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WEEKLY NEWSFLASH 7/24-7/28: Greentown Community Director, CEO, and Member Company All Get Recognized for Their Achievements

What a whirlwind week for Greentown Labs! First, our community director Elizabeth Barno was nominated for the prestigious MassTLC Emerging Executive Award. Next, our CEO Emily Reichert made waves in Washington by advocating for federal research funding to Congress. Finally, our member company RightHand Robotics was nationally featured for their tech advancements in e-commerce piece picking solution. Internationally, Scotland set a new renewable energy record by producing 118% of their needed electricity, Britain made strides towards an all electric vehicle future by banning fossil fuel vehicles by 2040, and in Finland researchers have discovered a way to create food from electricity.

What news have you been reading this week? Share with us @GreentownLabs!

 

Greentown Labs’ Community Director, Elizabeth Barno, Named an Emerging Executive Finalist for the 20th Annual Technology Leadership Awards

  • Greentown Labs’ very own Elizabeth Barno has been nominated as a finalist for the MassTLC Emerging Executive Award. The pool of finalists will be further narrowed during the coming weeks. Winners will be announced at the MassTLC Leadership Awards Gala on September 14 at Boston’s Seaport World Trade Center.

“It is an honor to be a finalist for Emerging Executive of the Year. I am humbled and proud to be in the company of such accomplished finalists—many of whom are fellow women—and following in the footsteps of another great female leader, Emily Reichert, the CEO of Greentown Labs. I’d like to recognize all of my colleagues at Greentown Labs and the entrepreneurs that I work with for allowing me the opportunities that make this nomination possible—I am inspired by you every day.”

 

The HillInnovation Leaders to Congress: Don’t Kill our Future with Cuts to Research Programs

  • Leaders of American innovation came to Washington recently with a clear message to Congress: Don’t abandon our companies, our investors, and our country’s competitiveness in the global race for energy technology.

“‘We cannot afford to abandon our progress now,’ said Dr. Emily Reichert, CEO of the nation’s largest cleantech business incubator, Greentown Labs in Boston.”

 

Wall Street JournalNext Leap for Robots: Picking Out and Boxing Your Online Order

  • Advances in robotics means big savings for online retailers, like Amazon. With robots like those being developed by RightHand Robotics, e-commerce warehouses can become more efficient and could mean huge savings for retailers.

“‘This thing could run 24 hours a day,’ said Erik Caldwell, the retailer’s senior vice president of supply chain and digital operations, at a conference in May. ‘They don’t get sick; they don’t smoke.'”

 

Solar Power WorldCould sodium batteries be the next big storage solution?

  • Scientists have designed a new type of cathode that could make the mass production of sodium batteries more feasible.

“Scientists have been searching for new battery chemistries using materials that are more readily available than lithium. Sodium is one of the most desirable options for researchers because it exists nearly everywhere and is far less toxic to humans than lithium.”

 

CNN MoneyBritain bans gasoline and diesel cars starting in 2040

  • Britain has joined other countries by declaring that they will ban diesel and gasoline cars by 2040 — as well as announcing a series of other measures that are aimed at assuaging the air pollution that is rife in the country.

“Ending diesel and petrol car sales by 2040 is a step in the right direction but given that electric cars are coming anyway this is probably pretty irrelevant. It’s a bit like saying we’re banning the sale of steam engines by 2040”

 

Futurism A Team of Scientists Just Made Food From Electricity — and it Could be the Solution to World Hunger

  • A Finnish research team has taken a step towards the future of food by developing a method for producing food from electricity. If scaling it up proves to be successful, it could be a tool in the fight against world hunger and climate change.

“The food from electricity project could decrease the amount of unsustainable farming needed to fill our bellies as it provides us with a smaller, cheaper, and renewable method of getting our nutrients. ”

 

Independent Scotland sets renewable energy record as wind power provides equivalent of 118% of nation’s electricity

  • Renewable energy figures show the power generated last month in Scotland was enough to supply the electrical needs equivalent to 118 per cent of Scottish households or nearly three million homes. Additionally, in the first six months of 2017 enough power was generated to supply more than all of Scotland’s national demand for six days.

“Scotland is continuing to break records on renewable electricity, attracting investment, creating jobs and tackling climate change.”