Novel Israeli startup uses ice to store solar energy and solve energy’s “Duck Curve”
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today renewable energy sources don’t generate electricity 24/7, and while they will in the future for now we need a way to store excess energy so it can be released back to the grid when we need it. Love the Exponential Future? Join our...
A tiny self-erasing computer chip could improve your company’s security
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF If it’s connected it’s vulnerable to attack, and in the future everything is connected so we need new security technologies … Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. When I used to work...
Genetically engineered barcoded spores could help improve food safety
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF When things go wrong in the global supply chain it can be hard to find and fix the fault and recall the products, this improves the situation. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my...
Quantum computers get busy helping BMW optimise its global supply chain
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Ultra-powerful quantum computers are perfectly designed to help solve optimisation problems, and most global supply chains are highly inefficient. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Back in 2019 Volkswagen became one of...
Edible electronics tattooed onto your food could track both your food and your health
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Electronics are changing, in every way, and that opens up a whole new world of possibilities. Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog. Transferrable tattoos and decal transfers are a familiar part of...
Nike’s new 3D printed kicks get set to revolutionise retail
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Retail will soon be going through another disruption, one where personalised products are made on demand in the back of stores, and the sportswear industry are leading the charge. We’re facing a retail revolution, another one, and this time it’s not e-commerce, one where...
Air France KLM and Microsoft use blockchain to improve MRO
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Blockchain has enormous potential to improve the efficiency of supply chains and especially MRO, and this is one of the world’s first proof of concepts. Air France KLM’s engineering and maintenance division is evaluating the potential for Blockchain to become its new digital ledger...
UPS bets on blockchain to transform the $1 Trillion shipping industry
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Today’s global supply chains are plagued by a multitude of challenges, both bureaucratic and logistical, blockchain technology used correctly reduces the friction and eliminates many of them. The world is run by trade. Freight and logistics in the US alone account for nearly $1.5...
Scientists create edible electronics using Graphene to improve food safety
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Being able to quickly and easily tag foods and other products with sensors and other electronics that can be safely eaten could improve food safety and security. James Tour believes anything can be turned into the wonder material, Graphene, a material so versatile it...
IBM breaks the record for the world’s smallest computer
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As computers continue to shrink it allows organisations to dream up new ways of using them, and in IBM’s case they want to use their new tech to help cryptographically secure the Internet of Things. Each year IBM showcases “5 in 5” technologies coming...
Maritime regulator gets set to allow autonomous ships on the high seas
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF As new autonomous ship technologies race ahead we mustn’t forget that nothing happens unless the regulators allow it, but now the dam’s bursting. It can be said that the majority of people and companies normally see change coming well before it arrives, take the...
It begins, Uber unveils its autonomous trucking business
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF New technologies are hitting the roads faster than expected, self-driving trucks which many analysts said were years, if not decades away, now need to re-write those reports and tens of millions of people who rely on the industry need to re-evaluate their futures. A...
Walmart improves public safety by putting pork on the blockchain
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Global supply chains are complex and can be easy for criminals to exploit by putting pork onto the blockchain Walmart are able to ensure and query the integrity of their supply chains, identify problems and pull tainted batches off of the shelves faster. Walmart...
From line to plate, Tuna gets its own blockchain
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Tuna becomes the world’s first fish to get its own blockchain to track it’s provenance from net to plate. Most people have heard of bitcoin but fewer people are familiar with blockchain, the revolutionary technology that underpins it. And now this technology, which ostensibly began life in the...
BHP turns to blockchain to improve its supply chain
WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF Blockchain is finding a home in the enterprise and now BHP want to use it to improve their supply chain. At this weeks Global Blockchain Summit BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining firm, revealed that it is going to begin using the Ethereum blockchain and IPFS running on Microsoft Azure...
CIO Insight Series: Getting supplier relationships to work
CIO’s are becoming increasingly entrepreneurial but very few feel their suppliers provide any meaningful value During the course of my interviews with CIO’s over the past couple of years I’ve witnessed the growth of a worrying trend – the fact that many CIO’s feel that their suppliers are becoming...
