Breakthrough Innovation Instances

We’ve called efficiency the unsung hero of the energy transition in the past. While the energy transition will happen first through the transition of energy usages, like the shift with transport, from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles, or from fuel or gas boilers to heat pumps, we cannot ignore the utmost priority of the energy transition: efficiency. Efficiency is the greatest path to reduce our energy use, our impact on the world’s climate through CO2 emission reduction, and very importantly, the best way to make solid and practical savings. In its most historical form, energy efficiency is about better insulation, to reduce heating (or cooling) loss in buildings like family homes, warehouses, office high rises, and shopping malls. This is useful, but expensive and tedious to realize on existing installations. Digitizing home, buildings, industries and infrastructure brings similar benefits at a much lower cost and a much higher economic return. The combination of IoT, big data, software and AI can significantly reduce energy use and waste by detecting leaky valves, or automatically adjusting heating, lighting, processes and other systems to the number of people present at any given time, using real-time data analysis. It also allows owners to measure precisely progress, report automatically on their energy and sustainability parameters, and benefit from new services through smart grid interaction. And this is just the energy benefit. Automation and digital tools also optimize the processes, safety, reliability, and uptime leading to greater productivity and performance.

Innovative ideas for living spaces today are transforming the way we interact with our homes by blending design ingenuity with cutting-edge technology. Architects and interior designers are increasingly incorporating multifunctional furniture and modular layouts to optimize space in compact urban homes—think beds that fold into walls, coffee tables that convert into desks, or entire rooms that can be reconfigured using movable partitions. Smart home systems are becoming the backbone of modern living spaces, enabling residents to control lighting, temperature, security, and even appliances through voice commands or mobile apps. Sustainable materials like bamboo, recycled plastic, and reclaimed wood are being used not just for aesthetic appeal, but to reduce environmental impact. Biophilic design is gaining momentum, integrating natural elements such as vertical gardens, indoor water features, and large windows to enhance mental well-being. In luxury and futuristic homes, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are being used to preview interior changes before implementation, while 3D printing is beginning to revolutionize how entire houses are built, offering affordable and customizable structures. The integration of solar panels, rainwater harvesting systems, and AI-driven energy efficiency tools demonstrates how smart #technology can align with eco-conscious living. Altogether, these innovative approaches are not only redefining comfort and style but also pushing the boundaries of what living spaces can achieve in terms of adaptability, sustainability, and user-centric functionality. Feel free to share your thoughts 💭

🔬 A new era of biology is coming—not just single-cell, but cell–cell. When flow cytometry first became widely adopted in the 1980s, it revolutionized immunology. Suddenly, we could dissect the immune system one cell at a time, revealing T cell subsets, memory phenotypes, activation states, and more. Entire fields flourished because we could see and sort what was previously invisible. Now imagine doing that—not with one-dimensional fluorescence signals—but with full images of each cell as it's flowing by at thousands per second. And not just of single cells, but of cell pairs, clusters, and interactions. That’s the promise of image-activated cell sorting (IACS). Our recent review in Nature Bioengineering explores how IACS is poised to drive a new biological revolution: 📄 https://lnkd.in/guMkSxqJ At its core, IACS combines high-throughput microscopy, real-time image processing, and precision microfluidic sorting, opening the door to analyze and isolate cells based on morphology, subcellular localization, cell-cell contact, cell secretions and more. 💡 At UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, I’ve had the privilege of watching and contributing to many of these advances emerge—from our collaborations with Keisuke Goda, Bahram Jalali and Kevin Tsia on STEAM to the early FIRE imaging system (Eric Diebold, Ph.D.) that now powers BD’s FACSDiscover CellView, to participating in the "Serendipiter" developed by Keisuke Goda's ImPACT program, to Deepcell (founded by my former PhD student Maddison Masaeli), and now through our work on nanovials (Joe de Rutte, Partillion Bioscience), which serve as test tubes for probing cell-cell communication. We are no longer limited to what a cell expresses in isolation, but can now ask how it behaves, who it talks to, and how it responds. Just as early flow cytometry revealed the immune system's complexity, these tools will help uncover the dynamic networks that govern multicellular biology, development, and disease. Providing the massive data needed to fuel predictive AI models that link cells to tissues to organisms—and perturbations that transform health to disease. 🔁 The future is moving beyond single-cell to interaction-level biology. And the tools are finally here. #CellBiology #SingleCell #ImageActivatedCellSorting #Nanovials #microfluidics #FlowCytometry #IACS #UCLA #Bioengineering #NatureBioengineering

NATO nations seek a light-based internet backup up in space: A defence need will reshape telecoms forever. 📡🛰️ Let me break down why this is a massive market shift: Right now, our global internet runs almost entirely through undersea cables. These handle $10 trillion in daily transactions. And they're incredibly vulnerable. Just this February, a single sinking ship in the Red Sea took out 25% of Europe-Asia internet traffic. NATO's response? They're building a space-based backup network using laser communications. The $2.5M HEIST project launches testing in 2025. The tech leap is staggering: Current satellite links push 5 gigabits per second. New laser systems? 340+ Terabits. That's enough to replace major undersea routes. Why this matters for telecoms: The military is essentially funding the R&D for next-gen internet infrastructure. Once proven, this tech will transform commercial networks. Think Starlink, but with laser speeds and unbreakable security. This is the biggest infrastructure shift since fiber optics. And it's happening now. And here are the key players that are fighting off for a piece of the new SpaceCom infrastructure -which will likely be worth hundreds of billions. 1) Corporate Ventures AAC Clyde Space (Sweden) - Developing 10 Gbps laser terminals for small satellites - Leading €3.5M consortium with TNO and FSO Instruments - Launching next-gen CubeCAT system by 2026 Sony Space Communications (Japan) - Corporate spin-off launched 2022 - Focusing on miniaturized optical devices for microsatellites - Leveraging Sony's advanced optical expertise 2) Established Startups Mynaric (Germany) - Peter Thiel-backed, publicly traded Market cap: $184M - Leading provider of industrialised laser communication products BridgeSat (USA) - Series B funded, $10M raised - Building global optical communications network - Focus on LEO satellite connectivity solutions 3) Emerging Players Archangel Lightworks (UK) - £4M seed funding in 2023 - Developing TERRA-M miniature ground stations - Recently demonstrated rapid deployment capability Astrogate Labs (India) - Developing 1U form factor terminals - Offers 150 Mbps at 1000km range - Cost-competitive with RF systems Cailabs (France) - €26M Series C raised - 26 patent families - Specializes in multi-mission ground stations Xenesis (USA) - $20M funding secured - Offers optical communications as a service - Developing Xen-Link platform We've made our pick at Silicon Roundabout Ventures from the above builders. I'm sure it's going to be an exciting race. And once the infrastructure is there, what it will enable will usher a new era for the human race, like the spread of broadband internet. #deeptech #defense #telecom #spacetech

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has just proposed a set of reforms aimed at simplifying how retail investors access complex financial products. The focus: reducing friction and improving clarity for everyday investors, which is a direction we strongly support. At Syfe, we were pleased to contribute to early-stage discussions that helped shape this process. It’s encouraging to see regulators respond to the evolving expectations of investors, who are increasingly seeking better transparency, simplicity, and accessibility. These changes focus on a familiar tool in the industry: Product Highlight Sheets (‘PHS’) - concise, standardised documents that outline the key features, risks, and costs of an investment product to help retail investors make informed decisions. The proposed reforms aim to make these documents more useful and usable for investors - easier to read, clearer about risk and better designed to help investors make more informed decisions. One simple yet powerful example is a suggested red label flagging complex products, so investors know when to consider professional advice. It’s a small change that could have a big impact. And we see this every day: investors want clear, jargon-free information, they want transparency, and they want control. So we see these changes not just as regulatory housekeeping, but as a clear shift to a more progressive approach to investing that recognises the growing demand of retail investors and the need to broaden access without weakening safeguards. Thanks to MAS for the opportunity to input - these proposed reforms give a strong signal for the future of wealth management in Singapore Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Alvin Tan https://lnkd.in/g6iFjDpH

Dream11 just pulled off one of the fastest business pivots I've ever seen. When the Online Gaming Bill passed a couple of weeks ago, it basically killed fantasy sports overnight. Most companies in the space are still figuring out what hit them, but Dream11 launched a wealth management app called 'Dream Money' within a week. Here's what happened and why it's brilliant: 📍The Problem The new gaming regulations banned any platform where users deposit money expecting to win more. That's literally Dream11's entire business model. Along with it went 4 lakh other gaming companies and about 2 lakh jobs. 📍The Solution Instead of fighting the regulations or shutting down, they completely changed industries. Dream Money lets users: - Start investing in mutual funds with just ₹10 - Buy digital gold  - Open fixed deposits from ₹1,000 - All through the same app experience their users already loved But this isn't some random pivot. People who play fantasy sports are already comfortable with: - Putting money into apps - Making quick decisions based on data - Managing risk and rewards - Using mobile-first platforms daily These are exactly the skills you need for personal investing. Besides, they didn't have to build new payment systems, user verification, or mobile infrastructure.  They just redirected what they already had toward a completely different industry. Plus, they moved from a sector the government just banned to one the government actively promotes (financial inclusion). Honestly what impressed me was the speed in the pivot. It suggests that this wasn't a decision made in panic mode. Smart companies in regulated industries always have backup plans ready.  When the gaming ban hit, they were prepared. Now instead of fighting a ₹25,000 crore industry collapse, they're entering India's booming fintech space. What are your thoughts on this?

My 5-Step Content Creation Process – From Ideation to Publication (Got me 48k LinkedIn followers and 11k newsletter subs) 1️⃣ Plant Whenever I have an idea, I plant its seed in my Apple Notes or Notion. How I Get Ideas: ⦿ Client Work: When I run into a new problem, I write a practical guide on how to solve it. (Example: How to write headlines. Fast.) ⦿ Curiosity: I consume a lot of content outside of marketing and advertising. I’m especially into music, poetry, theater, philosophy, psychology, history, and film. This helps me find interesting ideas that I can later connect to marketing basics to make them more interesting. (Example: How Patagonia’s marketing connects to Aristotle) ⦿ Conversations: Random input from outside triggers new ideas. Sometimes it’s real-life conversations, but mostly posts and comments I read online. This helps me write more relevant content. (Example: Scriptwriting with AI.) 2️⃣ Water I usually wait between two weeks and six months for an idea to ripen. During that time, I slowly add to it – thoughts, quotes, visuals, facts, and other pieces of research that I come across. 3️⃣ Harvest Every time I need to write a newsletter (every two weeks), I pick an idea from my garden that feels ripe and try to turn it into something useful. My Three Pillars of Useful Content: ⦿ Savable: People can easily understand it, save it, and come back to it when they need it. ⦿ Stake: Useful content is vulnerable. The best posts make me close my eyes and count backward before hitting publish because they usually involve sharing personal work, ideas, or stories that might make me look dumb. But that’s what makes it interesting—nobody wants safe, cookie-cutter content. ⦿ Simplify the Complex or Complexify the Simple: Explain a difficult task step-by-step or take something basic and dive deeper, approaching it from a fresh perspective. 4️⃣ Trim ⦿ Cut the Fluff: Once I have a messy first draft, I start editing. I strip out all the fluff and obvious stuff. It’s tough, but I keep reminding myself, “Your reader is smarter than you. They’ll get it.” ⦿ Promo Post: I write a promo post for LinkedIn, promising my readers what they’ll learn if they check out the newsletter. This helps me focus on the main point, cutting out anything that doesn’t support that promise. ⦿ AI: I use GPT to find more examples, proofread, and help me nail the right words. (🤖 My favorite editing prompt "Carefully compress the sentence below. Eliminate unnecessary words and replace longer words with shorter ones, ensuring the sentence retains its original meaning, info, and tone.") 5️⃣ Distribute Once the newsletter is out, I repurpose it into short-form content for LinkedIn, Reddit, and Twitter. In total, it usually takes me 16-20 hours of work from the moment I pick an idea until it’s ready to ship, visuals and all. Well, I hope that was useful ;)

Peeling Back the Layers of Innovation. In the vibrant creative hubs of Stockholm and Paris, a Swedish design studio is silently turning the food packaging world on its head. Driven by a fervor for sustainability and futuristic design, product designers Hanna Billqvist and Anna Glansén are at the forefront of this transformative movement. Their brainchild, "Tomorrow Machine," seamlessly blends cutting-edge research, tech innovation, and novel materials to shape a brighter, greener world. A creative approach challenging the norms of packaging with a daring fusion of sustainability and artistic flair. What sets their work apart? It's all about the materials. "This Too Shall Pass" is a standout project showcasing their ability to inject excitement into food packaging. The concept was based on the fact different liquids and materials react differently to each other. From that sprang the idea of creating packaging where the packaging itself worked in symbiosis with the content. For example, water melts sugar but oil does not, so sugar is an ideal material for packaging oil in. So they created packaging made out of sugar. To prevent the sugar packaging from reacting with the moisture in the air, they covered it with a thin layer of wax on the outside. To open it you crack it like an egg—when the material is cracked the wax do no longer protect the sugar and the packaging melts when it comes in contact with water. Their agile design approach allows rapid adaptation of designs and materials to suit different food products. Utilising biodegradable wax and soy inks, they've created a packaging solution for storing dry goods like grains and rice. This takes a unique conical form, with an opening like peeling an orange—considered design combining form, function and aesthetics. For smoothies, they've taken an entirely different approach—a gel made up of agar-agar seaweed and water are the only components used to make this packaging. To open it you pick the top—the packaging will then wither at the same rate as it's contents. It's made for drinks that have a short life span and needs to be refrigerated, fresh juice, smoothies and cream for example. What sets this project apart is its strong influence from nature—instead of mimicking nature with unnatural materials like most designers, Tomorrow Machine chooses to align their designs with nature-inspired substrates of a similar family. Reminds us that the best designs are often those that work in harmony with the planet. What's your take on these innovative concepts? #packaging #packaginginnovation #sustainability #sustainabledesign #productdesign 📷Tomorrow Machine

Paradigm blindness may be one of the greatest risks of our time: when we are so deeply embedded in a worldview that we cannot even see alternative paths. That’s where the Regenerative Paradigm Map comes in. A recent study by Vanessa A. Taveras-Dalmau, PhD, Susanne Becken, and Ross Westoby (2025) offers a breakthrough. They reviewed 320+ cross-disciplinary papers and synthesized their findings into the Regenerative Paradigm Map, one of the most comprehensive resources I’ve seen for system builders, founders, and leaders. → 7 Core Principles → 33 Themes → 253 Elements The map makes complexity navigable. It shows us where the greatest leverage points lie: → Begin with inner transformation: shifting worldviews, values, and consciousness. → Move towards pluralistic, post-capitalist economics: beyond growth as the dominant paradigm. → Put communities first: local knowledge and agency are central to resilience. → Embrace systems approaches: seeing flows, relationships, and interdependencies. → Learn from practice: applying proven regenerative tools, frameworks, and case studies. Why this matters: Paradigms set the boundaries of what we consider possible. If we want different results - in business, in policy, in society - we need to see differently and act differently. The visualization below highlights how these principles connect into actionable themes. It’s an open source tool designed to guide builders, leaders, and changemakers in navigating paradigm shifts. It’s an open source map: https://lnkd.in/eJ_hAYp8 ••• Valuable? Share • Save • Follow Sara Kukovec 🌍🌱🏗️

Innovation isn’t about making what you sell better; it’s about selling something better. Most often when people think of the objectives of digital transformation, they focus on production optimization or cost reduction. But I would argue the real value comes from transforming the way you provide and capture value to customers. 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐬: 𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 Manufacturers have traditionally sold physical products; however, with the increasing popularity of digital services such as software or cloud-based solutions, many manufacturers are now offering digital services as well. These digital services can be anything from providing access to a web portal for customers to tracking performance data for their equipment. By selling digital services, manufacturers can not only increase their profits but also gain a better understanding of customer needs which they can use to refine their products and services accordingly. 𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 & 𝐀𝐬-𝐀-𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 The subscription business model has become increasingly popular among manufacturers as it allows them to offer customers more flexibility when purchasing their products or services. Instead of customers buying a one-time product or service, they can subscribe on an ongoing basis instead which means they get access to the latest updates and features without having to purchase a new product each time. 𝐎𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞-𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 This type of contract typically involves setting an agreed upon outcome that both parties agree on before signing any agreements. For example, if a manufacturer agrees to provide hardware maintenance for its customers for a certain number of years then it will receive payment once those conditions have been met instead of upfront payments like in traditional contracts. In such arrangements, manufacturers assume more responsibility for delivering results; thus increasing their risk but also allowing them to capture more value from customers if successful. ******************************************* • Visit www.jeffwinterinsights.com for access to all my content and to stay current on Industry 4.0 and other cool tech trends • Ring the 🔔 for notifications!