Five companies started with discoveries in Harvard labs and, with various forms of support, developed impactful solutions that are enhancing our quality of life.
Already, the planet has warmed by more than 1 degree Celsius, and it’s inching ever closer to topping the 1.5-degree mark, which scientists say is a tipping point for the most catastrophic impacts of climate change.
Society must rapidly and significantly reduce emissions to combat warming while developing a more sustainable future. Startups commercializing foundational research developed in Harvard labs have created various solutions to address climate and sustainability issues, tackling global challenges in industries ranging from cooling buildings to less resource-intensive agriculture and technologies powering our electric grid.
The following five startups brought technologies from Harvard labs to real-world solutions that are improving society. These companies serve as “clear evidence of the potential for Harvard’s climate-related research to realize commercial impact,” says Sam Liss, executive director of strategic partnerships at Harvard’s Office of Technology Development (OTD) and the manager of the Harvard Grid Accelerator and the Climate and Sustainability Translational Fund.
Sustainable farming with a smaller carbon footprint
A startup launched with foundational research out of the lab of Professor Daniel Nocera in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard and with support from the Wyss Institute at Harvard, Kula Bio engineered a way to increase the energy held within the naturally-occurring microbe Xanthobacter autotrophicus. This allows it to survive longer when applied to soil and more effectively pull nitrogen from the atmosphere and convert it into a form that is deliverable to plants, which need the nutrient to grow. Rather than spraying huge amounts of nitrogen-based fertilizer across a field, Kula’s product is delivered via irrigation system to the plant’s root zone, and much less is needed than when using traditional fertilizers.
Alternative meat for meat lovers
Tender, a startup launched with foundational research out of Professor Kit Parker’s lab at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), aims to undercut emissions from traditional meat production as part of a growing contingent of alternative meat companies.
Tender’s protein alternatives evolved out of an unrelated project in Parker’s lab with federal funding support from the National Science Foundation. The research group developed a novel technology designed to replicate tissue fiber for applications in medicine, such as for surgical implants. The research team explored what else could be spun out of microfibers, which led to the replication of animal muscle.
Disrupting the HVAC industry
Air conditioning and dehumidification are some of the most energy-intensive activities in the world: air conditioning alone accounts for more than double the global emissions of the airline industry. Trellis Air, a startup launched with foundational research developed in labs across Harvard, has innovated a dehumidification system that significantly amplifies the efficiencies of these systems, reducing their energy use and drastically drawing down their emissions impact.
Reliable and affordable grid energy storage
Quino Energy, a startup launched with foundational research developed in the labs of Professors Michael Aziz and Roy Gordon, at SEAS and the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard, is developing large flow-batteries. These systems store electrolytes in tanks filled with quinones, which are easily manufactured organic compounds that can store energy when dissolved in water. The system is water-based, meaning it avoids flammability risks and uses no rare earth metals, which are common in current large-scale batteries but are in short supply.
Exploring an untouched area of the atmosphere
Rarefied Technologies, a startup with foundational research out of Professor Joost Vlassak’s lab at SEAS, focuses on monitoring a band of the atmosphere that today’s commercial satellites are unable to reach. Using extremely tiny and lightweight flying devices — each weighing less than a grain of rice — propelled by little more than sunlight, Rarefied will collect climate data from the “mesosphere,” an area that is too low for most satellites and too high for most airplanes. That data, previously extremely difficult to collect, would help predict storms and deepen weather forecasts and could also provide important information about how the atmosphere works and is changing amid climate change.
Read the full story to learn about the development of these innovations while in Harvard labs, the research funding that enabled these technologies to become solutions for society, and recent milestones reached to continue advancing them.