Patricia Seoane da Silva and Benjamin Torda

Energy Storage More...

January 28, 2020

Power Grid 2019 Year in Review

This insight is part of the Lux Energy Team's Year in Review series examining the highlights and key developments of the energy industry in 2019. For an overview of the entire energy ecosystem, see the hottest energy topics and highlights across four key storylines. For deep dives into particular ... read more.

Analyst Insight

Nardev Ramanathan

Digital Health and Wellness More...

January 27, 2020

Ebb Therapeutics

Wearable headband that maintains optimal temperature during sleep

The company was founded by Eric Nofzinger, who was a Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine for more than 30 years. To date, the company has raised approximately $38 million in one funding round in January 2017. Among its investors, we highlight Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. The ... read more.
Company Snapshot

Tiffany Hua

Accelerating Materials Innovation More...

January 27, 2020

The Biodesign Challenge: Leveraging crowdsourced open innovation in biotechnology

In the past two decades, there has been major growth in crowdsourced open innovation, including hackathons, open conferences, startup pitches, and innovation challenges. We have seen these events transform the computer science space into a sandbox environment by encouraging and facilitating ... read more.

Analyst Insight

Kristin Marshall

Accelerating Materials Innovation More...

January 24, 2020

Bowil Biotech

Bacterial nanocellulose for medical applications like wound care, burn care, and pre- and post-cosmetic treatments

Bowil Biotech is a bacterial nanocellulose company commercializing technology initially developed at the Lodz University of Technology (LUT) in Poland; the company was founded in 2006, establishing ties with LUT in 2009 resulting in the purchase of LUT's "know-how" for bacterial cellulose production... read more.
Company Snapshot

Kristin Marshall

Accelerating Materials Innovation More...

January 24, 2020

P2 Science

Ozonolysis of bio-oils into diacids, aldehydes, and other specialty chemicals

Developed an ozonolysis platform to convert vegetable oils and other bio-based feedstocks into diacids, aldehydes, and other oxidation products; primarily uses high-oleic oils like palm oil and soybean oil as feedstock Continuous small-volume process reduces the potential danger associated with ... read more.
Company Profile

Chad Goldberg

Alternative Fuels More...

January 24, 2020

Joby Aviation

eVTOL aircraft developer

The company was founded by JoeBen Bevirt in 2009 to develop a piloted, four-passenger electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft intended for service as an air taxi. To date, the company has raised approximately $720 million; among its investors, we highlight Intel Capital, JetBlue Technology ... read more.
Company Snapshot

Chloe Herrera

Digital Transformation More...

January 24, 2020

QIQ Global

E-bikes and e-scooters powered by supercapacitors

QiQ is a rental company for e-bikes and e-scooters powered by supercapacitors; the company designs the vehicles and software for the customer and fleet observation. The e-bikes and e-scooters can be charged to full power in seven minutes for a range of 9 km to 15 km; the e-bike uses a pedal-assist ... read more.
Company Snapshot

Jerrold Wang

Consumer IoT More...

January 24, 2020

Rokid

Developer of AI-empowered devices for human-machine interaction

Developed electronic devices including smart speakers and augmented reality (AR) glasses based on its own human-machine interaction technologies, such as voice recognition, NLP, and computer vision Smart speakers are based on the company's sound processing and voice recognition technologies and ... read more.
Company Profile

Lewie Roberts

Digital Transformation

January 24, 2020

QunaSys

Quantum computing software for research projects

Develops quantum chemical simulation software and algorithms for quantum computers, engaging specifically in joint research projects at this time; it focuses on currently available noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) hardware, where improvements over classical computers have yet to be discovered... read more.
Company Profile

Drishti Masand

Accelerating Materials Innovation More...

January 24, 2020

PulpWorks

Molded and compostable consumer packaging products from cellulosic material

Develops molded pulp packaging (MPP) for consumer goods using agricultural waste products Patented design for a package called Karta-Pack aims to be an environmentally and consumer-friendly alternative to PVC and PET blister packs Outsources manufacturing to between six and seven toll manufacturers ... read more.
Company Profile

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Water Quality Monitoring: Why, How, and The Future

Coverage Areas: Owning the Energy Transition More...

Planned Publication Date: January 2020

Due to the size and complexity of water and wastewater systems and the premium instrument costs, the water industry has struggled to automate water quality monitoring. Meanwhile, increasing concerns over public health and irregularly but inexorably tightening regulations put utilities under pressure to ensure safe drinking water and wastewater discharge. Potential to improve plant performance and uptime also encourage more active adoption of advanced sensors among industrial operators. This report shows the interesting use cases for different water quality sensors across the water space.

Industrial Power Symbiosis: Finding Cost-Effective Cases for On-Site Power Generation

Coverage Areas: Future Grid More...

Planned Publication Date: January 2020

When and how will industrial customers of electricity find it most cost-effective to source their own electricity from on-site generators? This report will match power generation technologies with the industries that can benefit from their use and secondary benefits, such as heat and hydrogen production.

Metal 3D printing Segmentation for Emerging Applications

Coverage Areas: Accelerating Materials Innovation More...

Planned Publication Date: January 2020

This report will analyze the technical capabilities of existing metal 3D printers to: 1) define common use cases; 2) highlight further development areas; and 3) emphasize the caveats of metal 3D printing applications.

2020 Vision: Top Materials Developments in 2019 and What to Look for in 2020

Coverage Areas: Accelerating Materials Innovation

Planned Publication Date: January 2020

2019 was an eventful year in materials as issues of sustainability and plastic waste issues became a massive concern, digital challenges like materials informatics and data-driven business models continued to grow in popularity, new material platforms like metamaterials and applications like 5G rose -- all while corporate M&A and strategic venturing continued apace. This report reviews some of the biggest developments while looking forward to trends to watch in 2020.

Decarbonizing the global energy trade

Coverage Areas: Owning the Energy Transition

Planned Publication Date: January 2020

As renewable energy generation grows to meet decarbonization goals, so do concerns about overgeneration and curtailment. Hydrogen is increasingly seen as means to reduce curtailment by shuttling energy that would otherwise be wasted on the grid to other sectors like industry and transportation – a practice called sector coupling. While sector coupling may help curtailment, it doesn’t address the myriad regions that lack the land area or resource potential like Japan or the Netherlands to overbuild solar and wind generation. These regions instead must find a means to import renewable energy cheaply to realize decarbonization goals. In this report, we will highlight the challenges of sector coupling and provide a framework to identify the best energy vectors to import and export renewable energy.

Applications and impacts of bioinformatics across the agrifood and health ecosystem

Coverage Areas: Digital Transformation More...

Planned Publication Date: January 2020

Building on the first phase of Lux's thematic coverage of bioinformatics, the second phase explores the applications and impacts of this technology on the agrifood and health ecosystem through the lens of subjective and objective analyses. Applications and impacts are broken down for agriculture, food, and health and future recommendations of engagement in the space outlined.

The Digital Transformation of Warehousing and Logistics

Coverage Areas: Digital Transformation

Planned Publication Date: February 2020

Supply chain's across industries struggle with the fundamental issues of visibility, reliability, and agility. These challenges get further compounded due to the global spread of complex supply chains, slowdown in global economic growth, and broader sustainability goals. On top of that- customers across the board are now more demanding with regards to lead times, reverse logistics, and product customization in the era of e-commerce. Starting off with the downstream end of the supply chain, this report discusses the novel solutions digital technologies bring to warehouses and logistics that could solve the perennial issues of supply chains while also highlighting emerging players, and case studies for a deeper insight.

Emerging Materials Opportunities for the Apparel Industry

Coverage Areas: Accelerating Materials Innovation

Planned Publication Date: February 2020

The apparel industry is a huge market for polymers, coatings, dyes, and more, but the low cost tolerance and fast development cycles make materials innovation a challenge. However, there are increasing demands for sustainable products, differentiation, more functional clothing, and cleaner manufacturing. All this creates new opportunities for materials innovation; this report will highlight the most promising areas.

The Digital Transformation of Chemicals

Coverage Areas: Digital Transformation

Planned Publication Date: February 2020

As digital innovations penetrate the physical industries, they threaten to upend the products, processes, value chains, and customer relationships of incumbents. In this report, we'll examine the impact of digital transformation on the chemicals industry, highlighting digital use cases in R&D, manufacturing, logistics, sales, and beyond.

Innovative manufacturing methods to shift production costs and customize products on demand

Coverage Areas: Digital Transformation More...

Planned Publication Date: February 2020

This report will delve into the many ways manufacturers are shifting away from the traditional high-volume, centralized production model in order to lower per unit costs and respond to product diversity and customization. Methods examined will include adaptive manufacturing, distributed manufacturing, and flexible manufacturing, as well as lessons learned from emerging generative design and product simulation methods and their implications for production. The different methods will be defined and analyzed for value, fit to industry sector and business model innovation and readiness.