Bright Ideas
Smart ideas from the world’s brightest minds
Botree Cycling: Recovering critical metals from end-of-life batteries
The Beijing-based startup helps clients dismantle and recycle spent lithium batteries on-site, recovering over 90% of rare metals and reducing demand for mineral resources
Agricool: Growing fresh strawberries in shipping containers
Paris-based Agricool grows fresh produce in urban aeroponics farms within shipping containers for sale at downtown supermarkets, aims to supply more large cities by 2030
Oceanium: Supporting sustainable seaweed farming
Scottish startup Oceanium has developed a proprietary biorefinery and processing model to create seaweed-based compostable materials, alt-protein ingredients and nutraceuticals for use across industry verticals
Psquared: Providing flexible workplaces to help early-stage startups
The Barcelona-based startup converts a variety of buildings to hybrid office spaces for flexible work brought about by Covid-19, includes a reservations system to manage desk and meeting spaces
Because Animals: Pioneering cultured meat for pets
The biotech startup is disrupting the pet food processing industry with cell-based food to minimize environmental “pawprints” and promote animal welfare
Node: Fighting deforestation with fashionable footwear from agricultural waste
Using patented technology developed with Indonesia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Node turns farm waste and plant materials into biodegradable vegan footwear and shoe components to help fight deforestation.
Graviky Labs: Sustainable ink made from air pollution
Conceptualized at MIT and named among the Best Inventions of 2019 by TIME Magazine, Graviky Labs’ carbon-negative ink is made from upcycled emissions captured with a proprietary device
Sophie's Bionutrients: Alternative protein from microalgae
Inspired by fish in the ocean, the startup developed microalgae-based flour that can take on unlimited forms, textures or colors to make almost any alt protein product
CoRTP: Building sustainable supply chains with returnable packaging
The Shanghai-based startup’s award-winning returnable transit packaging reduced carbon emissions in 2020 by 250,000 tons, and the figure is estimated to reach 8m by 2030
Healthy eating: The Southeast Asian startups making it a breeze
From meal plans to novel ingredients, agriculture and foodtech startups in the region are developing new ways to improve nutrition without sacrificing taste
Farmer Connect: Blockchain powered platform tracing coffee beans from field to cup
Farmer Connect’s platform enables consumers to trace the origin, quality and ethical footprint of a product by just scanning a QR code
Oscillum: The intelligent label to reduce food waste
The Spanish biotech startup has developed sensors embedded in biodegradable plastic labels to monitor “product freshness” beyond expiration dates, helping consumers to avoid food waste and save money
TurtleTree Labs: Creating sustainable mammalian milk alternatives from stem cells
Founder’s search for high-quality dairy milk led to the creation in a lab of naturally occurring ingredients found in human milk for supply to dairy milk and infant formula businesses
Mycorena: Fungi-based vegan protein challenging traditional plant-based ingredients
Award-winning Swedish biotech startup is scaling production of mycoprotein to become a key player in the emerging market for functional proteins
Biomilq: Creating cell-based mothers’ milk in a lab
With the aim of helping women struggling to breastfeed, Bill Gates-backed Biomilq is disrupting the $45bn baby formula industry developing lab-grown breast milk from mammary epithelial cells
