Dear all,

So this Newsletter covers both March and April. We had two major WMF events during this period:

- we had the jury of our 2020 Start Up Challenge on March 13th and we announced on March 20th the list of our 18 nominees

- together with our partners and due to COVID 19 we decided to postpone WMF 2020 from June 10th/11th to August 26th/27th

One major news of the period is with Waymo raising 2.25 billion $ to speed up the development of autonomous vehicles.

Some new angles as well in the field of critical materials, be copper as an anti virus and bacteria metal, be new materials promoted thanks to shortage on others or be a new Japanese view on critical materials dynamics to 2050.

And a wide range of innovations from universities, MNCs and Start Ups: new polymer fast degrading at Cornell, recycling PET into anode material at Purdue, thin tin dioxyde semiconductors at University of Tokyo, new e wastes recycling technologies at CEA, new water related technologies as highlighted by OCDE, double win on shelf life and recyclability for Gerber baby food and enzymes to be used for high quality new bottles at Carbios.

Finally some good news (be deals, awards, fundings, new product launches or papers) coming from our WMF start up alumni with Aerosint (Belgium), Akryvia (France), BComp (Switzerland), Carbios (France), Citrine Informatics (USA), Imagine Ontelligent Materials (Australia), Kebotix (USA), Nawa Technologies (France), Thrupore (USA) and Woodoo (France).

Wishing you enjoy the reading

Victoire de Margerie & Philippe Varin

Vice, March 18th:
Some properties of copper are being rediscovered

Science Line, April 15th:
Expected shortage on lithium ion materials is pushing creativity in many directions including storage of renewable energies.

Science Direct, April 20th:
A review of critical metal dynamics to 2050 for 48 elements by 3 researchers at the Japan National Institute for Environmental Studies

Cornell Chronicle, April 16th:
New polymer faster degrading and with appropriate mechanical strength

Science Daily, April 22nd:
Recycling PET into anode material for EV battery at Purdue?

University of Tokyo, April 22nd:
Thin tin dioxide semiconductors for use in next-generation LED lights, photovoltaic solar panels or touch-sensitive displays

The Conversation, March 29th:
A review of new technologies at CEA in France to optimize recycling of e wastes

OECD Working Paper, April 7th:
Trends in Water Related Technological Innovations

Plastics Today, April 7th:
Gerber exploring ways to increase the shelf life while maintaining a focus on recyclability

The Guardian, April 8th:
Bacterial enzyme originally found in compost can be used to make high-quality new bottles

Tech Crunch, March 6th:
Waymo raising 2.25 billion $ to speed up the development of autonomous vehicles (on top of mother company Alphabet, investors are Silver Lake, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Mubadala Investment Company, Magna, Andreesen & Horowitz and Autonation)

Aerosint (N 2017), March 16th:
Multi metal 3D printing of complex parts demonstrated

Akryvia (N 2018), February 5th :
Akryvia raises 2,1M€ for new plasma cutting technology

BComp (N 2018), February 25th:
New Polestar concept car uses BComp natural fibre composites for its rear seat panels

Carbios (N 2017), April 8th:
Paper about Carbios Enzymatic Recycling Technology in prestigious scientific journal Nature

Citrine (Grand Prix 2017), March 10th:
Citrine named to CB Insights’ AI 100 list, an annual showcase of the most promising artificial intelligence startups in the world

Imagine Intelligent Materials (N 2018), February 18th:
Japan Asteria invests in Imagine

Kebotix (N 2019), April 16th :
Kebotix raises 11,5 M$ to automate lab experiments with AI

NAWA Technologies (N 2019), February 14th:
Nawa raises 13 M€ in order to move to mass production

Thrupore (N 2018), March 6th:
Thrupore in the 101 Plug & Play Start ups for 2020 spring batch

Woodoo (N 2017), March 10th:
JEC podcast featuring Woodoo « Augmented wood » for car and building applications

worldmaterialsforum.com