Category: Top Stories

Cultured human steaks, lab-grown lobster, edible bugs, biodegradable mannequins and more: The Digest’s Top 8 Innovations for the week of November 27th

November 26, 2020 | admin

As if 2020 wasn’t crazy enough, this week’s innovations include lab-grown lobster, renewable and biodegradable store mannequins, edible bug grants for companies looking to develop insect-based foods, and even a Hannibal Lecter inspired “have people for dinner” cultured meat startup where you can grow little human steaks in your home from your own cells. In […]

One Small Candle May Light a Thousand: A Thanksgiving Message from the Digest

November 25, 2020 | Jim Lane

This week marks the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Their story has been oft-told. A band of English Puritans who set out to the Americas in search of religious freedom and to found what John Winthrop would later call “a shining city upon a hill”. Their desperate passage across the […]

The 50 Hottest Organizations in Bio+Engineering 2021 – early voting results

November 25, 2020 | Jim Lane

In Florida, Amyris, Fluid Quip Technologies, Praj Industries and MetGen have taken the lead in early voting in the 50 Hottest Companies in Bio+Engineering for 2021. The Digest released the early-voting totals from Subscriber Voting — which do not yet include Invited International Selector votes. Private Companies on the rise, National Labs disappoint Companies such as Ginkgo […]

The TIPping Point: Technology, Investment, Policy, and the advanced bioeconomy, Dioxide Materials, Genomatica, ADM, InnovaFeed, Aemetis, Nova Pangaea, and the UK are showing the way

November 24, 2020 | Jim Lane

It’s possible to summarize the advanced bioeconomy in three words, technology, investment, policy. These are the sine qua non, the foundational forces. Technology without investment and policy is a bunch of pretty things on a shelf, policy without technology or investment is bound to fail, and investment without technology or policy is bound to go […]

Feeding a growing appetite for sustainable food systems with innovation

November 23, 2020 | Jim Lane

By Mark Bustard, Chief Executive, Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) Special to The Digest By 2050 the world’s population is expected to be close to 10 billion, and with it a serious demand for food. Feeding a growing population is a challenge but so too is doing it in a way that reduces the impact […]

Carbios will knock your socks off, produces first clear plastic bottles from enzymatically recycled textile waste

November 22, 2020 | admin

Carbios will knock your socks off with their enzyme tech that is now converting textile waste and your old polyester socks and sweaters into clear plastic bottles. We’ve heard of clothing made from plastic bottles like Patagonia’s fleece vests, but now Carbios is making it happen the other way. And with ‘fast fashion’ and record-breaking […]

Coaxing crops to create animal proteins, cucumber peels for food packaging polymers, and more: The Digest’s Top 8 Innovations for the week of November 20th

November 19, 2020 | admin

Cucumber peels converted into cellulose nanocrystals with potential to be used in food packaging, bamboo and sugar waste tableware that biodegrades in 60 days, a new pen design with edible ink and compostable materials, coaxing crops to create animal proteins – these are just some of the crazy yet not-so-crazy innovations this week. Here are […]

The NEXT 50 Companies to Disrupt the World* (*in a really great way) for 2020

November 18, 2020 | Jim Lane

In Florida, The Digest announced the NEXT 50, “the 50 Next Companies to Disrupt the World”, for 2020. The NEXT 50 are companies whose emerging technology promises to disrupt markets (or is already doing so) and powering a transition from the old economy to the bioeconomy based on rapid innovation and the sustainable use of […]

U.S. Department of Energy releases SBIR and STTR funding opportunities

November 17, 2020 | admin

In Washington, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science announced a funding opportunity under its SBIR and STTR programs. Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs are highly competitive programs that encourage domestic small businesses to engage in Federal Research/Research and Development with the potential for commercialization. BIOENERGY The […]

12 ways to reduce risk when scaling up biomass feedstock operations

November 17, 2020 | Jim Lane

By David F. Peterson, B.S., MBA, Lee Enterprises Consulting Special to The Digest This is the first article in a two-part series addressing the challenges of implementing and scaling up hemp production from a biomass management perspective. After the product or products are chosen and the business strategy is developed, biomass scale-up considerations largely sift […]

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