An Innovator's Guide to Finding the Right Research Platform for R&D
Keep Reading
Carbon dioxide (Co2) is one of the atmospheric "greenhouse gases" that absorbs and radiates heat gradually over time and contributes to the natural warming of the Earth known as the greenhouse effect. Notably, increases in atmospheric CO2 are responsible for about 2/3 of the total energy imbalance that is causing Earth's temperature to rise.
The built environment generates nearly 50% of annual global CO2 emissions. Of those total emissions, building operations are responsible for 27% annually, while building materials and construction are responsible for an additional 20% annually.
As a result, measures are being taken to create structures and building materials that are carbon-neutral, and even carbon negative, to reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. One such project was announced this week by the U.S. Department of Energy.
About the project
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced Monday that it is awarding $39 million in grants, primarily to universities, for 18 projects seeking to develop technologies that can transform buildings into net carbon storage structures.
The awards are part of DOE’s Harnessing Emissions into Structures Taking Inputs from the Atmosphere (HESTIA) program, and will prioritize overcoming barriers associated with carbon-storing buildings, including scarce, expensive, and geographically limited building materials. The overarching goal is to increase the amount of carbon that can be stored in buildings so they become “carbon sinks”— materials or processes that absorb more carbon from the atmosphere than they release. The decarbonization goals for this program fall in line with President Jo Biden’s call for the federal government to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
Why it's significant
Of the greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide is known to absorb less heat per molecule than the greenhouse gases methane or nitrous oxide, be more abundant, and stay in the atmosphere much longer. When it comes to how CO2 factors into buildings, the DOE reports that greenhouse gas emissions associated with material manufacturing and construction, renovation and disposal of buildings at the end of their service life are concentrated at the start of a building's lifetime. As a result, it's important to address greenhouse gas emissions when it comes to materials, design, and building techniques.
According to U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm, “There’s huge, untapped potential in reimagining building materials and construction techniques as carbon sinks that support a cleaner atmosphere and advance President Biden’s national climate goals. This is a unique opportunity for researchers to advance clean energy materials to tackle one of the hardest to decarbonize sectors that is responsible for roughly 10% of total annual emissions in the United States.”
Who’s working on the project
The teams are comprised of universities, private companies, and national laboratories, and will develop and demonstrate building materials and net carbon negative whole-building designs. HESTIA project titles, locations, and award amounts are listed below. For more detailed information on each project, visit HESTIA project descriptions.
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory – Golden, CO; High-Performing Carbon-Negative Concrete Using Low Value Byproducts from Biofuels Production - $1,749,935
- Texas A&M University – College Station, TX; Hempcrete 3D Printed Buildings for Sustainability and Resilience - $3,742,496
- University of Colorado Boulder – Boulder, CO; A Photosynthetic Route to Carbon-Negative Portland Limestone Cement Production - $3,193,063
- University at Buffalo – Buffalo, NY; Modular Design and Additive Manufacturing of Interlocking Superinsulation Panel from Bio-based Feedstock for Autonomous Construction - $2,179,852
- University of Pennsylvania – Philadelphia, PA; High-Performance Building Structure with 3D-Printed Carbon Absorbing Funicular Systems – $2,407,390
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory – Fairbanks, AK; Celium: Cellulose-Mycelium Composites for Carbon Negative Buildings/Construction - $2,476,145
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory – Richland, WA; The Circular Home: Development and Demonstration of a Net-Negative-Carbon, Reusable Residence - $2,627,466
- Oregon State University – Corvallis, OR; Cellulose Cement Composite (C3) for Residential and Commercial Construction - $2,500,000
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory – Oak Ridge, TN; Renewable, Carbon-negative Adhesives for OSB and Other Engineered Woods - $1,098,000
- University of Wisconsin-Madison – Madison, WI; Carbon-Negative Ready-Mix Concrete Building Components Through Direct Air Capture - $2,256,250
- Northeastern University – Boston, MA; 4C2B: Century-scale Carbon-sequestration in Cross-laminated Timber Composite Bolted-steel Buildings - $3,150,000
- Purdue University – West Lafayette, IN; Strong and CO2 Consuming Living Wood for Buildings - $958,245
- University of Tennessee-Knoxville – Knoxville, TN; Lignin-derived Carbon Storing Foams for High Performance Insulation - $2,557,383
- Clemson University – Clemson, SC; An Entirely Wood Floor System Designed for Carbon Negativity, Future Adaptability, and End of Life De/re/Construction - $1,042,934
- Aspen Products Group – Marlborough, MA; High Performance, Carbon Negative Building Insulation - $1,152,476
- BamCore – Ocala, FL; Maximizing Carbon Negativity in Next Generation Bamboo Framing Materials - $2,230,060
- SkyNano – Knoxville, TN; CO2mposite: Recycling of CO2, Carbon Fiber Waste, and Biomaterials into Composite Panels for Lower Embodied Carbon Building Materials - $2,000,000
- Biomason – Durham, NC; Soteria - Carbon Negative Bioconcrete Unit Production Concept - $1,812,118
Given the funding the DOE is devoting to decarbonization technologies, it's safe to say that research and investment into the area is on the rise. According to our data, there are 1584 players in the market operating across 3723 technologies. To learn more about innovation activity in the decarbonization space, visit cypris.ai and get started with access to the innovation dashboard.
Sources:
We are in the midst of the biggest wave of urbanism in human history. Today, more than 4.3 billion people or 55% of the world’s population live in urban settings. By 2050, the share of the world’s population living in cities is expected to rise to 80% (World Economic Forum).
With more people concentrated in urban areas, cities must adapt to new challenges when it comes to infrastructure, housing, material consumption, accessibility, sustainability, and much more. In this blog, we’ll look at new innovations that have emerged to combat new challenges cities are facing.
Market Overview
Using the Cypris innovation dashboard, we identified innovation activity in the urban development market has grown over the past 5 years, with a 62.5% average growth rate. Within the vertical, there are 392 technologies being applied within 38 different categories. The fastest growing category is Signaling with an 125.0% increase in new patents filed over the last 5 years.
The most active top players in Urban Development by patent number include UNIV SHENYANG JIANZHU (16), HUAGAO DIGITAL TECH CO LTD (8), and COLOPL INC (6).
Market news in the space is dominated primarily by lawsuits (45%), followed by new products (12%) and new partnerships (12%).
Notably, while diving into urban development market news, we discovered that Google released a new tool that provides real-time land cover data called Dynamic World, created in partnership with global nonprofit organization World Resources Institute (WRI). Prior to its creation, it was difficult to access detailed and up-to-date land cover, across land and water types. Dynamic World reveals how the earth’s surface is changing from various activities, and allows viewers to track land cover changes from environmental factors, like floods and snowstorms, and changes induced by human activity like urban development and deforestation. The tool will help generate awareness around issues facing the planet, and equip scientists, environmental researchers, policymakers, and the general public with the information to better understand environmental disturbances and plan for future disasters.
Innovative Patents in Urban Development
Here are 5 of the most fascinating patents within the urban development space:
Method for constructing artificial islands with reefs from urban construction waste: This invention provides a 5-step method for constructing artificial islands with reefs from urban construction waste. The method includes 1) recycling the urban construction waste; 2) bonding and pouring the urban construction waste by the aid of cement to obtain large cement brick specimens; 3) transporting the cement specimens to coastal regions by the aid of unidirectional logistics empty materials; 4) transporting the cement specimens to the reefs; and 5) constructing the islands by the aid of cement bricks in falling tide periods.
Inventors: WANG XIAOJIN, & LAI BINGHONG; Patent #: CN103882831A
Roadside dedicated to people with reduced mobility: This invention is a curb specially designed to facilitate movement on the sidewalk for people using wheelchairs and the blind or visually impaired. The invention makes it possible to guide the wheels of a wheelchair, and protect pedestrians from cars. The regularly spaced outfalls in the invention contain a slight slope in order to evacuate rainwater as well. This invention can be precast in concrete and is particularly intended for road and urban development projects in the building and public works industry.
Inventor: GILLET ENGUERRAN; Patent #: FR3115300A1
Underwater Two-Level Tunnel in the Zone of Dense Urban Development: This patent is an underwater two-level tunnel designed for a dense urban area. The tunnel consists of a main two-tier tunnel with separate traffic lanes located inside and additional branches connecting the main tunnel with its terminals located on road sections of the road network adjacent to the tunnel. A second level in the main tunnel and the presence of at least one lane of free movement helps to eliminates the intersection of additional branches and the need to build traffic interchanges.
Inventor: Unlisted; Patent #: RU196900U1
Container House: This invention is a prefabricated transportable container house with a foundation of stainless steel pipe bodies that helps with earthquake and hurricane resistance. Mega structures with numerous container homes can be used when stacking of two or more container homes is insufficient and large-scale urban development is required, and they'll be able to withstand earthquakes and hurricanes due to a net-cladding system of wire.
Inventor: KANGNA NELSON SHEN; Patent #: BR112012010096A2
Solar pedestrian overpass: This patent is a solar pedestrian overpass which comprises a connecting column, a sliding groove formed in the outer wall of the connecting column, four solar panels arranged in the sliding groove, and an output port formed in the end face of the upper end of the connecting column. The bottom surface of the connecting column and the solar panel at the lowermost layer are positioned on the same horizontal plane.
Inventor: LING JIEYONG; Patent #: CN211815496U
Whether through sustainability initiatives, mobility and accessibility efforts, or structures made more resistant to natural disasters, new innovations are changing how we plan and create cities. To learn more about patents and new innovations in the urban development space, visit cypris.ai and get started with access to the innovation dashboard.
Sources:
Cypris Innovation Dashboard, Query: Urban Development
https://cypris.ai/patents/detail/roadside-dedicated-to-people-with-reduced-mobility/FR3115300A1
https://cypris.ai/patents/detail/solar-pedestrian-overpass/CN211815496U
https://www2.deloitte.com/xe/en/insights/industry/public-sector/future-of-cities.html
https://www.futuresplatform.com/blog/3-trends-driving-future-cities-and-urban-living
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/04/global-urbanization-material-consumption/
Competitive Intelligence (CI) is the process of analyzing, gathering, and using information collected on competitors, customers, and other market factors that contribute to your competitive advantage. Companies rely on CI data to develop effective and efficient business practices.
CI consists of two types of intelligence: tactical and strategic. Tactical is shorter-term intelligence, which seeks to provide input into issues like capturing market share or increasing revenues, while strategic focuses on longer-term issues, like key risks and opportunities facing the organization, and emerging trends and patterns.
Why competitive intelligence matters, particularly real-time CI.
Understanding competitor motivations and behaviors is critical to driving innovation, shaping product development, establishing pricing and brand positioning, and so much more. Companies must collect proper CI in order to identify challenges, advantages, and white spaces and build a competitive strategy equipped to compete and thrive.
Technology has transformed the CI industry, making it possible for organizations to compile data from multiple sources in a timely manner to facilitate rapid decision-making. Through actionable insights, companies can respond to changes in their markets quickly to keep up with competition. At the core of actionable insights is real-time CI. With real-time CI, companies deliver timely intelligence to the right people, increasing organizational agility.
When looking to collect CI, it’s important to plan out which insights are of value to you, how to identify your competitors, and which markets to spend time on. Take time to narrow in on your direct competitors, research objectives, and areas of interest.
Are companies focusing on CI? These metrics might surprise you.
90% of Fortune 500 companies practice competitive intelligence. (Source: Emerald Insight)
Over 73% of businesses are investing more than 20% of overall technology budgets on intelligence and data analytics. (Source: Forbes)
61% of executives view rapid decision-making and execution as essential factors for a company’s success, and 34% consider the ability to access the right information at the right time as key factors for a company’s success. (Source: The Economist)
69% of organizations that have used an external partner to gain better data insight report positive results from that decision. (Source: The Economist)
57% of companies state that gaining a competitive advantage is one of the top 3 priorities in their industry. (Source: Forbes)
The 6 ways CI benefits your organization.
CI empowers everyone on teams, from product managers and marketers, to sales and executive teams. With the right CI, you can:
Uncover Key Data Points: Through examining new data points like significant acquisitions, new patent filings, startup investments, technology transfer agreements, research papers, etc., you can uncover pivotal data points that have the potential to influence major decisions.
Plan Strategic Moves: CI facilitates building your long-term business strategy and finding market gaps, allowing you to make the right business decisions for your organization.
Track industry Trends: Live-data CI lets you watch for new technologies, track new movement, stay on top of industry innovation trends, and predict future movement.
Drive Innovation: CI helps you to identify new market opportunities and spaces to innovate, accelerate your new product development, design better products, and improve market positioning.
Outsmart Competition: Think of CI as competitive insurance to ensure you stay on top of competitor strengths and weaknesses, anticipate what they’re planning, and identify competitor position and messaging. With CI you can uncover new product launches and services your competitors are adding, and benchmark your company against others.
Minimize Risk: Making the wrong move is costly. CI helps you prevent unsuccessful projects from taking off, save on costs, and improve decision-making ROI. With CI data, you can identify and prioritize any gaps within your business, and feel comfortable knowing you're making data-backed decisions.
Where to go from here: Actionable intelligence platforms are here to help.
Manually collecting CI takes time, and is costly. Not to mention doing your own research digging on the Internet for low-hanging fruit means you'll likely miss key data points that don't provide you with the whole picture. In the time it takes traditional market intelligence or research analysts to gather data to build into basic and applied research reports, you can receive data automatically through a platform like Cypris.
Designed specifically to deliver actionable innovation intelligence to R&D teams, Cypris improves the efficiency of data collation and interpretation. By aggregating your desired data, Cypris enables users to answer critical questions that influence the brand, margin, and profitability of your organization. Users have identified new entrants, significant IP, groundbreaking research papers, and more that have ultimately swayed the course of major projects.
Ready for real-time data on your competitors? Visit cypris.ai to get started by booking a demo.
Sources:
https://www.jimmynewson.com/10-important-competitive-intelligence-statistics/
https://www.gartner.com/en/information-technology/glossary/ci-competitive-intelligence
https://www.antara.ws/en/blog/competitive-intelligence-benefits-for-the-company