The recent shift towards open innovation has resulted in increased flows of knowledge as well as new types of cooperation between education institutions, research organizations as well as business
Cleaning up deliveries
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, brick-and-mortar stores shut down, as well as even the most technology-averse people switched to online deliveries. This trend has not slowed since. E-commerce has been shown to increase with rising incomes, providing greater convenience as well as choice. So as living standards improve, online shopping follows the trend.
In the medium to long term, we will see delivery services switch to fuel-cell or electric-powered vans. However, these vehicles are unlikely to be available straight away at the levels necessary to meet growth in requirement in emerging markets.The mechanisms through which technology is developed, adopted as well as used in production are complex.
Recycling EV batteries
After experiencing a fall during the pandemic lockdowns, car ownership is back. as well as while growth will vary significantly across the globe, the one pervasive dynamic is the shift to electric vehicles (EVs). After years of China dominating EV car sales, it was overtaken by Europe as the world’s largest EV market in 2020. Sustainability as well as circularity are key to making EVs not only carbon-free to use — given that over two-thirds of global electricity is still generated from fossil fuels — but also limiting the carbon impact throughout their lifecycle.
For example, the active components within batteries can be shredded to a powder known as “black mass.” This is processed further to filter out critical materials, including cobalt, nickel as well as lithium, ready to be used again. Clearly, there are links between education, research as well as development, innovation as well as economic activity that are part of the process we aim to uncover.
Making jet fuel from rubbish
Air travel was one of the worst-affected sectors during the pandemic. The aviation industry body IATA predicts that while full recovery is unlikely this side of 2030, markets will pick up as travel barriers are removed as well as people start to travel further afield again.
While pre-pandemic aviation contributed only 2 to 3 percent of human-induced carbon dioxide, emissions from aviation have been increasing at a faster rate than for any other transport mode, according to the International Energy Agency. Along with shipping, it is also considered one of the most challenging to decarbonize. A lot of work is going into developing electric as well as hydrogen-powered aircraft, but the technologies are not yet advanced enough to take over, especially for long-haul flights.
Jet fuels can be made more sustainably. Johnson Matthey as well as BP have developed an award-winning process (using the Fischer Tropsch, or FT, reaction) that converts syngas (a mixture of hydrogen as well as carbon dioxide) produced from the gasification of household waste into “synthetic crude,” which in turn is used for making sustainable, low-carbon aviation fuel.
To sum it up
The concept of technology itself as well as the individual as well as social capabilities required for its development can now be studied at a much more fine-grained level leading to potential contributions that may impact higher education, job creation as well as economic growth.
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