Foresight’s Healing the Planet Accelerator: Radical Progress

Human activities have pushed our ecosystem well past its carrying capacity. We are running out of time.
 
Healing the Planet Accelerator: Radical Progress is meant to accelerate the work of innovators out there who are ready to tackle climate and ecosystem destabilization on a radical, systemic, large-scale basis—to propose relevant solutions that match the order of magnitude of the challenge. Whether your project is research-oriented or your strategy relies on generating profit to drive progress—if you are ready to tackle what is perhaps the greatest challenge humanity has faced so far, we will accelerate you.
 
In this 4-week accelerator, accepted teams competed with a scientific or technological proposal that, if implemented, would solve a crucial aspect of our planet’s climate and ecosystem challenges. Rather than predictable incremental advances, this accelerator focused on proposals that are high-risk high-reward, in the sense that they are founded on fundamentally novel ideas or combine existing science and tech in novel ways.

| RADICAL PROGRESS PRESENTATIONS |

Large-scale Passive Carbon Sequestration via Engineered Porous Materials

 

Large-scale Passive Carbon Sequestration via Engineered Porous Materials

Paul Boone, Chris Wilmer

Project Vesta: Olivine-Accelerated Coastal Enhanced Weathering

 

Project Vesta: Olivine-Accelerated Coastal Enhanced Weathering

Tom Green, Kelly Erhart, Eric Matzner

CT Fusion: High Energy Fusion Proof of Concept

 

CT Fusion: High Energy Fusion Energy Proof of Concept

Derek Sutherland

Farm Foresight App

 

Farm Foresight App

Alevtina Evgrafova, Creon Levit

| CHAIRS |

TOM CHI, Co-Chair

TOM CHI, Co-Chair

| Inventor and rapid-prototyper |

Tom Chi co-founded Google X and practices a unique approach to rapid prototyping, visioning, and leadership to jumpstart innovative new ideas. He advocates for using transformative technology to engineer a net-positive relationship between humanity and the environment.

LINDA MAEPA, Co-Chair

LINDA MAEPA, Co-Chair

| Scientist and serial entrepreneur |

Linda Maepa brings over two decades of information systems, cybersecurity, and systems science experience to the energy storage sector. She is a multidisciplinary scientist, inventor, and serial entrepreneur that heads ElectronVault’s energy advisory practice from the US and in South Africa.

| SELECTED MENTORS |

STANLEY WHITTINGHAM, Binghamton University, State University of New York

STANLEY WHITTINGHAM, Binghamton University, State University of New York

| Nobel Prize in Chemistry |

M. Stanley Whittingham won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in developing lithium-ion batteries. He is a distinguished professor of chemistry and materials sciences and engineering and director of the NorthEast Center for Chemical Energy Storage at Binghamton University in New York.

LEE CRONIN, Cronin Laboratory, University of Glasgow

LEE CRONIN, Cronin Laboratory, University of Glasgow

| Professor of Chemistry, Nanoscience and Chemical Complexity |

Lee Cronin’s lab at the University of Glasgow does cutting-edge research into how complex chemical systems, created from non-biological building blocks, can have real-world applications with wide impact revolutionizing modern technology and even creating life. Cronin’s research interests also encompass self-assembly and self-growing structures — the better to assemble life at nanoscale.

ISIK KIZILYALLI, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy

ISIK KIZILYALLI, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy

| Program Director at ARPA-E |

ARPA-E is a United States government agency tasked with promoting and funding research and development of advanced energy technologies. There, Dr. Isik C. Kizilyalli’s focus includes power electronics, wide bandgap semiconductors, electronic systems for hostile environments, electrification of transport (aviation, ships, automotive), subsurface instrumentation, novel drilling concepts, medium voltage DC distribution grids, and grid resiliency against EMP and space weather threats

ARVIND GUPTA

ARVIND GUPTA, SOSV

| Biotech Accelerator Founder |

Arvind founded IndieBio, the world’s largest biotech program based seed fund. Joining SOSV in 2013, Arvind became a venture capitalist to invest in biotech and deep science technologies.  As a design director of product development and strategy at IDEO, he led the team that designed the Samsung Galaxy Curve, amassed 8 patents, received many international design awards

JANE FROMMER, IBM Research

JANE FROMMER, Collabra Inc. & Former IBM Research

| Industrial-Academic Chemist, Perkin Medalist |

Jane Frommer is known for seminal contributions to understanding the molecular underpinnings of nanotechnology, particularly in the areas of electronically conducting polymers and scanning probe instrumentation. For this work, she will receive the 2020 Perkin Medal, awarded by the Society of Chemical Industry.  Her research on the molecular scale at IBM Research, the University of Basel, and numerous start-ups has involved atomic force measurements and manipulation, 3D nanoprinting, DNA origami, and conducting polymers. She is an editor, advisor, collaborator, and board member at the NSF, ACS, Beilstein Institute, universities, and companies in the US and abroad.

TOM KALIL, Schmidt Futures

TOM KALIL, Schmidt Futures

| Moonshots Expert |

As Chief Innovation Officer at Schmidt Futures, Tom Kalil leads initiatives to harness technology for societal challenges, improve science policy, and identify and pursue 21st century moonshots. Tom served in the White House under two Presidents (Obama and Clinton) to design and launch national science and technology initiatives in nanotechnology, the BRAIN initiative, data science, materials by design, robotics, commercial space, and more.

GIOVANNI ZOCCHI, Dept. of Physics, UCLA

GIOVANNI ZOCCHI, Dept. of Physics, UCLA

| Head of Lab & Professor of Physics |

Giovanni Zocchi is Professor of Physics at UCLA. The focus of the Zocchi Lab is mechano-chemical coupling in enzymes. The group pioneered the artificial mechanical control of enzymes. For the invention of nano-rheology, Professor Zocchi was awarded the 2017 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology (Theory).

KIMBERLY HAMAD-SCHIFFERLI, University of Massachusetts

KIMBERLY HAMAD-SCHIFFERLI, University of Massachusetts

| Associate Professor of Engineering |

Kimberly Hamad-Schifferli is currently Associate Professor of Engineering at University of Massachusetts Boston and Visiting Scientist, Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT. Her areas of expertise are nanotechnology, nanobiotechnology, nanomaterials, and rapid diagnostics. Her mission is to create a scientific legacy, which means training people that are not only skilled and creative, but also have a strong sense of citizenship and integrity.

CHRISTIAN JOACHIM, NanoScience Group, CEMES-CNRS

CHRISTIAN JOACHIM, NanoScience Group, CEMES-CNRS

| Director of Research at CEMES-CNRS |

Chrisitian Joachim received his PHD in Applied Mathematics and Quantum Physics. He now specializes in computer science and nanoscience. While taking some time away from France to teach in Singapore, Mr. Joachim began to work on molecular electronics, which was not a well known field at the time. After his first PhD thesis paper on molecular electronics at the nanoscale, he was recruited to become an assistant professor at the University Paul Sabatier in the CNRS Laboratory of Quantum Physics where he worked on the technique for tunneling current intensity through a single molecule interconnect through two electrodes.

GUILLAUME VIVES, Institut Parisien de Chimie Moléculaire, Sorbonne University

GUILLAUME VIVES, Institut Parisien de Chimie Moléculaire, Sorbonne University

| Molecular Chemist |

Research interest: Supramolecular chemistry, Coordination chemistry, Organic synthesis, Molecular machines.

Gauri Singh, International Renewable Energy Agency

GAURI SINGH, International Renewable Energy Agency

| Sustainable Development Expert |

Gauri Singh is the Deputy Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency. Ms. Singh brings more than 30 years of experience in policy, advocacy and project implementation within the field of renewable energy and sustainable development from India and the international system. Additionally, Ms. Gauri has experience working within India’s federal government and was responsible for leading the development of the National Solar Mission of India Policy, an early framework designed to drive solar power development in the nation.

PETER SIGMUND, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute

PETER SIGMUND, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute

| Lead author Global Climate Report |

Peter Siegmund (1961) has a PhD in physics. He is a climate expert and researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute with interest in atmospheric dynamics, the stratosphere, climate, and climate change. He is lead author of the Global Climate 2015-2019 report of the World Meteorological Organization.

MATTHEW R RYDER

MATTHEW R RYDER, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)

| Researcher and Foresight Fellow in Molecular-Scale Engineering |

Matthew was a researcher at the university of Oxford when he was recruited by the U.S. Department of Energy to work at ORNL.  His work aims to reveal the structural possibilities of next-generation porous materials. He is the lead principal investigator (PI) on multiple projects involving highly porous materials and Co-PI of a multidisciplinary project recently awarded $1.45M to tackle waste plastics by upcycling to performance-advantaged polymers.

DeAndra Salvador

DEANDRA SALVADOR, Renewable Energy Transition Initiative (RETI)

| Environmental justice advocate |

DeAndra Salvador is the founder of two groundbreaking organizations, Renewable Energy Transition Initiative (RETI) and JouleScout. Salvador is an energy expert who also has an extensive background in economics. She was also recognized as one of the Charlotte Mecklenburg County Air Commission’s 30 under 30 and is on the Board of Directors for Youth Empowered Solutions (YES!). 

CHELSEA ROBINSON

CHELSEA ROBINSON, Open Lunar Foundation

| Impact Strategy Expert |

Chelsea is the Chief Operating Officer at the Open Lunar Foundation. She is a serial non-profit founder with expertise in impact strategy. Her background also includes climate change, deliberative democracy, suicide reduction, government innovation and public-private partnerships. 

WILL MARSHALL

WILL MARSHALL, Planet Labs

| Space Scientist & Entrepreneur |

Will is the co-founder and CEO of Planet Labs, where he leads the overall strategy for commercializing new geospatial data and analytics that are disrupting agriculture, mapping, energy, the environment, and other vertical markets. Prior to Planet, he was a Scientist at NASA/USRA where he worked on missions “LADEE” and “LCROSS,” served as co-principal investigator on PhoneSat, and was the technical lead on research projects in space debris remediation.

JAMES GIMZEWSKI

JAMES GIMZEWSKI, UCLA

| Biochemistry Professor |

James Gimzewski is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA, where he conducts research and advises graduate students in his PicoLab. He is also the faculty director of the Nano & Pico Characterization core lab at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA.

| PROGRAMS & PRIZES |

From October 4-25, as your schedule permits, we will schedule personal online sessions with our listed mentors whose advice will help your project become technically sound, effective to address the scale of the problem, well-placed in the global institutional context, and attractive to fund and execute.

Each week is concluded by each team giving a short interim presentation and feedback from your accelerator cohort to integrate this week’s learning and prepare for the final presentations on Sunday, October 25, 10 am-12 pm PDT. A judging committee will evaluate the final project presentations and award the Prizes and Prize money ($5,000 – 1st place, $2,500 – 2nd place, and $1,000 – 3rd place) to the winning teams of the accelerator.

Rather than a full-time program, this accelerator is a supportive project, with each team committing a minimum of 5 flexible hours per week, designed to accommodate existing academia and work schedules.

| PROJECTS SELECTION |

Projects are welcome to apply at any stage, from initial visionary concepts to fully-developed ideas which have already received substantial support but deserve much more. Whether your idea is academia-affiliated, independent research, or is housed within a for-profit company, as long as it is ambitious and can benefit from our support, we will consider your application. We cast a wide net; examples of application areas would include methods to remove CO2 from Earth’s atmosphere, new clean energy proposals, and ways to radically improve the sustainability of industries, agriculture or ecosystems. Your application should state why the area you choose to focus on in the way you do has radical potential for healing the planet.

| BACKGROUND |

Foresight Institute steers emerging and world-shaping technologies for beneficial purposes and has done so for more than 30 years. It is our mission to spark innovation across multidisciplinary fields such as synthetic biology, artificial intelligence, longevity, and especially nanotechnology.  We serve as a nexus for innovation to  catalyze research, reward excellence, restrain recklessness, and create community aimed at the long-term flourishing of humanity and the biosphere.

This accelerator is an iteration of our annual technical competitions, in which multi-disciplinary teams of world-class scientists and engineers compete to generate project proposals that use foundational research to solve crucial problems for humanity. This year, we take the next leap by accelerating existing project ideas into the execution stage.

Watch the video summary of the last edition:

READ THE 2019 HEALING THE PLANET REPORT
APPLICATIONS CLOSED