Covid 19 My field of interest

From science to full-scale solution

Working across borders can lead to better innovation and business outcomes that benefit society. Take, for example, a new lithium extraction and processing technology that is succeeding in Latin America with a bit of global support. Lithium battery technology powers everything from phones and laptops to electric cars. Argentina, Bolivia and Chile deliver about 80% of the world’s lithium. Its extraction is, however, a painstakingly slow process that wastes millions of gallons of water and releases chemicals into the soil and atmosphere.

Ernesto Calvo, a professor of molecular electrochemistry in Argentina, thought there could be a better way. Together with a small team of researchers, he developed a new, solar-powered lithium extraction process that takes hours instead of months, doesn’t compromise water resources and is chemical and waste-free.

Painstakingly slow … a brine pool at a traditional lithium plant in Chile.

Image: Reuters/Ivan Alvarado

His idea could have stopped there. Normally, he says, he would be content to publish a traditional scientific paper and receive feedback from peers. Instead, he entered the project in the global Bright Minds Challenge, led by a coalition of like-minded partners across continents, industries, incubators, institutes, organizations and companies like DSM, designed to accelerate the transition to renewable energy. Professor Calvo won in 2017. Today, his team is set to move from the lab to commercial production, and is on the verge of having a viable business with support from the partners.

Another example, half way around the world, is in Kigali, Rwanda. There, a new for-profit public-private partnership called Africa Improved Foods is bringing better nutrition to the region. Nearly 40% of children in Rwanda are stunted, a medical condition that can occur when they grow up malnourished. It can affect brain development and even cause death. The problem isn’t unique to Rwanda: about 25% children worldwide face the same issue. In recent years, local stakeholders, including the country’s government, sought to address regional malnutrition together with experts and leaders from the public and private sectors in Brazil, the UK, the Netherlands and more. Today, a new Africa Improved Foods factory run by local employees produces fortified porridge and other products that deliver the right level of nutrition to the people who need it most: local children and mothers. Ingredients are sourced from more than 9,000 smallholder farmers in the region, many of whom are women, which provides steady income. Now the partners are looking to expand to other areas on the continent.