SHOOTINGFOR HOWTECHWILL SHAPE OURFUTURE tech. FiveAI has so far raised $35 ... Internet dotcom...

SHOOTINGFORTHEMOON:HOWTECHWILLSHAPEOURFUTURE

SUPPLEMENT GRATUIT AU #22583 DU QUOTIDIEN ”LES ECHOS” DU 30 NOVEMBRE 2017.NE PEUT ETRE VENDU SEPAREMENT

#3 – November 2017 – Slush Helsinki Special EditionDistributed at Slush and in Les Echos #22583

GETTING OFFTHE GROUNDHOW FLYING TAXIS,HYPERLOOP ANDAUTONOMOUS CARSMIGHT EASE TRAFFICCONGESTION

DISRUPTING FARMTO TABLEHOW TECH COULDHELP FEEDTHE 9.5 BILLION PEOPLELIVING ONEARTH IN 2050

MIND THEGAPNEW FINTECH SERVICESSEEK TO INCLUDEUNDER-SERVICEDPOPULATIONS

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

TheentrepreneurandventurecapitalistPeterThielfamouslysaid“We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters,” in an introduction tohis venture capital firm’s 2011 manifesto entitled “What Happened to the Future?”Less well-known is a slightly longer quote from Thiel during a 2013 debate “You haveas much computing power in your iPhone as was available at the time of the Apollomissions. But what is it being used for? It’s being used to throw angry birds at pigs;it’s being used to send pictures of your cat to people halfway around the world; it’sbeing used to check in as the virtual mayor of a virtual nowhere while you’re ridinga subway from the 19th century.” Fast forward six years, and flying cars are coming(see pages 24 and 25) with the promise that they will helpmake urbanmobility morefluid, reducing congestion and pollution.Andmore tech entrepreneurs areworking on innovations that truly change theworld.The research firm CB Insights recently named 30 tech companies they believe willbe game changers in 2018. Categories include synthetic animal products, regenerativemedicine and synthetic agriculture.Many of those initiatives are chronicled in this edition of The Innovator. But thereare still not enough of them. Using tech to tackle hunger, poverty, diseases and climatechange should be a priority. Tech has the possibility to do what big companies andbig governments have so far failed to achieve – overhaul education, health, digitalidentities and financial inclusion for the masses; offer work instead of aid for thebottom billion; and even go to the moon, proving the sky is no longer the limit.European companies of all sizes need to be encouraged to make more moon shotsor the Continent risks being left behind. It is encouraging to see AI initiatives fromStan Boland and European unicorns like TomTom. Europe needs to build businessesaround the technologies that will underpin the future. TomTom’s Corinne Vigreuxput it perfectly when she said: “Europe needs to build up a vision of how we wantour newworld to build up and evolve.We have got the brains, the vision, the diversity– very important for innovation – the culture and the level of ambition here in Europe,but spread out. We need to pull together and work on a common vision and get theregulators to make it easier to build and innovate. We need to dream big and actquickly: we need Europe at the table, not on the menu.”

ByJenniferL.SchenkerEditor-in-Chief, The Innovator

THE BRIEF

MOON SHOT:EUROPEAN SERIAL ENTREPRENEURSTAN BOLAND

COVER STORYHOW TECH WILL SHAPEOUR FUTURE

FUTURE OF TRANSPORTATIONREINVENTING AIRBUS

HYPERLOOP’S IMPACTON INTER-CITY TRAVEL

NAVIGATING CHANGEAT TOMTOM

TOP 25 STARTUPS TO MEET AT SLUSH

HOW FLYING CARS ANDAUTONOMOUS VEHICLES WILLCHANGE URBAN MOBILITY

ENERGYTHE MANY WAYS STARTUPSARE HELPING REDUCEDEPENDENCE ON FOSSIL FUELS

IMPROVING GLOBAL HEALTH

INDEXING THE PLANET

FOODUSING TECH TO INCREASENATURE’S BOUNTY

REPLACING MILK, MEATAND FISH WITH PRODUCTSMADE IN LABS

FINANCIAL SERVICESCLOSING THE GENDER DIVIDE

FUTURE OF WORKMANAGING AN INCREASINGLYMOBILE WORKFORCE

HELPING THE BOTTOM BILLIONJOIN THE GIG ECONOMY

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TABLEOF CONTENTS

— P.03

P.04 — THE INNOVATOR

THE BRIEF

AI ‘s ImpactonJobsandSocietyHarvard Kennedy School of Government Professor Jason Furman,

who previously chaired U.S. President Barak Obama’s Council of EconomicAdvisors,believes that “peopleareworkingmorebutnotproducingverymuch,which is exactly the opposite of what you’d expect from artificial intelligence.So maybe the robots aren’t coming fast enough.”His comments weremade at a Fall Forum event in the U.S. co-hosted by TheFuture Society to discuss AI and the workforce. The panel, which includedspeakers from IBM and Google, was optimistic about AI’s potential to createnew jobs, replacemenial tasks and enhance the quality of life. Not everyoneagrees. To contribute to the global civic debate on the governance of artificialintelligence go to www.aiCivicDebate.org.

THE GAP BETWEENVISIONAND REALITY

80%of 3,000 business executives,managersandanalysts in112countriesand 21 industries surveyed by theBoston Consulting Group and the MITSloan Management Review said theysee artificial intelligence (AI) as astrategic opportunity.

Onlyonein20saidtheyhave includedAIintheirofferingsor processes inasignificantway

LOCATIONMunich,Germany

Stuttgart,Germany

Frankfurt,Germany

Montrouge,France

Cambridge,UK

Paris,France

Worblaufen,Switzerland

TOP EUROPEAN CORPORATE INVESTORSIN AI & DEEP TECH

FOLLOW THE MONEY$9.5 billion Invested in European Deep Tech and AI Companies since 2012

EUROPEAN DEEP TECH INVESTMENTS & ACQUISITIONSTado,ParkTAG,Pyreos,Panoratio,Wirescan,Sternico,Magazino,Enstorage,TASSInternational

Graphcore,Actility,Robart,Modcam,Chronocam,Unispectral, Aimotive,AdasWorks,Utilight,ParkTag,Pebbles Interfaces, Ignuazio,Optomed, IntrinsicID

Micropelt,Cuculus,Augmentation Industries,Trinckle,ParkTAG,Confovis,ClickWorker

EOSImaging,Ween,FabZat,Enerbee,HiKob,3DRudder,Pixyl,Kleuster,Usitab,PyntheasTechnologies

Jukedeck,AudioAnalytic,GeoSpock,Prowler.io,CambridgeMedicalRobotics

Actility,AwoX,Equisense,Smartly.ai,AccelaD

Ava,SophiaGenetics,PIQ, Insightness,Actility

EXITSCyActive

—

BigRep

DiBcom

—

CoFluent Design

—

Source : Dealroom.co.note : 2017 up to Q3 annualized. Europe excludes Israel

45

2016 2017E

€ 2.3B

€ 4.6B702

589

2012 2013 2014 2015

€ 0.4B€ 0.8B

€ 0.9B€ 1.7B121

229

Source : Dealroom.co.note : 2017 up to Q3 annualized. Europe excludes Israel

368

556

Sophia, a humanoid robot,was recently grantedcitizenshipby Saudi Arabia.

Total funding ( €B )Number of rounds

2017 YTD :

— €3.4B from 442 rounds— Roivant $1.1bn growth equity— Improbable $ 502M series B— Kreditch € 110M late VC

Decline in numberof rounds is in linewith overall market trendtowards fewerlarger deals

COMPANY: SPOTIFYCOUNTRY: SwedenSECTOR: Music streamingCEO: Daniel Ek

Current valuation:$16 billionLead investors:Accel Partners, Goldman Sachs,Founders Fund, TCV, HorizonVenturesFun fact:Spotify,whichhasover140millionusers in61markets,hassnappedupninestartupssince2016, inclu-dingSoundtrap,aStockholm-basedonlinemusicstudiothatletsuserscreatemusictogetherwithothers inrealtime.

COMPANY: SUPERCELLCOUNTRY: FinlandSECTOR: Mobile gamingCEO: Ilkka Paananen

Current valuation:$10.2 billionLead investors:Acquired by Tencent; Softbank isa major investorFun fact:In addition to its mobile games,Supercell created Clash-A-Rama,an original animated web seriesfrom three writers of TheSimpsons.

Figures for current valuations were sourced from press reports.* A unicorn is a tech company with a valuation of 1 billion euros or more

COMPANY: KLARNACOUNTRY: SwedenSECTOR: E-commerceCEO: Sebastian Siemiatkowski

Current valuation:$2.5 billionLead investors:Sequoia Capital, Bestseller,Permira, Visa and AtomicoFun fact:The company obtained a bankinglicense in 2017.

COMPANY: UNITYTECHNOLOGIESCOUNTRY: U.S.(founded in Denmark)SECTOR: Gaming technologyCEO: John Riccitiello

Current valuation:$1.6 billionLead investors:Sequoia, DFJ, Silver Lake Growth,iGlobe Partners, Summit CapitalFun fact:770 million gamers from aroundthe world use games made usingUnity’s engine.

To get technology news in context every week, subscribe to our newsletter : http://innovator.news

— P.05

NORDIC TECH TITANSOut of the five European tech unicorns that were found most likely to reach a $50 billion valuation,

four are from Nordic countries, according to a GP Bullhound survey.

57EUROPEAN TECH

UNICORNS*

3VALUED OVER$10 BILLION

14OF EUROPE’S UNICORNS

ARE ENTERPRISEFOCUSED

MOON SHOT

are in Silicon Valley, Europe nowhasinvestors ready to step up and fundgreat entrepreneurs to develop deeptech. FiveAI has so far raised $35million. “We could have raised ourmoney five times over,” says Boland,“It is quite encouraging.”Building a robust system is not thehard part, says Boland. The keychallengewill be attracting the righttalent, since Europe’s best and bri-ghtest technologists go off to workfor American companies. “We wantto be a magnet for that talent inEurope,” he says.

A Massive OpportunityIn addition to venture capital finan-cing, FiveAI has a $15 million grantfromtheUKgovernmentforStreetWise,a project with Transport for Londonand others to develop a self-drivingcar pilot for London that will reducetraffic congestion and free up par-king spaces.“If we can get a service up and run-ning in London that solves the pro-blemof autonomousdriving, reducescongestion and people grow to loveit, it will be easy to move the serviceinto other European cities like Paris,Berlin andAmsterdam,”Boland says.“The opportunity is massive.”Europe needs to have its own auto-nomous car players, he adds. “Thisis a holymissionweare trying to pur-sue. There are loads of hazards andit will be difficult, but I believe wecan build a company that will be si-gnificant on a global scale in trueSilicon Valley-style that doesn’t haveto sell out early.”J.L.S.

Can a European startupsuccessfully build a global giant bydeveloping a software platform forautonomous cars and launching aself-driving taxi fleet, a space inwhich Silicon Valley players clearlyhave a head start?It’s amoon shot, but FiveAICEOStanBoland, who has built and led fourEuropean technology companiespur-chased for a total of over $1.5 bil-lion byChinese andAmerican acqui-rers, is determined to do it.Building a billion dollar-plus techcompany that is born in Europe andstays in Europe has long been a goal

That doesn’t faze Boland. “Europe isat least as good as the U.S. in rawscience,” he says. “I believe it is pos-sible to build something globally si-gnificant. There is a massive valuein integrating all of the layers of tech-nologyandservices together.Wehaveto be brave enough to go all thewayto a service offer and sell directly toconsumers.”Europe now has a new generationofmanagers who have already beenthrough the experience of buildingsuccessful companies and have noneed to cash out early. Andwhile therounds are not nearly as big as they

for Boland, a scheduled speaker atSlush, a technology conference ta-king place in Helsinki Nov. 30 toDec. 1. He wants FiveAI to becomeEurope’s equivalent of Uber, the glo-bal ride-sharing service.

The Challenges AheadUber is far from being FiveAI’s onlycompetition. Google, Baidu andma-jor car companies are all enteringthe autonomous vehicle space. Andstartups gunning for the sector, suchas Boston-based nuTonomy, are star-ting to gain some real traction.


BuildingEurope’sNextUnicorn— The British entrepreneur Stan Boland built four startupsthat were sold for a total of $1.5 billion to Chinese and U.S. companies.His latest moon shot is to build a billion-dollar-plus AI companywith staying power.

WE NEEDY U

The Beauty of ImpactTech Pioneers in Public Health and Food ChallengesThe Bayer founda�ons are impact investors since 1897 – we are partner of pioneers who are crea�ng new solu�onsfor humanity’s big challenges around public health and food safety. Our programs support those courageous men andwomen whose hunger for breakthroughs has enabled them to excel in spheres never imagined. At our UPRISE booth,you can meet tech founders and health ac�vists who have dared to brave the unknown for the purpose of shapingthe future of humanity.

*La beauté de l’impact. Les pionniers de l’innovation dans la santé publique et l’agro-alimentaire. The Bayer foundations sont des investisseurs à impact social depuis 1897 – nous sommes partenaires des pionniers qui créent de nouvelles solutionsaux plus grandes problématiques de santé publique et alimentaire. Nos programmes soutiennent les hommes et les femmes courageux que l’envie d’innover a poussé à atteindre des niveaux d’excellences inimaginables. Sur notre stand UPRISE,vous pourrez rencontrer des fondateurs d’entreprise ainsi que des militants pour la santé qui ont osé braver l’inconnu dans le but de transformer le futur de l’humanité. Ce sont des icones du progrès qui pourront vous inspirer par leurs réalisationsen matière d’innovation sociale.

Vous cherchez des financements pour un projet fou de « tech-4-good » ? Venez pitcher et rencontrer le CEO de la fondation le 30 Novembre à 16h30 sur le stand Bayer à SLUSH

They are icons of progress. Let them inspire you for social innova�on and progress.

Seeking funding yourself for a crazy “tech-4-good” idea?Pitch for funding and meet the founda�on CEO on Nov 30, 4.30 pm at the Bayer Booth @ SLUSH


The U.S. startup MoonExpress’s MX-2 spacecraftpromises to bring the innersolar system within reach,driving more payload to thelunar surface or extendingreach to deep space.

SHOOTINGFORTHEMOON:HOWTECHWILLSHAPEOURFUTUREBy Jennifer L. Schenker

— P.09

COVER STORY

Naveen Jain’s first company, Infospace – which started outby focusing on content and services for websites – was created during theInternet dotcom boom.While that company had big ambitions, Jain is nowshooting for the moon. Moon Express, the third company he has co-founded, is attempting to build machine-operated spacecraft that can minematerials like gold, cobalt, platinum and Helium-3 (nuclear energy fuel)on the moon. It won a contract from NASA and is participating in theGoogle Lunar X-Prize.Without even waiting for Moon Express to launch its first spacecraft, Jainis already busy working on his next moon shot, a startup called Viome,that seeks to prevent chronic diseases by examining the microorganismsin users’ guts and counseling them on how to keep healthy.Jain, a scheduled speaker at Slush, a technology conference taking placein Helsinki on Nov. 30 and Dec.1, is one of a number of tech entrepreneurswho are embracing moon shots, ambitious projects that address bigproblems and propose radical solutions using breakthrough technology.While the Internet revolutionized communications, today a whole host ofpowerful technologies are converging, bringing about exponential changeand opening up the possibility for tech entrepreneurs to tackle challengesthat in the past only governments could handle: space exploration, theeradication of diseases and ensuring an abundance of food, energy andwater. “None of these things are impossible any longer,” says Jain, “andthe cost is coming down so that it can be privately funded.”Jain, who grew up poor in India and became a billionaire after moving tothe United States, says he believes the next set of superpowers will beentrepreneurs, not nation states. “For the first time in human history a

small group of people can do things that only nation states could dobefore,” says Jain. “We no longer have to rely on the government to impactsociety, whether it is going to space or solving the problem of healthcareor the clean energy talked about in the Paris Treaty – these things will besolved by entrepreneurs.”

A Call To ActionTechnology is at a point where it could potentially solve the world’s biggestproblems, but for that to happen more entrepreneurs will need to makemoon shots. Al Gore, a politician and environmentalist who served as the45th Vice-President of the United States, is scheduled to speak at Slushabout the need for entrepreneurs to help solve climate change.Executives at Bayer Foundations, a branch of Germany’s global drug andagriculture company that focuses on frontier science, social pioneers andstartups with impactful tech innovations, will use their time at Slush tosearch for startups with technologies that will impact hundreds ofthousands, if not millions of people across the globe. The Germanentrepreneur Harald Neidhardt, who co-created one of a select fewhealth-related projects funded by the Bayer Foundations (see the story onpages 30 and 31), will promote a HeroX competition at Slush that aimsto encourage one million people in the developing world to becomeentrepreneurs over the next 30 years. (See the competition details at thebottom of page 12.) And Bill Liao, a general partner at SOSV, a global fundthat accelerates over 150 startups a year in verticals that include synthetic

P.10— THE INNOVATOR

food and health, plans to talk to entrepreneurs at Slush about theimportance of purpose. SOSV’s core purpose is “making the impossibleinevitable,” says Liao. “It is not a slogan. It is what we do. Produce thingsthat the world needs and set the stage for a massive shift in what biologyis going to do to solve global grand challenges.”There is good reason for this flurry of activity: global issues that urgentlyneed to be solved. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for SustainableDevelopment and the Paris Agreement require an unprecedentedmobilization of both public and private finance – some $90 trillion overthe next 13 years. Only a fraction of that funding has been spent, says theSlush attendee Marc Buckley, Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project CountryManager for Germany and Austria and a jury member and open innovationadvisor to the Bayer Foundations. “Between 2015 and 2016 we did noteven spend $1 trillion,” says Buckley. He adds that Bayer Foundations,which invests $15 million per year through all of its various programs, hastrouble giving out its grants. “There is plenty of money but there are justnot enough good, impactful innovations,” he says.“This is not about a 3-, 5- or 10-minute pitch. It is not about a TED talkabout how to save the world. Impactful Global Solutions are complexsystems and dynamic models. What we want is business models thataddress all aspects of complete systems and the global challenges we aretrying to solve in our world – whether it involves agriculture, food, water,or power,” says Buckley. “Most companies are only doing one aspect andthose will not have sustainable resilient long-term impact.”

Systems ApproachA systems approach is necessary because problems are so complex. Takethe example of two of the world’s biggest problems: a lack of food and ofclean drinking water. Technology pioneers such as Indigo Agriculture areusing plant microbiomes to strengthen crops against disease and drought,to help farmers sustainably feed the planet and reduce water use inagriculture. (See the story pages 34 and 35.)That is helpful, but it only solves part of the problem because the majorityof agriculture is used to fuel cars and feed animals. When it came tointroducing electric vehicles, which remove the need for fossil fuels andbio-fuel production, big car manufacturers initially dragged their heels.Then the entrepreneur Elon Musk came along and launched Tesla, whichearlier this year reached amarket capitalization that surpassed that of FordMotor Company and General Motors. Tesla’s progress has spurred the bigauto companies to up their game. On the same day in November that Tesla

introduced a new all-electric truck and an electric sports car that goes from0 to 60 miles per hour in 1.9 seconds and has a 620-mile range, theVolkswagen group announced it had approved a €34 billion spending planto accelerate its efforts to become a global leader in electric cars.Memphis Meats – one of SOSV’s investments – is among a number ofstartups helping ease the other part of the issue: It creates beef from self-reproducing cells, producing an animal-based product but avoiding theneed to breed, raise, and slaughter huge numbers of animals. (See thestory on pages 36 and 37.) Electric cars and lab-produced meats result inmore food for people and lead to huge reductions in water and land use.If you eliminate cattle farming then you also eliminate themassive amountsof methane that cows produce and which harm the environment.That is why the Bayer Foundations’ new focus is finding entrepreneursaimed at disrupting agricultural, food and beverage industries. “Globallythese industries are responsible for the majority of climate change,” saysBuckley.

The Case for ChangeThese industries and others are in for a big shakeup. The $90 billionglobal meat industry – which includes cattle farms, butchers,slaughterhouses – is being transformed, as is real estate, since land use isset to change radically. “There are 71 markets out there that are ripe fordisruption and it promises to be a lot worse than what happened toKodak.” says Buckley. “This exponential disruption will not only occurbecause of the quantum leaps start-ups are taking in the digital age but

COVER STORY

KEEPINGCOOLGlobal Good’s Arktek cylinder-shapedcooler uses insulation developed forspacecraft to keep vaccines cold for amonth, allowing health workers to reachmillions more children.

Photo : Shahim Yassin, Afar PastoralistsDevelopment Association

TAKING A BITE OUTOF MALARIAUsing custom image recognitionsoftware, EasyScan GO, a newAI-powered microscope, is capable ofidentifying and counting malariaparasites in a blood smear in as littleas 20 minutes.

to eat daily. After all food is our energy source. This is one big reason whywe can hear talk about the Anthropocene and that humanity may befacing the sixth mass extinction.”

A Solution to WasteBuckley is frustrated by what he sees to be limited efforts by the food andbeverage companies to change their business models and do less damageto the environment. “If you are driving down the road in the wrongdirection and you slow down by 60% you are still going in the wrongdirection, just slower,” he says. “We need to stop and start going in theright direction. If you tell me you are doing some minor changes or goodpilot (test) projects, or reductions in your green house emissions you arestill damaging our environment and killing people, you are just doing itslower.”Waste from the food and beverage industry includes mountains of single-use plastic containers. The UN has estimated that yearly damage fromplastic pollution in the ocean is $13 billion, due to impact on marine life,tourism and fishing. That is not all. Globally, 30% to 40% of foodproduced for consumption is wasted. If food waste were a nation, itwould rank third in the world for harmful emissions, according toOpenIDEO. An American startup called Full Cycle Bioplastics is aiming tosolve both of those issues by converting food waste into a fullycompostable bioplastic. As for the plastic that is already there, Boyan Slat,a 23-year-old Dutch entrepreneur, has raised $30 million for The Ocean

because of the quantum leaps start-ups are taking in the digital age butalso due to the globally unknown effects of climate change anddeteriorating infrastructures.”In the case of food, “there are 10 big companies out there that control allof the brands – Nestle, Kraft, Unilver, Coke, Pepsi, etc – and in agriculturewhen it comes to seeds it is DuPont and Montsano. This has to change ifwe are going to feed all of the people we need to feed,” says Buckley.Agriculture is also facing radical change. “The world is losing 23 globalhectares a minute to soil contamination and drought; five years ago it was12 global hectares,” says Buckley. “If you think a new country the size ofBrazil is going to come along or a new place where we can grow cropsoutdoors I will tell you that you are wrong,” he says. “We are going tohave to get vertical and go multilevel and build closed greenhouse systemsand use land more efficiently and use solar power and ambient waterharvesting.” Today 30% of everything the agriculture, food and beverageindustry produces “is thrown away, which is a 10x waste and then comesback to bite us as methane which is 70% more effective at trapping heatthan CO2,” says Buckley.What’s more, “we do not know what kind of climate calamities will comeupon us but if we do not have a resilient sustainable infrastructure in placewe will experience food security issues and other problems,” he says.Puerto Rico is a case in point. Its agriculture sector was decimated byHurricane Maria, resulting in a 90% loss of local and regional foodsources. This type of devastation is due to climate change and if there isno resilient sustainable infrastructure in place, the recovery takes years,says Buckley. “This can prove to be devastating for humanity that needs

— P.11

DISRUPTINGTHEFOODCHAINStartups are finding ways toimprove crop yields and producemeat and dairy productsin laboratories.

TURNING THE TIDEEntrepreneurs are using a varietyof technologies to clean up the world’spolluted waterways.

BEING RESOURCEFULThese Nike sneakers are made from atechnologically advanced leathermaterial, developed by a UK startup,that saves water and reduces waste,just one example of howentrepreneurs are making manufac-turing more ecologically friendly.

FINANCIAL INCLUSIONThe Helsinki startup MONI providesrefugees with a unique digital identitystored on a blockchain that helpswith financial inclusion.It could be adopted by refugee campsthroughout the world.


Cleanup, an initiative that aims to eradicate the Great Pacific GarbagePatch, one of the most polluted areas of the ocean, using a boom tocapture plastic and keep it in areas where a boat can pick it up. Theseare just some of the many examples of the rise of the non-expert, peoplefrom outside industries who come up with novel approaches because theysee things from a completely different angle and just go out and do it. AUK start-up called E-leather is another example. Its late founder, ChrisBevan, was told that what he set out to do was impossible. Up to 50% ofnatural leather hide is wasted and often destined for the landfill. E-leatheris using that waste by recycling it into a more durable, light-weightleather, saving over 5,000 tons of traditional leather waste from landfill– the equivalent of the weight of over 100 narrow-body aircraft.Not only is E-Leather selling its leather to airlines who use it for seatupholstery to save weight, fuel and money, in September the companysigned a partnership agreement with Nike, which is producing a sportshoe made out of the material. A French startup called Pili is also doingits part, by changing the environmentally toxic process used to make dyes.It makes biosynthetic dyes as a cleaner alternative to petrochemicalsyntheses or heavy-metal-containing pigments.

The Human FactorTechnology could also help solve some of the developing world’s biggestproblems, including the recording of births and deaths, financial exclusionand inaccuracies and fraud in property registration. More than a billionpeople do not have a recognized means of identifying themselves, leavingthem without access to healthcare, education, government assistance andfinancial services. The Swiss technology firm WISeKey’s digital identitydual factor authentication sits on top of the blockchain, an immutable

COVER STORY

NaveenJAIN,Founder of MoonExpress and Viome.

The Promise Hub stems from a project that converted a shipping containerinto a mobile medical facility for refugees. The idea is to add additionalcontainers and create a platform that will offer digital tools, encouragementand infrastructure to empower entrepreneurism to aid the rising billions inunderserved regions worldwide. The Promise Hub gives people in need anopportunity to use the facility to create businesses and add sustainable valueto their community. Through the Human Potential Challenges on herox.com/promisehub, innovators are being urged to co-create future Promise Hubs.

“Wenolongerhavetorelyonthegovernmenttoimpactsociety,whetheritisgoingtospaceorsolvingtheproblemofhealthcareorthecleanenergytalkedaboutintheParisTreaty–thesethingswillbesolvedbyentrepreneurs.”

ledger that allows third parties to validate that an original digital identityor attribute certifications have not been changed or misrepresented.This and other similar new technologies could help the United Nationsachieve its goal of helping everyone in the world have a secure digitalidentity by 2020, paving the way for a better life both for citizens of thedeveloping world and for refugees. Already the Finnish ImmigrationService has begun providing unbanked refugees with prepaid Mastercardsrather than cash. These prepaid cards, which were developed by theHelsinki startup MONI, also provide refugees with a unique digital identitystored on a blockchain and could be adopted by refugee camps throughoutthe world.Entrepreneurs are also helping to improve the plight of the some-60million displaced people in other ways. The German entrepreneur

BEAHERO

intelligence is also enabling a breakthrough in the fight against malaria,which each year kills almost a half a million people. Malaria is one of thehardest diseases to identify on a microscope slide. So the Global GoodFund, a collaboration between Intellectual Ventures and the Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to develop technologies for humanitarian impact, hasjust announced a collaboration with the advanced microscope designerand manufacturer Motic China Group to create a distribute the EasyScanGO, an AI-powered microscope to fight the spread of drug-resistantmalaria and assist in its case management. Using custom imagerecognition software, EasyScan GO is capable of identifying and countingmalaria parasites in a blood smear in as little as 20 minutes.Intellectual Ventures said it bases its work on “reverse innovation,” theidea that to successfully tackle big problems like malaria, technology has

Neiderhardt co-developed with Cisco a refugee first response mobilemedical center out of converted shipping containers and outfitted it withadvanced technology tools that allow the translation of patient-doctordialogue into 50 languages. Technology is also finding unique approachesto solving healthcare issues for millions – if not billions – of people.For example, Israel’s Zebra Medical Vision teaches AI-powered computersto automatically read and diagnose medical imaging data, allowinghealthcare institutions to identify patients at risk of conditions likeemphysema and coronary artery diseases and offer preventativetreatments. It recently introduced a new suite that offers all of its currentand future algorithms to healthcare providers globally for $1 per scan.The company says its aim is to make it possible to deliver healthcare tothe next billion people who will join the middle class by 2020. Artificial

— P.13

TECHGAME-CHANGERSTOWATCH

MEMPHIS MEATUNITED STATESWHAT IT DOES : Uses stem cells fromreal animals to grow meat in a lab. Itsinvestors include Microsoft’s BillGates, Virgin Group’s Richard Branson,and former GE Chairman and CEO JackWelch.

www.memphismeats.com

ZEBRA MEDICAL VISIONISRAELWHATITDOES: Teaches AI-poweredcomputers to read and diagnosemedical-imagingdata,allowinghealthcare institutions to identifypatients at risk of disease and proposetreatment. Zebra offers its algorithms toproviders for $1 per scan.https://www.zebra-med.com/

TechForGoodCountries with Social Tech Projects (2013-2016)

* P rojects using digital technologiesto tackle social challenges

Source:Social Tech Guide |Nominet Trust 100

151

UnitedStates

Mexico

BrazilSouth Africa

India

France Kenya

Israel

Germany

SwedenNetherlands

Ireland

ItalyUnitedKingdom

China

100

68

5

4

5

5

7

7

7

17

12

5

5


FULL CYCLE BIOPLASTICSUNITED STATESWHAT IT DOES : Turns organic wasteinto a compostable bioplastic, PHA, thatdegrades harmlessly in the soil and theocean. It licenses its technology towaste producers like food and beveragecompaniessotheycanconvertdiscarded material into bioplastic resin.http://fullcyclebioplastics.com/

WINDHORSEUNITED KINGDOMWHAT IT DOES : Windhorsehasdevelopedaspecialistaiddronethatcanbe loadedwithfoodandwater,beforeflying independentlytoapre-planneddestination.Thedrone’sshell canbereusedtoprovideshelterandtheframecanbeburntsafelytocookfood.windhorse.aero

E-LEATHERUNITED KINGDOMWHATIT DOES: Developed a newlightweight, strong eco-material fromleather scraps that used to end up inlandfills. It is being used in airline seatupholstery and Nike sneakers.

http://www.eleathergroup.com/

VIOMEUNITED STATESWHATITDOES: Sequences themicroorganisms that live in the digestivetract to make diet recommendationsand predict risk for certain conditions,with the aim of preventing people fromdeveloping chronic diseases.

https://www.viome.com/

COVER STORY

to be invented explicitly for conditions in the developing world such aslack of consistent electricity and poor technician training, rather thanbeing retrofitted to those settings. Often these technologies are disruptiveenough to be re-deployed back to higher-income markets for profit,creating a market incentive for commercial partners. In the case ofEasyScan GO, the microscope was built to tackle malaria, but IntellectualVentures is now exploring going after some forms of cancer in partnershipwith Motic.Other advanced technologies could do everything from help relieve theglobal shortage of organ donors to eliminating chronic disease. PrellisBiologics prints human organs in a laboratory setting. The company aimsto address organ donor shortage and provide human tissues to streamlinethe development of therapeutics. As its first product, the startup isdeveloping insulin-secreting units of the pancreas to help people withType 1 Diabetes. Viome, Jain’s venture, and a number of other startups,including Ubiome, are offering new services that sequence themicroorganisms that live in the digestive tract. The companies say theycan do things like make diet recommendations and predict risk for certaindiseases based on a person’s unique microbial makeup. If it lives up toits promise, Jain says analysis of microbiomes could prevent people fromdeveloping chronic diseases.

Shooting for the Moon and BeyondBy why stop at solving earth’s problems? Jain says he believes it is possibleto make other planets livable for humans. “That’s the ultimate goal,” hesays. “The moon is the first stepping stone. If we manage to make themoon the eighth continent then we can go and live anywhere else.”Jain dreams about bringing resources back to Earth, such as Helium-3,“which could power this planet for generations to come.”

And he believes moon rocks may someday replace diamonds. DeBeersmade a fortune out of associating diamonds with love. Jain envisions amarketing campaign that says “If you love her enough, give her themoon.” Moon Express is one of five companies competing for the GoogleLunar X prize. If none of themmanage to make a moon landing by Marchof next year, the total of $30 million in promised prize money may berescinded. That doesn’t faze Jain.“I am confident that we will launch by the end of March,” says Jain. “Ifnot the prize may be extended or someone else could fund a prize. Itdoesn’t really matter. We are building a business that can survive with orwithout a prize.”As Moon Express hopes to prove for entrepreneurs readyto make moon shots, the sky could literally no longer be the limit.

MarcBUCKLEY,Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project Country Managerfor Germany and Austria and a jury member and openinnovation advisor to Bayer Foundations

“Thisexponentialdisruptionwillnotonlyoccurbecauseofthequantumleapsstart-upsaretakinginthedigitalagebutalsoduetothegloballyunknowneffectsofclimatechangeanddeterioratinginfrastructures.”

Our 115 lawyers bring togethertheir legal expertise and industy experience

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TRANSPORTATION

AIRBUSBIZLABSTARTUPSTOWATCH

IRIDIUM DYNAMICSAUSTRALIAWHAT IT DOES : Developed the HaloVertical Take-off and LandingUnmanned Aerial System, a platformthat adds extended hover capability tofixed-wing missions.

http://www.iridiumdynamics.com

Earlier this year at the Geneva Motor Show, the global aerospacecompany Airbus revealed the Pop.Up, a conceptual autonomous two-passenger pod thatwould clip to a set ofwheelswhen traveling on roadways,to a quadrocopter when it is more convenient to travel by air, to othervehicles to create a train and – as if these options are not enough – couldeven zip through a hyperloop tunnel.While it is likely to be some time before such a project is realized, Airbusis already reinventing itself in multiple ways. It has launched several ur-ban air mobility projects, including Vahana, a single-passenger, self-pi-loted electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft. It is focusing on thedevelopment of electric and hybrid-electric propulsion, as the companysays it believes it is one of the most promising technologies in the futureof flight. It is developing products for digital factories which will makegreater use of augmented reality technology and automation. It is lookingat ways of harnessing and analyzing the wealth of data generated by itsaircraft and imaging satellites, to deliver new types of information andservices to customers. And it is exploring new business models that usedigital technologies to increase agility and performance.Some of the moonshot projects – such as Vahana – are handled by A³, theadvanced projects and partnerships outpost in Silicon Valley.“But we also need short-term innovation and by that I mean innovationthat is able to be realized within one to three years, which is short termin our industry,” says Bruno Gutierres, head of BizLab, Airbus’s startupaccelerator program which was launched in 2015. “Most of the time weare looking for projects that could enrich or seed the long-term strategybut in a short time frame. We will not manage the overall autonomousvehicle project, for example, but we will manage feeders to the globalprojects.”Just because their projects are short term doesn’t mean Bizlab startups

are not disruptive. “They are definitely disruptive,” he says. “They helpus create additional value for our platforms.” For example one of Bizlab’scompanies, bizpay, allows consumers to buy airline tickets in installments.The company is offering a different business model for airlines, giving theopportunity for the consumer to buy tickets and split the payment like aloan. Like other big companies, Airbus needs to both encourage internalinnovation and bring in innovation from the outside, and figure out howto balance the two.

A Hybrid Concept“Some of the benchmarking I did on companies that decide to create acce-lerators made me realize how difficult it is,” he says. “After you accelerate(startups) how do you impact your core business? Howwill this startup beaccepted by your internal innovation people? The concern a big companyhas is that by workingwith startups themessage that is conveyed is ‘we are

ReinventingAirbus— The aerospace company is investing moneyand resources in innovative technologies.

An augmented reality experienceat Airbus’s Center of AppliedAeronautical Research (ZAL)in Hamburg, Germany.

AMINT AERIAL INDUSTRIESNIGERIAWHAT IT DOES : Uses high-perfor-mance drones for crop-spraying inemerging markets.

https://amintegrated.org

BIZPAYUNITED KINGDOMWHAT IT DOES : Enables consumersto buy airline tickets in installments.

http://www.bizpay.co.uk

BROADBITFINLANDWHATITDOES: Developed a novellow-cost sodium battery that aims tooffer better performance, safety andenvironmental friendliness thanlithium-ion batteries.

http://www.broadbit.com

JETLITEGERMANYWHATITDOES: Adjusts lighting, food,seating, inflight entertainmentand other elements to help reducepassenger jetlag.

http://www.jetlite.de

— P.17

ving a total of 33 startups we have 14 deep collaborations.” Internal pro-jects beingworked on at Bizlab are also proving successful. Gutierres pointsto one called Aircam, which uses a drone equipped with an automatic na-vigation system to provide aircraft inspections. Data acquisition only takesaround 10 minutes by drone, instead of two hours with conventional me-thods, and all the images are compiled in a 3D digital model, improvingtraceability.What’s more, several internal projects are close to spin-out – at least threeof them will be coming on the market in the weeks and months to come,Gutierres says. He says he believesmixing intrapreneurs and extrapreneursis a key part of Bizlab’s success to date. “We have been lucky with the star-tups we have selected but I strongly believe this hybrid concept is a big partof the success,” Gutierres says. “While I am happy to share this experiencewith other companies they should not take this as a recipe or a miracle ap-proach. They have to find the best approach for their own markets.”J.L.S.

not good enough’ so the risk is that there will be internal opposition, whichimmediately creates an obstacle to the integration of the startup within thecore business.” To get around that problem Airbus has come up with a hy-brid concept. Bizlab includes both startups and “intrapreneurs” who workat the aerospace giant.“By doing that you have a permanent bridge between internal innovationand external innovation,” says Gutierres. “There is no rejection becauseBizlab is part of internal operations as well. There is a natural flow of in-ternal people who are coming to the Bizlab, living with the startups, andbecoming part of the community.” The accelerator program operates inToulouse, France; Hamburg, Germany; and Bengaluru, India. It offers onesix-month program per year so now it is just starting season three.Each batch is limited to between five and seven startups at each location,or between 18 and 21 maximum. “We really want to provide them with ahigh level of support – it is very important. This is maybe one of the rea-sons we have such a good record,” says Gutierres. “After two seasons invol-


TRANSPORTATION

HyperloopWillChangeInter-CityTravel— The very high-speed transit system has been calleda cross between the Concorde and an air hockey table.

If all works out as planned at some point in the future, in a citysomewhere on the globe thefirst passengerswill strap themselves into podsthat will float through tubes that have been pumped into a near-vacuum atspeeds of up to 760 miles per hour, dramatically reducing inter-city traveltime. And the expectation is that the travel will cost the price of an airlineticket or less.A race is on to see who will be the first to build this transit system, calleda hyperloop, and where.The concept behind the hyperloop – travel insidea vacuum tube – has been for around for decades. Interest was renewedwhen billionaire Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind Tesla Motors andSpaceX, issued a document outlining a suggested design in August 2013.Since then several companies havebeen founded to commercialize hyperloopservices, one called Hyperloop Transportation Technologies and anothercalled Hyperloop One. The latter company recently raised funding from

investors that include billionaire Richard Branson, and the project has sincechanged its name to VirginHyperloopOne.One ofHyperloopOne’s originalteammembers, BroganBamBrogan, quit and started his own venture calledArrivo. Rather than try and build a rival hyperloop, BamBrogan introducedanother type of futuristic transport in November described as an “enclosed,electromagnetic superhighway that usesmagnetic levitation tomake vehiclesfloat and electric power to move them forward” at 200 miles per hour. Itwill be built in Denver, Colorado, with the goal of transporting passengersanywhere in the Denver metro area in 20 minutes or less, for the samecost as a toll road.Meanwhile in July Musk, who has launched a venture called The BoringCompany, tweeted that he had “just received verbal [government] approval”to build a newunderground hyperloop network that can shuttle commutersbetween New York City and Washington D.C., about 230 miles apart, in29minutes. In a tweetMusk said the new super-fast transportation networkwill also have stops in Philadelphia and Baltimore, as well as “up to a dozenor more entry/exit elevators in each city.”

A Race to the FinishIn October, Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland tweeted that the state’sDepartment of Transportationhadapproved the tunnel. The announcementstook people by surprise and raised a number of questions. The developmentalso has sparked speculation that Musk has ambitions to build his owncompeting hyperloop company.Aflurry of announcements byHyperloopOne andHyperloopTransportationTechnologies about discussions with cities around the world have addedto the confusion. Virgin HyperloopOne, which has built a fully operationaltest track in the Nevada desert, says it has feasibility studies in the U.S.,India, the UAE, Canada, Finland and the Netherlands. “The timeline isdetermined by how fast local governments can work,” the company saidin a written reply to questions. “Hyperloop is about connecting people andultimately it is about how fast governments want to connect their people.”Virgin Hyperloop One says it currently on target for the first operationalhyperloop by 2021. Its goal is to be able to provide a service that willoperate at 670 mph.HyperloopTransportationTechnologies,whichhas28patents, is crowdsourcingits research and development from engineers working at places like NASA,Tesla, Boeing and Lockheed Martin as well as the United States’ LawrenceLivermore Lab,which is creditedwith developing an early levitation system.It has opened offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Toulouse, Slovakia, the UK,India, Indonesia and Spain. It has a joint venture with the South Koreangovernment and in January it announced the signing of an agreementwiththe city of Toulouse to open a facility for the development and testing of

hyperloop-related technologies. As part of this agreement the city is providinga 3,000-square-meter facility alongwith outdoor terrain at a formermilitaryairport base. It has also been given permission to test a two-kilometerhyperloop line inside the airport, its chairman, Bibop Gresta, said in aninterview.VirginHyperloopOneandHyperloopTransportationTechnologiesacknowledge that a number of things will need to be put into place beforeeither can launch commercial services.

Tunnel Vision“We are a new mode of transportation and we have to ensure it’s as safeas othermodes of transportation,” VirginHyperloopOne said in a statement.“Given that it is a new mode we have to make sure it’s not regulated likea plane, train, car, etc. and create new regulations…. similar to creating

regulations around autonomous cars.”As for who is going to launch acommercial service first, it is anybody’s guess.Asked if Virgin HyperloopOne considers Musk’s Boring Company to be a competitor, the companyresponded: “Virgin Hyperloop loves tunnels. If the Boring Company canaccelerate tunneling it will ultimately help our company because theirsystemwill be great for the last-mile solution thatwe can seamlessly integrateinto our passenger experience.”Hyperloop Transportation Technologies’ Gresta takes a more circumspectview. “We are in contact (with Musk’s venture) and are monitoring theevolution. Sooner or later we will need to sit down and talk about how dowe speed the development.Whatever will be his position I think this couldbe a really good development. A person like him can make a difference ina market that needs to grow and gain credibility worldwide.”J.L.S.

— P.19

HELSINKIDestination

2 hr 13 min

5 hr 18 min

8 hr 49 min

11 hr 48 min

23 hr 7 min

PARISOrigin

TRAVEL TIMEEstimates from Hyperloop One of travel times from Paris to Helsinki using

various forms of transport. Times are approximated.

AnInterviewWithCorinneVIGREUX,TomTomCo-founder

TomTom, a 25-year-old company, gained global recogni-tion as amanufacturer of car naviga-tion devices. But in recent years, ithas undergone a radical transforma-tion. Its core business today is the de-livery of advanced mapping, trafficand navigation intelligence in thecloud to a range of industries such asautomotive, logistics and govern-ment traffic authorities. Co-founderCorinne Vigreux, a scheduled spea-ker at Slush, talked to The Innovatorabout how the company has had tocontinuously reinvent itself.

A steep and pretty sudden drop indemand for your core product, carnavigation devices, promptedTomTom’s latest transition but thecompany has gone through manytransitions along the way. Can youtell us about the journey?— CV:We started this companywithfour people 25 years ago, beforepeoplewere even talking about star-tups. We began with software deve-lopment for B2Bmobile applicationsand personal digital assistants forconsumers. Soon after, TomTom be-came the market leader in PDA sof-tware with navigation applicationssuch as RoutePlanner and Citymaps.Then in 2004 wemoved from beinga software to a hardware company.It was a big moment in the historyof the company. We were 25-30people and we were able to have amajor impact because we had theright product at the right time. Bybringing digital navigation to themasses, before we knew it we were

selling a million products a day. Wewent from €40million in revenue to€1.8 billion in five years.

How did you handle that as amanager?— CV: I had worked for Psion for afew years but I had not had expe-rience running a big company. Wehad to scale very fast and put an or-ganization in place. And at the sametime – at some point – we had toprepare to be disrupted. In 2008there was the perfect storm. Therewas an economic crisis and sudden-ly what we had been offering on ourhardware devices was available forfree on your mobile phone. At thesame time, wewere pursuing this vi-sion of updating themap of thewor-


TRANSPORTATION

NavigatingChange

population of more than five billionpeople and collects massiveamounts of data. What are youdoing with this data?— CV: TomTom’s Live Traffic-enabled devices reach over 10%of drivers. We have proven that,through better network utilization,this has a positive influence on thepersonal journey time for all drivers.That data is anonymized of course –privacy is our number one priority –and used in a way to optimize traf-fic flow. We are working with citieson a traffic index every year andsupport them inmoving cars aroundin a better way. This has a massiveimpact. Autonomous driving willhelp improve traffic flow and reducedeaths and injuries on the road be-cause cars will not make the samemistakes that humans make whenthey cause accidents. The ultimategoal is to get to a state where beingin cities will be a pleasant affair andthe cities will be returned to its ci-tizens living in harmonywith the en-vironment. Our nextmoon shot is toplay a role in smartmobility, helpingreduce congestion and providingmapping technologies to enable au-tonomous driving.

What technologies will you applyto autonomous driving?— CV: We filed our first patents forautonomous driving in 2009 be-cause we saw that autonomous dri-ving would be a big new area andstarted working on HD (high defini-tion) maps that are needed to in-crease safety and comfort. We neverlost sight of what we wanted to do

(which formedTomTomTelematics),Applied Generics (which formedTomTomTraffic), the automotive en-gineering team from the SiemensR&D division (which formedTomTom’s Automotive businessunit), TeleAtlas, one of the largest di-gital mapmaking companies in theworld (which formed TomTomMaps) and earlier this yearAutonomos (a Berlin-based autono-mous driving startup with heritagedatingback to theDARPAchallenge).While wemade bold acquisitionswealways kept an eye on the bottomline. Andwewent public at the righttime – preparing for the future.

TomTom Traffic reaches 69countries with a combined

ld in real time – which was our mo-tivation behind acquiring the lea-ding mapmaker TeleAtlas in 2007 –and giving traffic information in realtimewith a view to reducing overalltraffic congestion. We kept innova-ting and that kept us in the race.

What is the secret to TomTom’ssurvival?— CV:You have to spread the risk bymaking big bets on innovation. Thatis what keeps us where we are – re-lentlessly innovating and stayingahead of the game. We have establi-shed partnerships with, amongstothers, Baidu, Qualcomm, Bosch,Nvidia andCisco, and over the years,we acquired a number of new bu-sinesses including Datafactory

as a company –we know everythinghappens in real time, so giving thatto the driver – or the car – in real-time is important.

What will be your business modelin the autonomous car market?— CV: There are so many movingparts it is difficult to predict.Autonomous driving is such a com-plex area. It takes a lot of companiespartnering together to solve thatpuzzle. What is sure is that we willprovide a HDmap service right intothe vehicle. We are using state-of-the-art AI and computer vision to beable to process massive amounts ofincoming, real-time data about theworld.

So far, the really big players inautonomous driving are comingfrom the U.S. and Asia. Can Europeproduce global leaders in thisspace?— CV: I think we have a chance, ifwe pull together. It would be nice tohave our own version of aSingularity University, with our ownEuropean vision of how we wantour new world to build up andevolve. We have got the brains, thevision, the diversity – very importantfor innovation – the culture and thelevel of ambition here in Europe, butspread out.We need to pull togetherand work on a common vision andget the regulators to make it easierto build and innovate. We need todream big and act quickly: we needEurope at the table, not on themenu.J.L.S.

“Ournextmoonshot istoplayarole insmartmobility,helpingreducecongestionandprovidingmappingtechnologiestoenableautonomousdriving.”

— P.21


TOP 25STARTUPSTO MEETAT SLUSH 2017Slush, a technology conference taking place in Helsinki, Finlandon November 30 and December 1, gathers the key players in the global techsector. The Innovator selected the most promising startups to meet at theconference. Some are already well known, others are below-the-radar butare unlikely to stay there for long.

ENERGYNORTHVOLTSWEDENWHAT IT DOES: Northvolt is building an advancedfactory designed to enable production of greenerenergy storage batteries. The new battery formis intended to require a minimal carbon footprintwhile working in tandem with the expandingEuropean use of renewable energy sources.

http://northvolt.com/

ENERGYECO WAVE POWERISRAELWHAT IT DOES: Eco Wave Power has designed anew wave power technology that extracts energyfrom ocean and sea waves and then transformsit into electricity. Such technology createsa sustainable and affordable energy source forregions around the world.

http://www.ecowavepower.com/

ENVIRONMENTECOHUBBOTSWANAWHAT IT DOES: Ecohub gathers plastic waste andthen recycles it into an “eco-brick,” a mix of woodand the re-used waste. These can then beassembled into walls that form the basis of a newtype of low-cost housing. The company is movingfrom final prototype to testing phase.

http://ecohub.co.bw/

FOODPERFECT DAYUNITEDSTATESWHAT IT DOES: Perfect Day it trying to reinvent theway milk is produced to create a healthier productand a process that is more environmentallysustainable. Rather than using any animals, thecompany uses a craft-brewing technique to make aproduct that contains the same nutrients as milk.

http://www.perfectdayfoods.com/

FOODHARGOL FOODTECHISRAELWHAT IT DOES: The company raises grasshoppers asa protein source for alternative foods. The goal is toprovide a new protein ingredient that will lead tolower-cost and sustainable food as traditionalforms like beef, chicken and fish reach their naturallimits and place a strain on the environment.

http://www.hargol.com/

ENERGYSTOREDOTISRAELWHAT IT DOES: StoreDot has developed afast-charging battery powered by organiccompounds and nanomaterials. The company ispartnering with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to adapt the batteries for use insmartphones, displays and electric vehicles.

https://www.store-dot.com/

HEALTHFITEDUNITEDSTATESWHAT IT DOES: Fited is using 3D printing, machinelearning, remote sensing, and its own compu-ter-assisted design (CAD) technology to reinventmedical braces and prosthetics. Its first product isa custom-fitted brace for pediatric scoliosispatients.

https://www.fited.co/

WORKSMARPFINLANDWHAT IT DOES: SmarphascreatedaSaaSplatformtoenablebetter internalcommunicationbetweenemployeesandexecutives.Theservice isaccessedviaanappthatallowsemployeestosubmitandshareknowledgeandcompanynews,whilecreatingbetterengagementamongco-workers.

http://www.smarp.com/

WORKINTEGRIFYFINLANDWHAT IT DOES: The company teaches coding torefugees and immigrants and then helps themfind jobs in the tech economy. After launching inFinland, Integrify is preparing to expand acrossEurope.

https://www.integrify.fi/

FINANCETENXSINGAPOREWHAT IT DOES: TenXwantstomakecryptocurren-cieseasiertospendintherealworld.AfterholdinganICOearlierthisyear,thecompanyhasdevelopedsmartphoneappsanddebitcardsthatconnecttoblockchainfinancialsystems.

http://www.tenx.tech

TRANSPORTATIONVECTOR SPACE SYSTEMSUNITEDSTATESWHAT IT DOES: : Vector has developed a newlaunch system to make it easier and morecost-effective to place space innovations in orbit.The company is building a family of rockets tolaunch micro-satellites and aims to place asatellite for which developers write applications.

https://vectorspacesystems.com/

— P.23

ENERGYKITEMILLNORWAYWHAT IT DOES: The company has developed afixed-wing kite tethered to a ground station thatgenerates energy as the kite spirals in the air.Capturing energy from wind at higher altitudes ismore efficient, says Kitemill, which is moving intothe next stages of testing and fundraising.

http://www.kitemill.com/

ENERGYHELIACDENMARKWHAT IT DOES: The company has developedlarge-scale polymer foil-based solar concentratorsfor utilities to capture solar power and reduce costs.It also sells a solar cooker that allows people to heatfood and water without using raw materials (woodor kerosene), or creating emissions.

http://www.heliac.dk/

ENERGYSMART PLANTSNORWAYWHAT IT DOES: The company is focused onreducing the energy consumption of buildings,which the European Commission has said isresponsible for 40% of energy use and 36% of CO2

emissions. Smart Plants uses connected hardwareand its platform to help building and factoryowners monitor and reduce energy use.https://smartplants.io/

FOODMATSMARTSWEDENWHAT IT DOES: Matsmart aims to reduce massivefood waste by focusing on food that gets thrownaway because it’s past the expiration date. Becausesuch dates are advisory, rather than indications thefood is no longer safe, Matsmart identifies ones thatare still okay to eat, and sells them to customers at adiscount.www.matsmart.se

FOODFARMERS CUTGERMANYWHAT IT DOES: The company has developed a“Dryponics” system to grow food indoors as well as aretail solution to optimize delivery. The automatedcultivation method produces fresh greens whileminimizing the use of energy, water and pesticides.By growing in urban areas, closer to consumers, thecompany wastes fewer resources on transportation.https://farmerscut.com/

HEALTHBABYLONUNITEDKINGDOMWHAT IT DOES: Babylon combines machine learningwith human medical expertise to create apersonalized health service available globally. Thecompany also partners with health care networks,such as the NHS in Britain, to allow users to makevideo calls for appointments and consultations.

https://www.babylonhealth.com/

HEALTHUBIOMEUNITEDSTATESWHAT IT DOES: UBiome’s SmartGut test usesprecision sequencing to detect beneficial andpathogenic microorganisms associated withspecific infections, lifestyle choices and gutconditions. Patients then work with their doctorsto assess the health of their microbiome and whatsteps to take.https://ubiome.com/

EDUCATIONNARA EDUCATIONALTECHNOLOGIES TURKEYWHAT IT DOES: This startup makes virtual andaugmented reality technologies for teachers to use inthe classroom across a range of subjects. Teachersare able to choose among Cardboard or GearVR.The company is also developing augmented realitysolutions to enhance learning experiences.http://nara.com.tr/

VR/ARVARJO TECHNOLOGIESFINLANDWHAT IT DOES: The company has created a “BionicDisplay” technology that mimics the human eye,delivering far greater resolution for VR/ARdevices. Varjo is working with OEMs to enablemore powerful VR/AR that the company hopeswill help redefine work and play.http://www.varjo.com/

FINANCEAID:TECHIRELANDWHAT IT DOES: AID:Tech uses blockchaintechnology to help international NGOs,government, and corporations deliver aid anddonations. The system creates a digital identityfor the recipients, and allows organizationsto make sure resources reach the right recipients.

https://aid.technology/

Compiled and written by Chris O’Brien.

O’Brien is European Correspondent forVentureBeat. Before moving to France in 2014,he spent 15 years covering Silicon Valleyfor the San Jose Mercury News and Los AngelesTimes.

TRANSPORTATIONSAVE TRACKARGENTINAWHAT IT DOES: This computer vision company hasinitially focused on developing the SaveBox, agadget that sits in the cabs of long-haul trucksand uses its facial recognition and AI algorithms todeliver warnings when a driver appears fatiguedor is falling asleep. The data is uploaded to theSaveCloud so that fleet managers can monitorand analyze drivers’ performance.http://www.savetrack.com/

FINANCETOKENUNITEDSTATESWHAT IT DOES: Tokenhasbuiltaglobalopenbankingnetworkthatprovidesdeveloperswithasinglepointofaccountaccessforpaymentsandinformationretrieval.Token’sopenAPI is intendedtoletbanksmonetizetheir infrastructurewhilecreatingnewrelationshipswithpartners.

https://token.io/

TRANSPORTATIONFFLY4UFRANCEWHAT IT DOES: Develops embedded IOT devicesthat help companies track their mobile assets suchas drums, trucks, pallets and constructionequipment. The data allows customers to closelymonitor the movement of their equipment througha web platform to optimize its use.

https://ffly4u.com

HEALTHNATURAL CYCLESSWEDENWHAT IT DOES: The company has developed anapp that uses an algorithm to track a woman’sovulation cycle. The self-testing app has proved soaccurate that it has been certified as a contraceptive in the European Union, and the foundershave applied for approval in the United States.

https://www.naturalcycles.com/


It looks like flying cars may finally be getting off the ground.No longer the stuff of science fiction, vertical take-off and landing aircraft(VTOLs) – the technical name for flying cars – are being developed by thelikes of the aerospace giant Airbus and the global ride-sharing serviceUber as well as by VC-backed startups like Germany’s Lilium.Geely, the Chinese automotive company behind Volvo, has just acquiredan American VTOL company called Terrafugia, and earlier this year theGerman carmaker Daimler invested in Volocopter, a German VTOL startupthat is developing a battery-powered aircraft.There are VTOLs that looklike futuristic versions of jets or helicopters. Others resemble the type of

OnTheFly— Urban mobility is expected to become more fluidthanks to flying taxis, autonomous cars and new typesof car-sharing services.

TRANSPORTATION

Terrafugia’sTF-X flying car

aircraft featured in 1960s cartoons. Some are electric, others are battery-powered. And some even operate both on land and in the sky. All arebeing designed to be autonomous and offer ride-sharing services that canbe booked by a smartphone, on the fly.VTOL technology is made for taking off, hovering and landing verticallyin places where there are no runways, such as city centers. The objectiveis to make urban travel more fluid. If the roads are jammed you simplytake to the skies. In the past, services like on-demand urban helicopterswere only available to the rich. That is no longer the case. Uber, whichsays it will begin offering flying taxi services as early as 2020, says its in-the-air taxi service will be priced the same as Uber X.So what will it take to make VTOLs fly? In November, Uber Chief ProductOfficer Jeff Holden announced that the company has signed a deal withNASA to help develop traffic systems for its autonomous flying cars, whichit hopes to start testing within two years in Los Angeles, Dallas-FortWorthand Dubai. Uber needs NASA’s help to create an air-traffic control systemthat could allow liftoffs fromnumerous building rooftopswithout hinderingcommercial aviation or endangering the public.Finding suitable real estate for the launch pads and building a reasonablesystem for automating the check-in process must still be worked out.

No One Behind the WheelRegulatory issues must also be resolved before autonomous cars take overcity streets, but tech companies are already pushing the boundaries.Waymo – a company spun out of Google’s self-driving project – is alreadytesting autonomous vehicles in Phoenix, Arizona, without human safetydrivers at thewheel.Waymo’sCEO, Jeff Krafcik, saidhis company’s employees

autonomous cars vary. Companies like Waymo and Uber plan to operatefleets of self-driving taxis. So does the UK-based FiveAI (see the story page6).Some car manufacturers, including GM, BMW and Volkswagen, arehedging their bets, pursuing both direct sales and fleet operation. WhileWaymo hopes to have a commercial autonomous fleet service on the roadby 2018 some analysts are skeptical.

Building Trust“We believe that widespread availability of level 5 cars could be at least15 years away,” CB Insights said in a research note. “It will take a level oftrust in the technology to alter transport behaviors. It’s amatter of legislation,regulation, safety and consumer acceptance all lining up. This will be abig shift. Governments need to spend the next couple of years preparing

are already hailing driverless minivans in and around Phoenix through amobile app.Withinmonths Krafcik saysWaymo vans with no safety driverwill also pick up Phoenix residents registered in its Early Riders program,with an eye towards launching a paid hailing service sometime during2018. Waymo is moving quickly to develop the technology and lock in itsearly-mover status, as self-driving car programs of other companies eyethe same goal of getting fully autonomous vehicles on the road.However, this doesn’t mean that the technology will be adopted rapidly,notes the research firm CB Insights. Waymo is operating cars in Phoenixat a level 4 of autonomy, meaning they can drive without a human inmost– but not all – circumstances. The goal of Waymo and its rivals, includingtraditional car companies, is to reach level 5, meaning the self-drivingsystem is so advanced that a vehicle would be capable of going anywherethat a human can under all conditions. The business models behind

— P.25

“Itwill takealeveloftrustinthetechnologytoaltertransportbehaviors.It’samatterof legislation,regulation,safetyandconsumeracceptanceall liningup.Thiswillbeabigshift.”ResearchnotefromCBInsights

URBANMOBILITYSTARTUPSTOWATCH

LILIUMGERMANYWHAT IT DOES : All-electric jet capableof vertical takeoff and landingdesigned to provide on-demand airtaxi services, in urban areas, that arefive times faster than a car.

https:/lilium.com

VOLOCOPTERGERMANYWHAT IT DOES : Autonomous fullyelectric on-demand helicopter-like airtaxi designed to connect airports orbusiness parks with city centers.

www.volocopter.com

The Lilium electric verticaltake-offand landing jet.

the proper legislation, says Lucy Yu, who handles public policy for FiveAI,which is also developing autonomous driving software. It is working withTransport of London to test self-driving services in London by the end of2019. For safety’s sake there need to be global standards for howautonomouscars should behave under certain circumstances, says Yu. And cities needto prepare for a very different future. While the timeframe for the uptakeof autonomous vehicles and aircraft remains uncertain, the introductionof autonomous cars and VTOLs are expected to change city centers. Ifpundits are right, few, if any, people will own their own cars, there will befewer cars on the road and they will operate more efficiently, meaningcities will be greener, at least in principal. It is important that cities thinkabout this early on and envision what they want to do with unneededparking lots and extra space, says Yu. “Otherwise the great promise andpotential being sold to the public won’t be met.”Yu says she sees autonomous vehicles as a complement to existing publicservices. But it is yet unclear how private and public transport serviceswill work together to create the truly seamless types of mobility-as-a-service offerings that are envisioned.

A Question of ControlThe promise is that wewill soon be able to smoothlymove fromour desireddestination to anywhere we want to go in a city, whether it be by ride-hailing a VTOL or car-sharing service, bicycle, scooter, bus, train, metro,or a combination of any of these services.But to work well, mobility-as-a-service will demand significantly morecooperation between companies and industries as well as a new digitalinfrastructure layer. The question is whether that future will be centralizedand controlled by one or more big commercial players – such as a car

company building a closed ecosystem or a Silicon Valley player like Google– or whether an open system will take root. “Everybody wants to havean exclusive platform,” says Yu. “Cities have a lot of influence, so one ofthe things cities can do is develop licensing requirements that spell outwhat operators of private servicesmust do for cities in return for a license.”Until such details areworked out, new forms of autonomous transportationlike VTOLs might have trouble taking off.J.L.S.

VULOGFRANCE

WHAT IT DOES : Offersasoftware-as-a-servicesolutionthatenablesautoma-kers, car rentalcompanies,energycompaniesandstartupsto launchandoperatesharedmobilityservices.

www.vulog.com

NAVYAFRANCE

WHATIT DOES: Maker of a fully electricand autonomous shared taxi and anautonomous shuttle.

navya.tech

LESSFRANCE

WHATITDOES: A ride-sharingserviceforcommutersandothershort-distancerides. Itwill competewithBlaBlaLines,aride-sharingmobileappfordailycommutes launchedbyBlaBlaCar.

www.less.com

FIVE AIUNITED KINGDOM

WHATITDOES: An end-to-end solutionfor autonomous cars, including asoftware platform and a self-drivingtaxi fleet.

www.five.ai


TRANSPORTATION

The Lilium Jet, top,and the Volocopter 2X, above.

2

3

4

5

1

Five Facts About BitcoinBrought to you by eToro

There are now hundreds, if not thousands, of decentralised, digital‘cryptocurrencies’. They are all spawned from Bitcoin, the originalcrypto. It was released as open-source software in January2009 by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto – the unknownperson (or persons) who developed Bitcoin, and simulta-neously invented the first blockchain database.

Initially individuals ‘mined’ Bitcoins, using powerfulcomputer software to crack complex algorithmsand ‘solve’ blocks in the blockchain, the digitalledger that underpins Bitcoin. Nakamoto minedthe first block of Bitcoins – the so-called‘genesis block’ – and was rewarded with 50tokens. It is estimated that Nakamoto mined1 million Bitcoins in the early years.

Less than three years after Bitcoin’slaunch, Satoshi Nakamoto vanished fromthe internet – and has neither been heardof since nor positively identified. At thatpoint the total value of all Bitcoin in circu-lation was over $54.5 million.

Laszlo Hanyecz made the first document-ed purchase of a good using Bitcoin on22nd May, 2010. The Florida-based pro-grammer paid 10,000 tokens in exchangefor two pizzas. Back then they were worthroughly $25, but at the time of writing that isequal to more than $40 million.

Since 1st January, 2017, the price of Bitcoin hassurged dramatically – 683% as of 16th November,2017. That compares favourably against the S&P500(15%) and UK100 (4%). By mid November, Bitcoin’smarket capitalisation was $125 billion, having hit anall-time high of $7,800 per coin, surpassing Goldman Sachsmarket capitalisation.

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Five Facts About Bitcoin

There are now hundreds, if not thousands, of decentralised, digital ‘cryptocurrencies’. They are all spawned from Bitcoin, the original crypto. It was released as open-source software in January 2009 by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto – the unknown person (or persons) who developed Bitcoin, and simulta-

Initially individuals ‘mined’ Bitcoins, using powerful computer software to crack complex algorithms

ledger that underpins Bitcoin. Nakamoto mined

-

grammer paid 10,000 tokens in exchange for two pizzas. Back then they were worth roughly $25, but at the time of writing that is

Since 1st January, 2017, the price of Bitcoin has surged dramatically – 683% as of 16th November, 2017. That compares favourably against the S&P500 (15%) and UK100 (4%). By mid November, Bitcoin’s market capitalisation was $125 billion, having hit an all-time high of $7,800 per coin, surpassing Goldman Sachs


MakingWaves— Startups are reducing dependence on fossil fuelsand transforming electric car batteries.

Waveenergyhaspotentialasanalternativeenergysource,butcompanies have had a tough time trying to commercialize the technology.It costs too much to set up, no stationary equipment has been developedto reliablydealwithwavesashighas20metersormoreandenvironmentalistshave objected to the presence ofmassive new structures on the ocean floor.To make matters worse, insurance companies have refused to underwriteprojects due to the high risks. None of that fazed Inna Braverman, whomajored in English and political science at the University of Haifa in Israelbefore co-founding Tel Aviv-based Eco Wave Power.She and her co-founder, David Leb, believe they have cracked the problemsthat have held back the sector. Rather than tethering multi-million-dollaredifices to the ocean floor, Eco Wave Power uses buoys that are attachedto any type of structure, such as breakwaters, piers or jetties, to producewaves when the buoys move up and down, driving a hydraulic piston todeliver high kinetic pressure to an onshore generator to create electricity.“Our floaters produce electricity at prices that are lower thanwind and thesame as solar,” says Braverman.The company has projects and project orders in the UK, China, Mexico,Chile, Israel andGibraltar. “Most of thewave-energy companies aremanagedand owned by engineers and scientists,” says Braverman. “That’s a goodthing because they have a lot of knowledge,” she adds, “but it is also a badthing. Themain difference with our project is thinking outside of the box.”Braverman, a speaker at Slush, a technology conference inHelsinki onNov.29 and 30, is an example of how non-experts from outside particular

industries make waves by coming up with solutions that others thinkimpossible. Successfulmoon shots in the energy sector canhave aparticularlybig impact. “If you can bring energy to everyone, we can solve everyproblem: education, food, medical, mobility, heating, cooling, etc.,” saysGeorge Coelho, a senior advisor to Quadia, which provides private equityand debt financing to companies that are inventing a regenerative economyand driving global sustainability.

Batteries Go GreenTech entrepreneurs are taking up the challenge in a variety of other ways.A move to electric cars will have an important impact on the environmentbut battery life is still an issue. Enter Storedot, an Israeli startup presentingat Slush that makes an electric car battery it says can fully recharge in fiveminutes, allowing a driver to travel 300 miles without worry. Lithium-ionpacks are also key for automakers banking on a new generation of plug-in vehicles. Northvolt, a Swedish company founded by Peter Carlsson, aformer Tesla executive scheduled to speak at Slush, is aiming to cut thecost of storing power in half by building a €4 billion lithium-ion batteryfactory.The objective is to build theworld’s greenest battery, with aminimal carbonfootprint and the highest ambitions for recycling, to enable the Europeantransition to renewable energy, according to the company. Energy storageis seen as the missing link in the world’s shift to a zero-carbon economy.

ENERGY

Batteries can fill power gaps from intermittent solar and wind energy.Another startup, Sonnen, aGEVentures-backedmaker of residential batteries,is doing just that. It has developed a home energy battery storage unit thatconnects to off-grid energy sources, allowing users to obtain, store and usefree electricity from the community without needing to connect to a publicutility. The batteries can also be used to balance out fluctuations in thepublic power grid, helping to stabilize it. This energy management serviceis provided thanks to a pool of thousands of sonnenBatterie units that aredigitally linked to one another.TenneT, aEuropean transmission systemsoperatorwith41million customers,is trialing a service that uses the blockchain to harness Sonnen’s batterystorage capability, helping it overcome issues related to so-called re-dispatchmeasures, whichwere designed to prevent regional overloads onGermany’selectric grid.

Blockchain to the RescueInGermany, there are restrictions onhowmuchof thewind energy producedin the north of the country can be transported to the industrial centers inthe south in order to prevent too much power from flowing through thegrid at the same time.Under the current system, energy suppliers in Germanymake a forecast ofhow much energy consumers will use the next day. Then they go to anenergy exchange or the operators of power plants, buy that amount ofelectricity and provide the information to TenneT, which runs a simulationof the electricity flows on the system tomake sure there is enough capacity.If any of the calculations are off-base, TenneT might have to pay a powerplant in the south to generate more energy and/or pay damages to a windfarm in the north that produced too much energy for the power lines tohandle. That is where Sonnen comes in. In the pilot project, a network ofresidential solar batteries is beingmade available to store the energy, helpingreduce the imposition of limitations onwind energy at times of insufficienttransport capacity. The blockchain presents TenneT with a view of theavailable pool of flexible battery power. If activated, the blockchain recordsthe batteries’ contribution, enabling the integration of renewable energysources into the German electricity supply system.As energy demand continues to rise, particularly in emergingmarkets, due

to growing populations, ongoing urbanization and rising wealth levels,startups are stepping inwith energy efficiency solutions.“SmartGrid, storage,distributed generation, energy efficiency solutions for buildings – start-upsareplayinga role inall of theseareas, especially software, nowthat renewablegeneration is more commoditized inwind and solar PV,” says Coelho. “Anddon’t forget that mobility and the rise of electrification and self-drivingand car sharingwill also cause changes in the energy business which start-ups will serve.”If pundits are right, the energy sector is likely to continue to generatepowerful opportunities for startups for some time to come.J.L.S.

ENERGYSTARTUPSTOWATCH

ECO WAVE POWERISRAELWHAT IT DOES : Uses buoys that areattached to structures such as piers orjetties to produce waves when thebuoys move up and down, driving ahydraulic piston to deliver high kineticpressure to an onshore generator.

www.ecowavepower.com

NORTHVOLTSWEDENWHATIT DOES: Building a €4 billionlithium-ion battery factory in Europewith the aim of cutting the cost ofstoring power in half.

northvolt.com

STOREDOTISRAELWHATITDOES: Developed an electriccar battery it says can fully recharge infive minutes, allowing a driver to travel300 miles without worry.

www.store-dot.com

“Ifyoucanbringenergytoeveryone,wecansolveeveryproblem:education, food,medical,mobility,heating,cooling,etc.”

— P.29

GeorgeCOELHO,a senior advisor to Quadia,which offers private equity and debt financing.


HEALTH

BAYERFOUNDATIONHEALTHSTARTUPS

While entrepreneurs are credited with changing the world, theysometimes do it with the help of big corporates who have been pioneeringsocial progress since long before the Internet was invented. The BayerFoundations, an arm of Bayer, the German global life sciences companythat focuses on the health care and agriculture sectors, has been fundinghealth, nutrition and education since 1897, when Friedrich Bayer Juniorcreated the framework for Bayer’s first activities as a foundation.Today the foundation sets aside a total of $15 million a year to fund star-tups and projects aimed at social good. Representatives of the foundationattend technology conferences to seek out and inspire entrepreneurs readyto work on globally impactful problems.Companies can do well by doing good, but Thimo Schmitt-Lord, the BayerFoundations’ CEO, tells them, “if you want to be a startup billionaire, youhave to solve a billion peoples’ problems.” For the Bayer Foundations thatmeans focusing on issues like health and sanitation. The challenges arehuge. “I don’t have to tell you that the global health care system is broken– completely and utterly broken!” Eugene Borukhovich, Bayer’s global headof digital health and innovation, wrote in an essay for a Bayer Foundationspublication. “Incentive systems across the supply chain are fractured, witha complete lack of focus on humans and an ICD code for billing instead.”What is needed, he says, is to move the focus back to serving humanityand to innovating in areas where there is a lack of resources and access.For example, breast cancer is the most common invasive cancer in wo-men. Survival depends on early detection, but since mammagrams areexpensive, 70% of breast cancer deaths occur in disadvantaged areas.India leads the breast cancer mortality statistics becausemammographiesare not affordable for most women, so early breast cancer screening is al-most non-existent.That’s why the Bayer Foundations says it chose to funda project developed by medical device entrepreneurs at UE Life Sciencescalled iBreastExam, a handheld sensor for the detection of breast lesions.

Using patented tactile sensor technology, the device can be operated bycommunity health workers with only minimal training – at a low cost –for the early detention of breast cancer in all types of settings.The Refugee First Response Center, another of some 17 health projectsfunded by the foundation, is targeting the estimated 65 million refugeescurrently seeking shelter, safety and medical aid. Harald Neidhardt, CEOof the innovation agency and conference organizer MLOVE; and MirkoBass, technology evangelist at Cisco, developed a mobile health clinic ina converted shipping container that provides ad-hoc video translationsservices to connect doctors and patients with more than 750 live inter-preters who are fluent in more than 50 languages. That project is now acatalyst for a new venture called the Promise Hub. (For information abouthow to contribute to that project see page 12.)

Toilets of the FutureSanitation is another area primed for disruption. According to the WorldHealth Organization (WHO), some 2.4 billion people around the world

ImprovingGlobalHealth— The Bayer Foundations are funding projectsthat aim to solve the problemsof millions or even billions of people.

The iBreast Exam screening device

REFUGEE FIRST RESPONSECENTERGERMANYWHAT IT DOES : Convertsshippingcontainers intomobilemedicalresponsecentersforrefugeesandoffersthemahigh-tech,on-demandtranslatorpoolcapableofprovidinglivetranslationsbymedicalspecialists in50languages.http://refugeefirstresponsecenter.com

FITEDUNITED STATESWHAT IT DOES : Ascreeningappwithintegrated3Dworkshopproceduresenablinganyoneanywheretobediagnosedforscoliosisandgetacustom-fitmedicalcorset.About2%ofthepopulationisaffectedbythiscondition,especially inthedevelopingworld.https://www.fited.co/

IBREASTEXAMUNITED STATESWHAT IT DOES : A handheldbreastcancerscreeningdevicethatmakesearlyscreeningaffordable,givingeveryhealthworkertheability todoeffectivebreastcancerexaminationswithinfiveminutes–withouttheneedforaprofessionalenvironmentand itscosts.http://www.ibreastexam.com/

SANI SOLARGERMANYWHAT IT DOES : Asanitaryouthousedesignedforthemillionsofpeople inAfricawhohavenoaccesstotoilets,SaniSolardrieshumanwastewithsunpower, reducingthespreadofdiseaseandeliminatingtheneedforan externaldisposalserviceormaintenance.3psanitation.de/

— P.31

part of the problem,” says Marc Buckley, a juror and open innovation ad-visor to the Bayer Foundations. “The Bayer Cares Foundation wants to seemore impactful global solutions and we want the disrupters of currentmodels to come in to share their startup for the good of the planet andpeople.” While the Bayer Foundations have had a strong focus on healthprojects, the scope is being widened to include startups targeting the agri-culture, food and beverage industries. Buckley is also on the the EAT andWorld Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Food Reform forSustainability and Health (FReSH) Innovation Hub Task Group, which isalso looking for agriculture, food and beverage innovations that will re-form the food system and steer the industry into a sustainable direction.The launch of the Hub is planned during the World Economic ForumAnnual Meeting, which runs January 23rd to 26th.Buckley, the Bayer Foundations CEO Schmitt-Lord and other membersof the Bayer Foundations’ teams will be scouting for interested entrepre-neurs at Slush.J.L.S.

A doctor examines a patient in the Refugee First Response Center,with an interpreter ready to translate via video.

still lack access to decent sanitation facilities. The typical approach for anon-site, off-grid sanitation solution without water is still based on the la-trine concept, which is more than 2,000 years old. Although the WHOconsiders this simple toilet to be an improvement over open defecation,it introduces other problems. The storage and removal of waste from la-trines can easily transfer the bacteria, viruses and parasites found in hu-man excrement to water, soil and food.Contamination is one of themajor causes of diarrhea, which is the secondbiggest killer of children in developing countries and also leads to otherserious diseases. To solve the problem, a German entrepreneur workingfor 3P Technik Filtersysteme came up with a sun-powered toilet for re-mote areas in hot regions. Human waste is dried and reduced using theheat of the sun. The toilets require a one-time investment with no futurecosts. Today they are made in Germany but in the future could be pro-duced locally with local materials.While all of these most recent health projects were created by entrepre-neurs, none were launched by startups from the tech community. “This is


Planet Labs is indexingphysical changes on Earth the sameway Google indexes text on theInternet, helping businesses andhumanitarian causes.The company has so far sent some300miniaturized satellites into loworbit. Today, around 200 of themcontinually photograph the 57.3million square miles of Earth’s landmass, sending back high-resolutionimages of the Earth every day.The idea is to make global changevisible.“What we are helping people

to see is all the change that happen,”says Planet Labs Co-founder andCEO Will Marshall, a scheduledspeaker at Slush, a technologyconference in Helsinki Nov. 30 toDec. 1. “ You can’t fix what youcan’t see. With our images you canstop illegal deforestation and illegalmining as soon as it starts.”

Building A BusinessPlanet Labs has customers in energy,infrastructure, farming, forestry,

insurance, defense and businessintelligence. But it is also providingimages tonon-governmental agenciessuch as the United Nations andFederal Emergency ManagementAgency in theUS tohelpwithdisasterresponse.“We started Planet because of itspotential to aid humanitarian causesand then we realized that the bestway to have that impact and besustainable was to develop a highlyprofitable business model,” saysMarshall, a scientist who previouslyworked at NASA.“We feel goodabout the fact that we are doinghumanitarian stuff,” says Marshall.“Butwe also have a very, very strongbusiness case and some newemerging markets for us are goingto be very exciting. One new areais finance.“With our images we can tell theoutput of coppermines or the levelsof theworld’s oil drums, the numberof ships in all the port’s ships orthe acitivity of theworld’s soy fields.This is valuable for the people

betting on all the world’scommodites. This is going to be amassive market for us.”

Finding A PurposeMarshall says heplans to senda clearmessage to attendees of Slush: “Theyshould not start with cool tech justto get it out there. Start by asking‘what are the challenges of theworldandwhat and I amgoing to do aboutthose challenges? What kind oforganizational structure do I needto do that. Money and technologyshould not be the driving factors.Helping the world should be thedrivingmotivation.Andifyoudiscoverthatwhat youaredoing isnothelpinghumanity then scrap that plan anddo something else. We don’t needmore projects to develop stupid appsthat waste everyone’s time. You canbuildcompaniesthathavetremendousbusiness and humanitarian impact,these two things can be verysynergistic.”J.L.S.

PictureThis— How satellite images of Earth that are updated dailycan help business, government andthe UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Satellite images from Planet Labsshow how an illegal mining operationin Peru encroached on theTambopata National Reserve,a protected forest.

“We started Planet Labs because of itspotential to aid humanitarian causesand then we realized thatthe best way to have that impact andbe sustainable was to develop a highlyprofitable business model”WillMARSHALL,Planet Labs Co-founderand CEO


search firm CB Insights. In 2017, funding has already more than doubledcompared to last year, and the number of deals has risen 65%.Like an increasing number of farms, Tom Farms is turning to modern tech-nology. It practices precision farming, an approach based on observing,measuring and responding to variables in fields. Drones provide aerial ima-gery and social scientists gather samples on every hectare grid so TomFarmscan know just the right amount of water and fertilizer each acre needs.

Microbes for Stronger PlantsThe use of microbiomes is attractive because they could help increase yieldfurther while reducing water use and allow for more efficient use of ferti-lizer, by lowering the amount used to produce every bushel of crop, saysTom. “My goal is to increase productivity per unit of production and helpour plants become healthier and I am confident they will.”Like human mi-crobes, plant microbes evolve over time to improve and protect plants butcan be impacted by factors in their environment including heat, droughtandmodern agricultural practices that have introduced thewidespread useof chemicals.The serial entrepreneur David Perry, Indigo’s CEO, says he

After immigrating to theUnitedStates from Switzerland, the Tomfamilymade its wayWest, settling on a small patch of fertile Indiana prairieland in 1837. Today, Tom Farms, which is still owned by the family, spans20,000 acres. It is one of the largest suppliers of seed corn to the globalagrochemical conglomerate Monsanto and a major supplier of corn andsoybeans to pork, beef and dairy producers and for bio-fuel production.It is also serving as a test bed for technology created by ag tech startups likeIndigoAgriculture. Indigo, a2017WorldEconomicForumtechnologypioneer,uses plant microbiomes to strengthen crops against disease and drought toincrease crop yield for farmers.Indigo believes it can obtain 30% to 50% yield improvements over the next10 years for cotton, rice, wheat and soy crops, helping the world meet anexpected 40% increase in demand for food by 2050. The improvementsalso promise to save water and reduce the need per unit of production forfertilizers, fungicidesandpesticides.TomFarmshasplanted IndigoAgriculture’sspecially coated seeds on 750 acres and is waiting for the harvest to seewhat impact it will have on crop yield. The precise results are not availableyet but look positive, Tom says. “This is a brand new space – this is a moonshot – but this is what we need,” says Kip Tom, who has managed TomFarms for the last 43 years. Usingmicrobiomes to improve plant healthwillnot only help farmers like him but also those in developing markets whomust grow crops in difficult conditions, says Tom.As farmers around the world face demands to ramp up food production inresponse to water shortages, population growth and increasingly erraticweather due to climate change, a growing crop of startups are stepping upto help. Solutions range from robotics that replace the manual-labor partof the farming process or survey farm health to a variety of software, ser-vices and techniques. For example, Plantagon International, a Swedish star-tup, is proposing that cities build office towers that contain giant automatedindoor farms using hydroponics, a method of growing plants without soilin a nutrient-rich water solvent. Ag tech startups have raised global equityfunding of $1.5 billion across 453 deals since 2013, according to the re-

FOOD

IncreasingNature’sBounty— Startups are developing technologies to give farmersthe potential to meet an expected 40% surge in demandfor food by 2050.

AGTECHSTARTUPSTOWATCH

INDIGO AGRICULTUREUNITED STATESWHAT IT DOES : Uses plantmicrobiomes to strengthen cropsagainst disease and drought, to helpfarmers sustainably feed the planet.

https://www.indigoag.com/

Tom Farmsin Indiana.

the same range for cotton, soy and rice, says Perry. “An approach that notonly improves the nature of the seed itself but allows it to grow in a wa-ter-stretched environment with an improved yield can have a big impact,”saysMehmood Khan, Vice Chairman and Chief Scientific Officer of PepsiCoand a member of Indigo Agriculture’s board. The current world popula-tion is 7 billion. By 2050 the population is expected to grow to 9.5 billion.“There can not be an increase in land and the global water supply is dimi-nishing so how are we going to feed 2.5 billion more mouths?” asks Khan.A key reason for the water shortage is that a majority of it is used in theproduction of agricultural products. “So if we are going to solve the wor-ld’s water crisis we are going to have to solve it through agriculture,” hesays. Tom says he is confident that tech such as biomes, data science,CRISPR-Cas and others will play an increasingly important role in impro-ving farming. “We have a social obligation to society and humanity to pro-vide food sources for people in a sustainable way and at the same time toprotect the environment,” he says. “We’ve deployed a lot of new techno-logies and I am challenging the next generation and telling them they aregoing to have to do that too when they take over.”J.L.S.

started with the premise that “if you could figure out which microbes arebeneficial to plants and put these microbes back you would have healthierplants that would yield more.” By using genomic sequencing and compu-tational bioinformatics, Indigo assembled an enormous database of gene-tic information from these microbes, then applied algorithms andmachinelearning to predict which ones are most important to the plants’ health.These specially selected microbes are used to coat seeds of corn, cotton,rice, wheat and soy crops. The company has commercialized the treatmentfor its first five crops. About a half a million acres have been planted withthe specially coated seeds, mostly in the U.S., but the company is also star-ting to plant fields in Australia, Argentina and Brazil.Initial results are promising, prompting CBInsights to recently name Indigoas one of 30 companies that could change the world. Farmers report a 5%to 15% yield improvement from the initial treatment, says Perry. The ratevaries depending on the crop and conditions. In addition the treatment isproving effective in helping plants use water more efficiently. “Preservingour fresh water is one of the biggest issues facing our planet and 70% ofwater goes into agriculture,” he says. In September Indigo reported a 6%to 8% improvement in water efficiency for wheat growing in Kansas and

— P.35

BENSON HILL BIOSYSTEMSUNITED STATESWHAT IT DOES : Improves cropperformance through plant biology, BigData, and analytical cloud computing.

http://bensonhillbio.com/

SCREENSEEDFRANCEWHAT IT DOES : Uses an optical sensorand machine learning algorithms toaccelerate drug discovery for seedtreatments, with the aim of creatinghigher crop yields and healthier plants.

https://screenseed.com

PROSPERAISRAELWHAT IT DOES : Uses computer visionand artificial intelligence to analyzedata gathered from fields in order toincrease farm productivity.

https://www.prospera.ag/

ENDURA BIOUNITED STATESWHATITDOES: Engineers salt- anddrought-tolerant plants to increaseyields from marginal lands globally,with the goal of increasing farmers’potential to feed the world.

www.endurabio.com

“Wehaveasocialobligationtosocietyandhumanitytoprovidefoodsourcesforpeopleinasustainablewayandatthesametimetoprotecttheenvironment.”KIPTOM,head of a 20,000-acre farm in the U.S.that is testing plant microbiomes developed by thestartup Indigo Agriculture to strengthen crops againstdisease and drought.

Indigo AgricultureCEO David Perry (L) with FounderGeoffrey von Maltzahn.

MOL FREDESS

If ever a sector was ripe fordisruption it is food. Livestock is amajor contributor to greenhouse gasemissions and uses up a significantportion of land and of the world’swater and food supply.When you factor in the anticipatedexplosion in global population anddemand for protein, the situation issimply not sustainable.Startupsusing technology toengineermeat in labs or manufacture it fromplant-based products are threate-ning the future of the $90 billionmeat industry, from farm to table.Themeat value chain could be sim-plifieddramatically, as socalled“cleanmeat” laboratories thatmanufacturemeat from animal stem cells takethe place of farms, feed lots andslaughterhouses, according to a re-cent report from the research firmCBInsights.The fishing industry is also facingmassive disruption, as is the dairymarket. Startups are experimentingwith a variety of newways to “make”meat. Impossible Foods, a major

player in the space, leverages mo-lecular engineering to create “blee-ding” plant-based burgers that thecompany claims are nearly indistin-guishable from meat.The company’s discovery of heme,an iron-rich molecule in animalproteins, has enabled it to replicatethe “meaty” flavor in their plant-based products. The company re-cently announced that it’s expandingdistribution channels to universitycafeterias, museum cafes, and otherretail outlets in the United States.BeyondMeat is anothermajor com-pany making plant-based burgersand other imitation meat productssuch as chicken strips and beef cru-mbles. The company also has beenexperimenting with a plant-basedpork product.

Test-tube MeatballsLab-grown meat, also know as“cultured or clean meat,” could beabridgebetweenrealmeatandplant-based products. San Francisco-based

Memphis Meats makes meat fromself-reproducing cells, thereby fabri-catingmeat that is an “animal-based”product but avoiding the need tobreed, raise and slaughter huge nu-mbers of animals.The company de-buted its first synthetic meatball in2016 and followed upwith thewor-ld’s first cell-cultured chicken andduckearlier thisyear.Andthree Israel-

based startups -- SuperMeat, FutureMeat Technologies and Meat theFuture -- have announced a deal toimport lab-grown meat to China aspart of a broader government planto decrease the country’s meatconsumption by 50%.While still in early stages of researchand development, fish-free productsare further expanding the possibili-ties of an animal-free future, saysthe CBInsights report.

New Forms of ProteinFinless Foods uses cellular agricul-ture to develop faux fishmeat, whileNewWaveFoodsproducespeaproteinand algae-based imitation shrimp,theFrench startupODONOTELLpro-duces algae-based salmonandOceanHugger Foods has developed ahimi,a tomato-based raw tuna substitute,aneggplant-basedeelandcarrot-basedsalmon substitutes.As with animal-free meat, analystssay fishless foods could radically sim-plify and clean up the seafood pro-duction value chain.Startups are also building businessesaroundmaking snacksor food staplessuch as flour from insects. Cricket-raising results in 100 times lowergreenhouse gas emissions than beefcow production, and crickets alsohave higher proportions of proteinthan beef or chicken, according toCBInsights. And because crickets re-quire proportionally less feed thanlivestock animals, production ismoreefficient.Animal-free dairy products are alsoon the horizon. Perfect Day, a U.S.startup,makesmilkwithout theneedfor a single cow. The co-foundersobtained a strain of yeast,which theycall Buttercup, from an open-sourceU.S. Department of Agriculture da-tabase. They then obtained a cow’s

ReinventingFood— Lab-made meat, fish and diary are transformingfarm to table.

FOOD


DNA sequence, had it printed usinga 3D-printer and inserted it into aspecific location of the yeast, conver-ting plant sugars into milk proteins(casein and whey) using fermenta-tion. The milk proteins were thencombinedwith plant-based fats andnutrients to get milk that’s lactosefree. “We are creating animal-freedairy proteins that provide the sameexceptional nutritional benefits ofanimal-derived dairy protein whileleaving a kinder, greener footprint,”says Perfect Day co-founder RyanPanda.The bulk of the dairy indus-try’s output – around 80% – is notconsumed asmilk but is used by thefood and beverage industry to pro-duce a whole range of products likeyogurts, cheeses and saladdressings.Just, formerly known as HamptonCreek Farms, is making egglessmayonnaise while Notco is makingplant-basedgreek yogurt, cheese andmilk in addition to mayo.Active investors in the food tech spaceinclude IndieBio, which has placedbets onMemphis Meats, NewWaveFood, and Finless Foods, as well asstartups focusingondairy like PerfectDay and Notco. Large corporationsinvolved in the meat industry areinvesting in meat innovation as a

is still significantly more expensivethan meat from traditional sourcesand some question how easily it willscale. “Though many startups in thespace claim that their products willrevolutionizemeat consumption, thequestion remainswhether cleanmeatand substitute foods will provide ascalable method to feed the future –or whether it’s simply a newwave ofmolecular gastronomy.”J.L.S.

WATER USE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS LAND USE PRODUCTION COST

1,799 gallons

324 gallons

16pounds

3.52pounds

260 ft2

2.6 ft2

$1.05

$12

OUR MEATLESS FUTURE:COSTS ANDBENEFITS PER POUND

ANIMAL- BASED

LAB-GROWN

form of outsourced R&D, notesCBInsights.

Investing in AlternativesThe food-trading giant Cargill parti-cipated in Memphis Meats’ Series Around, while Nestle, which owns anumber of frozen food brands thatincorporate meat, acquired the ve-gan prepared-foods producer SweetEarth in September. Additionally, the

69%2006

Required increase in food calories to feed 9.6 billionpeople by 2050

2050

— P.37

rise of funds with a strong emphasison alternative meat production andinnovation,suchasTysonNewVentures,suggests thatmeat producers foreseethe possibility of a meatless future.TysonNewVenturesmade its first in-vestment in BeyondMeat inOctober2016, an indication that it may belooking to pivot from a meat produ-cer to a more broadly protein-frien-dly brand, according to the report.Nevertheless, today lab-grownmeat

Source : CBInsights, Waterfoot Print Network, Food Climate Research Networkand press reports.


FINANCIAL SERVICES

The Wall Street veteranSallie Krawcheck is the co-founderand CEO of Ellevest, a digital invest-ment platform for women that hasraised $44.6 million in funding.Ellevest’s goal is to work to close thegender investing gap in the UnitedStates. TheAI-powered platform tai-lors investments to the realities ofwomen’s careers: they face a genderpay gap, they live longer, and theirsalaries peak earlier than men’s, sotheyneed to save for retirementdiffe-rently.

You’ve said you view finance as thefinal frontier and the fourth waveof feminism. Why do you hold thatpoint of view?— SK: Money is power in capita-lism and men have more moneythan women do. My opinion, andthe opinion of many of the womenI talk to, is that to be equal withmen you need to be financiallyequal with men. The first step is tobe in financial control, whichdoesn’t mean being independentlywealthy. It means being able tostand on your own two feet finan-cially so that you are free to leavea bad job or a bad relationship andstart your own business and liveyour dream. It is crucial but in theU.S. mothers have told theirdaughters that talking about mo-

ney is crass, unattractive and tackyso it is not part of our vocabulary,we don’t know how to invest, wedon’t talk about it with our friends.That is why I launched Ellevest, tobreak these taboos so that womencan earn the market returns menhave earned all along.What else is holding women back?— SK: When I was at Merrill Lynch

wedid research that showed thatwo-men needmore financial education.Somehowwe are deficit in this areabut so are the guys. The differenceis men will invest in products theydon’t understand and women willnot. You can think “silly men,” butthe real challenge is that historical-ly men have earned the returns andwomen have kept more of their mo-

ney in cash and this has added to thegender investinggap,whichcostswo-men asmuch as the gender pay gap.How does Ellevest aim to close thegap?— SK: Our investing and planningprogramis solely focusedonher,mea-ning we do things that take into ac-count women’s longer lives, the factthat women earn less and takemorecareer breaks. All of these things arevery importantwhenyouput togetheran investing plan for retirement, butsome 86% of financial advisors aremale so, without meaning to impli-citly, they have made it into a bu-siness aimed at men. For example,the entire industry is built for peoplewhowant to outperform themarket.The percent of women who want tooutperform themarket is zero.Whatthey do want is to reach their goals.Our technology can do very power-ful calculations based on howmuchshemakes,what shewants toachieveand what her assets are.How many women are using theEllevest platform?— SK: In one year we have built acommunity of 100,000 women andwe have in excess of 6,000 clients. Isee this as a huge growth opportu-nity.You recently raised a new $34.6million round of financing. Howwill you use the funding?— SK:We are adding financial advi-sorsandplanners.Ourclientsare real-ly asking for that. They want a per-sonal touch as well as the digital ex-perience.What should the financial industryas a whole do to help close thegender gap?— SK: Send female clients toEllevest.J.L.S.

ClosingtheGenderDivide— Sallie Krawcheck created Ellevest, a startupoffering an AI-powered digital platform, to encouragemore women to invest.


Multinationalfirmsconsiderhavingtherightemployeesintherightplace a core part of talent strategy,not anichehuman resource function.Relocationmanagement companiescalled business process outsourcingor BPOs have traditionally helped,but the market is shifting to cloudplatformsas companiesdemand tech-nology and data to manage an in-creasingly mobile and dispersedworkforce.That is whereMOVE Guides, a star-tup offering a software-as-a-serviceplatform for employee relocation,comes in. The company, which hasjoint headquarters in London andSan Francisco, is disrupting tradi-tional relocationmanagement, amar-ket worth $11 billion, by some es-timates, and adding what it calls“mobility management” services.MOVE Guides’ clients include high-growth tech companies in SiliconValley and large multinationals inthe tech, media, financial and pro-fessional services and manufactu-ring sectors, says Brynne Kennedy,theMOVEGuides founder and CEO,and a scheduled speaker at Slush,a technology conference in HelsinkiNov. 30-Dec. 1.

Mobile ServicesToday’s environment requires a verydifferent kind of resource planning,

says Kennedy, a former investmentbankerwho launchedMOVEGuideswhile studying at London BusinessSchool. Themarket hasmoved fromcoordinating logistics for 5% to 10%of employees who have been tradi-tionally managed to becoming astrategic function involving asmuchas 60% to 70% of the workforce, af-ter factoring in employees who re-locate for a short period and mightwork for aweek amonth out of NewYork City, for example, or have togo to Paris for a month.Employees who work abroad for a

short period of time are “a hugelygrowing part of the employee seg-ment at a large public company andtoday that is notmanaged sowe arelooking at products that pull in ex-periences, compliance, and additio-nal segments of employees,” saysKennedy. “Ultimately wewant to of-fer services to anyone who is mo-bile.”MOVEGuides’ TalentMobility cloud,which can be integrated into coreHR systems, aims to support all as-pects of a global mobility program.Companies can instantly estimate

the cost of different types of moves,track spend versus budget and ac-cess all of their employee, vendorand spend data with real-timedashboardsandreporting.Employeescan learn about their benefits pac-kage, obtain personalized informa-tion about their new city and receivestatus updates about the progressof their relocation services, like ship-ping.

Breaking Down BarriersCertified partners are able to accessjob authorizations and provide up-dates on service delivery, which areshared with companies and em-ployees.MOVE casemanagers, whoact as concierges supporting em-ployees while they are moving andwhile they are on temporary assign-ments, can instantly access all infor-mation about the employees theysupport in a single employee file.MOVEGuide’s offering is “step one”of what Kennedy says is her “loftyvision of changing theworld formo-bility so that economically and so-cially there are less barriers betweenpeople and places.” At the same timethat MOVE Guides is trying to easethings for people who work at mul-tinationals – who are usually partof the top 5% of the global incomepyramid – it is also trying to makelife easier for the bottom 5%, manyof whom are forced into mobilitydue to conflict. The company do-nates 1% of its revenues to non-pro-fits who aid refugees. “We have anobligation in the tech community,and frankly in the business world,to give back,” she says.J.L.S.

OnTheMove— How tech Is helpingcorporates deal with an increasingly mobile work force.

FUTURE OF WORK

— P.41

Samasource works with corporate partners to design digitalworkthat can be done by populations in Africa and regions of India that aretraditionallyoverlookedbyWesterncompanies.Thebasic ideacameto founderLeila Janah not long after she arrived in Africa to teach English more than adecadeago.Far fromthenarratives she’dheardaboutapopulation indesperateneed of aid, she says, she instead met extraordinary people with strongeducations who were hungry for work.“I was shocked at how talentedmy students were,” recalls Janah, a Harvardgraduate who grew up in New York. “What I saw when I was living therewas howmuchpeoplewanted towork andhow theywere deprived of doingsomething meaningful.” She wondered: Would it be possible to give thesepeoplework rather than just aid?Theanswer to thatquestionwasSamasource,a non-profit, social enterprise founded in 2008 to bridge the divide betweencharity and for-profit business.After years of fundraising, cajoling skeptical partners, and refining its bu-siness plan, Samasource reached a hugemilestone in 2016. For the first timein its history, the organization was profitable based just on its earned reve-nue from work contracts. No longer primarily dependent on donations,Samasource has shown that its corporate partners – which includeWalmartLabs, Microsoft, eBay, Marriott, TripAdvisor and Volkswagen – don’t have tochoose between the bottom line and social good.“These companies are getting their work done and helping to solve pover-ty,” says Janah, a scheduled speaker at Slush, a technology conference inHelsinki. Janahcontinues touse thatmomentumtoexpandon theSamasourceconcept in a variety of ways. In 2011, she founded Samahope, a crowdfun-ding site for medical procedures, that merged with Johnson & Johnson’splatformin2015and is todayknownasCaringCrowd.Meanwhile,Samaschoolwas launched in 2013 to train people in poor regions of the United States toget jobs in the expanding gig economy. And two years ago, she launchedanother socialmission business, LXMI, a luxury skin care brand that employswomen in Uganda to harvest natural ingredients and transform them intobeauty products.In late September Janah published a book about her personal journey andphilosophy called “Give Work: Reversing Poverty One Job at a Time.” Hermessage has caught the attention of people like Reid Hoffman, co-founderof LinkedIn and a venture capitalist at Greylock Partners. Hoffman was oneof the investors in the $3 million round of venture capital LXMI raised to

launch the business. That kind of backing is evidence of Samasource’s proofof concept. Samasource hit its stride when it decided to focus on computervision technologies. The rise of artificial intelligence and autonomous tech-nologies has created a surge in demand for the analysis of digital images. Totrain algorithms and drive machine learning, companies spanning everyconceivable industry need humans to analyze and tag images.Computer vision training turned out to be perfect for its savvy, English-speaking workforce that had expanded to countries including Haiti, Indiaand Uganda. These teams are workingwith companies in industries such ase-commerce and automotive. “We’re nowone of the top providers for imagetagging for self-driving cars and other forms of computing,” says Janah. “Andit’s not out of charity, because we’re one of the top-rated providers in termsof quality.” “When people hire us, they hire us to do a job,” says Janah. “Sowe have to be able to do that job better than anyone else can do that job. Ifon top of that, we provide a social benefit, it’s icing on the cake for ourpartners.”That formula, and the focusoncomputervision,hasputSamasourceon solid financial footing. More critically, this has been a winning formulafor employees. According to themost recent Impact Scorecard for the quar-ter endingSeptember2017, Samasourcehashiredand trained14,636peoplesince its founding. On average, those employees make 1.7 times the salarythey made before Samasource. And those who leave go on to make on ave-rage 3.7 times as much.Janah is hoping the impact and example set by Samasourcewill continue toshift the way large companies think about work. “If we really want to havean impact on poverty, the ideal model is to stop the problem from starting,”says Janah, adding that corporations need to “realize they can get theirworkdone and make a social impact.”

GivingWork,NotAid— How corporates can help solve povertyBy Chris O’Brien Leila Janah with women in the

Uganda co-op where she sources arare ingredient called Nilotica,whch is made into shea butterfor LXMI products.


POUR NOS LECTEURS FRANCOPHONES

EDITO ET TABLE DES MATIERES

LE BRIEFUn zoom sur l’investissement dans l’intelligence artificielleet les « deep techs », ainsi qu’un portrait des quatre géantsnordiques de la Tech : Spotify, Klarna, Supercell et Unity.

IL VEUT DECROCHER LA LUNE :LE SERIAL ENTREPRNEUR EUROPEEN STAN BOLANDL’entrepreneur Britannique Stan Boland a monté quatrestartups qui ont été revendues pour un total de 1,5 Milliardsde dollars à des entreprises chinoises ou américaines.Son dernier projet fou est de lancer une « Licorne »dans l’intelligence artificielle qui puisse rester en Europe.

A LA UNEVISER LA LUNE : COMMENT LA TECHNOLOGIEVA TRANSFORMER NOTRE FUTUR

REINVENTER AIRBUSLe géant de l’aeronautique consacre de nombreusesressources financières et humaines au développementdes technologies innovantes.

L’IMPACT DE L’HYPERLOOP SUR LES VOYAGESINTER-VILLESCe système de transport à très haute vitesse est comparé à uncroisement entre un Concorde et une table de « air-hockey».

GUIDER LA CONDUITE DU CHANGEMENTCHEZ TOMTOMInterview de Corinne Vigreux, Co-fondatrice de TomTom.

LES 25 STARTUPS A NE PAS RATER A SLUSH 2017

SUR LA ROUTEComment les voitures volantes, les véhicules autonomes et lesnouveaux services d’autopartage vont rendre la mobilité urbaineplus fluide.

FAIRE DES VAGUESLes startups aident à réduire notre dépendance aux énergiesfossiles de nombreuses manières.

AMELIORER LA SANTE DANS LE MONDELa Fondation Bayer investit dans des projets qui impactentau moins des millions de personnes.

UNE BONNE IMAGEComment les mises à jour quotidiennes des images satellite dela Terre aident les entreprises, les gouvernements, et lesobjectifs de développement durable des Nations Unies.

RENDRE LA NATURE PLUS GENEREUSEDes startups développent des technologies pour donnerauxagriculteurs lacapacitéderépondreàunedemandequirisqued’augmenter de 40% d’ici 2050.

REINVENTER LA NOURRITURECommentremplacerlelait, laviandeetlepoissonavecdesproduitsfabriqués en laboratoire.

ATTENTION A LA MARCHEInterview de Sally Krawcheck, fondatrice et CEO de Ellevest,une startup qui propose une plateforme d’investissementdont le but est d’encourager les femmes à investir.

ÇA DEMENAGE !Comment la technologie aide les grandes entreprises à gérerdes ressources humaines de plus en plus mobiles.

DONNONS DU TRAVAIL, PAS DE L’AIDEComment les grandes entreprises peuvent contribuerà la réduction de la pauvreté dans le monde.

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SHOOTINGFOR HOWTECHWILL SHAPE OURFUTURE tech. FiveAI has so far raised $35 ... Internet dotcom...

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