• Drop-ins will outscale novel bioplastics: Chemically identical drop-in bioplastics such as biobased polyethylene terephthalate, biobased polyethylene, and biobased polypropylene will see the largest capacity growth due to biomass balance approaches and scaling of biobased-monoethylene glycol capacities. End-of-life (EoL) bioplastics such as polylactic acid, polyhydroxyalkanoates, and thermoplastic starch will dominate the market landscape in APAC. As the region combats plastic waste accumulation due to poor waste management infrastructure, EoL bioplastics can offer solutions to reduce the waste accumulation burden. 
• Regulations will drive a major divergence between regions: Policy will continue to play a key role in determining the fate of bioplastics and the bioeconomy. Countries like China and Thailand have leaped to the support of bioplastics with market rules that exempt bioplastics from restrictions on single-use plastics. Upcoming policies like the Bold Goals for U.S. Biomanufacturing and Biotechnology will play a role in growing bioplastics capacity and demand in the U.S. 
• Sustainability is not a good enough value proposition: While sustainability is the biggest value proposition for bioplastics, these materials are not always sustainable when weighing other environmental factors such as water and land use. Each bioplastic type will have varying benefits and limitations that will be dictated by production processes and end-applications. 

Strategic partnerships and identifying downstream demand, as well as regulatory support, will strengthen the growth of bioplastics and related innovations. Still, despite the more positive outlook, bioplastics alone won’t be enough for chemicals companies — they will need to adopt a multipronged technology strategy to avoid losing market share in the plastics space. If you want to learn more about the different bioplastics types, the key players developing technologies, and the capacity growth in the next seven years, check out the Bioplastics Vision 2030: Forecasting Capacity Growth report here.  

Top 3 eBooks in 2023

Balancing Consumer Perspectives and Environmental Sustainability in the Adoption of CO₂-Based Plastics

As we strive to establish a sustainable future, CO₂-based plastics present a fascinating intersection of innovation and environmental responsibility. However, beyond their environmental implications, these novel materials must also align with consumer expectations to truly thrive in the market. This eBook explores the various consumer considerations influencing the acceptance of CO₂-based plastics. 

Get Your Copy →

Market Opportunities in Emerging Consumer Health and Wellness Ecosystems

Consumers are becoming more health conscious and taking extra steps to prevent disease and enhance wellness. They are adopting a holistic approach toward building a healthy lifestyle, continuously tracking their physical, nutritional, and mental well-being. They also are looking for products and services that provide actionable information they can use to achieve these improved health outcomes.  

Get Your Copy →

The Road Toward Consumer Acceptance of Autonomous Vehicles

The news coverage around autonomous vehicles has only increased with time; what initially began with excitement around a futuristic world with autonomous vehicles slowly adopted a more pragmatic tone as timelines began slipping. 

This report snapshot addresses five major global shifts that will have an immediate impact on the autonomous vehicle industry in the next 12 months.

Get Your Copy →

Top 3 On-Demand Webinars in 2023

Balancing Consumer Perspectives and Environmental Sustainability in the Adoption of CO₂-Based Plastics

As we strive to establish a sustainable future, CO₂-based plastics present a fascinating intersection of innovation and environmental responsibility. This talk explores the various consumer considerations influencing the acceptance of CO₂-based plastics. 
Watch On Demand →

ChatGPT: The Emerging CXO

GPT-4 has unleashed an element of creativity in traditional AI: AI can now be leveraged to tackle systems-level innovations that are prerequisite to tackle hard problems like climate change. Given the promise of far-reaching implications, corporate boards want to know: 

• Can GPT-4 accelerate R&D success for a large, leading manufacturer of polyethylene terephthalate?  
• How could GPT-4 shorten time-to-market for a new energy drink?
• In which large, industrialized city will residential customers disrupt the traditional utility model by leveraging GPT-4 to unshackle themselves from the monopoly of their electric utility?

Watch On Demand →

Why Do Cultural Insights Matter to Innovation?

While there’s a recognition of the importance of understanding culture and its impact on a business, there is still a long way to go in an organization’s ability to understand culture and bring it into the inner workings of its operations.  

This session inspires action and takes us one step further on this journey. Specifically, in this webinar, Cultural Anthropologist Ujwal Arkalgud answers the following questions –  

• What is culture? Why are cultural insights crucial for innovation?  
• How does culture create “invisible requirements” for successful innovation?  
• How can we make culture a regular part of the innovation conversation? 
• What are some examples of innovations that understood culture and innovations that did not?

Watch On Demand →

Top 3 Blogs in 2023

Consumer-Centric Brand Positioning: Aligning with Cultural Shifts for a Strong Market Presence

In the crowded marketplace, establishing a strong market presence is more than essential; it’s a strategic imperative. One of the most effective strategies to achieve this is through consumer-centric brand positioning. At Lux Research, we don’t just study brands; we study contextual language in the environment of cultures, marketplaces, and categories where brands play. Our platform, driven by groundbreaking AI and our deep anthropological model, empowers your brand to resonate with consumers, cultivate loyalty, and build a lasting market presence aligned with cultural shifts.

Read Now →

Understanding Consumer Trends: A Cultural Anthropological Approach to Market Success

We recognize the significance of understanding consumer trends as a vital part of corporate success. Our platform, Lux MotivBase, leverages data-driven insights and our deep anthropological model to decode consumer behavior, enabling your brand to navigate the market with confidence and seize opportunities for growth.

Read Now →

Identifying White Space Opportunities: A Fusion of AI and Anthropology for Your Product Portfolio

In the competitive business landscape, differentiation is more than a strategy; it’s a lifeline. One of the key avenues to achieve this is by identifying and leveraging white space opportunities for your product portfolio. Our platform, driven by groundbreaking AI and our deep anthropological model, empowers your brand to identify untapped market segments and position your products strategically.

Read Now →

Perhaps you can tell, but I don’t buy this argument at all. To my mind, there’s no real reason to think that South and Southeast Asia won’t be leading the sustainable transition! My argument is based on the following:

There’s much less difference between consumers in the West and Southeast Asia than you might think. My colleague Cheryl Auger did a great presentation on what motivates consumers to buy sustainable products, and the key takeaway is that actual sustainability impacts (reducing CO­₂ emissions, for example) are just one factor among many. Consumers are motivated by a complex web of desires — to be healthy, to feel close to nature, and to have more functional products. This idea that western consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable products isn’t really true — or at least it’s incomplete. They may be, but generally only if there’s some other benefit aligned to these desires: Companies in the West have to do a lot more than just offer sustainability. While the details are different, people in Asia are no less motivated by a complex set of desires and aspirations, and companies will be able to position products (even premium, sustainable products) against those.  

The region has a pretty good sustainability innovation track record. This point might be a little controversial, but countries in South and Southeast Asia have been pretty good at scaling sustainable tech. India has the one of the lowest costs for solar power, for example, and adoption of EVs is booming across the region — for cars as well as two wheelers. There’s a fair amount of investment in Indonesia for EVs as well, and it could be a future export hub for vehicles as well as battery materials and other resources. There’s a fairly well-trodden path here: Manufacturing technologies mostly developed outside of Asia are brought into the region, to export products initially, but pretty quickly find a market close to home as prices come down. Obviously, there have been failures: The Indian government has been extremely ineffective at curbing the utilization of single-use plastics, for example. Still, there’s no reason to think consumers won’t adopt new technology when the market positioning and pricing are right.

Regulation will continue to evolve. One other comment I heard was that South and Southeast Asia were behind the EU on regulation, which will slow adoption. This is true, especially in consumer-facing areas like chemicals safety and recycling. However, governments in the region are getting more active with industrial policy — Indonesia’s export restriction on raw nickel and the Indian government’s support for green hydrogen are good examples. These industrial policies will be crucial to building a domestic sustainable industry, a prerequisite for domestic adoption. If these interventions are successful, there’s a good chance that more sustainable policies will follow.

So, while it’s true that South and Southeast Asia have their challenges, there are reasons to be optimistic about the sustainable transition there. And it’s not as if Western countries don’t have their own challenges, from lack of fiscal support for investments in the transition to regulatory regimes that can make building the necessary new infrastructure really burdensome and expensive. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the biggest emitters in the world on a per-capita basis are Americans, Russians, and Australians. Western innovators should focus a little more on getting their own domestic sustainability efforts in order and worry a little less about consumers in Asia.

Top 3 eBooks in 2023

Inspire Report Snapshot: The Lux Sustainable Business Model Playbook for Manufacturing

This report addresses three key questions:

1. What are the categories and types of novel business models that can be used to help a company grow sustainably?
2. How should a company choose which business models to pursue to meet its economic and sustainability targets?
3. What challenges do innovation leaders need to overcome to successfully implement these business model innovations?

Get Your Copy →

Decarbonization of Industry: Mapping Progress on the Lux Carbon Canvas

Decarbonization is becoming an increasingly important priority for government, as demonstrated by the European Commission and the Biden administration.

In this e-book, we use the Lux Carbon Canvas to map industrial companies, evaluate their decarbonization efforts, and build future strategies for industrial decarbonization. ​
Get Your Copy →

Monetizing Distributed Energy Resources From Behind the Meter

The continuous rise of distributed energy resources (DERs) located behind the meter poses an opportunity to monetize electricity and energy flexibility provided by these assets. DER markets offer the best long-term approach, but virtual power plants are the most established solution today.

Get Your Copy →

Top 3 On-Demand Webinars in 2023

Drivers Determining the Future of Carbon

Renewable sources of carbon can include recycling, biomass, and CO₂ from direct air capture or biogenic point sources. However, these sources each have different qualities, different availabilities, and different technologies needed. In short, each carbon source implies an entirely different value chain. 

Watch On Demand →

ChatGPT: The Emerging CXO

GPT-4 has unleashed an element of creativity in traditional AI: AI can now be leveraged to tackle systems-level innovations that are prerequisite to tackle hard problems like climate change. Given the promise of far-reaching implications, corporate boards want to know: 

• Can GPT-4 accelerate R&D success for a large, leading manufacturer of polyethylene terephthalate?  
• How could GPT-4 shorten time-to-market for a new energy drink?
• In which large, industrialized city will residential customers disrupt the traditional utility model by leveraging GPT-4 to unshackle themselves from the monopoly of their electric utility?

Watch On Demand →

Decarbonization of Industry: Mapping Progress on the Lux Carbon Canvas

Heavy industries like steel, cement, and aluminum are crucial to society but are also major emitters of greenhouse gasses. Companies in this space are all under significant pressure to decarbonize but are they making enough progress?  

This webinar uses the Lux Carbon Canvas to map industrial companies, evaluate their decarbonization efforts, and build future strategies for industrial decarbonization. 

Watch On Demand →

Top 3 Blogs in 2023

Rethinking risks from critical minerals

Norwegian phosphate rock was in the news [earlier this year], and it’s not because it’s all the rage with the kids: Norwegian junior mining company Norge Mining announced it had found a huge new deposit of phosphate rock. This is a big deal on some level (though the announcement is not greatly substantive) because there’s real concern that we’re running out of phosphorus.

Read Now →

Happy Birthday! One year later, the IRA is having a major impact

On August 16, 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law. Hopes were high that the broad array of open-ended tax credits (client-only research) would drive decarbonization in the U.S. (and global) economy, but the variable nature of the subsidies created uncertainty. One year later, it’s clear that the IRA is having a major impact on the energy transition and sustainable innovation in the U.S.

Read Now →

No 3D printing deals

The 3D printing industry is undergoing a wave of consolidation with a focus on profitability and growth. In Lux’s recent research brief, “Consolidation in the 3D printing industry is reaching its peak (client-only),” we analyzed the merger and acquisition attempts of four publicly listed 3D printing companies: Desktop Metal, Nano Dimension, Stratasys, and 3D Systems. We argued that Nano Dimension’s bid to acquire Stratasys was unrealistic, and, even if the other mergers go through, the path to profitability is long. Indeed, none of the proposed mergers have materialized. The most plausible deal (between Stratasys and Desktop Metal) has been abandoned.

Read Now →

Top 3 eBooks in 2023

Evaluating Technologies for CO₂ Removal and Building a Robust Carbon Offset Strategy

The challenge facing corporations today is to discern the most effective carbon credit technologies, be aware of their developmental indicators, and protect your company from potential risks tied to carbon credits. In this e-book, Lux Research provides vital insights that will help you build a robust carbon offset strategy.

Get Your Copy →

Decarbonization of Industry: Mapping Progress on the Lux Carbon Canvas

Decarbonization is becoming an increasingly important priority for government, as demonstrated by the European Commission and the Biden administration.

In this e-book, we use the Lux Carbon Canvas to map industrial companies, evaluate their decarbonization efforts, and build future strategies for industrial decarbonization. ​
Get Your Copy →

Monetizing Distributed Energy Resources From Behind the Meter

The continuous rise of distributed energy resources (DERs) located behind the meter poses an opportunity to monetize electricity and energy flexibility provided by these assets. DER markets offer the best long-term approach, but virtual power plants are the most established solution today.

Get Your Copy →

Top 3 On-Demand Webinars in 2023

Drivers Determining the Future of Carbon

Renewable sources of carbon can include recycling, biomass, and CO₂ from direct air capture or biogenic point sources. However, these sources each have different qualities, different availabilities, and different technologies needed. In short, each carbon source implies an entirely different value chain. 

Watch On Demand →

ChatGPT: The Emerging CXO

GPT-4 has unleashed an element of creativity in traditional AI: AI can now be leveraged to tackle systems-level innovations that are prerequisite to tackle hard problems like climate change. Given the promise of far-reaching implications, corporate boards want to know: 

• Can GPT-4 accelerate R&D success for a large, leading manufacturer of polyethylene terephthalate?  
• How could GPT-4 shorten time-to-market for a new energy drink?
• In which large, industrialized city will residential customers disrupt the traditional utility model by leveraging GPT-4 to unshackle themselves from the monopoly of their electric utility?

Watch On Demand →

Decarbonization of Industry: Mapping Progress on the Lux Carbon Canvas

Heavy industries like steel, cement, and aluminum are crucial to society but are also major emitters of greenhouse gasses. Companies in this space are all under significant pressure to decarbonize but are they making enough progress?  

This webinar uses the Lux Carbon Canvas to map industrial companies, evaluate their decarbonization efforts, and build future strategies for industrial decarbonization. 

Watch On Demand →

Top 3 Blogs in 2023

Rethinking risks from critical minerals

Norwegian phosphate rock was in the news [earlier this year], and it’s not because it’s all the rage with the kids: Norwegian junior mining company Norge Mining announced it had found a huge new deposit of phosphate rock. This is a big deal on some level (though the announcement is not greatly substantive) because there’s real concern that we’re running out of phosphorus.

Read Now →

Selling its European electricity retail businesses seriously hurts Shell’s long-term strategic options

After a strategic review that began in January 2023, Shell announced [earlier this year] that it plans to exit its energy retail businesses in the U.K., Germany, and the Netherlands due to “tough market conditions” and “poor returns.”

Read Now →

Principles of environmental justice for sustainable innovation

Environmental justice is not a new concept: The first calls for it were in the 1980s when protesters tried to block the construction of a landfill for toxic waste in Afton, North Carolina. That effort failed, but the ideals have spread to the halls of power: The first U.S. Presidential action on environmental justice was in 1994 under then-president Bill Clinton, and President Joe Biden has continued to expand these efforts. However, the adoption of environmental justice principles has done little to slow the progress of climate change, which is the most catastrophic environmental justice failing in human history.

Read Now →

What are the structural factors that have held back the EU chemicals industry? There are three that I think have been most important — and particularly painful — in the last few years:

• Energy and feedstocks: The biggest structural factor is the EU’s disadvantage in fossil fuel feedstocks. This is not news to anyone, but in the last decade or so, the shale revolution in the U.S. has made very cheap natural gas feedstocks available to chemicals companies there, making U.S. chemicals production extremely competitive, on par with the oil-rich Middle East. The EU has responded to this by attempting to get oil and natural gas from its nearest neighbor: Russia. The Nord Stream pipeline was a co-investment by BASF — until it was destroyed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The energy crisis of last year was really the perfect culmination of a decade of disadvantaged feedstocks, which has made it extremely difficult to justify any further investment in the region by many chemicals companies.
• Investment and underinvestment: The biggest economic story in the past year has been the U.S.’ recommitment to industrial policy, with the government spending hundreds of billions of dollars to invest in areas like hydrogen, decarbonization, and the energy transition. Incentives have drawn investment from around the globe to the U.S., especially for advanced technologies like carbon capture and hydrogen electrolysis. The response it has generated in the EU has been heavier on complaints about how industrial policy is not playing by free market rules than it has on putting similar fiscal muscle behind the European transitions. This comes on top of a decades-long austerity trend in the EU, where the continent that was a leader in solar development, and deployment fell behind for lack of investment, even during a time of low interest rates.
• Demand: Much of what I said about energy and feedstock disadvantage applies to China as well. Despite that, China has risen to prominence as a chemicals production hub, while the EU has lagged. What explains this difference? Of course, it’s that China’s economy has experienced meteoric growth over the past four decades, while the EU’s economic growth has been tepid. Slow growth has made it tough to justify continued investment in the EU, contributing to the further stagnation of its chemicals sector. Plus, the demand from China is heavily tilted toward basic chemicals and polymers to support its construction sector (for example), which further exacerbates the EU’s fundamental feedstock weakness. 

So why am I optimistic? It’s not that these factors are going to change but rather that they’re going to matter less in the future. The chemicals industry in the EU is going to embrace new production approaches, including fermentation, mechanical recycling, and chemical recycling like depolymerization, as well as the development and export of technologies to other regions. There are a few things that will help: First, the EU is going to learn from the lessons of the U.S. The EU chemicals and energy industries are very involved in the energy transition in the U.S., with many EU companies like Air Liquide and Evonik playing major roles in U.S. hydrogen hubs, and they will bring lessons from those projects back to the EU. I also think European governments will lean into more aggressive direct funding of technology scale-up, spurred on by their global counterparts. Third, growth for the overall chemicals industry is likely to shift more toward consumer chemicals and specialty chemicals as pressure on plastics grows and China’s growth engine slows — these products are really well aligned with the EU’s existing strengths and new technologies. 

The EU will never match Houston or the Middle East as a pure petrochemical hub. There’s simply not enough density of energy resources or biomass in the EU to match that of these regions. There will be companies that can succeed at defending the traditional refinery in the EU, but there can only be a few winners; there will be far more losers. EU chemicals players need to get on board with these new production approaches or get ready for an extremely rough ride. 

Top 3 eBooks in 2023

Critical Minerals for the Hydrogen Economy

As more countries pursue deep decarbonization strategies, hydrogen will play a critical role in their energy transition. Novel considerations such as the availability of materials to support this transition need to be addressed in order to meet carbon neutrality targets.

Get Your Copy →

CO₂ Capture and Utilization: The Evolution of a Carbon Economy

The global market size for CO₂ utilization is set to reach a market value of $70 billion by 2030, which will then increase to $550 billion by 2040.

Global CO₂ emissions witnessed steady growth in the 21st century despite unprecedent action against climate change.
Get Your Copy →

Critical Minerals: The Opportunity in Direct Lithium Extraction

This report focuses on the widening divide between lithium supply and demand and the emergence of new raw material extraction technologies to get this critical metal to market faster. We lay out a landscape of lithium production approaches and issues and analyze the competitiveness of emerging DLE techniques and unconventional lithium resources.

Get Your Copy →

Top 3 On-Demand Webinars in 2023

Balancing Consumer Perspectives and Environmental Sustainability in the Adoption of CO₂-Based Plastics

As we strive to establish a sustainable future, CO₂-based plastics present a fascinating intersection of innovation and environmental responsibility. This talk explores the various consumer considerations influencing the acceptance of CO₂-based plastics. 
Watch On Demand →

Drivers Determining the Future of Carbon

Renewable sources of carbon can include recycling, biomass, and CO₂ from direct air capture or biogenic point sources. However, these sources each have different qualities, different availabilities, and different technologies needed. In short, each carbon source implies an entirely different value chain. 

Watch On Demand →

ChatGPT: The Emerging CXO

GPT-4 has unleashed an element of creativity in traditional AI: AI can now be leveraged to tackle systems-level innovations that are prerequisite to tackle hard problems like climate change. Given the promise of far-reaching implications, corporate boards want to know: 

• Can GPT-4 accelerate R&D success for a large, leading manufacturer of polyethylene terephthalate?  
• How could GPT-4 shorten time-to-market for a new energy drink?
• In which large, industrialized city will residential customers disrupt the traditional utility model by leveraging GPT-4 to unshackle themselves from the monopoly of their electric utility?

Watch On Demand →

Top 3 Blogs in 2023

Verra’s Struggles Demonstrate the Risks and Limitations of Carbon Offsets

Verra — which plays in the voluntary carbon market — has been accused of accrediting carbon offsets that don’t meaningfully reduce carbon emissions. Some companies like Gucci, which purchased carbon credits using Verra’s certifications, have since dropped their claims of carbon neutrality. What does this mean for Verra, carbon credits, and companies seeking to use them?
Read Now →

The EPA’s National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution is Too Little, Too Late

In late April 2023, the U.S. EPA released a draft of its National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution, which aims to improve America’s recycling infrastructure and reduce the amount of plastics entering the ocean. This brief breaks down the major elements of the draft, lays out how it differs from the National Recycling Strategy, and explores what the outlook is for plastic waste policy in the U.S.

Read Now →

Microplastics are the new PFAS

In June, 3M agreed to a settlement on water contamination from per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). This settlement is just a portion of the liability that 3M faces related to PFAS, which could easily include another USD 10 billion or more for a wide range of claimants. These settlements (and others) will create a large PFAS remediation market and spur the growth of PFAS-free products, for which materials innovations are already beginning to emerge. The future trajectory of PFAS is fairly clear at this point. The real question is: What are the next PFAS? And who is the next 3M?

Read Now →

At Lux, we help innovators with structured analytical frameworks. What this means is we consistently evaluate startups (for example) on the same 10 factors and have done so across different industries for more than 10 years. Is it possible to come up with more relevant factors for startups in a specific industry or technology? Sure. But there are benefits from consistency: We have a large data set to draw on, and from that, we know which factors are predictive of startup success. We also have a set methodology to draw on when we enter a new technology space – this gives us confidence when moving into new areas of expertise. 

Mike makes the case in his talk that innovators need new skills and tools to be successful with sustainable innovation. Innovation teams are already comfortable assessing the technologies, markets, and companies, but that’s not enough: Projects are failing now because of political, sustainability, and consumer sentiment factors (see the chemical recycling player Brightmark). Much of Lux’s work over the last year has centered on developing new structured analytical frameworks to help innovators assess these factors and build a plan. We presented some of these frameworks at the NYC forum: Mike presented our sustainability fingerprint, which helps innovators identify sustainability risks from early stage opportunities; Cheryl Auger presented how Lux Motivbase uses AI-powered anthropology to understand changes in consumer sentiment; and Ian Rinehart presented the policy compass, our tool to forecast policy changes. There’s a ton of work underlying these approaches — and if you went to our NYC forum, you understand how to put this into practice. 

The big point I want to make about all this is that successful innovators are now forced to be stakeholder capitalists. To be successful as an innovator these days, you need to balance business with social, political, and environmental factors — this is stakeholder capitalism in practice, if not in name. Nothing has changed in innovation, fundamentally, but a combination of government policy (like the Inflation Reduction Act) and intensifying consumer sentiment have broadly aligned the business and social incentives. 

There are a few takeaways worth mentioning. One, innovation is more difficult now: There’s simply more to consider and get right than there was in the past. Two, organizations that are already engaged in stakeholder capitalism will be more successful at innovation: Innovation leaders always need to get buy-in from senior management; if there’s a mindset difference, it will be tough to get things off the ground. It’s also worth noting that the pressure for stakeholder capitalism is not that high for businesses as a whole; for many (most) businesses, continuing to emit will be the best thing for shareholders. This divide in priorities will continue to challenge businesses until stricter regulations (such as carbon taxes) come into effect and bring CFOs in alignment with CTOs.

Top 3 eBooks in 2023

CO₂ Capture and Utilization: The Evolution of a Carbon Economy

The global market size for CO₂ utilization is set to reach a market value of $70 billion by 2030, which will then increase to $550 billion by 2040. Global CO₂ emissions witnessed steady growth in the 21st century despite unprecedent action against climate change.
Get Your Copy →

Microbiome-based Business Opportunities for Consumer Products

Over the past decade, microbiome research has accelerated, and this space has emerged as a hotspot for innovation, given its potential to impact a number of industries in the agrifood and health value chain. Despite staggering startup activity, developers have barely scratched the surface when it comes to aligning science and product development in the microbiome space.

This white paper focuses on the winning aspects of successful microbiome-related innovations and lays out opportunities to address the unmet needs for industry players.
Get Your Copy →

Clear-Cut Opportunities in Battery Recycling

In this report we cover key drivers and barriers for the adoption of battery recycling today and evaluate battery recycling opportunities for chemicals and material companies, cathode manufacturers, and automotive OEMs. We also take a closer look at emerging startups and where they fit along the traditional battery value chain.

Get Your Copy →

Top 3 On-Demand Webinars in 2023

Balancing Consumer Perspectives and Environmental Sustainability in the Adoption of CO₂-Based Plastics

As we strive to establish a sustainable future, CO₂-based plastics present a fascinating intersection of innovation and environmental responsibility. This talk explores the various consumer considerations influencing the acceptance of CO₂-based plastics. 
Watch On Demand →

ChatGPT: The Emerging CXO

GPT-4 has unleashed an element of creativity in traditional AI: AI can now be leveraged to tackle systems-level innovations that are prerequisite to tackle hard problems like climate change. Given the promise of far-reaching implications, corporate boards want to know: 

• Can GPT-4 accelerate R&D success for a large, leading manufacturer of polyethylene terephthalate?  
• How could GPT-4 shorten time-to-market for a new energy drink?
• In which large, industrialized city will residential customers disrupt the traditional utility model by leveraging GPT-4 to unshackle themselves from the monopoly of their electric utility?

Watch On Demand →

Why Do Cultural Insights Matter to Innovation?

While there’s a recognition of the importance of understanding culture and its impact on a business, there is still a long way to go in an organization’s ability to understand culture and bring it into the inner workings of its operations.  

This session inspires action and takes us one step further on this journey. Specifically, in this webinar, Cultural Anthropologist Ujwal Arkalgud answers the following questions –  

• What is culture? Why are cultural insights crucial for innovation?  
• How does culture create “invisible requirements” for successful innovation?  
• How can we make culture a regular part of the innovation conversation? 
• What are some examples of innovations that understood culture and innovations that did not?

Watch On Demand →

Top 3 Blogs in 2023

What happened to AgriProtein?

AgriProtein, a company once named one of Time’s “top 50 Genius Companies,” quietly entered administration in February 2021, and in June 2021, the company’s assets were acquired by Prezero U.S. for USD 10 million. How did this once-promising company end up in liquidation?

Read Now →

Verra’s Struggles Demonstrate the Risks and Limitations of Carbon Offsets

Verra — which plays in the voluntary carbon market — has been accused of accrediting carbon offsets that don’t meaningfully reduce carbon emissions. Some companies like Gucci, which purchased carbon credits using Verra’s certifications, have since dropped their claims of carbon neutrality. What does this mean for Verra, carbon credits, and companies seeking to use them?

Read Now →

Microplastics are the new PFAS

In June, 3M agreed to a settlement on water contamination from per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). This settlement is just a portion of the liability that 3M faces related to PFAS, which could easily include another USD 10 billion or more for a wide range of claimants. These settlements (and others) will create a large PFAS remediation market and spur the growth of PFAS-free products, for which materials innovations are already beginning to emerge. The future trajectory of PFAS is fairly clear at this point. The real question is: What are the next PFAS? And who is the next 3M?

Read Now →

In this podcast, sustainable innovation experts Anthony Schiavo, Mike Holman, and Karthik Subramanian from Lux Research analyze the latest news and interview world-leading experts to navigate the technological, economic, political, and social trends that will determine what innovations succeed or fail.

In this episode, Mike, Anthony, and a back-from-vacation Karthik tackle all the news, including COP28, the carbon footprint of plastic pyrolysis, and the important issue of kangaroo derived carbon credits. Then, they sit down with Zero Waste Europe’s Janek Vahk to break down the recent Packaging and Packaging Waste regulations. We discuss the regulation’s wins, failures, and what the best path is for plastic waste sustainability.

See all episodes