The concept of sequestering carbon dioxide underground is not a new one but it may play a much bigger role in the future. According to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), carbon capture will almost certainly be needed as part of a swathe of strategies aimed at reducing environmental CO2 and hence limiting…
Circularity and sustainability are at the heart of the ethos behind Italian biomaterials innovator SQIM. Using only mycelium and fermentation the company creates low environmental impact, high value products for the interior design, fashion and automotive manufacturing sectors. Using a proprietary process developed in-house, the company creates fashionable and high quality interior surface panels for the…
Seattle plays host to the Bloomberg Green Festival this week. The festival invites activists and innovators to collaborate on climate solutions with a focus on sustainability, design, culture, food, tech, data, science, policy and entertainment. The festival offers solutions-driven experiences alongside expert commentary as well as a series of public-facing and engaging events across the…
This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the incredible discovery of graphene. The elusive nano-material demonstrates astounding properties with applications including electronics, clothing, paints, healthcare and water purification. In particular graphene is actively being explored as a foundation for targeted therapeutics and implantable devices and sensors. Collaborations between industry and research groups have been forging…
As concerns over groundwater nitrate levels grow, scientist engineers from the Southern Hemisphere have been exporting a unique nitrate sensing technology globally. Now the company is being spun out from it’s university consultancy origins, in the hope of securing investment and scaling up the operation considerably. Hydro-Metrics started life as a business unit within Lincoln…
Chemical engineers agree that methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases. Atmospheric methane is estimated to have over 80 times the impact of CO2 over a 20 year period, despite a lower longevity in the atmosphere. From the biogenic methane of farm animals and plant waste through to losses from landfill decay, humans…
A spinoff company from the Australian National University plans to shake up the garment industry with recycling of polyester, a commonly used fabric derived from petrochemicals. Now with fresh funding of AUD $100 million, the company is building up a family of biological catalysts with applications across a wide range of industries. Samsara Eco sprung…
Competing and thriving as a nation in a highly technological, fast changing and globalised economy increasingly dictates that universities and institutes step up and generate economic returns on their research. But although there have been a few notable exceptions here in New Zealand universities, we continue to underperform in the commercialisation of new scientific knowledge…
“Where there’s muck, there’s brass”. So the saying goes. But in the case of University of Canterbury technology startup Zincovery it was more a case of, wherever there’s horrid industrial waste there’s zinc. So when chemistry student Jonathan Ring and his Masters supervisor Dr Aaron Marshall discovered just how much of that waste was going…
