Alphabet Inc

A new world enabled by speech/voice user interface

The speech user interface landscape is changing, as described in IDTechEx's brand-new report "Voice, Speech, Conversation-Based User Interface 2019-2029: Technology, Player, Market".

Electro-thermal energy storage system raises funds

Malta Inc, a pioneer in electro-thermal energy storage, today announced it has raised $26M in a Series A round of funding led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures with participation from other investors including Concord New Energy Group and Alfa Laval. Malta, which started as "Project Malta" at X, Alphabet's Moonshot Factory, is now an independent company outside of Alphabet called "Malta Inc". "Our investors share our vision to create a scalable storage solution that will facilitate further expansion of renewable energy while improving grid stability and resilience across the globe. Beyond capital investment, they are truly partnering with us to build a first-of-a-kind product. We appreciate their confidence in our strategy and in our team's ability to execute on it," said Ramya Swaminathan, CEO of Malta Inc. The Malta energy storage system stores energy in the form of a thermal differential between hot and cold storage media. It is based on well-established principles in thermodynamics for a system that stores electricity as heat in high temperature molten salt and cold in a low temperature antifreeze liquid. While incubated at X, Alphabet's Moonshot Factory, the project underwent a rigorous evaluation and de-risking process. Malta Inc will work in collaboration with industry partners to turn the detailed designs developed and refined at X into industrial-grade machinery for its first pilot system. Malta's system can store electricity for days or even weeks, until it's needed. The electricity can come from any source (i.e. wind, sun, or fossil fuels) in any location. Malta has the potential to make existing capital investments in both fossil and renewable generation more productive while dramatically improving power grid stability and resilience. "A lack of affordable, reliable grid-scale energy storage is currently limiting the shift to renewable energy. Malta's technology gives us a shot at storing all the renewable energy we create cheaply and reliably. With X having done our part to bring Malta's technology as far as we can take it, we're excited to hand the baton to the Malta team for the next phase of product development and deployment," said Raj Apte, PhD, Science Adviser at X, the Moonshot Factory. "Solving the intermittency problem of renewable energy is a critical part of delivering inexpensive and reliable clean energy, which is why storage is an important area of investment for BEV," said Carmichael Roberts of Breakthrough Energy Ventures. "Malta's energy storage system is a different and promising approach from conventional batteries, using existing components and inexpensive resources to store energy as heat - and that makes the system cost-effective to scale. We're also excited about this investor syndicate, pooling our unique resources to bring this technology to market." "With the rise in electricity being generated from renewable resources, the demand for energy storage has become higher, and innovation in energy storage technology will become critical for using clean energy effectively. Malta's energy storage technology can be widely applied to various energy storage markets such as grid peak load shifting, auxiliary services, distributed energy resources, business and industrial parks, and more, with considerable development potential. Our investment in Malta Inc. has strategic significance for the further development of our energy project investment operations and technical services business line and benefits the interests of our company and shareholders as a whole," said Mr. Liu Shunxing, the Chairman of Concord New Energy Group. "We believe that Malta is a very interesting initiative, with great potential," says Susanne Pahlén Åklundh, President of Alfa Laval's Energy Division. "We will bring our unique expertise within heat transfer technology, including design and production of heat exchangers, to the invaluable knowledge and resources within the group of investors in Malta Inc. We are excited to partner with them to bring this innovative new approach in energy storage to the market." About Malta Inc Malta is a provider of industrial-grade, grid-scale energy storage solutions. The Malta system collects and stores inexpensive and abundant renewable and fossil energy, and dispatches it as needed to the grid to enable the affordable and reliable delivery of electricity on demand. Incubated at X, the Moonshot Factory (formerly Google [x]), and funded by leading venture capital and commercial power industry companies, Malta is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Visit www.maltainc.com. About Breakthrough Energy Ventures Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) is a for-profit, investor-led fund created to accelerate the world's transition to clean energy. BEV has more than $1 billion in committed capital to fund scientific breakthroughs with the potential to deliver affordable, reliable clean energy. The fund prioritizes investments across the five grand challenges that contribute most to greenhouse gas emissions: electricity, transportation, agriculture, manufacturing and buildings. BEV was created by the Breakthrough Energy Coalition in 2016 and is backed by an investor group that includes many of the world's top business leaders. For more information visit www.b-t.energy/ventures/ About Concord New Energy Group Limited Concord New Energy Group Limited (CNE) is an integrated utility scale wind, solar, and energy storage project developer and operator. The company currently owns over 1,900 MW of operating capacity in China and the United States and is focused on developing, operating, and servicing energy projects that can help transition the world into a cleaner energy future. CNE was formerly known as China WindPower Group Limited and is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under stock symbol 0182. More information can be found at www.cnegroup.com/en About Alfa Laval Alfa Laval is a leading global provider of specialized products and engineering solutions based on its key technologies of heat transfer, separation and fluid handling. The company's equipment, systems and services are dedicated to assisting customers in optimizing the performance of their processes. The solutions help them to heat, cool, separate and transport products in industries that produce food and beverages, chemicals and petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, starch, sugar and ethanol. Alfa Laval's products are also used in power plants, aboard ships, oil and gas exploration, in the mechanical engineering industry, in the mining industry and for wastewater treatment, as well as for comfort climate and refrigeration applications. Alfa Laval's worldwide organization works closely with customers in nearly 100 countries to help them stay ahead in the global arena. Alfa Laval is listed on Nasdaq OMX, and, in 2017, posted annual sales of about SEK 35.3 billion (approx. 3.6 billion Euro). The company has about 16 400 employees. www.alfalaval.com.

Packaging multinational makes corporate switch to solar energy

In recent years, multinationals have been pursuing renewable energy sources as a way of meeting their corporate responsibility targets of achieving power through renewable energy sources. Last year, internationally-operating corporations including IKEA, Apple, and Amazon added 325 megawatts to the United States' installed photovoltaic capacity, and will reduce carbon monoxide levels in the U.S. by 2.4 million tonnes each year over their lifespan - in 2018, both Apple and Amazon confirmed that they are now powered by 100% renewables.

Smart Running Shoe from 1986 Gets an Upgrade

Global sports brand PUMA was the first to bring sophisticated electronic hardware and software into the sports experience over 30 years ago with the RS-Computer shoe. A running sneaker that originated in 1986 and considered extremely advanced for its time, it revolutionized the way runners trained.

Learnings from Battery & Energy Day Two

The event Battery & Energy Dec 4-5 Coventry University ended with a second day of presentations and discussion panels.

Low cost technology to print sensors enabling smart contact lenses

VSPARTICLE announced its low-cost technology to print nanostructured materials that will finally enable applications such as smart contact lenses to succeed. The nanotech company has developed an additive manufacturing technology that can be used for numerous applications, such as producing real-time medical sensors (glucose sensing, bio-marker sensing, etc.), as well as, accurate gas sensors.

Machine learning simulates everyday task of dressing

Computer scientists have devised a novel computational method, driven by machine learning techniques, to successfully and realistically simulate the multi-step process of putting on clothes.

Walmart and Ford test grocery delivery with self driving cars

Walmart is partnering with Ford to explore delivery with autonomous vehicle technology.

IDTechEx Wearable USA 2018 Award Winners

Each year at the IDTechEx Show!, two companies are honoured for their achievements in developing and commercialising different aspects of wearable technology. This year the awards were judged by Heidi Dohse (Google) with support from the independent analyst team with IDTechEx Research.

VivaLNK and RB launch electronic skin patches for fever monitoring

Earlier this week, VivaLNK formally announced partnership with Reckitt Benckiser (RB) to distribute a wearable continuous temperature monitor worldwide.

NADINE: Power-plant-scale energy storage

Energy storage systems that are able to cope with fluctuating wind and solar power production are indispensable for the success of the energy transition. So far, however, location-independent and low-cost power-plant-scale storage systems have still been lacking.

First fully autonomous indoor farm

Iron Ox, a robotics company reinventing farming from the ground up, has launched the world's first autonomous farm. The indoor farm is focused on increasing the availability, quality and flavor of leafy greens.

AI tool accurately identifies cancer type and genetic changes

A new computer program can analyze images of patients' lung tumors, specify cancer types, and even identify altered genes driving abnormal cell growth, a new study shows.

Makani Power

Makani is a California based technology company that develops airborne wind energy (AWE) systems.

Forecasting earthquake aftershocks with AI

From hurricanes and floods to volcanoes and earthquakes, the Earth is continuously evolving in fits and spurts of dramatic activity. Earthquakes and subsequent tsunamis alone have caused massive destruction in the last decade.

Robo reef protector to save the Great Barrier Reef

An underwater drone that can keep watch on reef health and accurately identify and inject the devastating crown-of-thorns starfish is ready to be put to the test on the Great Barrier Reef, as a result of a collaboration between QUT, Google and the Great Barrier Reef.

World's first hearing aid with integrated sensors and AI

Livio AI is the world's first hearing aid to utilize integrated sensors and artificial intelligence and the first device to track physical activity and cognitive health as measured by hearing aid use in social situations.