Category Archives: Energy

Gherkin, Shard… London’s Next Iconic Tower?

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A new tower to puncture London’s skyline is being planned in stealth mode, led by a group of tech multi-millionaires, global NGOs and impact investors hungry to accelerate positive change in the world.

The tower – dubbed the “Innovation Collaboratorium” – will be a spectacular symbol of the power of entrepreneurship, and of London’s global leadership as the world’s foremost creative, collaborative and connected city.

There are many tech innovation centres around the world, from Silicon Valley to Bangalore, incubating ambitious high-growth startups.  The twist here is that the project is solely open to entrepreneurs who are actively applying the power of tech to solving humanity’s global grand challenges.  Impact Entrepreneurs, building Impact Startups, backed by Impact Investors.

The design is closely guarded, with the project manager breaking into a smile when asked about it: “It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before.”

If you would like to be invited to the preview for the project, register here:   bit.ly/ImpactCoLab_Reg

How Will New Technologies Impact Your Organisation in the Next 2, 5 or 15 Years?

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Self-driving cars on our streets, 3D-printed shoes, robots taking our jobs, new online craft communities, buying coffee with your mobile phone…

We can all see the phenomenal rate of change around us as new technologies become available.  Enabled by digital networks, these technologies converge, accelerate and create exponential change.

Every company, organisation – and even every family – has to consider carefully how to adapt to these changes.  How do we plan successfully for the future, when things seem to be changing so fast?  It can seem daunting and we often don’t know where to start.

Thankfully, there are ways to tackle such a big and complex problem.  It can be broken down into smaller steps and tackled strategically.  We can find answers, gain more understanding and begin to prepare ourselves and our organisations better.

The first step is simple: make a commitment to look at the problem squarely.  You commit to setting aside a little time – perhaps half a day total over the next 30 days – to begin to investigate and draw up a plan for the future.

At Intelligent Futures we invite you to join us in this process, looking at:

– how new technologies are changing society,

– how they lead to innovation and opportunities, and

– how we can leverage those technologies to create or harness impact.

Participation is by invitation – to request your invitation to take part or to receive updates, send an email to info@intelligentfutures.co.uk with “New Technologies” in the subject line.

Can energy storage make renewables a viable substitute?

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In order to make renewable energies a viable substitute for fossil fuel-based energy sources, we need to find a way to cope with the inherent intermittency.

A substantial storage capacity is needed to act as a buffer, ideally de-centralised.

Attending a presentation by Prof. Donald R. Sadoway from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) introduced the idea of liquid metal batteries.

Current research looks very promising.
https://bit.ly/PsAnTg

Are Renewable Energies Future Proof?

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– Technical Solutions Needed, or “Forget Renewables”!?

We are all aware of the commitment the British government has made to source 15% of energy consumption from Renewables by 2020, and the challenges this brings given that we were in 2010 at 3.3%.

This report looks at the targets, expectations, challenges and possible solutions.

For comments, questions or suggestions please get in touch.

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