Inside Green Innovation: Progress Report 2021
The first edition of Appleyard Lees' 'Inside Green Innovation: Progress Report 2021' uses patent data to analyse innovation across food and agriculture, bioplastics and plastic recycling, and renewable energy storage. The report highlights specific technological advancements and outlines the growth's driving forces and contributors. The various topics covered by the report are:
Conventional Agriculture: Agricultural drones make precision agriculture including fertilisation, irrigation, and pesticide application easier. On the other hand, CRISPR-Cas editing has enabled precise genetic manipulation of crop species, allowing for more sustainable agricultural systems to be developed.
Agriculture of the future: Cultured meat has seen rising patent activity across the globe. 3D printing can be the solution to food security and eliminating food waste. Vertical farming has also seen an upward trend in patent activity too.
Bioplastics: The report lists bioplastics in productions such as starch-blends, PLA, PHA, PBS, PBAT, and BASF(DE). Patent activity in this field has been consistently growing each year. In the future, bioplastics are expected to move towards bespoke alterations to suit a wide range of applications.
Chemical Recycling Technologies: Only 16% of plastics are recycled at present. Chemical recycling has been successful in recycling plastics that cannot be recycled mechanically. CR technologies include solvent purification, chemical and thermal depolymerisation.
Short-term energy storage: Li-ion and solid-state batteries serve as a power source for EVs which are gaining popularity. With advancing technology, demand for Li-ion batteries is expected to fall. Although solid-state batteries are expected to surpass the former soon. Giants in the automotive industry including Toyota, Hyundai, General Motors, and Nissan are participating in the growth of this technology.
Long-term energy storage: The report explores compressed air energy storage systems (CAES) and pumped hydro-storage. The International Hydropower Association (IHA) predicts pumped storage capacity will double in the coming years. Growth in hydro-storage has been upwards with the most patent activity happening in China. Innovation in this field is going to be vital for countries with a history of coal mining.
For a detailed view of each sector, access the full report HERE.
