar from wastewater, organic waste, and coffee cups
CategoriesSustainable News

Creating biochar from wastewater, organic waste, and coffee cups

Spotted: The volume of edible food waste created around the world is estimated to be 1.3 billion tonnes a year, with a lot of that ending up in landfills. Once in landfill, this waste breaks down and releases CO2 into the atmosphere. While some are doing important work to reduce the amount of material that ends up in landfills, Edinburgh-based Carbogenics is going in another direction and turning this waste into a material that is useful in multiple agricultural and industrial processes.

The company produces a product called CreChar. This is a type of biochar – a carbon-rich, porous material that can be used to enhance the production of biogas from food and farming waste. While most biochar is made from virgin wood, Carbogenics’ process uses organic waste, such as wastewater screenings and difficult-to-recycle food, farm, and paper waste instead.

CreChar is made by heating biomass in the absence of oxygen. This process, known as pyrolysis, produces carbon-rich biochar alongside oil, synthetic gas (syngas), and heat. This versatile material could be a gamechanger for the biogas and wastewater treatment sectors, but it can also be used as a plant fertiliser and for soil restoration and carbon sequestration. When used in place of biochar in biogas production, for example, CreChar increases biogas yields by up to 15 per cent.

At the same time, because the carbon locked in CreChar during its production process cannot easily be broken down by microorganisms, it can be sequestered in the material for hundreds or thousands of years.

Carbogenics recently secured £1 million (around €1.2 million) in investment from Green Angel Ventures, Scottish Enterprise and Old College Capital. The funds will be used to build a production and research and development (R&D) facility in Scotland. It’s anticipated the facility will be operational by the end of Q1 in 2024.

Researchers are working on a number of projects that aim to maximise the efficiency of converting biomass to energy. In the archive, Springwise has also spotted a project at EPLF that uses food waste in the pyrolysis process, as well as a small-scale biowaste processor that turns food waste into cooking gas and compost.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

Reference

Creating a future-proofed cotton supply chain
CategoriesSustainable News

Creating a future-proofed cotton supply chain

Spotted: According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), cotton is the most widespread non-food crop in the world. Its production employs almost seven per cent of all labour in developing countries, with around half of all textiles being made from cotton. Yet, while the global reach of cotton is wide, current cotton production methods are environmentally unsustainable — involving high water use and contamination, soil degradation, and pesticide pollution.

To solve these issues, Materra has developed a pioneering method for growing cotton in climate-controlled greenhouse environments. Its method can produce up to four times more yield per surface area compared to conventional outdoor cotton farming. It also uses around 80 per cent less water, no pesticides, and produces around 30 per cent less carbon dioxide than chemically intensive cotton farming.

Materra’s approach is designed to ‘future-proof’ the cotton industry – which around 250 million people rely on for income. By using resources more efficiently, Materra’s system also acts as a form of climate change mitigation – transforming brownfield land into productive agricultural land. By using land more effectively, the company will be able to join forces with other impactful schemes that support biodiversity and carbon sequestration. Materra also highlights that one big advantage of their system as its flexibility, and ability to adjust the different parameters to produce the best outcome.

The fashion industry is one of the most wasteful on the planet. Every aspect of the fashion supply and consumption chain produces huge amounts of waste — 87 per cent of the materials and fibres used to make clothing will end up in either incinerators or landfills. Luckily, innovators the world over and now working to change this. Springwise has recently spotted improvements that range from creating clothing from a mycelium-based material to non-toxic, low-energy dyeing processes.

Written By: Lisa Magloff

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Koichi Takada Architects’ Latest Tower Is Creating Major Waves on Australia’s Golden Coast
CategoriesArchitecture

Koichi Takada Architects’ Latest Tower Is Creating Major Waves on Australia’s Golden Coast

How can architecture be a force for good in our ever-changing world? During Future Fest, we’ll pose this question to some of the world’s best architects. Launching in September, our three-week-long virtual event will be 100% free to attend. Register here!

Nestled between beloved Surfers Paradise and chill Coolangatta, Burleigh Heads is a small suburb on Australia’s famed Golden Coast, known for its crowd-drawing surf breaks and iconic towering pine trees. In recent years, a hip dining scene has emerged, reflecting how the area’s popularity has grown. Now, there is a need for more multi-residential developments has increased to help house the growing influx of locals and visitors alike. For the first time in the area in three decades, a multi-residential development has gone up, taking the name of Norfolk, Burleigh Heads.

The iconic luxury apartment building gets both its name and from the heritage Norfolk pine trees found around the site, making a significant contribution to the unique features that set this area apart from the rest. “Just like their pinecones protect its seeds from bad weather and open when in ideal natural settings, Norfolk’s architecture can be adapted to protect residents from the elements or opened up to take in the 300 days of subtropical sunshine and stunning natural surroundings,” said the building’s visionary Koichi Takada Architects, a firm known for the diversity of their portfolio and imaginative willingness to push the bounds of architectural form.

Images by Scott Burrows

The 10-story building bagged both the Jury and Popular Choice A+Awards in the Multi-Unit Housing – Mid Rise category and for a good reason. It makes a statement, challenging how we imagine multi-residential towers, while staying true to the unique features that make the site special. Fanned balconies, a ribbed spine and endless views are just a few other elements that make it special. Its organic form allows it to be a spectacle from every angle and makes it seem like it will take flight. And while its geometry sets it apart, its neutral beige hue helps tie it to the beachy surroundings.

Large open balconies and maximized exterior surfaces allow more natural light to enter the building and increase the resident’s connection with the outdoors. Instead of being stacked uniformly on top of one another, the floating balcony slabs all vary in shape and are strategically overlapped to create additional shade and privacy for the homes below. Imitating the Norfolk pine, their sides are covered in slatted screening to create additional privacy. One can see that these floating slabs are also tapered at the edges and extend beyond the glass balustrade, making them seem even lighter and reflect natural light further into the homes.

Image by Scott Burrows

Cementing the relationship with nature, the architects have also added a spine to the building that curves inwards and allows the blades of the balconies to connect together like ribs. This provision creates shade in the summer, enhancing privacy while also allowing those inside to get glimpses of the ocean. The sides of the building also have slatted screens arranged in a diagonal pattern across the balconies to break up vertical lines and add some dynamism. Since these diagonal panels are movable, the façade is constantly changing are creating new patterns, further reflecting the ever-changing qualities of nature.

Images by Scott Burrows and Tom Ferguson

The structure holds fifteen apartments and a part of two-level penthouses with private rooftops. Making it even more enticing to residents is the inclusion of a gym, outdoor pool and sauna. While all the apartments have generous light and ventilation, the north-facing homes have an unhindered 180-degree view of the ocean. The living, dining and kitchen areas spill out into the large balconies. The southern end of the building holds the en-suite bedroom. There are two additional rooms in the center of the floor as well. Natural timber floors used within the home extend to the balconies as well and create a clear visual connection with the sandy shore beyond. The interior spaces of these homes, fashioned by Mim Design, build on the natural tones found on the exterior of the building to create a cozy coastal home.

How can architecture be a force for good in our ever-changing world? During Future Fest, we’ll pose this question to some of the world’s best architects. Launching in September, our three-week-long virtual event will be 100% free to attend. Register here!

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