By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 4 Oct 21
It’s often believed that the clean energy disruption could be fundamentally constrained by resource scarcity in the form of insurmountable raw materials and mineral bottlenecks. Increasingly, some argue that it entails a net decrease in the energy available to societies, and therefore warn of an unavoidable decline in material prosperity in coming decades. In the following two-part series, we will address some of the most notable perspectives that uphold this mythology. Doing so, we will show that if societies make the right choices – and that’s a big ‘if’ – the clean energy disruption can represent a fundamental break with
It’s often believed that the clean energy disruption could be fundamentally constrained by resource scarcity in the form of insurmountable raw materials and mineral bottlenecks. Increasingly, some argue that it entails a net decrease in the energy available to societies, and therefore warn of an unavoidable decline in material prosperity in coming decades. In the following two-part series, we will
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 9 Sep 20
At the heart of our work at RethinkX are cost curves. They are much more than a visual tool for understanding the exponential fall in costs, they are a roadmap to explaining how disruption happens. In the case of precision fermentation (PF), each step down the cost curve has opened up the cost competitiveness for new sets of products, from pharmaceuticals (like insulin[1]), enzymes, flavors and fragrances, to cosmetics, materials, food, and all in-between. We talk about some of these products and companies in our blog “Precision fermentation is nothing new and it’s here to stay”. Today, the cost of
At the heart of our work at RethinkX are cost curves. They are much more than a visual tool for understanding the exponential fall in costs, they are a roadmap to explaining how disruption happens. In the case of precision fermentation (PF), each step down the cost curve has opened up the cost competitiveness for new sets of products, from
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 4 Sep 20
There is a major disruption coming to the food system, one that is well detailed in our report Rethinking Food and Agriculture. In the report, we identify the core disruptive technology over the next 10 years to be precision fermentation (PF). The regulation of PF is key to shaping the disruption. Regulation and the food system go hand in hand, and rightfully so. Food has a direct relationship with public and personal health, and people must be protected from real threats to safety and any uncertainties with the ingredients in the food they eat, or how those foods are produced.
There is a major disruption coming to the food system, one that is well detailed in our report Rethinking Food and Agriculture. In the report, we identify the core disruptive technology over the next 10 years to be precision fermentation (PF). The regulation of PF is key to shaping the disruption. Regulation and the food system go hand in hand,
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 3 Sep 20
Today, we are on the cusp of multiple disruptions in food and materials. So why now? In a previous blog we discussed how precision fermentation (PF) has been around for 40 years. We know this because we can pinpoint the first product commercialized from PF – human insulin. Human insulin is an illustrative example of how PF created a superior product that led to a rapid disruption of an incumbent product. In this blog, we discuss some of the technology convergence that led to scientists being able to produce human insulin via PF, as well as some of the economic
Today, we are on the cusp of multiple disruptions in food and materials. So why now? In a previous blog we discussed how precision fermentation (PF) has been around for 40 years. We know this because we can pinpoint the first product commercialized from PF – human insulin. Human insulin is an illustrative example of how PF created a superior
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 30 Jun 20
In Rethinking Food & Agriculture, published in 2019, we predicted that there will be 50% fewer cows in the US by 2030 and that by 2035 the livestock industry will be all but bankrupt. This was considered fast by many observers, but Covid-19 has since revealed the fragility of the global food supply chain, pulling back the curtain in dramatic fashion on its economic vulnerabilities and inefficiencies. This particular disruption of livestock happened because of an acute event, the pandemic, rather than the convergence of new technologies as we predicted in our report. But our analysis that the livestock industry
In Rethinking Food & Agriculture, published in 2019, we predicted that there will be 50% fewer cows in the US by 2030 and that by 2035 the livestock industry will be all but bankrupt. This was considered fast by many observers, but Covid-19 has since revealed the fragility of the global food supply chain, pulling back the curtain in dramatic