With the launch of our first press conference of 2023 on 21 March, we announced the first speakers, startups, and initiatives that will be present at VivaTech this year. Check out 5 of the game-changing startups highlighted below.
Photo credit: Notpla
Notpla
From wrappers on food to tags on clothing, there are a lot of packaging types that can’t be recycled. One UK startup has found something special in our oceans to help make plastic wrappers more sustainable.
Notpla, founded in 2014, creates packaging made of a substance derived from algae that can replace plastic. But the most exciting part? The packaging naturally disappears in water. Globally abundant and fast-growing, seaweed doesn’t require freshwater, land, or fertilizer. Seaweed also absorbs carbon dioxide.
Their innovation notably won a grand prize of the Tom Ford Plastic Innovation Prize, a global competition focused on creating scalable and biologically degradable alternatives to traditional thin-film plastic polybags.
Photo credit: GoMicro
GoMicro
Thirty percent of food goes to waste between the start and end of the supply chain. Not only is that a huge amount of food wasted, but a huge amount of money too. South Australian ag-tech startup GoMicro could solve this $1 trillion problem with a device that only costs $1 to produce and attaches to a smartphone.
GoMicro’s AI solution accurately assesses the quality and freshness of food throughout the supply chain in real-time. From fruits and vegetables to seafood and meats, major supermarket chains and grain buyers can use the device to understand the quality of food well before it arrives, reducing waste and increasing profitability.
Photo credit: Sweetch Energy
Sweetch Energy
Every year there are 51Gt of CO₂ added into the atmosphere, 27% of which comes directly from electricity generation. With the growth of global electricity demand increasing each year, the search for better sources of energy is crucial.
French startup Sweetch Energy is building towards a net zero future with salt. Osmotic power is created by harnessing the difference in salinity between fresh water and seawater when they meet. On a planetary scale, exploiting these differences in salinity, in estuaries in particular, could generate energy equivalent to that produced by several dozen nuclear power plants.
With Sweetch Energy’s INOD® technology, they can create a continuous and abundant energy production that is cost-effective and relatively rapidly installed.
Photo credit: Aerwins Technologies
Xturismo
The future of mobility is taking off. Roads and ground transportation can limit the possibilities of innovating how we get around. Aerwins Technologies is expanding the world’s ideas on transport with a concept that will get mobility off the ground and into the skies.
The Japanese startup has created a hoverbike, Xturismo, that can reach speeds of 100 kph. A concept that feels like out of a Science Fiction movie, the bike is still in testing phases but has had a first conclusive demo.
Photo credit: Morfo
Morfo
Forests are one of the most natural ways to capture carbon and fight climate change. The UN has a target to reforest 80 million hectares of forests per year. One French startup is finding new innovative ways to help restore forests with technology.
Morpho has developed a process with drones that is a hundred times faster than current techniques for replanting sustainable forests. Created in 2021, Morfo already has replanted 300 hectares of forests. They have cut reforestation costs by 20-50% by simplifying logistics to the extreme and limiting labor with the use of drones to plant capsules composed of selected seeds inside.
By restoring native forest ecosystems, Morfo is able to increase the impact on the climate and society as well as diversify forest biodiversity – one tree at a time.
Want to meet these startups in person? Book your pass for VivaTech 2023 here! Come start the conversation with the brightest minds in tech.