TOP 10 WMF

TECHNOLOGIES
AUGUST 2020

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 Dear all,

We are excited to bring you the 1st list of the annual

Top 10 WMF Technologies.

Based on the panel’s research and numerous interviews,

we think that these technologies can reach industrial
scale by 2030 and that they can therefore make the WMF
objective (decouple economic growth from the current
use of our natural resources while creating value for the
industry all along the global supply chain) happen sound
and fast.

For each of these 10 Technologies you will find:

1. A summary of the technology with expected impact
on one or more of WMF decoupling Key performance
indicators.
2. The restitution of 3 interviews with a selection of Top
Corporate (CEO or EVP), Top Academia or Experts (or Big
Group CTO) as well as representatives from the Start Up
community (CEO).

We wish you will enjoy the reading as much as we enjoyed

performing the interviews.

PROF. VICTOIRE DE MARGERIE PROF STÉPHANE MANGIN

Founder & Vice Chair WMF, France Université de Lorraine, France

MATT PRICE HIROFUMI KATASE

President Activate Global, USA Executive Vice Chaiman
I-Pulse, Japan

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 is key, first to identify and develop variety in the quality of plastic wastes • a minimum of 55% of plastic packaging
NICK STANAGE
CEO HEXCEL, USA together the right technologies that to be treated) and the recycling more actually recycled (vs 29% today)
will produce high quality recycled efficient (meaning a reduction in the • a minimum of 30% integration of
materials and second to classify wastes cost of the recycled raw material).  recycled plastic in packaging, with
Recycling is top on the
and design the product offering that food contact compliance (only in
list of our priorities. The major hurdle towards
will leverage high volumes of recycling.   beverage packaging today).
And we need to do both recycling of industrialization is that there is (at least
carbon fibers and recycling of resins Today each actor in the field of as of now) limited – if any - value creation Citeo is involved in all projects
- be thermoset or thermoplastics. composite materials is very protective along the recycling chain as the cost involving French stakeholders all along
In both cases we will investigate all of their technologies. But in the field of recycled raw material is often above the supply chain from Total upstream
possible technologies - be chemical or of recycling we should force common the cost of virgin raw material. Another to Mars and Nestle downstream. 
mechanical. Because this might be a industry standards otherwise we will issue is that quantity and quality of
From the technical stand point it
different technology to recycle wastes never supersede a 10% recycling rate.  waste collected is often not sufficient.
seems that the technology should be
of the pre preg process and wastes of
So our responsibility is to find solutions, So cooperating with the final industrial industrial by 2025.
finished parts that have been in an
aircraft for more than 30 years. work together and standardize. customers is key - such as our project
One major hurdle is the cost of recycled
with Recycling Technologies, Mars
raw material that is above price
Also we think that we should take time and Nestlé or our partnership with
of virgin raw material - and will remain
to find the best “pack” of technologies Pure Cycle and L’Oreal. 
higher even when sizable quantities
in order to recycle into high quality
will be recycled. And a second one
products rather than be quick into BERNARD Schemes such as off take guaranties
is the « time lag » between short
recycling high volumes of low quality PINATEL or premium prices for recycled
term expectations of public opinion
products.  PRESIDENT materials - or penalties if decision not
and industrial longer term results in
PETROCHEMICALS to use them - should also be set up at
Our objective is that 50 % of used terms of plastic recycling rate. 
TOTAL, FRANCE least for starting a virtuous process.
Carbon fiber composite products be And one off grants to build the 1st Cooperation between all actors of the
recycled by 2050. chemical recycling units should also
Current recycling technologies so supply chain from petrochemicals
We started working on the various called “mechanical” only cover 30% of be considered as these 1st units will to final industrial customers is key
technologies a while ago -  both in our plastic recycling whereas the so-called need more time to be profitable than - such as project Pure Cycle with
R&D centers or in cooperation with « chemical recycling » is universal even the 2nd wave (due to technical scale L’Oreal, or Recycling Technologies
start ups such as Carbon Conversion.  if some pre sorting might be required up and initial limited volume of waste with Total, Mars and Nestlé. 
to eliminate some contaminants. The available).
But we first need to collect enough outcome of the process is heavy grade Systems to share the burden of
wastes of composite products: the Total as well as all partners of Alliance recycled materials extra cost still need
Technology #1 1st aircrafts with high proportion
of composite parts that will be
naphta that is then remixed with virgin
naphta to re start usual polymerization
to End Plastic Wastes (BASF, SABIC,
EXXON, SUEZ ...) are very committed to
to be invented. One possibility to drive
up the recycled volumes would be
RECYCLING OF
process. Chemical recycling requires
disassembled are the A 380 maybe finding solutions for plastic end of life. an obligation to incorporate recycled
more energy than mechanical
in 15/20 years time and the 1st B787 materials in the fabrication of all new
PLASTICS AND CARBON
recycling (3 times more) but it avoids And it is also important to remember
& A350 in 25/30 years. incineration of plastic wastes and it polymers. To give a tax advantage to
how much plastics and composites
polymers produced from recycled
FIBER COMPOSITES
enables an endless loop that always contribute to the well being of our
Also economics need to work. Subsidies material could be another way. All
produces high quality polymer. citizens (protection of food, supply
should only be temporary to kick off solutions need EU harmonization to
until enough volumes be available and of water, lightweighting of cars and
The impact of this technology should avoid competition problems.
right qualities be standardized.  aircrafts etc...).
be assessed on two KPIs:
WMF Objective: end of life recycling rate So a good target for industrialization • 50% of collected plastic wastes should
Citeo is very committed to facilitating
efficient win win solutions between
would be 2025 for carbon fibers & 2030 be recycled by 2030 
recycling organisations and industrial
Broadly there are two major ways to recycle plastics : for resins.  • 30% of polymers manufactured in
actors all along the supply chain in
mechanical where the plastic is washed, ground into powders 2030 should be made out of recycled
and molten or extruded and chemical recycling where the
JEAN HORNAIN order to optimize access to technology
As said before quantity and quality of raw materials. 
CEO CITEO, FRANCE and financial resources, accelerate
plastic is brought back into monomers to then form pure waste collected is yet not sufficient that
polymers again. “Mechanical” covers 30% of plastic recycling All “majors” (Total, Sabic, Ineos ...) have circular economy of plastics packaging
we can get the recycled material at a
needs due to intrinsic shortcuts: restricted food usage, industrial chemical recycling  projects « Chemical recycling and prove that there are solutions
competitive cost and at an acceptable
impossible processing of colors, limited number of further under development and due to start » is clearly a must on to combine efficiency of plastic
specification for the customer. And
recycling. Whereas « Chemical» is universal except for PVC that by 2024. The technology itself is quite top of mechanical recycling if we wish and protection of our planet. The
there is no business model today that
requires to be sorted from waste inflow. 360 Mtons of polymers well known but there is still lots of work to reach the commitments of many commitment of polymer producers
can create value for all actors along the
were produced in 2018. If the same volumes are manufactured recycling supply chain. going on now both on the process consumer good companies and the who have the best knowledge of the
in 2030 and if we reach in 2030 the objective that 30% of itself and on the catalysts being used EU targets for 2030 in plastic packaging: material itself is key if we want to
polymers manufactured are made of recycled raw materials, the Coperation between all composite in order to make the technology more • r ecyclability solutions for 100% of accelerate circular economy of plastics
production of monomers will then be reduced by 108 Mtons. manufacturers and their customers versatile (meaning allowing for greater plastics (vs 75% today) packaging.

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 SHIGERU OI PETER PRESTON So bringing the MSX technology to
CHAIRMAN CARLSSON BRYANT battery materials manufacturers,
JX NMM, JAPAN CEO NORTHVOLT, CEO MOMENTUM batteries manufacturers & battery
SWEDEN TECHNOLOGY, USA recyclers will be key.
JX NMM has developed
Also competitive cost will depend
and patented an hydrometallurgical Northvolt has developed and patented The goal of the US DoE is 90%
on processed quantities. So public
recycling technology that offers high an hydrometallurgical recycling recycling of all lithium ion batteries
support such this of DOE is essential to
recovery rate and low CO2 footprint. The technology with Chalmers University in 2030 - from 5% in 2019. After
start a virtuous circle. As well as WMF
impact should be assessed on two KPIs: in Sweden and Oulu University in discussions with industry partners, we
support to call attention to this new
• 80% of used batteries should be Finland.  at Momentum believe that a 50% rate
technology.
recycled by 2030 is achievable by 2030.
• 100% of recycled material should be The impact should be assessed on two
We see international cooperation with
used to manufacture new batteries KPIs: Our technology (Membrane Solvent all actors along the battery supply
once there are enough waste • 8
 0% of used batteries should be Extraction or MSX) is capable of chain as a must for sound and fast
batteries to cover the in flow needed recycled by 2030 recycling Rare Earth magnets or development of our technology.
in 2040 • 5
 0% of recycled material should be Lithium Ion batteries. For batteries it
used to manufacture new batteries is a 2 step technology that provides
Energy savings and reduction of in 2030 99,9% purity in oxyde form and make
CO2 emissions should also be closely all 4 elements available in separated
monitored throughout the process. We will soon be starting the
form: Li, Mn, Co and Ni.
150-200 M € fund raising in order
We aim to industrialize our technology to build our recycling plant that we MSX can also be used to recycle the 3
in 2030 when a large enough amount expect to be fully operational in 2022.  to 10% waste generated at each step
of waste batteries will be generated.  of the battery manufacturing process
The main hurdle on the road to
so that it can also contribute to
When the system will be mature industrialization is to get enough
improving the full recycling cost and
in 2040, the recycling rates of the processed quantities in order to
the Buy to Use of batteries themselves
different battery materials should be deleiver a competitive cost. So as
(material weight in the final product
as follows: Cobalt and Nickel each 90%, minimum process quantities means
vs material used throughout the
Lithium 70%. enough used batteries collected, we
production process).
just created Hydrovolt (Battery Return
As of now, the major hurles on the NGO) with Norwegian Aluminum We will have our prototype unit
Technology #2 road towards industrialization are
illegal dumping and inconsistency of
Group Norse Hydro and the plan is to
sign up OEMs such as Bosch into the
running in 8 months with a capacity of
150T/y plant. 

RECYCLING
production safety standards as well as loop. 
local regulations. And not to forget the Once in operation, we will ramp up to

OF EV BATTERIES
possible variations in natural resources Also recycling high voltage batteries a 1000T/y capacity by end of 2021 in
prices vs. recycling costs. can be dangerous especially the initial order to meet the demand of our 1st
process part of discharging before industrial partner - and the ramp up
So we really need to set up a system the crush. Securing a safe discharging will cost between 7 and 10M$.
in which all beneficiaries bear the process means automation of this part
WMF Objective: end of life recycling rate recycling costs.  of the process so a cooperation is on All companies we speak with
going with ABB Robotics hereto. are familiar with smelting and
AT JXNMM, our technology is based
When the 1M electric vehicles that were sold in 2017 will hydrometallurgical process but not
on the closed loop system and our We see this recycling project as one
come to end of life, it could result in 250,000 tons of discarded with Membrane Solvent Extraction so
objective is to realize a system non more brick to the current Northvolt
battery packs. A huge challenge as batteries are not easy to a change of mindset is required.
disassemble but also a huge opportunity to recover Li, Mn, dependent of natural resources. Batteries project in order to create a
Co and Ni that are critical raw materials. The main stream fully integrated circular economy of EV Also reaching a competitive cost will
But recycling units are not always located
technologies being developed are hydrometallurgical and bring batteries. be the usual challenge.
where the batteries are produced or
high recovery rate while a new one called membrane solvent
utilized so that a global recycling scheme In the end a customer should be able Otherwise we see no major
extraction offers high purity and makes all 4 elements available
should be created that would bring to buy a new battery with a discount technical hurdles on the road to
in separated form: Li, Mn, Co and Ni. If 50% of recycled material
together the contribution of industry, on the price if he brings backs an old industrialization. Currently 50% of
is used to manufacture new batteries in 2030 (100% in 2040),
academia and governments. one to be recycled. recycling costs are logistics.
this will strongly reduce the use of these natural resources.

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 ILHAM KADRI mentioned regulatory frame is crucial.  win mode that will allow to combine is on going for both the cathode,
CEO SOLVAY, the start ups’ agility/ability to innovate the anode and the elctrolyte – with
BELGIUM And so is the necessary commitment and the big groups’ financial strength/ the usual scale up challenges as any
of public entities (be at national or expertise in efficient manufacturing in change in the battery design in one
regional level) to invest quickly into order to improve battery performance area can cause problems in the other
By 2030 (and maybe
building charging infrastructures: faster. areas. 
earlier) we need to reach an optimum
without such infrastructures, there will
of performance (gravimetric and
be no uptake of EV sales, and without Major performance improvements if As to solid state, the « world » objective
volumetric energy density), safety and
volumes, there will be no reduction of the past years resulted from expensive is to make it industrial by 2030. But
cost for the automotive industry. 
battery cost.  work on the cathodes done by big there are 4 technical issues to be
Solvay is and will remain « agnostic » groups. We now see future battery adressed : stable chemical interfaces
to the choice of technology - be performance improvement to come between electrolyte and electrodes,
continuous improvement of current in a more balanced manner from effective tools for characterization,
ion-lithium chemistry, be the cathode and anode/electrolyte as well sustainable manufacturing processes
solid state project or be the other as from big groups and start ups. and design for recyclability.
RICHARD WANG
breakthrough options such as sulfur or
CEO CUBERG, USA Also we should always watch early signs So we must find solutions to address
sodium based.  
of battery innovation and performance all 4 issues at the same time. Which
Our focus will be on developing and By 2030 we need to to come from adjacent markets means finding both talented and
up scaling the right materials (such reach a gravimetric (unmanned drones for cargo delivery, experimented people specialized in
as PVDF) and solutions (such as energy density above 400 Wh/kg (we small electric aircrafts…) before they each of the key 4 areas and convincing
membranes and new electrolytes) are at 250 Wh/kg now). And we also make it into large volume/automotive them to use collective intelligence
required by our customers for need to reach 1000 Wh/L volumetric applications. and develop their solutions in a time
reaching the above mentioned energy density- this is just as important consistent manner.
And Safety is and should remain a top
optimum.  or more important for large volume/
priority above any consideration of Which also means getting
automotive applications. The 1000
The battery is now at nearly 50% of performance improvement. MultiNational Groups, States,
Wh/L is why sulfur will never make
the cost of an EV and the current Universities, Start Ups and Non
it commercially for automotive
ion lithium chemistry will be really Governmental Organizations to work
applications, even if it ends up working
« industrial » when it reaches 25%. better and faster together on a Win
for other uses. 
Presumably in 2025 when enough Win mode.
volumes will be manufactured and the Industrializing continuous
PROF. VICTOIRE Our overall objective at World
production process will have reached improvement of the ion lithium design
DE MARGERIE Materials Forum is to decouple
an acceptable efficiency.  requires top level production experts
Technology #3 Lack of harmonisation is clearly an
who can continuously upgrade
existing production units with limited
FOUNDER & VICE
CHAIR WMF, FRANCE
economic growth from the use of our
natural resources while ensuring the

EV BATTERY CHEMISTRY : issue as too much money is being

spent on a variety of R&D programs
capex in order to deliver further
improved battery performance at
Issues common to battery
needs of our citizens in terms of food,
housing, mobility and connectivity.

CONTINOUS without clear results.  competitive cost. 

technologies are fire safety, energy
density (both gravimetric and Electrification of vehicles will strongly

IMPROVMENT And there cannot be a focus on volumetric), durability and recyclability. contribute to this decoupling objective
And Scale up of any change in the only if every step of the supply chain
industrialization until « standard»
battery design is even more so THE
OR BRAND NEW ? technologies are being identified and Both industry and academia are (from sustainable mining of critical
question as even incremental changes heavily involved on « beyond lithium materials to end of life battery
highlighted.
in one area can cause problems in the ion batteries » whether solid state recycling) is managed towards a
So we need to get major actors other areas. This is why Cuberg cell batteries or more long term designs consistent objective of improving
all along the supply chain (from design is now ok for small lots and will that allow to access largely available batteries energy density, durability and
WMF Objective: better performance producers of metals and polymers to be «industrial» by around 2024 when we resources such as sulfur or sodium. recyclability while always prioritizing
(charging time & range) to weight battery producers, car makers and will have completed proper scale up.  safe solutions.
recycling groups) to work together But there is also concerted effort
and produce a regulatory frame that The main challenge towards to continously improve the current
The race is ongoing between 3 options : 1. Continuous
will allow stronger, faster and more industrialization is putting together lithium ion chemistry.
improvment of the current ion lithium design with the cathode
being the limiting factor and safety the key attribute from efficient development of Electric the right teams and upgrading
the elctrolyte, 2. The solid state project which features solid Vehicles. We also need further support them at the right pace in order to Common objective for all is by 2025
electrolytes rather than the liquids and gels used in current from States or European Union deliver cost-effective production scale- to reach minimum 80% charge in
ion lithium designs and 3. The technologies based on largely beyond regulation. up and demonstrate true maturity 15 minutes, 400Wh/kg gravimetric
available resources such as sodium or sulfur but that are still at and reliability in a wide range of density and 1000 Wh/L volumetric
very early stage. Better performance (charging time & range) to The necessary involvement of all operating conditions. To overcome energy density. The ion lithium design
weight is the objective and even more so a better performance major actors of the EV supply chain this challenge, we need major groups is already industrial and continuous
to volume when it comes to mobility applications. worldwide to establish the above and start ups to work together in a win improvment to improve performance

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 with a massive new market for
BERNARD HIROFUMI DR. MIANYAN batteries will bring about investment
SALHA KATASE HUANG in vanadium production, and lower
CTO EDF, FRANCE EXECUTIVE VICE CEO VRB ENERGY, overall costs. Second hurdle is  the
CHAIMAN I-PULSE, CHINA pre-mature supply chain support for
JAPAN volume scale up. It will take some time
For us at EDF the
objective is to deal with peaks of The VRB system life time is longer for the suppliers to scale up their own
energy consumption and energy The world needs a gigantic volume of than 25 years. The electrolyte is fully production to match the volumes
storage is one solution among large scale storage at low cost as solar recyclable and most of the non required.
others.  There are many other ways to and wind power will play a bigger role electrolyte part will be easily recyclable.
in power supply. In order to minimize Based on our Roadmap, and scale- VRB Energy, with the help of
deal with it, such as demand
its impact, the storage needs to have up, we will have a lower cost battery our parent HPX is unlocking
management or achieving a
a life time of at least 25 years and to compared to LiB by 2024 for 4-hour vanadium  sources. For supply chain
balanced power supply mix
be fully recyclable. It also needs to systems (just the battery) At the same support for volume up, the good way
of solar, wind and nuclear. 
be very safe. Pump hydro is a well cost as LiB we have about a 15% LCOE is to let the key supplier involved in
And whatever the share of energy established and low cost technology advantage vs LiB (this assumes 80% the big size project development so
storage, as we need to reduce carbon that meets these criteria but have a usable DoD, replacement in year 10 they can be aware the fast growing of
emission, the life time of battery is very geographical constraint. Thus new at 50% of current costs for LiB). For market size and can make decision to
important. The longer the lifetime the technologies such as redox flow 8-hour systems we will be almost favor their volume up production and
better with the objective to overcome battery, compressed air storage and 30% lower cost, and 40% better LCOE. R&D facility investment.
20 years. fly wheel are being researched and LCOE is a tremendous advantage for
VRB Energy is scaling up to serve
developed. Among these, vanadium project developers and owners. Our
How much storage will play the role multiple 100MW-class projects in
redox flow battery is already deployed system response time is very short
will depend on its cost. As a minimum, China, which is the ramp for us
commercially and fully meets these with unlimited number of charging-
storage will play a big role in ancillary to achieve scale and lower costs.
criteria. discharging cycles. It can be used
services such as frequency regulation Bloomberg predicts that renewables
for ancillary applications such as
that requires rapid response. If the Securing a stable and low cost supply will be 90% of $11.1 trillion to be
frequency regulation. This will make
storage cost gets very low it could play of Vanadium will be very important to invested by 2050, and our technology
our system even more attractive as our
a much bigger role. secure industrialization of the redox is perfect for integrating wind and
system can serve multiple applications
flow battery technology. Vanadium is solar on the grid including for ancillary
For EVs for example, half of the battery at the same time and  and this will
an abundant resource. However,as applications. An estimated 800GWh
cost today is the cost of materials. If improve the economics of the projects
the current use of Vanadium is mainly storage needed by 2030. Robust, non-
this percentage of 50% can be brought even further.
for steel industry, it is necessary to degrading, safe.
down to 25%, there can be a huge
increase the production to meet a We are ready to deliver 100MW
development of volumes sold.
Technology #4 If a battery can function both as peak
large demand for batteries.

And it is a chicken and egg situation,

projects in China next year. With the
release of our Gen3 product in 2021,

STORAGE management and ancillary services we will be able to service multiple

where vanadium producer cannot 100MW-class projects globally. We also
for example, cost will be improved.
increase vanadium production as
OF RENEWABLE One battery will play more than one have plans for localized manufacturing
there is no certainty of demand from in global locations - e.g. US, Australia,
role in the future. So if a battery can
battery company and vice versa. In
ENERGY AT LOWER COST function both as peak management South Africa - we do not need a
such a situation, when vanadium gigafactory as we have a simple,
and for ancillary services, cost will be
redox flow battery in early stage, it will flexible, capital-light manufacturing
improved.
be necessary for battery producers to requirement, and our capital costs
Also cost will decrease as overall invest in producing vanadium. for a manufacturing plant are about
WMF Objective: storage duration (beyond volumes increase so the target should 1/10th that of Tesla for the same
Altogether and at least for now and
12 hours and more than 25 years life cycle) be to develop volumes simultaneously
the coming 10 years, I see vanadium capacity for example.
on the 3 market segments: EVs, home
redox flow battery as the only storage The 1st hurdle on the road to
Energy storage technologies offer significant benefits : improved storage or grid usage.
system which is long life, low cost, fully industrializing our technology is
stability of power quality, reliability of supply etc… As solar and recyclable and very safe.
wind power need to play a major role for decarbonization of Finally acting to decrease energy vertical integration of vanadium
electricity, development of large scale storage at low cost will consumption in the whole supply supply. There are almost unlimited
be even more critical. Given the size of global demand for such chain of battery production, including sources of vanadium in this planet.
storage, long life of more than 25 years and high recyclability mining, is very important. Traditionally the steel industry has
will be necessary to minimize the impact on environment. been 70% producer of vanadium
In the end, we will support any
Lithium ion battery will not be able to meet these criteria. (contained in their slag), and 90%
technology that can secure a long
Many technologies are under research and development. Pump consumer of vanadium (for alloying
hydro and vanadium redox flow battery are the most promising lifetime, low CO2 footprint and an
steel). Breaking this “closed” market
towards achieving competitive cost. acceptable cost.

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 CODY FREISEN SAM RIGGALL MATT PRICE
CEO ZERO MASS CEO CLEAN TEQ, PRESIDENT ACTIVATE
WATER, USA AUSTRALIA GLOBAL, USA

The energy intensity CleanTeq has At Activate we see

of producing and delivering water developed a number of technologies several promising technologies to
is challenging to define because that aim at reducing the energy help reduce the energy intensity of
it varies depending on geography intensity of providing clean water. creating potable water. We have seen
and the various technologies that One technology specifically aimed the development of wave energy
municipalities use to treat and at reducing the energy cost of converters desiged for robust and
transport water. potable water is the graphene oxide cost effective submerged operations
(GO) membrane technology that that can provide a significant amount
For Zero Mass Water the solar powered significantly increases the flux of of pressure needed for desalination
panels create potable drinking water water passing through the membrane systems. Traditional desalinisation
on site by dehumidifying the air while while also achieving a higher level of plants can consume 10-15 kWh for
using solar power and ambient air as selectivity. Compared to traditional every thousand gallons of treated
the only inputs. membranes the GO ones are water. These wave energy converters
demonstrating a 85% reduction in could eliminate most of that energy
The process is entirely infrastructure-
energy consumption. cost. The newest generation of wave
free and the result is high quality
energy converters are going through
drinking water produced independent When it comes to scale up, pilot scale trials now and could be
of the factors that must be considered membranes are needed in the scaled up to first commercial systems
when dealing with surface or millions of square meters to meet in 5 years.
subsurface water. the water treatment demand. Clean
Teq has produced membranes on We have also seen the developement
Many surface waters are indeed
a commercial coating machines of a new class of highly porous and
polluted and deep real-time
in the hundreds of square meters active materials called metal-organic-
knowledge of contaminants is
Technology #5 necessary to ensure that truly potable
water is being delivered, and often
quantity which are able to deliver
the low energy outcome. The aim is
frameworks or MOFs. Different
chemical formulations of MOFs have

LOW ENERGY the consumer has no transparency to

inconsistency in potability.
to have commercial quantities of GO
membranes available for use in spiral
been in developement in academia for
many years and now we are seeing a

ACCESS TO POTABLE On the other end of the cost

wound modules by 2021.

The biggest hurdle for new

handful of companies tackle the scale
up challenges associated with making

WATER spectrum, bottled water serves as a

lifeline for many across the emerging
technologies like this to get deployed
is dealing with the fact that water is
MOFs using industrial processes
while maintaining the large surface
markets with failing or nonexistent areas which give them their unique
a subsidized product in most parts of performance including the ability
infrastructure and can take 5 – 10
the world and the conservative and to absorb large volumes of liquids
WMF Objective: performance (H2 cost and million joules of energy per liter of
bottled water (in the US). Worldwide
complex nature of the water supply and be easily regenerated. Industrial
% of renewable energy) to stack weight consumption of bottled water is
chain. Municipalities are conservative pilots using MOFs are underway and
as are the large engineering firms that if successful industrialization of the
over 200 billion liters so there is an
The treatment and transportation of water is incredibly energy act as gate keepers to what solutions technology could be achieved in the
enormous amount of energy savings
intesive. The amount of energy needed to provide clean get deployed. next 5 to 10 years.
and waste offset potential.
drinking water varies depdending on regions, technology
and infrastructure. In the US alone it is estimated that 4% of The approach often taken to overcome
Our Hydropanels are commercialized
the US’s energy consumption goes towards providing clean these hurdles is to partner with the
today with units operating in over 40
drinking water and that is in a region with available ground large system integrators and get
countries across many hundreds of
water and significant infrastructure in place. New technologies components adopted into their
types of installations from schools, to
in electrochemistry, membranes, and material science are systems. Other approaches include
homes, to hotels, and communities.
significantly reducing the energy intensity of drinking water marketing directly to the end users
treatment systems and opening up new forms of distributed and using them to help influence the
water generation applications. These technologies can play a gate keepers at the large engineering
key role in addressing the WMF objetive of Using Less Energy. firms.

12 13
 PROF. HIDEO PROF. should drive this development and global electricity consumption in 2020.
OHNO ANDREW KENT industry purchases. It is expected to This energy consumption is growing
PRESIDENT TOHOKU FOUNDER SPIN have widespread embedded STT – rapidly with the increasing demand
UNIVERSITY, JAPAN MEMORY, USA MRAM on the market by 2027. related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and
Internet of Things (IOT). In this context
A main hurdle on the rod to Spintronics devices are considered as
Spintronics allows one to dramatically It is important to note that Spintronics
industrialization is the availability one of the best candidates for next-
reduce power consumption of has provided the first new embedded
of manufacturing sites and tools. generation electronics to complement
information technology. This is because memory technology since Flash
However, even more important is an CMOS technology.
it offers a high-performance nonvolatile memories, technology known as
educated workforce that can advance
working memory option not available magnetic random access memory
and sustain this technology. For instance, spintronics logic
in current technology dominated (MRAM). Embedded means that the
is promising for ultralow power
by power hungry “volatile” DRAM memory can be integrated closely Basic research drives innovation and electronics due to the low intrinsic
and SRAM. One of the many fronts with the semiconductor components trains people in the field, particularly energy needed to manipulate
Spintronics has its potential impact on a chip. This reduces the «von in technology leadership and nanomagnets. Spintronics devices
is AI chips for autonomous driving. It Neumann bottleneck,» the separation problem solving that is essential to are attractive for future energy-
requires 1000 TOPS (trillion operations of memory and computation on a progress. The advances in MRAM efficient neuromorphic computing
per second) or more to safely guide the chip that leads to delays and energy came from fundamental research, systems, as they behave like neurons
automobile in level 5 but the current associated with the transfer of data. starting with the discovery of Giant and synapses in the human brain. In
technology requires 1000 W to achieve Magnetoresistance (GMR) in France
A key characteristic of this memory is this case, a reduction of the energy
this; a power consumption far beyond a and Germany (which was awarded
that it is persistent (or non-volatile); no consumption of 90 % is possible.
car can carry. Performance of prototype the Physics Nobel Prize in 2007). There
AI chip using spintronics technology energy is needed to retain information.
continue to be discoveries that can Neuromorphic computing with
made at Tohoku University suggests Energy is only used for reading and
lead to important societal benefits small spintronics systems already
that it is appropriate to set KPI for the writing data. MRAM is also a very high-
and investments in university research, demonstrated energy efficient novel
application as 10 W by 2030 and 1 W by density memory. It uses just 1/4 of the
start-up companies and education are computing. For face recognition,
2040. space of SRAM. MRAM’s write speed is
essential to continuing this cycle. several research teams have shown
10 to 50 times faster than embedded
To overcome these hurles, multiple that spintronics approaches could
The main hurdles on the road to NOR (eNOR) Flash memory and has
concerted action to support the reduce the energy consumption by a
industrialization are capital investment much lower write power that eNOR
development of energy efficient factor of one hundred. Depending on
and integration of talent. To develop (100 to 1000s lower). And prototype
information technology are needed, the investment made we can expect
a new AI chip technology requires devices show that the technology can
from mobile systems to the technology to be on the market in
not just designing circuits but also scale to sizes below 20 nm, making it a
supercomputing. Sustained government 10 years.
Technology #6 developing manufacturing and
design tools, creating testing and
potential DRAM replacement is likely
within the next 15 years.
and industry funding and visionary
investments that can reduce energy There exist several hurdles in scaling

SPINTRONICS
verifying technology, understanding up spintronics systems for useful
Thus the most immediate impact of consumption in mobile, IoT and AI.
of physics and materials that are pattern recognition. Moving toward
new to the semiconductor industry, MRAM will be in IoT, AI and mobile
Investment in basic science and beyond CMOS technologies requires
and capability of prototyping such devices. MRAM will enhance IoT and AI,
emerging technologies can lead great advances in experimental
an AI chip along with the capability allowing higher memory capacity with
to important societal benefits. and theoretical understanding of
WMF Objective: lower energy consumption to field-test the prototype. Showing lower energy consumption. The main
Spintronics is a demonstration of the materials, devices and circuits.
successfully the integration of broad advantage in IoT and AI will be smarter
this. It is clear that a decade from Moreover the huge CMOS technology
Technology summary : Cisco predicts that “The number of spectrum of technologies is the only devices with lower energy usage. A
now autonomous systems, IoT and platform have to be redesigned which
devices connected to IP networks will be more than 3 times the way to convince the industry that big saving in energy will be in mobile
mobile devices will have increased will generate important financial
global population by 2023”, driven in particular by the advent this is where the future is, which is systems with a greater than 50%
functionality with lower energy investment.
of IoT, AI and the related increase in machine-to-machine certainly an extremely demanding energy reduction expected by 2030.
usage because of advances in the
connections. Thus, “devices and connections are growing faster task that one has to overcome. Spintronics is a new technology.
Semiconductor companies (Intel, applications of spintronics.
-10 % Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) than both the Fundamental understanding of the
population - 1 % CAGR - and the Internet users - 6 % CAGR”. I believe that the combination of Global Foundries and others) have
basic mechanism is still needed to
The biggest issue with this development is its overall impact on a university environment that can low density MRAM (less than 1Gb
improve the performance of
the environment, both on the critical materials needed to build bring many talents of different fields memories) already integrated
spintronic technology.
the various devices, but even more so on energy consumption. together plus successful industry- into specialized chips. Delivering
I would then recommend strong
Spintronic or Spin Electronic differs from traditional electronics university collaboration plus an sizable quantities at a competitive PROF STÉPHANE
collaborations between scientific
in that, in addition to charge state, electron spins are exploited appropriate level of public funding cost requires several things to MANGIN
UNIVERSITÉ DE research centers and industries.
as a further degree of freedom, with implications in the can overcome these hurdles and happen. First, semiconductor tool
energy efficiency of data storage and transfer. Consequently, manufacturer need to develop LORRAINE, FRANCE
“integrate” all the required technology.
this technology can strongly impact power consumption in Tohoku University’s Center for systems that allow high capacity
computing and data storage applications. Depending on each wafer processing (greater wafers/hour The energy consumption of the ICT
Innovative Integrated Electronics
sub application, spintronics could improve the energy efficiency provides less cost/chip). Initial demand (information & communication) sector
Systems is exactly doing this.
by 10% to 10,000%. for AI, IoT and other specialized chips is predicted to represent 11% of the

14 15
 PHILIPPE VARIN besubsidized by the public authorities. free. To achieve this ambitious goal, products will have better performance
CHAIRMAN WMF, we have assembled a world-class characteristics than the previous product
FRANCE We need to establish a global coalition team, top-tier investors, and industry- generation, customers are often hesitant
of bigplayers to reduce the cost leading partners to ensure that we can to accept higher prices. Clients adopt
drastically in a mannersuch as was successfully bring the MOE technology new cements only if mainly the costs
There are are two
seen as Moore’s law in semiconductor. to market in just a few years’ time. and only in secondary order also the
main routes for bulk materials to
decrease CO2 emissions: one is on performance is the same as with the
energy saving for current processes existing cement. I am convinced we can
and the other are new processes that achieve our 2030 CO2 reduction target
can deliver no emission from the start. with our new product lines at a similar
TADEU ENRICO or even better “price to performance
CARNEIRO BORGARELLO ratio” than with the existing products.
It should be relatively simpler for
CHAIRMAN AND CEO, GLOBAL PRODUCT
the chemical sector as it just needs Another key hurdle are many outdated
BOSTON METAL, USA INNOVATION
to replace oil & gas with electricity DIRECTOR HEIDEL- construction codes and standards, which
as source of heat. In France, 90 % of BERGCEMENT, ITALY make it rather difficult to place new and
electricity is already produced from Steel production is the largest innovative products. We are therefore
nuclear or renewable. industrial source of CO2 – responsible working closely with authorities and law
Cement production is responsible for
for 9% of global CO2 emissions. In makers to replace those regulations with
As for aluminium, achieving no CO2 5 to 7 % of total global CO2 emissions.
addition, steel production is set to appropriate new ones.
production in processing recycled Our goal is to reduce our emissions
increase over the coming decades.
alminium is not a big problem. For from clinker production (Scope 1) by Our preferred solution would be to
Boston Metal is developing the molten
production of primary alminium, it is 30% until 2030 compared to 1990 and have a globally unified carbon price at
oxide electrolysis (MOE) process that,
necessary to replace carbon anodes to be able to provide all our customers a level that allows producers like us to
when powered by clean electricity, will
with inert anodes. Alcoa and Rio with carbon neutral concrete latest realize the ambitious goal of providing all
produce high-volume, liquid steel with
Tinto Alcan are building an industrial by 2050. This means, our clinker customers with carbon neutral concrete.
zero CO2 emissions.
pilot plant in Canada. They plan to production would then have to reach a But this still seems to be not feasible
industrialize at prototype level in the We have already developed an inert net zero carbon emissions level. quickly, therefore we propose for short
next 10 years. anode which is the key enabler of term to keep the emission trade system
emissions-free production, and we have At the same time, we are working
like the one here in Europe in the way
It is more challenging for steel successfully demonstrated the full MOE with customers to reduce the
as it is now designed for Phase 4. On
and cement. One option would be process at semi-industrial scale. We downstream related CO2 emission
a medium term, along with a further
carbon capture and storage (CCS) are currently building industrial scale at the construction site, for example
reduction of the CO2 emissions allowed,
but it may not be profitable. Major cells and plan to pilot the technology in reducing construction time thanks
a new system has to be implemented to
steel companies are working on for high-volume steel production in to new cement grades allowing for
ensure, that advanced markets like here
development of deoxidazation process 2023. As the technology is modular, more precast or modular construction.
in Europe, are protected against unfair
using hydrogen but it is still in R&D a successful pilot test will allow us to Another innovative technology is the
imports of products, which do not meet
stage. A development of electrolysis quickly deploy demonstration plants by use of 3 D concrete printing, which
the same ambitious emission limits. We
and other extraction processes for steel utilizing multiple cells. offers the potential to reduce the
hope that latest by 2050, comparable
are also being conducted. Developing material intensity up to 50 %.
national standards will be in place to
anode resisting high temperature as Obtaining a stable and economic
allow all producers to produce carbon
high as 2000 celsius will be key. supply of zero-emission electricity, such In order to achieve our 30% reduction
net zero products.
as hydro, nuclear, geothermal, and solar goal by 2030, we need to use
Technology #7 Also for the electrolysis process, stable
supply of electricity is important.
or wind combined with battery storage,
is key for realizing truly emissions-free
alternative fuels to an extend of at least
30% worldwide (current rate worldwide:
Concrete is already a construction
material of superior sustainability
NO CO2 Nuclear energy shouldplay an
important role. PV and wind power
steel production from our MOE process. 23%), reduce the content of clinker in
cement production from 74% down
characteristics and will become the
most sustainable building material,
PRODUCTION need to be combined with batteries to
offer the requiredstability.
In areas such as Canada or Brazil, where
hydro powered electricity is very cheap
to 70% by using more supplementary
cementitious materials like slag and
latest after we have implemented our
ambitious decarbonation strategy.
OF BULK MATERIAL Finally developing the Hydrogen
and abundant, our technology will
have a natural cost advantage over the
fly ashes and also further improve the
efficiency of our production sites by HeidelbergCement will deliver the
supply chain is a highly strategic conventional process. In areas where installing new, high efficiency plant reduction of our carbon footprint by min.
matter for our planet. Carbonpricing emissions-free electricity is not so cheap, equipment, as done in recent years in 30% until 2030 and be able to provide all
Technology summary : Due to the volumes involved, Bulk can be effective but current price of certain measures such as a carbon tax Germany as well as in Italy. our customers worldwide with carbon
materials such as steel (1,900 Mt produced in 2019), cement about 25 euro/ton in europe is too may be necessary to fill the cost gap net zero concrete latest by 2050.
(4,100 Mt produced in 2019) or chemicals (520 Mt produced low to trigger the investment. A level versus the conventional process. The main hurdle on the raod to
in 2019) are essential to tackle climate change problem. above 60 euro/ton seemsnecessary, Steel production has been associated industrialization is the market We see recycling of construction
Introduction of decarbonized electolysis process, use of but it will take some time before with high CO2 emissions since the acceptance of new, more sustainable materials in combination with innovative
hydrogen for source of heat /reduction element, carbon capture ithappens because of social and Iron Age. By the middle of this decade, and therefore often also more expensive carbon capture und use technologies as
and storage are the key technologies being developed in each political reasons. In the meantime, Boston Metal intends to demonstrate products by our customers. Even the most promising pathway into a more
sector. developments will have to that the future of steel is emissions- if we can guarantee that the new sustainable future for our industry.

16 17
 SHUNICHI JELENA PATRICK KOLLER amounts to be invested are high but
MIYANAGA STOJADINOVIC CEO FAURECIA, also because the Capex choices need
CHAIRMAN CEO MEMBRASENZ, FRANCE to be right the 1st time. 
MITSUBISHI HEAVY SWITZERLAND
INDUSTRIES, JAPAN Hence the importance of designing
Our contribution to
coordinated product standards as well
the H2 value chain is, together with
Our contribution to the H2 value chain For me the key green technology on as involving the financial investors
Michelin, to develop fuel cell high
is the Gas Turbine technology and we the hydrogen value chain is water community in parallel to developing
performance products.
already use hydrogen as a combustion electrolysis and we will “make it” the right technologies.
fuel partially (30%).  when we will have increased two On top of safety, our key objective is
parameters: power density:
We are involved in a project at a 440 1. the share of hydrogen from • by volume: 4,2 kW/l vs 3,1 kW/l today
MW power plant in the Netherlands renewables at 70% • by weight: 2,6 kW/kg vs 2 kW/kg
where our F Class (1.400 °C) is expected 2. the electrolysis efficiency above 80% today
to reach 100% H2 combustion by 2025.
Our J Class (1.600 °C) should reach 100% I see Scandinavia, Germany and For mobility applications, power
H2 combustion by 2040.  maybe France, Switzerland and Japan density by volume might be even
to be there in 2025, and the rest of the more important than by weight.
We see transportation of hydrogen world in 2030.
to be the most difficult hurdle on the The Hydrogen Council is forecasting
road to industrial scale. Ensuring safe Upscaling membrane solutions, while the cost of hydrogen to decrease by
transportation is clearly feasible but keeping the quality - meaning up to 50% by 2030 for a wide range
it will cost a lot to cover compression gas tightness – will be the toughest of applications making it competitive
or liquefaction plus transportation challenge. Capex reduction of with other low carbon alternatives.  
itself (including loading and off electrolysis systems is also a key
challenge as we are at 1200 euros/ For light commercial vehicles we
loading) plus final usage preparation
kWh today and we need to divide this anticipate the TCO (Total Cost of
(regassification etc..). 
amount by 2 by 2030. Ownership) of the Fuel Cell EV to be
Also stable power supply is key to lower than the TCO of Battery EV
water electrolysis efficiency - and Our contribution to improving  before 2030. 
therefore lower cost - but this will be alkaline electrolysers’ efficiency is to
increase ion conductivity that directly The availability of green H2 at
difficult with renewable energy only. 
impacts water splitting (with 250 mS/cm acceptable cost will be the main
We should always try to make we are already at the double from what challenge on the road to industrial
short the distance between the H2 is commercially available) and to be able scale as well as the adoption of
production site and the H2 usage to keep this performance at industrial coordinated product standards
site. For example always install water scale - we should be there in 2023. at Regional level. The installation

Technology #8 electrolysis close to existing or new

power plant and connect it to the To reach this objective, besides
of proper infrastructures will also
take time even if countries like

LOWER COST HYDROGEN power grid with enough grid capacity.  collaborating with different
partners, we are also considering to
Japan, Korea, Germany, France or
Switzerland have already announced

BASED ON RENEWABLE
And we should always consider design and build in house a machine major investments in the field of
nuclear energy in combination with capable of producing our membrane infrastructures.

ENERGY FOR FUEL CELL

renewable energy power supply. On at the right specs. 
top of renewable energy, nuclear Cooperation will be therefore be
And we also think that AI will be key between countries, industrial
APPLICATIONS
energy is an essential power supply to
expand the usage of green H2 globally. needed to reduce the consumption actors, financial investors, shipping
of raw materials when it comes companies and ports in order to
Also in the transition phase, low cost to industrialization.  invest in the right projects (be green
“non green” electric power for H2 H2 production, infrastructures or
WMF Objective: lower energy consumption production could be used as soon as it I think that we should also bring H2 direct mobility Capex) that will deliver
allows to speed up the adoption of H2 closer to general audience and provide the most efficient solutions at an
with a resulting reduced CO2 impact information in a simple way about acceptable cost in the best delays. This
Making hydrogen a safe and cost efficient solution for
electromobility is the objective of a set of technologies (gas over the full supply chain. For example the possibilities offered by H2 (also is the major objective of the Hydrogen
turbine, water electrolysis, high performance fuel cells) all in existing coal fired plants, half of for residential/domestic applications) Council with more than 100 members
along the H2 supply chain. Making all these technologies evolve existing boilers and turbines could and the very limited risks contrary worldwide at CEO level. 
at a consistent pace will be the challenge of the 10 years to be stopped and water electrolysis to what people usually think (for
come in order to get the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) of the could be installed instead: huge CO2 example on safety of hydrogen tank Hydrogen based on renewables is
Fuel Cell light commercial vehicles below the TCO of Battery EV reduction impact to be expected at stations). End users could have a huge probably THE energy of tomorrow but
before 2030.  low capital expenditure.  impact on early adoption of H2. it will take time not only because the

18 19
 THIERRY of supporting data. But this is now that it is a viable option. That will take domain, so every kilogram counts.
LE HÉNAFF progressing fast, thanks to industry some time but will inevitably happen,
CEO ARKÉMA, leaders such as Boeing and Airbus, as we have seen with the adoption Reaching industrial scale, meaning
FRANCE and the effective collaborations they of other technologies in competitive delivering quantities at a competitive
encourage through the value chain. environments. cost depends strongly on the type
of raw materials. In our case, we
3D manufacturing offers many
We think that 3D Manufacturing is The second hurdle is software. will be working with our industry
benefits. The ability to deliver higher
still in its infancy. There is still a long Companies need digital warehouses partners to prototype parts and to
specific performance per unit weight
road in front of us even if the start is of 3D print files. Do we have trial components by end of this year.
is one of the key features, thanks to a
promising. software supporting integration We will be working with a range of
combination of optimized design, and
with company’s workflow? Is it newly developed materials that will
smarter materials. And we can accelerate its development completely safe to use? Can we do be fit for purpose. One of the benefits
and adoption by continuing remote management of printers? of the Fill Multilayer process is that it
3D printing allows to design parts
innovating in materials, design and Can software support in optimizing enables digitalization and the use of
with reinforcement localized precisely
printing technologies through strong designs for 3D printing? hybrid materials. This facilitates the
where it is required to sustain the
partnerships along the value chain. optimization of part performance and
load, and with empty space or lighter
So, the key here is really partnerships.   So we need top management to cost with the ability to manufacture
material where it is not needed. This
embrace 3D printing, deploying it at a very fast rate (up to one part per
topology cannot be produced by
and supporting it, we need great minute). The next key challenge is to
injection or tooling alone. Combined
managers to support our technologies increase the volume of parts and the
with the use of materials like high
and we need to open the door for size of the components. This challenge
performance polymers, composites
young talent using 3D printing and
or hybrids, we should expect to reach JOS BURGER will be met in the next 5-10 years.
proving that it can work in all kinds
by 2030 an overall KPI gain of at least CEO ULTIMAKER, NL
of different use cases in different I think the way to scale up faster is
40% on specific performance such as
industries. to incentivize more partnerships
strength or stiffness per unit weight. We expect 3D printing between research and industry
to be at a stage of As a summary, talent management globally. And also to recruit bright,
To some extent, although not in every
much broader adoption in a period of will be key to be successful. And so enthusiastic PhD students who
sector, 3D Manufacturing is already
3 to 4 years. It will affect in a positive will be the ability to create efficient are able to focus their research on
industrial, in the sense of sizable
way a wide range of industries. We partnerships between various meeting industry needs and also have
quantities at competitive cost.
expect that the combination of industries and between industry and the freedom to think deeply and to
10 years ago, 90% of 3D printing software, right material choices and academia. We need organisations like pursue some of their ideas. This will
applications were in prototyping vs. printers (including design, software WMF to promote our case. provide industry with a pipeline of

Technology #9 10% in manufacturing. Today, we are at and intel strategy) will lead to weight talent bringing fresh ideas to solve
70:30. This proportion will be reversed reductions, depending on the material complex problems in multidisciplinary
between 20 and 70%
3D MANUFACTURING by the end of the decade: by 2030
more than 70% of 3D-printing activity
3D printing is already effective in the
teams.

I have personally witnessed the

OF PLASTICS will be manufacturing. We expect
that polymer parts manufactured by
traditional domains of prototyping but
also very effective in the domain of
PROF.
BRONWYN FOX
benefits of global partnerships, and
the unique outcomes that arise when
AND CARBON 3D-printing will grow into a $40bn
opportunity by 2030.
manufacturing aids and replacement
parts.
SWINBURNE
UNIVERSITY,
we bring different cultures together.
Teams with a diversity of backgrounds,
FIBER COMPOSITES The challenges which have been
limiting the rate of adoption of 3D For large quantities, it will take a little
AUSTRALIA
culture and thought can find solutions
that we didn’t’ realize were possible.
bit more time but what we do see At Swinburne, our 3D Manufacturing
manufacturing have long been Partnerships between industry
is that 3D printing is very effective technology is focused on a range of
identified: primarily printing speed, engaged universities can promote
WMF Objective: performance to weight limitations in materials properties, in producing smaller series of industry applications including space
business to business relationships
products that are very much geared and satellites as well as logistics. Our
production cost and reliability in between industry partners leading
toward specific needs of individual technology will allow to increase the
Technology summary : Additive manufacturing has evolved quality. to the commercialization of new
customers. For these customers, 3D performance and reduce the cost of
very quickly during the last few years towards production technologies.
of industrial parts made in an extanded range of printable The most severe of these hurdles printing is absolutely superior and way manufacturing. We can reduce the
materials and new fields of application have emerged. is definitely reliability. Consistent ahead of the traditional production weight of trucks and drones which
Significant progress has been achieved and will still be achieved production quality is a primary technologies. mean you can carry more cargo,
in the 10 years to come to further improve speed of production, requirement in the aerospace, medical we can lightweight electric cars
material performance, cost and reliability. 3D printing should and automotive sectors, especially for We see two major hurdles on the road and electric planes which means
heavily contribute to reduce not only final part weight (WMF structural parts. 3D manufacturing to industrialization: one is that the they have a longer range. We can
KPI: Performance to Weight) but also the full amount of wastes has the ability to produce high quality driving forces accelerating adoption also lightweight space and satellite
generated on the full production process towards the final part parts, but it has been suffering from is people and we need people technology. To launch a kilogram
(WMF KPI: Buy to Use). a lack of consistency and from a lack embracing 3D printing and proving into space it cost 10 000$, so in this

20 21
 LUC JULIA GREG ALEXEI
CTO SAMSUNG MULHOLLAND MARCHENKOV
ELECTRONICS, USA/ CEO OF CITRINE CEO OF BLEXIMO, USA
KOREA INFORMATICS, USA

AI for material At Bleximo we

AI for materials development can have discovery and optimization today is develop quantum processors that
a large impact especially as it relates consistently demonstrating the ability can be used to accelerate the
to simulating material performance. to reduce the time from new product computations associated with
Rather than running fatigue, life, idea driven by materials innovation very specific applications. One of
reliability tests over and over AI is to a first market demonstration by the 1st applications we target is
really good at predicting the results of 70% (Generally speaking from 5 years computational chemistry in order to
repetitive work. This can go a long way down to 2 years). In the next 10 years accelerate drug developement.
in speeding up material certification. this number could grow to an 80-
In drug development the 1st phase
90% reduction in time. To achieve
There are a lot of AI algorithms is « drug discovery » which includes
this level of impact the AI technology
right now that can predict material identifying up to 5000-10000 different
needs some additional development,
behavior. The bigger issues industry candidate compounds. Using
but a bigger determinant is how
is facing are 1) is there enough data traditional approaches, this phase
well materials company invest in
to feed the models, and 2) is the can take 3 to 5 years. With quantum
connecting their data systems and
data unbiased. Companies need to processors we believe that we can
business norms to take advantage of
do a better job of managing their get this part of drug development
the interrelationship between different
data to make this technology more to under 1 year. The use of quantum
data streams to create new products.
relevant on an industrial scale, but it’s processors can also impact the
a business practice limitation not a The other potential impact of AI on number of compounds tested in
technology limitation. material discovery is that in the next the pre clinical phase by about 50%
5 – 10 years model-based certification thus cutting significantly the cost
Technology #10 In addition to the quality and quantity
of data and other hurdle is the energy
could become the standard approach
for certifying new materials for many
of this phase and the quantities of
subsequent clinical trials.

AI AND QUANTUM intensity of the AI calculations. To

put it in perspective in 2016 when
applications where regulatory and
product safety risks are minimal,
We anticipate that quantum proessors

FOR ACCELERATED
the DeepMind computer beat the for drug discovery will be deployed by
enabling the insertion of new
reigning Go champion the computer several drug developers by 2025.
sustainable materials in record time.

MATERIALS DISCOVERY
consumed 440 kW compared to a
human brain which consumes 20 W. The same logics of faster and more
Today, there are well over 100 non-
More efficient CPUs and GPUs will precise calculations and a better
commodity materials companies
help reduce the energy consumption understanding of the materials
that are exploring in the idea of AI
on the hardware side, but on the ‘composition and chemical properties
for materials discovery and they are
WMF Objective: % of innovative materials software side the key is reducing the spending money in this area. In the
could also be used for the discovery of
amount of data that is needed to other materials.
next 5 years we expect over 50% of
The timeframe for discovering, developing and commercializing generate accurate models. materials companies will be utilizing
new material inovations is often viewed as a 10 – 20 year process. AI to enable smarter uses of materials.
Two areas that make up a large percentage of this time are 1)
the manual process of designing experiments, creating new One of the hurdles we face is public
formulations, testing a variety of results and 2) going through market quarterly earnings pressure
the various material evaluations and testing regimes to meet that hampers the ability to make
regulations. Artificial intelligence and quantum computing are multi-quarter investments in longer-
being developed to significantly reduce the time it takes to cycle term technology platforms.
through repetitive processes associated with new formulations and
material evaluations. While some industries like aerospace and
automotive will likely always have long qualification time periods
AI and quantum computing are seen as major enablers of reducing
design and qualification time for new materials to get deployed
in less regulated applications. These technologies therefore can
play a major role in addressing WMF’s objective of increasing the
percentage of innovative materials in final products.

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