Each year, according to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Technology_Review
), MIT Technology
Review publishes three lists …
- Innovators Under 35 (formerly TR35)
- 10 Breakthrough Technologies
- 50 Smartest Companies
All three lists are valuable to anyone interested in identifying promising
start-ups. This year’s list of the top 10 Breakthrough Technologies came out a
few weeks ago.
The three technologies that caught my eye are highlighted below.
But, first, here is a three-point strategy you might want to consider going
forward …
- Look at the 10 Breakthrough Technologies list
- Subscribe to MIT Technology Review. This will give you easy access to each of the annual lists (https://www.technologyreview.com/ )
- Once you subscribe, take the time to read, or at least to browse, each bimonthly issue.
Energy is of particular interest to me. As such, here are the three
technologies that stood out to me. Some of the firms of interest that are
listed are …
SiFive
https://www.sifive.com
SiFive is a fabless semiconductor company
and provider of commercial RISC-V processor IP and silicon chips based on the
RISC-V instruction set architecture. SiFive's products include cores, SoCs,
IPs, and development boards. SiFive is the first company to produce a chip that
implements the RISC-V ISA. Wikipedia
SemiFive
https://semifive.com
SEMIFIVE, hand in hand with global
innovation leaders, is growing as a leading partner for future SoC designs, and
thereby becoming: The New Global Hub of Custom Silicon. Founded in Seoul in
2018, SEMIFIVE is basing its foundation on Korea’s semiconductor design
competency that was amassed for more than 20 years.
BYD
https://www.byd.com
Founded in 1995, BYD started out as a battery maker and entered the automobile
business in 2003. https://asia.nikkei.com
("Build Your Dreams" Chinese: 比亚迪股份有限公司) is a publicly listed
Chinese conglomerate manufacturing company headquartered in Shenzhen,
Guangdong, China. It was founded by Wang Chuanfu in February 1995. The company
has two major subsidiaries, BYD Automobile and BYD Electronic. https://en.wikipedia.org
BYD is a major Chinese automaker based in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. It
sells vehicles under the BYD brand.
Redwood Materials
https://www.redwoodmaterials.com
Redwood Materials, Inc. is an American
company headquartered in Carson City, Nevada. The company aims to recycle
lithium-ion batteries and produce battery materials for electromobility and
electrical storage systems. Redwood Materials was reported to have a valuation
of about $3.7 billion as of July 2021. Wikipedia
Li-Cycle
https://li-cycle.com
Li-Cycle, which became a publicly traded
company in 2021, said it had more than 100 battery suppliers, including a
partnership with Ultium Cells, a joint venture between General Motors and the
South Korean battery company LG Energy Solution. Li-Cycle also has strategic
partnerships with the mining giant Glencore and Koch Industries, the privately
held conglomerate with extensive fossil fuel operations. Together, those two
businesses have invested $300 million in Li-Cycle. (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/21/business/energy-environment/battery-recycling-electric-vehicles.html)
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A FEW OF THE MIT TOP 10 TECHNOLOGIES 2023
Computing
A chip design that changes everything:
10 Breakthrough Technologies 2023
Computer chip designs are expensive and hard to license. That’s all about to
change thanks to the popular open standard known as RISC-V.
By Sophia Chenarchive page
January 9, 2023
WHO
RISC-V International, Intel, SiFive, SemiFive, China RISC-V Industry Alliance
WHEN
Now
Ever wonder how your smartphone connects to your Bluetooth speaker, given they
were made by different companies? Well, Bluetooth is an open standard, meaning
its design specifications, such as the required frequency and its data encoding
protocols, are publicly available. Software and hardware based on open
standards—Ethernet, Wi-Fi, PDF—have become household names.
Now an open standard known as RISC-V (pronounced “risk five”) could change how
companies create computer chips. Chip companies such as Intel and Arm have long
kept their blueprints proprietary. Customers would buy off-the-shelf chips,
which may have had capabilities irrelevant to their product, or pay more for a
custom design. Since RISC-V is an open standard, anyone can use it to design a
chip, free of charge.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/01/09/1064876/riscv-computer-chips-10-breakthough-technologies-2023/
TIP: Google: RISC-V International
RISC-V is an open standard Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) enabling a
new era of processor innovation through open collaboration
RISC-V enables the community to share technical investment, contribute to the
strategic future, create more rapidly, enjoy unprecedented design freedom, and
substantially reduce the cost of innovation.
RISC-V International is the global non-profit home of the open standard RISC-V
Instruction Set Architecture (ISA), related specifications, and stakeholder
community
More than 3,100 RISC-V members across 70 countries contribute and collaborate
to define RISC-V open specifications as well as convene and govern related
technical, industry, domain, and special interest groups.
RISC-V combines a modular technical approach with an open, royalty-free ISA —
meaning that anyone, anywhere can benefit from the IP contributed and produced
by RISC-V. As a non-profit, RISC-V does not maintain any commercial interest in
products or services. As an open standard, anyone may leverage RISC-V as a
building block in their open or proprietary solutions and services.
Open source and global standards have a long history of success because they
have a license framework that ensures anyone, anywhere can have ongoing access
to them.
https://riscv.org/
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Climate change
The inevitable EV: 10 Breakthrough
Technologies 2023
Electric vehicles have been available for decades. Now they’ve finally become
mainstream.
By James Temple
January 9, 20
WHO
BYD, Hyundai, Tesla, Volkswagen
WHEN
Now
Electric vehicles are transforming the auto industry.
While sales have slowly ticked up for years, they’re now soaring. The
emissions-free cars and trucks will likely account for 13% of all new auto
sales globally in 2022, up from 4% just two years earlier, according to the
International Energy Agency. They’re on track to make up about 30% of those
sales by the end of this decade.
A mix of forces has propelled the vehicles from a niche choice to a mainstream
option.
Governments have enacted policies compelling automakers to retool and
incentivizing consumers to make the switch. Notably, California and New York
will require all new cars, trucks, and SUVs to be zero-emissions by 2035, and
the EU had nearly finalized a similar rule at press time.
Auto companies, in turn, are setting up supply chains, building manufacturing
capacity, and releasing more models with better performance, across price
points and product types.
The Hongguang Mini, a tiny car that starts a little below $5,000, has become
the best-selling electric vehicle in the world, reinforcing China’s dominance
as the largest manufacturer of EVs.
A growing line-up of two- and three-wheelers from Hero Electric, Ather, and
other companies helped EV sales triple in India over the last year (though the
total number is still only around 430,000). And models ranging in size and
price from the Chevy Bolt to the Ford F-150 Lightning are bringing more
Americans into the electric fold.
There are still big challenges ahead. Most of the vehicles must become cheaper.
Charging options need to be more convenient. Clean electricity generation will
have to increase dramatically to accommodate the surge in vehicle charging. And
it will be a massive undertaking to make enough batteries. But it’s now clear
that the heyday of the gas-guzzler is dimming.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/01/09/1064889/the-inevitable-ev-10-breakthrough-technologies-2023/
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Battery recycling
Recycling is vital to prevent today’s growing mountains of discarded
batteries from ending up in landfills, and it could also provide a badly needed
source of metals for powering tomorrow’s EVs. Companies are building facilities
that will reclaim lithium, nickel, and cobalt and feed these metals back to
lithium-ion battery manufacturers, helping reduce the cost.
TIP: Google:
ev battery recycling
!!!!!!!
Race to the Future: Electric Cars Are
Taking Off, but When Will Battery Recycling Follow?
Many companies and investors are eager to recycle batteries, but it could take
a decade or more before enough used lithium-ion batteries become available.
New York Times [EXCERPTS]
By Niraj Chokshi and Kellen Browning
Dec. 21, 2022
Niraj Chokshi and Kellen Browning reported this story from Reno, Nev. Chokshi
also traveled to Rochester, N.Y., and Browning to Adelanto, Calif.
Sales of electric cars and trucks are taking off, and the auto and battery
industries are investing billions of dollars to upgrade and build factories.
These cars could help address climate change, but batteries pose their own
problems. Raw materials can be hard to mine, are often found in countries with
poor human rights records and require processing that leaves behind noxious
waste.
Fortunately, those battery ingredients are also highly reusable. And now a race
is on to collect and recycle used lithium-ion batteries. Venture capitalists,
automakers and energy companies are pouring money into dozens of start-up
recycling companies in North America and Europe.
Among companies recycling batteries, Redwood stands out. The company was
founded by J.B. Straubel, a former top Tesla executive, and has raised more
than $1 billion from investors, it said. Redwood sees itself primarily as a
producer of battery materials — made from recovered or mined metals — and has
established recycling partnerships with Ford Motor, Toyota, Volkswagen and
Volvo. Redwood also recycles scrap from a battery plant run by Panasonic and
Tesla, near Reno, Nev.
It could take many years for recycling to become a thriving industry in the
United States. Relatively few electric vehicles are on the road, and most are
new. Smartphones, laptops and other electronics also contain lithium-ion
batteries, but they are difficult to collect and there are not enough to meet
the growing needs of the auto industry.
But lawmakers and environmental groups want recycling to take off quickly to
cut carbon emissions, protect the nation from an overreliance on foreign
producers and promote the safe disposal of batteries.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/21/business/energy-environment/battery-recycling-electric-vehicles.html
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Google® Better!
Jean Steinhardt served as Librarian,
Aramco Services, Engineering Division, for 13 years. He now heads Jean
Steinhardt Consulting LLC, producing the same high quality research that he
performed for Aramco.
Follow Jean’s blog at: http://desulf.blogspot.com/
for continuing tips on effective online research
Email Jean at research@jeansteinhardtconsulting.com
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