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360 Stories interview

The start-up using VR to bring the joy of travel home

  • min read
    • As part of Kaspersky's Bring on the Future series, we meet people and businesses around the world who are changing their industry and society for the better. COVID-19 has hit the travel industry hard. As new travel norms establish, new innovations are taking flight. One travel tech trailblazer is 360 Stories. The company set out to film 360-degree, or immersive, videos of destinations around the world for travel guides, so travelers arrive enriched and more connected to its culture. But in the wake of a global pandemic, 360 Stories added something new – a VR live tour you can experience from your home, like this trip to Notre Dame in Paris. Will this change tourism for the better, or create a niche for armchair travel? I spoke to CEO Albert Poghosyan to find out more. Hi Albert. First up, what's the story behind 360 Stories? With my business partner, Vahagn Mosinyan, we ran a marketing agency just as VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality) were developing. We used this tech to create content for some of the biggest brands in the world, like Coke and Google. But we wanted to scale up beyond one-off activations. We thought about which industries could use this tech. Travel came to mind; we didn't know anything about the industry, but as travelers ourselves, we were tired of booking tours based on stock photography, which rarely captures reality. We knew we could do better using 360-degree videos. This format captures a view in every direction using an omnidirectional camera. Our research showed that 360-degree video converts twice as many customers than stock photos and descriptions. So it can help travel agents boost their sales, give tourists piece of mind about their vacation choice, and in the wake of the pandemic, offers an entirely virtual experience where travelers don't even need to leave their homes! We started experimenting in Rio de Janeiro then Prague. Some people in the travel industry didn't think we could scale the project because it hadn't been tried and tested. But we scaled from four cities to 32 in 16 months. Now we work with brands like Lonely Planet and have a worldwide community of travelers. Nice. So what's the big vision for 360 Stories? To give travelers a more immersive, trustworthy and flexible way to research destinations and book travel experiences – like museums, attractions or personal tour guides. In 2019, only 17 percent of experiences were booked online, most are walk-ups. We want to help them understand where to go, on the go. With 360 Stories, they can watch short, immersive videos about their destinations on their phone then book their 'real world' experience straight away. Sounds great. How does your technology work? We use 360-degree cameras to create videos. For example, in the Miami art district, we employ a local filmmaker to film what people can expect from the area. Then we partner with travel companies, like Lonely Planet, to include these videos on their apps and websites. And it's working: testing shows conversion rates have doubled. That's huge! What are the benefits of using 360 Stories? For tourists, before you go anywhere, you can be sure what you will get instead of relying on stock photos. Instead of researching a city once you're there, you can know before you go. For travel companies and tour guides, it's simple: you have something more enticing to show potential customers. Let's talk COVID-19, how has it affected 360 Stories? In 2019, our business relied on partnerships with travel guides and tour operators, but when the pandemic hit, nobody was traveling. We lost thousands of bookings. So we decided to offer virtual experiences from home using our content and pre-filmed video guides, like this trip to Tokyo. Our virtual experiences are a mix of two technologies – Google Street View and Google Meet (previously Google Hangouts), but using all our 360 content and tech, so people can experience the tours from the comfort of their own home. You log in, then the guide at the location gives you a real-time tour. We've gamified it so the guide can give the viewer different tasks to do or solve a puzzle, like a scavenger hunt. It's been hugely successful and means we can grow our business and not worry about travel bans. How do you keep your customer and company data secure?   We're always growing, and that means keeping an eye on our cybersecurity measures. Right now, we're looking into security testing and black-box testing to protect our network as we expand into AR. What's the biggest challenge you've faced so far? When you're doing things in new ways, like digitizing tourism, you need a community to support you and convince the travel industry this is the future. That said, we've built an impressive worldwide community of 250,000 users who have booked tours, with 60 percent booking twice or more. It's a very rewarding feeling. It seems to be working out, so I'm happy! Nice! On the flip side of that, what's the biggest success you've had? All of it! We found a problem in the travel industry – people weren't booking online because they couldn't truthfully see the experience – and we found a solution that helps everyone. It works for travelers and tour guides alike. A good day. So what does the future hold for 360 Stories? We're taking our services to the next level. AR is the next step. Right now, we're developing 360 Stories to include AR. Imagine you visit New York. With a pair of AR glasses, you can be joined by a virtual guide, on hand to give you the best restaurant recommendations, tell you about landmarks close to you, with information overlaid on your glasses. Recently we participated in the Kaspersky Exploring Russia Tourism Accelerator program, which is hugely helpful for us. The program included workshops and advice from leading travel industry experts including Booking.com. There were more than 500 applications from 47 countries – we were delighted to win first place!  We will now take part in a disruptive strategy course at Harvard University to learn how to create even more opportunities for us in the travel industry. Thanks, Albert, and good luck!
stethoMe interview

Could this digital stethoscope boost an e-health revolution?

  • min read
    • As part of Kaspersky's Bring on the Future series, we meet people and businesses around the world who are changing the industry and society for the better. Telemedicine – the art of making healthcare digital. It's a burgeoning industry, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has highlighted the urgent need for remote patient care and e-health. One company leading the telemedicine revolution is StethoMe. Its digital stethoscope takes you from smartphone to smart diagnosis in real-time using AI-powered software. But how does it work? And can it pave a new route for patient-doctor consultations? I spoke with Slawomir Kmak, StethoMe's Business Development Director and public health specialist, to find out more. Ryan Loftus: Hi, Slawek. What's the story behind StethoMe? Slawomir Kmak: The company started in Poland about five years ago. Initially, three of our co-founders ran a successful software company but were keen to start a new venture. Sharing frustrating medical experiences as parents, and with children with respiratory ailments, they wanted to explore how telemedicine could help. After looking into the industry, they met two scientists, or acousticians to be precise, also sharing frustrating medical experiences as parents, who wanted to build a digital stethoscope for child healthcare. Initially, it was aimed at children to make consultations easier between doctors and pediatric patients. StethoMe name comes from 'to stethoscope me.' It's a system built for smart lung and heart screening consultations, capturing sounds from inside the human body and transferring them to medical consultants for diagnosis. We've just celebrated our fifth year in business. Happy anniversary! So what's the big vision for StethoMe? We make the patient-doctor consultation process easier and quicker for both parties, and AI algorithms make it more clinically accurate. A stethoscope is a primary tool for patient-doctor interaction. Auscultation exams (using a stethoscope to listen to sounds inside the body) is essential, especially for children. We want to be able to make the tech available to do this in every home. At first, we focused on pediatric care, but now we're expanding it to adults. StethoMe works with many partners, from healthcare providers to public health organizations. We want to expand that to include insurance companies, outpatient clinics, telemedicine brands and more. As common as thermometers. How does your technology work? There are two elements to StethoMe: hardware and software. The hardware is unique and designed by us; it recently won a 2020 IF design award. It's the device that you hold up to a patient's chest to capture lung and heart sounds. Then you have the software, with AI algorithms that analyze the sounds and provide digital information to each party. StethoMe algorithms indicate and inform patients about abnormalities in their respiratory system; a doctor then receives the waveforms in real-time with an indication of these abnormalities. Our AI algorithms are based on 12,000 recordings, 40,000 medical descriptions and one million medical tags, which are used to classify waveforms and their attributes. For a patient, it works like this: you follow an easy, step-by-step tutorial to make the right auscultation exam at home, then StethoMe's AI analyzes the sounds and provides immediate results. There are three outcomes: red, orange and green lungs. Green lungs mean everything's fine; orange means there are some abnormalities, and red lungs indicate there may be a problem. This is when you can send your results to a doctor who receives precise information about the abnormalities. On the StethoMe doctor platform, physicians can playback sounds, see spectrograms with an accurate indication of abnormalities at each auscultation point, and understand relative risk and heart beats-per-minute (BPM) values. This gives healthcare professionals clinical advice on how to diagnose the patient. Smart diagnosis indeed. What are the benefits of using StethoMe? For patients, StethoMe means auscultation exams previously only available in a doctor's office can be performed at home. You'll know straight away if you or your child's lung condition needs further treatment. StethoMe also allows telemedicine to be more precise – this limits the need for physicals visits to your doctor. For doctors, StethoMe offers easy, swift remote consultations, reducing the load on healthcare systems, while AI ensures precise, clinical interactions. It can also benefit the monitoring of ongoing chronic diseases like asthma. StethoMe stethoscope provides a clear sound that's louder and much more precise than a traditional stethoscope. But perhaps one of the most significant benefits is that anyone, including parents and caregivers, can use StethoMe. That sets us apart from many competitors and similar innovations. Let's talk COVID-19. How has it affected StethoMe or vice versa? As with all businesses, COVID-19 has been a demanding time for our organization. That said, as it's a respiratory disease, our product has made an impact for doctors and health workers on the frontline who can't easily use a real stethoscope through their PPE as it increases the chances of transmitting the virus. We've developed a unique feature for frontline doctors in isolation hospitals so they can use StethoMe through headphones, underneath their PPE. StethoMe gives the freedom to outsource auscultation examinations to a nurse or even directly to the patient at home. Remote auscultation is crucial during a pandemic to limit the probability of health workers becoming infected. That's huge. How do you keep your customer and company data secure? We don't provide a platform for the data; StethoMe is an open API. Which means we can integrate into existing platforms and systems. We don't hold any customer data on our servers and our partners have cybersecurity measures in place. The only data we process is the wave file, which from a GDPR or other data regulation point of view isn't considered to be personal data. Across our business, we make sure that we're fully protected against cyber-risks – everything from encrypted communications and VPNs to keeping our servers up-to-date. What's the biggest challenge you've faced so far? Many! StethoMe is a very demanding project; we've had to work hard to get the required medical industry certification. The biggest challenge was building the AI algorithm, which was difficult to get clinical validation due to its complexity. But we did it, and now it's out there and working, a proud moment for us. Nice! On the flip side of that, what's the biggest success you've had? Again, medical certification! Clinical validation is a huge motivation for us; it means the project has been recognized as having credible potential. We recently launched with our first customers, ranging from healthcare providers to consumers and public health organizations. It's great to see our product being used across Europe. Additionally, being able to help hospitals to work more safely during the pandemic gives us a big, motivational kick. We know what we do could change healthcare. A good day. So what does the future hold for StethoMe? We want to grow and expand, focusing initially in the EU then over to the US, where we're currently in the middle of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) certification process. From there, we'd love to expand to the Middle East and beyond. As we're AI-driven, we're developing more features based on our algorithm. Right now, we're working on a health index to monitor the exact progression of chronic disease in the patient's record. Once this is built, we'll be able to offer an even more effective service. Thanks, Slawek, and good luck!
how to spot hype

Many hats make light work: How to see the truth hidden by tech hype

  • min read
    • Hype is increasingly playing a big part in the worst decisions around technology. Investors and journalists alike fell for Elizabeth Holmes' shiny pitch for her non-existent blood testing technology Theranos. Fitness tracker Jawbone, once valued at 3 billion US dollars, was among several wearable tech firms to go spectacularly belly-up as it became clear the market wasn't as expected. Seeing past puffed-up narratives and getting to the core of claims means making more informed decisions around technology, investing in the most promising next steps and building a business strategy with concrete foundations. You needn't necessarily wade through the mountains of information we're faced with every day to spot hype. As a science and tech journalist and advisor for Innovate UK and the European Commission on start-up funding, my job is to work out what's hype and what's not. Here are six ways to hone your critical thinking and better understand the complexity, adapted from my recent book, Smoke and mirrors: How hype obscures the future and how to see past it. 1. Understand what hype is for Most people think hype is a bad thing, and it can be a problem in that it sends us along the wrong path. But there's more to it. If 'consensual' fooling is what magicians do (you go to a magic show to be fooled,) 'non-consensual' fooling is lying. Hype could be considered 'accidental fooling' – the messages are not intended to misinform, but the person receiving them can easily get the wrong end of the stick. Hype is powerful. People use it because they're keen to get out what they think are important messages. They want to grab your attention. For example, government health guidelines intend to inform society. They might use hype to ensure people receive the message loud and clear. When you remember what hype is for, you may see a message differently. Ask yourself why the communicator might use hype. Are they trying to sell something, convince you to change your behavior or to expose a problem? Think about why and how the message got in front of you when interpreting it. 2. Find the nuance Many headlines and start-up pitches include absolute statements, like "AI will revolutionize health" or "robots will replace farmers." Statements like these are shortcuts to establish a jumping-off point. They're not necessarily false and normally contain a trace of truth, but they miss out a lot in their simplicity. To find the nuance, say to yourself, "Well, it depends." You're not denying another's expertise but getting yourself into a questioning state. When you start from a place of "Well, it depends," your mind can better explore scenarios that test the statement. For example, "It depends what kind of job I have as to whether a robot will replace me." Just three words can open your mind to nuance in absolute statements. 3. Look for your fanaticism If you work in tech, you're probably a techno-optimist: Someone who believes technology is a force for good. We wouldn't have much innovation without this excitement and optimism, but we need to be conscious of where our excitement turns into fanaticism. Emotional desire can blind us to the reality of societal impact. We can build and promote things that may be harmful to those unlike us. It's more than putting ourselves into other people's shoes; it's taking a step back and asking, "Do we need this?" We know technologies can evolve and lead to related industries, becoming a problem over time. We should ask ourselves these questions in the development process to prevent unintended consequences down the line. Another question to prompt this thinking is, "If this technology were to grow in mainstream adoption, what would be the dystopian science fiction novel written about it?" 4. Wear more hats Searching for the right or wrong answer is hard when faced with a complex question like, "Is AI good or bad?" There's a lot to consider. You need to 'map' the full system of ideas somehow, know the different scenarios in which the question must be answered and draw a conclusion. A simple way to start gathering the nodes is to wear different hats, one by one. Put on your own hat. What does the question mean in your personal life or business? Then put on your supplier or your management team's hats: What does it mean in theirs? Then consider working in a country not your own, in a different industry or being someone working 50 years in the future. This is a way to remove your blinkers and so, see past the hype. 5. Work out what's curbing action Hype can make people think someone else is solving things, so they don't need to do anything. For example, in the food industry, hype around vertical farms and lab-grown meat lets us 'off the hook' of changing their habits. The 'tech will save us' mentality stops us making more considered decisions about what we eat today. We can also work out, beyond the narratives laid in front of us, what fears or cultural tendencies build ideas in peoples' minds they're unwilling to confront. For example, the phrase "We'll find a cure for cancer" exudes hope, tenacity and courage. But it also shields fear that we still have far to go, and, of course, fear of death. This fear and, in some cultures, the taboo against talking about death, means it's become anathema to question those working in this field. It feels like doubting those on the front lines. Our trust rarely wavers. It's not necessarily a bad thing – many efforts in cancer therapeutics are successful – but when anything is culturally sacred and immune to criticism, much-needed constructive ideas are stifled. Consider the culture and public sentiment around the topic you're investigating. 6. Work out who is responsible right now Hype can sometimes give us narratives that relinquish our responsibility around technology. For example, "Robots will steal our jobs." It's an easily spread and understood idea, with an element of truth, but lacks important detail. If you take away the hyped narrative, realize it's a comment on the future of automation and rephrase it to "Company executives are going to choose to replace human jobs with robotic machinery," another element becomes clear. Instead of talking about Terminator storming in to claim your job or the technological singularity and when it might be achieved, immediate discussions around responsibility, decision-making and societal economics come to the fore. We need to work out who is involved in the technology's development right now and ensure their responsibility isn't hidden beneath simplified, hyped narratives. While decision-making in business is often the hardest part of the job, spotting hype in technology – and so preventing yourself and your business from succumbing to it – needn't be difficult. When you next come across a headline you think may be hyped, following these steps will help you make better decisions.
business opportunities space header

Start-ups in space: Six out-of-this-world business opportunities

  • min read
    • Does space present a business opportunity for the everyday entrepreneur? You might not be such a 'space cadet' if it's your dream to set up in space tech. Reaching for the stars is no longer the preserve of business giants with staggering budgets. Here are six areas where space tech entrepreneurs have seen a business, environmental or humanitarian opportunity, and set about filling the gap. 1.   Understanding the developing world needs accurate data Swedish start-up Ignitia uses satellite data to solve a problem that affects farmers in tropical countries such as Ghana, Nigeria and Mali. Weather forecasting techniques designed for northern latitudes don't work so well here because there are fewer ground observation stations, and tropical weather behaves differently. Ignitia runs simulations of tropical convective patterns on a cluster of supercomputers, using satellite data to pinpoint farmers' locations. They send each farmer a 48-hour forecast by SMS, accurate to within 3 km. A study found farmers who used Ignitia reported a 65 percent increase in yields. Climate Edge is a social enterprise with similar aims but different methods. They realized farmers in areas hard hit by climate change found it hard to adapt without digitized data. Climate Edge uses a small weather station to collect data about farm conditions, like soil temperature and humidity, and transmits it through the 2G cellular network. With the ability to log and monitor conditions that determine farms' yield and produce quality, NGOs could make the right investments to make a difference. 2.   Making tech because you can, then figuring out who needs it While Climate Edge and Ignitia were inspired to do something about environmental problems, successful businesses sometimes come out of developing technology without knowing who needs it. A group of ex-military and space program scientists, CyStellar first created a platform that combined satellite, airborne and ground sensor data. Later, they developed a series of products that applied the information in useful ways for industries from wine to shipping. One of their products, InsurTech, detects and monitors objects and geographic features over time, reporting even minor changes. It means insurance companies can more accurately determine risk, charge more appropriate rates and detect fraud. For customers, it means they can claim more quickly, as the system provides evidence and information the customer would otherwise need to collect. 3.   Revealing what's previously been hard to see Entopy is working to make the supply chain more efficient by using geolocation and GPS. They aim to give logistics managers full visibility of their supply chain, breaking down the silos of different companies involved, such as factory, shipping, warehouse and retailer – all without any party having to change their tracking system. Finland's ICEYE has an eye on shipping safety, among a range of other applications. They use small satellite synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) technology to give ship captains detailed information on the sea ahead, which may be hidden by fog or darkness. The technology also tracks icebergs and predicts their future movement. 4.   Helping cities reduce congestion and environmental impact As cities change and grow, so too must their infrastructure. Teralytics use mobile signal data to help make transport more reliable, efficient and sustainable. Aggregating (grouping individuals' data together with others) for privacy, they report on how people are moving around cities and the journeys they're taking. Organizations that supply public transport, build roads or provide for niche transport needs can buy the data to use in designing and redesigning their networks to reflect better where people go and when. https://vimeo.com/390004849 Teralytics explain how space data helps understand how people travel. Start-ups are trying to expand mobile, data and GPS coverage too. Swiss start-up Astrocast has designed, built and operates its own constellation of nanosatellites, aiming to bring stronger connectivity between regions and expand coverage. Smarter cities will need secure networks to enable internet of things (IoT) devices – for example, autonomous cars – to communicate so they can behave in better ways, like reducing congestion. Satellite data can also give cities insights into environmental concerns like air quality. London-based space start-up 4 Earth Intelligence provides data that helps cities plan to reduce pollution. 5.   Realizing what satellite owners need With so much crucial data coming from satellites, there's high demand for services that support, maintain and protect the satellite network. The Airbnb of space data, Japan's Infostellar lets satellite owners sell surplus capacity to others. It's costly and only makes more space junk to be a hazard to others. Leo Labs specializes in tracking low-earth orbit satellites. They map satellite paths and work out if space debris could collide with satellites. Satellite operators who buy access to the data can adjust their satellites' flight paths to avoid a damaging crash. 6.   Reducing the environmental impact and cost of getting satellites into space As demand increases and tech gets cheaper, we're building and launching more satellites. Someone has to get them into orbit, and start-ups are involved there too. Scottish engineering company Skyrora design rockets especially for launching smaller satellites. Meanwhile, Leo Aerospace aims to reinvent the satellite launch with balloons, planes and other rocket alternatives. The booming satellite 'taxi' market involves companies like Nanoracks ("concierge to the stars") that gather small satellites from multiple customers to piggyback on a larger launch. Once dropped off from the main vehicle, the taxi takes each small satellite to its orbit slot. Space tech isn't just transforming industries the world over. Led by a new breed of innovators and entrepreneurs, it's an industrial revolution in the stars.
project vesta

This start-up is turning the tide on climate change

  • min read
    • As part of Kaspersky's Bring on the Future series, we meet businesses around the world who are changing their industry and society for the better. The seaside. For some, a place of rest, relaxation, and perhaps a hint of volleyball. But, to Eric Matzner, CEO of Project Vesta, beaches, and more importantly, olivine rocks, could hold the solution to our climate change battle. I spoke to Eric about Project Vesta's mission, the Paris Agreement, and how a little-known rock could pull trillions of tons of carbon from our atmosphere. Ryan Loftus: So what's the story behind Project Vesta, Eric? Eric Matzner: Project Vesta was born out of my climate angst, to be honest. It started when I was looking through various climate agreements, like the Paris Agreement. The secret, hidden in plain sight, is that even with these proposals and the suggested cuts, to keep global warming below 1.5C by the end of the century, we need to remove between 100m to a trillion tons of CO2. Large-scale carbon removal is imperative. I started thinking about different technologies that could do the job, but nearly all of the suggested techniques have challenges, such as limitations on ­scale, requiring a lot of energy or competing for land use. Then I came across a paper called Rolling Stones, which focused on a scalable way detailing how olivine rock can capture CO2 economically to mitigate global warming, while also combating ocean acidification. The basic idea was that olivine rock, placed on shell beaches, could help remove total human carbon emissions. Other research shows that olivine rock weathering could scale up easily, wasn't too energy-intensive and didn't compete for arable land. I searched far and wide to find the current status of the technique to see if there was a pilot project, emailing scientists and asking people in the industry but found that no one was doing it. So after researching it, I decided that if this were to become a reality, I would need to create the project. So, I started Project Vesta, formed a team, and launched on Earth Day 2019. It's ambitious! What's the big vision? At its peak, I hope Project Vesta can galvanize the world into removing large quantities of CO2, by providing irreversible, permanent storage of CO2 at an economically viable price, that doesn't compete for farmland or other resources. Exactly what the world needs right now. How does the process work? There are reserves of a rock called olivine, all over the world, for which there is almost no demand. Project Vesta wants to mine these rocks from quarries on the surface and then place them on high-energy beaches in tropical areas. This is part of Earth's natural carbonate-silicate cycle: rain mixes with CO2 to create carbonic acid, which falls on rocks, weathering them down and transporting water (filled with ions) into rivers, which eventually ends up in the ocean. Over time, usually millions of years, the carbonic acid becomes bicarbonate and then calcium carbonate, which corals and other marine animals use to build shells. When they die and fall to the seafloor, the shells turn into sediments and then form limestone, trapping CO2 for millions of years. By adding olivine directly to the ocean, we dramatically speed up the carbon removal process, by cutting out these steps in the middle. The bicarbonate molecule is alkaline, as opposed to the acidic CO2 dissolved in water, so we can help create this molecule, which raises the PH of the ocean, helping to de-acidify it. In turn, other parts of the rock are inert or not available to organisms, and are not predicted to have any adverse effects. The reason we use beaches is to make the process efficient; otherwise, we would use too much energy to grind the rocks down to very fine particles. This is how it works: reserves of olivine near coastal areas are located and then harvested; the rock is then lightly crushed to pebble-sized grains and placed onto beaches where the wave motion tumbles them and grinds them down. The process also removes a coating on the surface that would typically slow the reaction. That's some process. How will you do that? Right now, we're looking for states and cities with access and legal ownership over beaches to help provide a testbed for our pilot safety study. We need two bays nearby each other, one as control and one in which to put olivine rocks. Then we'll measure the results. Once we have our pilot project, we'll write a research paper summarising all of the existing literature on coastal weathering, including our results and findings, to demonstrate the viability of our process and take it to policymakers. What are the benefits of fighting climate change this way? This is a method of carbon removal that Earth uses to put 99.9 percent of its carbon into rock. We know the process works and can scale to the trillion-ton level that we need to have a chance to stop catastrophic global warming. By using undeveloped coastlines with otherwise unwanted resources, we can scale this project to global levels without disrupting food systems or other limited resources in a world with a growing population. This is a solution that's permanent, scalable and can be done with today's technology. We could reach an operational price of below ten dollars for each tonne of CO2 removed. And there are co-benefits too. Olivine is made up, in part, by magnesium and silica. The latter, when released through weathering, becomes shells for diatoms – microalgae found in oceans, comprising a hugely important part of the food chain – which is threatened by ocean acidification. Our project might be worthwhile just for the acidification effects. A recent study reported that Dungeness Crab's shells are dissolving much sooner than predicted due to pockets of ocean acidity, so that lends extra importance to our work. Another benefit of this method – if the world gets hotter and the oceans more acidic, our weathering process will speed up, making it future proof.  Two-pronged benefits then. How do you differ from other companies doing the same? I don't know of anyone else doing this, beyond the scientists we're working with across the world. But if there is, we'd love to collaborate. We're a non-profit on a mission to solve humanity's biggest challenge, and we're always looking for partners and friends in the industry. In terms of the security of your project, how do you keep your customer and technology data secure? For our donors, we use a tokenization system through Stripe, where we do not even possess credit card information. We don't have a vast amount of proprietary data, but we limit access strictly to the key decision-makers. We're an open-source non-profit, so as we generate scientific data, we'll publish that openly. Good practice. What significant challenges have you faced so far? Trying to bring together scientists who have been working on different elements of this concept for years, then uniting them across different time-zones, dialects, regions and fields! On the flip side, what big successes have you had? Well, to date, we've raised over $100,000 for our pilot project. We've had great feedback about how elegant our solution is. We're giving people hope because they see this could be a significant part of the solution to climate change. And we have key scientists in the field on board working on a paper about olivine weathering. Well said. What does the future hold for Project Vesta? We need to raise $1.5M to deploy our two pilot projects and monitor them for two years. So, we're fundraising, crowdfunding and selling our line of olivine jewelry to raise money. Right now, the money is helping fund our operations and spread awareness. Once we have two beaches for our pilot project, the funds raised from the jewelry will correlate to an amount of olivine we will place on a beach. Eventually, we'll make peridot gemstone rings – olivine is also known as peridot, the august birthstone, in its crystal form – which we hope will replace the role of diamonds in our society. We aspire to shift society's value from the past compression of carbon (which is how a diamond is formed) to the future removal of carbon (which is how the "profit" from the ring will be used). We hope the jewelry will connect people to their carbon removal, giving them something tangible and symbolic, as opposed to just a donation. Right now, we're selling a necklace called the Grain of Hope, which is a single grain of olivine suspended in a sand timer vial, a metaphor to demonstrate that olivine has the potential to stop time from running out on us to combat this most pressing of human issues. Soon you'll be able to subscribe to Project Vesta for $25 a year, which will place one ton of olivine rock onto a beach for you – almost removing your yearly CO2 emissions per year. Project Vesta wants to prove the viability of olivine weathering for CO2 removal. In turn, de-risking the process and making it an easy choice for policymakers, who can then, we hope, action it to help save our planet.
alcarelle interview

The drinks innovator creating a new generation of exciting alcohol alternatives

  • min read
    • As part of Kaspersky's Bring on the Future series, we meet businesses around the world who are changing their industry and society for the better. Alcohol, or more importantly, ethanol, has been used globally for around 9,000 years, with the earliest moonshine traced back to ancient China. Why? Well, as many could probably attest to, it makes us feel good. And there's scientific evidence behind that. At a basic level, alcohol helps us to connect and bond with others – a good thing. So why then, is it so inherently bad for us? From liver damage to broken bank balances – according to the World Health Organization, alcohol kills around three million people across the globe every year. But what if there was a way of taking the good effects of alcohol and leaving behind the bad? Well, the solution may very nearly be here, and we have Alcarelle to thank for it. They're working on an ingredient that they hope could mimic the effects of (at the most) two glasses of wine but without the health threats or hangovers. I talked to Alcarelle's Managing Director, David Orren, to find out more. Ryan Loftus: Alcarelle - how did it all start? David Orren: David Nutt and I started Alcarelle in 2016. David had been working on a social drink alternative to alcohol; his goal for his whole career was to develop something that mimics the good feelings and positive socializing effects of an adult drink, without the adverse effects. But before we started Alcarelle, his ground-breaking scientific work was seen by some as an offensive against the alcohol industry. Four years ago, when I came on board, David had established the foundation for research and identified several viable compounds. But his understanding of the regulatory environment and the general business side was limited. He's a scientist and a very good one at that. My background is in business, supporting disruptive technologies that have the potential to make large-scale change. It's hard to find those opportunities in your lifetime; meeting David, I knew this was one of those moments. So, we decided together, four years ago, to start Alcarelle. And instead of taking on the alcohol industry, we set out to work with the industry, making an ingredient we can take to beverage companies to help them create better products and an alternative future. It was born out of a societal need, really. Alcoholism is a huge problem. But on the flip side, the positive effects of alcohol – notably on how we socialize – can be exponentially good for us as individuals and for making social connections. Therein lies the challenge. You mention the "good" effects of alcohol, what do you mean specifically? And why do you think that's important? Back in 2012, Sayette et al. did an important study. They had three groups of people, one drinking a small amount of alcohol, one with a placebo – participants thought it was alcohol, but it wasn't – and one with a soft drink. They set up their cameras to record how, or if, the groups connected when left alone in a room, using markers like smiling, retaining a gaze, or even awkward silences. There was a more positive connection between those drinking alcohol. It's no secret: when we drink alcohol, on the whole, we tend to relax. This study reinforces that idea, and that some of the effects of alcohol can be beneficial, most notably in helping us to connect with others, to relax, celebrate and to form a community. And it's clear from ancient religions, including Christianity and Judaism, that alcohol has played an essential role in enabling people to come together to celebrate and mark important occasions. It's embedded in our history. At Alcarelle, this inspires us. If we can get this right, and find a balance with the right ingredients, there are no limits to where it could go. Or how beneficial it could be for society. We might be looking forward to a new generation of healthier drinks. Imagine that – it could potentially make going to a bar a healthier experience. Ground-breaking! What's the big vision? To create an ingredient which could be offered to the drinks industry, for different brands to develop their own range of drinks. Four years ago, when we set out, people were asking, "Is this an alternative to beer or wine?" Back then, people mostly thought, "What is this like?" Today we're past that. I see a new generation of exciting adult drinks. Granted, some might still use it to create an alternative to beer, but the possibilities are endless. That's not to say we're against alcohol. We don't want to tread on the toes of any fine wines, spirits, or beers. I continue to enjoy a beer or fine wine or single malt when the occasion suits. David and I are often to be found discussing the day's work over refreshments at the London wine bar he co-owns with this daughter. But the purpose of our work points towards a pleasant alternative future, which doesn't encourage people to drink more or use the product as an alternative to getting drunk. Our big picture: we want to help other companies do the same thing. I think once we're in the market, there will be a lot of innovation. We welcome that. Getting to market is expensive and time-consuming. Hopefully, in the future, we'll be able to use our research benchmarks – especially with things like compound development – to help innovators cut that time and expense. We want to become a collaboration partner for other companies, so the drinks industry flourishes. A helping hand for the next generation. So to bring it back to the product, how does it affect you? Firstly, and most importantly, our goal is to create an ingredient that will not get you "drunk." The aim isn't to get people to a point where they forget what happened the night before. It's specifically intended to avoid that. Our work aims to produce a maximum effect equivalent to a glass or two of wine. We're aiming for a flat curve, which means if you continue you to drink, you shouldn't feel any more effect. To be honest, this aspect of the scientific vision blew my socks off and is a testament to not only the curiosity and ingenuity of our team but also to the genius of nature and the enormous body of work from generations of scientists who preceded us. Right on. So what stage of that journey are you at now? After several years of investigating, synthesizing and testing high potential compounds, we're now very close to a shortlist. We have several compounds that we're excited about, and we're hoping that by the end of 2019, we'll have shortlisted those to three frontrunners. Then we'll keep testing until we're down to one. The next stage is even more expensive, so fundraising will be a big focus for us. Right now, we're introducing new scientists into our group and new ways of working. On a personal level, David and I are both very interested in the use of AI; I'm investigating how we might introduce it into two different streams of the research process: bioprospecting and behavioral understanding. We're research-focused – "science in nature" is a core value that defines who we are and where we want to go. It brings us together as a team, making us accountable for our end goal: using the lens of science to understand better one small aspect of nature – the effect of alcohol on the human body – that has the potential to improve many lives. It seems like you're making great progress. Have any health organizations validated your claims? There are many health bodies, all over the world, and many different jurisdictions. We've had early conversations with regulatory specialists, which has been invaluable and helped to guide our compound testing. During 2020, we plan to move to the next stage and will need to cover significant costs to make progress with the regulators. Very, very exciting. What challenges have you faced so far? The biggest challenge today is finding the right investors to support our network. We expect to raise $25m to bring this to the market over the next three to five years. For many, not seeing a return on investment for that time can make us look very unattractive. From another perspective, if we're successful and do reach market, there's no limit to what could happen. What's been your most significant success? The last four years have been a series of several steps forward, with one or two steps back, specifically in terms of the compounds we've investigated and others we've developed. We're continually learning and expanding our team to include some incredible scientists and researchers, and now we're looking into AI. What does the future hold for Alcarelle? Under our current strategy, and this comes down to testing and regulatory processes, we hope to be in the market within the next five years. We're investigating a few things right now which might allow us to accelerate that timeframe, which is very exciting. Keep your eyes peeled! Thanks for your time David, and good luck!
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