Blog

Does there need to be government support for climate tech to succeed?

Healthcare innovation has some notoriously hard barriers to overcome - here's how RIG tackles them

AI is believed to be the greatest technological advance of this generation, and in the climate space we’re seeing the emergence of many AI-enabled solutions. However, there have been widespread reports over the last yearregarding AI's high energy consumption resulting in AI becoming a leading contributor to the climate crisis

Tackling food insecurity in the UK with micro-scale vertical farms and inspiring the next generation of urban growers 

How regulating to stymie innovation can end up accelerating it

The biotechnology sector is filled with the promise of new cancer treatment approaches, such as immunotherapy, but the financial stumbling blocks could prevent these advances from reaching patients.

Patrick Carmody talks about  how the comfort of the marginal gain can sleepwalk a company into the abyss

Heat pumps – what next?

Why you probably won’t be charging your electric car in 2 minutes

How technology can tackle diaper waste

Women’s health has been notoriously neglected throughout history, as the healthcare sector didn’t escape the trend of men creating a world for males. The FemTech Revolution in recent years has been trying to change this healthcare dynamic for the better.

From plate to planet: reducing food waste for a sustainable future

When graphene was first discovered in the early 2000s, it was described as having some of the greatest material properties discovered – so why, almost 20 years later, is it not used in our day-to-day lives? 

Decarbonisation: The quest for clean energy requires us to untangle the web of unintended consequences. It's like trying to solve a puzzle while simultaneously creating new pieces

Risk, or specifically risk tolerance, is one of the factors that has enabled innovators for centuries; it is risk or specifically risk tolerance that has progressed human development, not its avoidance.

Floating wind has long been hailed as a key tool in our fight against climate change, but outside of industry news and regional papers, it only sporadically appears in our newsfeed.

The potential role of PET eating enzymes in solving the plastic waste crisis

No action today, no cure tomorrow

Share buybacks are one of the reasons for the inflated valuations currently in the market, meanwhile R&D spending has stagnated.

I read the above statement online a few weeks ago and it got my back up, so I wrote about it

The ‘hidden’ form of inflation

To GMO or not to GMO, that is the question

The unconsidered secondary problems of decarbonisation are some of the greatest opportunities for companies with the knowhow.

While recycling infrastructure has expanded, economic growth, increased production and consumption continue to widen the gap in an increasingly linear world

It could be assumed that a soil carbon measurement technology would be most attractive to farmers, however, it is apparent that the entire supply chain needs to be addressed and connected, otherwise an opportunity might be missed.

The global mycelium market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.3% to reach $5.5 Billion by 2030, according to InsightAce Analytic. The market is booming, with biotechnology startups and investors entering the space due to its various applications for the Food & Beverage, Animal Feed, Packaging, Clothing and Apparel industries. Rapid Innovation’s AgBio team envision a fundamental shift ...

From 2013 to 2022, two views on RIG: an interview with Ffion and Anya 

Getting into the (sea)weeds (Sorry, we couldn't kelp ourselves).

An ‘Ideal Customer Profile’ (ICP) is a tool we often use at RIG - a set of narrowly defined hypotheses that pinpoints the type of customer most suited for utilising the technology that is being commercialised.

Engagement Director Jack Straker (JCS) interviews new-starter Emily Pugsley (EP) 

“Build it and they will come”. Sadly, they probably won’t. So why not do the hard work up-front and secure your market before you do anything else. Investors will love you for it.

One of the challenges of technology innovation is the balancing act of identifying an application which responds to market needs (“pull”) and is informed by the technology’s attributes (“push”).  The Technology-Push Leader User Concept (T-PLUC) blends push and pull innovation to inform the development and application of a given technology.

Feedback should be viewed as a tool for improvement, not a weapon

There is huge potential for the food industry to reduce their carbon footprint whilst educating consumers on the benefits of dairy farming; however, a ‘wait and see’ approach may lead to missed opportunities

Assessing the sustainability of new technologies: can we ever find one perfect solution or will it always remain a grey area? 

Long term availability of virgin timber is becoming increasingly problematic.  MDF Recovery's technology offers security against rising virgin timber prices and fragile supply chains.

You could argue that progress with batteries is good. That said, there are numerous geographic, geopolitical, and humanitarian challenges to address across the lithium-ion batteries supply chain.

The invisible restraint of the apparent newfound freedom of battery-powered phones is that these devices need charging up– we can only stray so far from a power socket for so long.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were built, it is said, around 600 BC by King Nebuchadnezzar II for his wife Amytis, because she missed the verdant landscapes of her native Media (modern-day Iran). Descriptions of these gardens also suggest that they could be considered the first example of a vertical farm, with a series of stacked terraces irrigated by manually operated water pumps.

To say my RIG journey began in unusual circumstances is somewhat of an understatement. Three zoom meetings and several phone calls were the only interaction with my future colleagues the global pandemic afforded me before my first day. Actually, that’s not quite true, I did meet a masked Simon for about five minutes to pick up my laptop.

For over 5 years, I have been hosting ‘house concerts’ where touring international musicians play a private gig in my flat to an audience of friends and friends of friends. The gigs are intimate affairs -both for the physical proximity, and because there can be lots of interaction. And sometimes there’s a level of connection between artist and audience such that at the end of the even...

Trying harder while generally doing the same thing is not the recipe for finding product market fit or finding early traction. It is a recipe for running out of runway. It is also a very human reaction. 

It has been a while since I wrote a blog. Too long. I feel I should write one once a month maybe even once a week. Last week I got a virtual tap on the shoulder from my colleagues who manage our marketing activities. My turn. I was up to write a blog. 

As a child, bin lorries meant it was Friday. A weekly ritual on our drive to school involved tailing the cumbersome machines through the narrow streets of York, watching them decant the waste of household after terraced-household into their gaping maws; a weekly interaction with a great infrastructural marvel which miraculously transported away the waste of each dwelling never to be s...

Confined to our homes during the pandemic, many of us have taken up new hobbies, exercise regimens or new learning. While my physical fitness has taken a hit in the six weeks since the RIG team started working from home, I have joined an online microeconomics course in an effort to cajole myself into a productive lockdown. 

I am drinking the same water as a T-Rex. My inner child (not buried particularly deep, I am told) is a big fan of this fact. As far as we know, since humans existed, we have not created any ‘new’ water and comparatively little has escaped to space. On the face of it, water isn’t going anywhere, and there is loads of it. It should be noted that there is a big difference between freshwa...

23 June is a date that will forever fill me with great happiness and faith in our country. Of course, I refer to the glorious day, in 2014, when the former Member of Parliament for Tatton, the first Chancellor from a northern seat since Dennis Healey in the late 1970s, delivered his vision of the “Northern Powerhouse” from Manchester. Finally, I thought, a government that is going to ...

We are all probably aware to varying degrees that the levels of air pollution in the UK are too high, but we perhaps do not understand the full extent of the issue. According to Defra, the annual health cost of particulate matter alone is estimated to be around £16 billion and as a Uk average, 5.3 out of every 100 deaths are the result of air pollution. This figure is far higher for L...

Since January 1st, I no longer lead the process of recruiting and selecting entry level hires. Entry-level hiring is a serious responsibility. We are who we hire. And who we hire is formative in terms of what we can become. In a knowledge firm, talent acquisition and development is the business strategy. Making this move is a generational shift that will bring those driving the proces...

A big part of my job is to bridge the gap between our portfolio companies and the markets they serve. I speak with potential customers on a daily basis about a particular novel technology and the possible value it can unlock; I have found that a large part of successful commercialisation and deal making is in the effective presentation and communication of the product, solution, or se...

Globalisation and advances in technology have radically altered the way that information is exchanged, ideas and innovations are diffused, trade occurs, and companies collaborate and grow internationally. The multiple dynamics of globalization—financial flows, migration of labour and work, technological innovations, environmental sustainability, and cultural dynamics—form a turbulent ...

In any industry, executives and consultants prize the concept of ‘speed to market’ highly. This is usually the result of the belief that if you don’t do it, someone else will – and, as with at least a majority of oft-repeated business phrases, it contains a degree of truth.

Having left the world of science at school, I read medieval Italian poetry at university and thought to myself “finally – something I can study with real world application!” I slightly rued my artsy background when I took an MBA which involved some mathematics: the GMAT (“how is one not a prime?”), financial accounting (“how come income statements have expenses?”), Excel modelling (“h...

Waste. Rubbish. Trash. Whatever you wish to name it, it litters the everyday landscape of our lives. Its ubiquitous presence flickers on the edges of our consciousness whether strolling down London streets, picnicking on beaches, or meandering through national parks. And this is simply the waste we can see. Even 'prisine' areas of wilderness have not been left untouched by the ramific...

Idioms don’t always translate well across different languages and cultures, but I thought this particular German phrase was a visceral and compelling image as a warning to early-stage companies not to be “all things to all people.”

A recent blog by Fred Wilson resonated with me and motivated me to write my next blog. In his blog, Fred reflects on the decision by WeWork to postpone their listing and uses the term “hair on a deal” to describe when a deal has too many issues which ultimately kill the investment. The critical lesson for entrepreneurs he highlights is the importance of having your house in order befo...

Who is your competition and how are you differentiated? This is a critical component of both commercialisation and fundraising, around which technology developers have significant scope to improve their current approach. Too often, companies are unwilling to tackle this topic in the depth it deserves. Whether this is due to fear, naivety, arrogance, ‘blissful ignorance’, or inexperien...

It is hard to ignore the noise currently being made about climate change. Be it Extinction Rebellion, Greta Thunberg, or Michael Bloomberg, it is certainly a topic that has made its way into the public consciousness this year and let’s hope that it stays there.

Shipping touches pervasively but unobtrusively on every aspect of our daily lives; from the clothes we wear, to the food we eat, to the goods we order online. But rarely do we think about the negative environmental ramifications caused by it. These environmental impacts include air pollution, water pollution, noise, and oil pollution. Greenhouse gas emissions from shipping currently r...

When it comes to finding Product-market Fit (PMF), entrepreneurial vision is helpful but insufficient. Landing on the moon may be the vision but it requires precise and completely accurate calculations to actually get there.

We at Rapid Innovation Group are in the business of IP commercialisation. When we disaggregate that term, the most debate within the company, and a healthy debate it is I must add, is what does the term commercialisation mean. Is it sales and revenue generation at its most basic, or is it something far more fundamental than that? That’s a topic for another time and for someone with a ...

In recent years, the conversation around renewable energy sources has grown broader and louder. Although wind, solar, and their lesser-known cousins do not (yet) represent a majority of energy generation in the vast majority of countries, they form an increasingly significant part of the grid’s energy mix. Indeed, in 2017 – and for the first time in its history – Britain generated mor...

I’m one of those annoying people that thinks Schrodinger’s Cat is an apt substrate for pretty much any old mixed metaphor that I can drag in. Apologies in advance.

Throughout the history of deal-making, folks have conceived of successful negotiations as being the ones where they “won.”

“But we need to develop 3 phases of prototypes, go through accelerated life testing, and get 10 patents granted”. Or so go the usual protestations against early market engagement. The value of bringing partners and customers into the conversation at an early stage is often trumped by fear. “They’ll steal my technology”. “It isn’t advanced enough”. “They won’t understand it”.

Cycling home over Waterloo bridge a couple of weeks ago I was surprised by my breathlessness and coughing fit that ensued. At first I thought it was a testament to my fitness levels, but turning on the news that night my concern grew from its initial trivial and personal worry.

JP had all of the energy and passion of the entrepreneur.He was also a lovely man. Full of good cheer and resilient enthusiasm.  

A CEO we are working with asked me today about how large a deal she should look to do with an agricultural foundation that could become a big partner. As her company’s technology solves a major problem for them, she was aware that there was the potential to do a big initial deal but her instinct was to start small.