After four awesome guest editions from David Mattin, we're excited to be back bringing you valuable insights and trends. If you missed any of David's work, you can go back to the four part series: Part One, Two, Three and Four.
Our newsletter is designed to deliver interesting signals to your inbox that we believe may influence agritech in New Zealand and beyond. From emerging technologies to innovative practices, we aim to keep you informed and inspired.
A quick reminder that we had the pleasure of hosting Futurist Ben Reid last week for a truly engaging session. If you missed it, you can catch the session here.
Stay tuned for more insights and updates!
Kia pai te rā
Shane Dooley Callaghan Innovation
Electricity and Air into Natural Gas
Terraform Industries has created the Terraformer, a compact system that turns electricity and air into synthetic natural gas and cutting energy costs dramatically. The goal is to make synthetic natural gas as cheap as conventional LNG, with scalability and abundant solar power key to this vision. Early sales agreements with power companies confirm its market readiness.
Terraform Industries aims to revolutionize energy by making sustainable options both profitable and widespread. How might we see this being deployed in agriculture?
This month, no signals newsletter would be complete without a reference to that company, NVIDIA’s NVentures invested in Carbon Robotics to enhance its autonomous LaserWeeder, which uses AI to identify and eliminate weeds with lasers.
This investment, completing Carbon Robotics' Series C round, is significant for agtech as it accelerates the development and international deployment of advanced AI-driven agricultural solutions, it also underlines the increasing use of AI in agriculture. What other uses can you imagine in the primary sector, and are we lagging behind in NZ?
Algae-fuelled power cells represent a significant advancement in carbon-negative energy technology, with the potential to revolutionise the fight against climate change. These systems utilise algae's natural ability to perform photosynthesis, capturing carbon dioxide (CO₂) and converting it into biofuels.
The core advantage of algae-based systems lies in their efficiency and scalability. The Eos Bioreactor developed by Hypergiant Industries can capture CO₂ 400 times more effectively than trees of the same footprint. We’re big fans of solar energy, could this be a viable alternative?
Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital have created a hydrogel-based microdevice, the size of a grain of rice, designed to revolutionize cancer treatment by testing multiple drugs directly within a patient's tumour during surgery.
This device is soft and breaks down in the body within a month. With the increasing use of animal wearables could we see similar technology in the future used to monitor livestock?
This month it has to be Ben Reid’s Fast Forward Aotearoa. Ben manages to capture much of what we think in his book, distil it and articulate it in a big but easy-to-read book. It’s also got some great graphics that bring the topic to life. At very least, every politician should read this book.
