Fighting forever chemicals and startup fatigue

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Fighting forever chemicals and startup fatigue

In partnership withMichigan Economic Development Corporation What if we could permanently remove the toxic “forever chemicals” contaminating our water? That’s the driving force behind Michigan-based startup Enspired Solutions, founded by environmental toxicologist Denise Kay and chemical engineer Meng Wang. The duo left corporate consulting in the rearview mirror to take on one of the most pervasive environmental challenges: PFAS. “PFAS is referred to as a forever chemical because it is so resistant to break down,” says Kay. “It does not break down naturally in the environment, so it just circles around and around. This chemistry, which would break that cycle and break the molecule apart, could really support the health of all of us.” Basing the company in Michigan was both a strategic and a practical strategy. The state has been a leader in PFAS regulation with a startup infrastructure—buoyed by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC)—that helped turn an ambitious vision into a viable business. From intellectual property analyses to forecasting finances and fundraising guidance, the MEDC’s programs offered Kay and Wang the resources to focus on building their PFASigator: a machine the size of two large refrigerators that uses ultraviolet light and chemistry to break down PFAS in water. In other words, “it essentially eats PFAS.” Despite the support from the MEDC, the journey has been far from smooth. “As people say, being an entrepreneur and running a startup is like a rollercoaster,” Kay says. “You have high moments, and you have very low moments when you think nothing’s ever going to move forward.” Without revenue or salaries in the early days, the co-founders had to be sustained by something greater than financial incentive. “If problem solving and learning new talents do not provide sufficient intrinsic reward for a founder to be satisfied throughout what I guarantee will be a long duration effort, then that founder may need to reset their expectations. Because the financial rewards of entrepreneurship are small throughout the process.” Still, Kay remains optimistic about the road ahead for Enspired Solutions, for clean water innovation, and for other founders walking down a similar path. “Often, founders are coached about formulas for fundraising, formulas for startup success. Learning those formulas and expectations is important, but it’s also important to not forget that it’s your creativity and innovation and foresight that got you to the place you’re in and drove you to start a company. Ultimately, people still want to see that shine through.” This episode of Business Lab is produced in partnership with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. Full Transcript Megan Tatum: From MIT Technology Review, I’m Megan Tatum. This is Business Lab, the show that helps business leaders make sense of new technologies coming out of the lab and into the marketplace. Today’s episode is brought to you in partnership with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.Our topic today is launching a technology startup in the US state of Michigan. Building out an innovative idea into a viable product and company requires knowledge and resources that individuals might not have. That’s why the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, or the MEDC, has launched an innovation campaign to support technology entrepreneurs.Two words for you: startup ecosystem.My guest is Dr. Denise Kay, the co-founder and CEO at Enspired Solutions, a Michigan-based startup focused on removing synthetic forever chemicals called PFAS from water.Welcome, Denise. Dr. Denise Kay: Hi, Megan. Megan: Hi. Thank you so much for joining us. To get us started, Denise, I wondered if we could talk about Enspired Solutions a bit more. How did the idea come about, and what does your company do? Denise: Well, my co-founder, Meng, and I had careers in consulting, advising clients on the fate and toxicity of chemicals in the environment. What we did was evaluate how chemicals moved through soil, water, and air, and what toxic impact they might have on humans and wildlife. That put us in a really unique position to see early on the environmental and health ramifications of the manmade chemical PFAS in our environment. When we learned of a very novel and elegant chemistry that could effectively destroy PFAS, we could foresee the value in making this chemistry available for commercial use and the potential for a significant positive impact on maintaining healthy water resources for all of us.Like you mentioned, PFAS is referred to as a forever chemical because it is so resistant to break down. It does not break down naturally in the environment, so it just circles around and around. This chemistry, which would break that cycle and break the molecule apart, could really support the health of all of us.Ultimately, Meng and I quit our jobs, and we founded Enspired Solutions. Our objective was to design, manufacture, and sell commercial-scale equipment that destroys PFAS in water based on this laboratory bench-scale chemistry that had been discovered, the goal being that this toxic contaminant does not continue to circulate in our natural resources.At this point, we have won an award from the EPA and Department of Defense, and proven our technology in over 200 different water samples ranging from groundwater, surface water, landfill leachate, industrial wastewater, [and] municipal wastewater. It’s really everywhere. What we’re seeing traction in right now is customer applications managing semiconductor waste. Groundwater and surface water around airports tend to be high in PFAS. Centralized waste disposal facilities that collect and manage PFAS-contaminated liquids. And also, even transitioning firetrucks to PFAS-free firefighting foams. Megan: Fantastic. That’s a huge breadth of applications, incredible stuff. Denise: Yeah. Megan: You launched about four years ago now. I wondered what factors made Michigan the right place to build and grow the company? Denise: That is something we put a lot of thought into, because I live in Michigan, and Meng lives in Illinois, so when it was just the two of us, there was even that, “Okay, what is going to be our headquarters?” We looked at a number of factors. Some of the things we considered were rentable incubator space. By incubator, I mean startup incubators or innovation centers. The startup support network, a pool of future employees, and what position the state agencies were taking regarding PFAS.While thinking about all those things and investigating our communities, in Michigan, we found a space to rent where we could do chemistry experiments in an incubator environment. Somewhere where we were surrounded by other entrepreneurs, which we knew was something we had to learn how to do. We were great chemists, but we knew that surrounding ourselves with those skills that could be a gap for us was going to be helpful.Also, we know that Michigan has moved much faster than other states in identifying PFAS sources in the environment and regulating its presence. This combination was something we knew would be the right place for starting our business and having success. Megan: It was a perfect setting for those two reasons. What were the first stages of your journey working with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, the MEDC? Denise: Well, both my co-founder, Meng, and I are first-time entrepreneurs. MEDC was one of the first resources I reached out to, starting from a Google search. They were an information resource we turned to initially, and then again and again for learning some fundamental skills. And receiving one-on-one expert mentorship for things like business contracts, understanding intellectual property landscapes, tracking and forecasting our business finances, and even how to approach fundraising. Megan: Wow. It sounds like they were an invaluable resource in those early days. How did early-stage research and development progress from that point? What were the key MEDC services and programs you used to get started? Denise: Well, our business is based on cutting-edge science, truly cutting-edge science. Understanding the intellectual property landscape, which is a term used to describe intellectual property, patents, trademarks, trade secrets that are related to the science we were founding our business on, it was very important. So that we knew we were starting on a path, that we wouldn’t hit a wall three years from now. The MEDC performed an IP landscape survey for us. They searched the breadth of patents, and patent applications, and trademarks, and those things, and provided that for Meng and me to review and consider our position before really, really digging in and spending a lot of emotional time and money on the business. The MEDC also helped us early on create a model in Excel for tracking business financing and forecasting, forecasting our future financial needs, so that we could be proactive instead of reactive to financial limitations. We knew it wasn’t going to be inexpensive to design and build a piece of equipment that’s the size of two very large refrigerators that had never been built before. That type of financial-forward modeling helped us figure out when we would need to start fundraising and taking in investments. As we progressed along that, the MEDC also provided support of an attorney who reviewed contract language to make sure that we really understood various agreements that we were signing. Megan: Right. You mentioned that you and your co-founder were first-time entrepreneurs, as you put it. Tech acumen and business acumen are very different sets of skills. I wondered, what was the process like, developing this innovative technology while also building out a viable business plan? Denise: Well, Meng is a brilliant individual. She is a chemical engineer who also has an MBA. Meng had fantastic training to help understand the basis of how businesses function, in addition to understanding both the engineering and the chemistry behind what we were trying to do.I am an environmental toxicologist by training. I’ve had a longer career than Meng in that field. Over time, I have grown new offices and established new offices for different consulting firms I’ve worked for. I had the experience with people, space, culture, and running a business from that side. Meng has the financial MBA knowledge basis for a business. We’re both excellent chemists and engineers, and those types of things.We had much of the necessary knowledge, at least to take the first steps forward. The challenge became the hard limit of 24 hours in a day and no revenue to hire any support. That’s when the startup support networks like the MEDC became invaluable. It was simply impossible to do everything that needed to be done, especially while we were learning what we were doing. The MEDC and other programs provided support to take some of that load off us, but also helped us to learn to implement the new skills in an efficient manner, less stumbling. Megan: So many things to juggle, isn’t there, in starting a company. I wondered, in that vein, could you share some successes and highlights from your journey so far? Any partnerships or projects that you’re excited about that you could share with us? Denise: As people say, being an entrepreneur and running a startup is like a rollercoaster. You have high moments and you have very low moments when you think nothing’s ever going to move forward. I’d love to talk about some of the highlights. Our machine, which we call the PFASigator. First of all, coming up with that name has a fun story behind it. The machine is, like I said, about the size of two large refrigerators. It’s very large, and it breaks down PFAS in water. The machine takes in water that has PFAS in it, we add a couple of liquid chemicals, then a very intense ultraviolet light shines on that water, which catalyzes a chemical reaction called reductive defluorination. When all of this is happening and the PFAS molecules are being broken apart to nontoxic compounds, to an outsider, it all still just looks like water with a light shining on it. But the machine is big, and it essentially eats PFAS. Meng and I were bantering, and her young, six-year-old son was in the background at the time. We were throwing names around. Thomas called out, “The PFASigator!” We were like, “Ooh, there’s something there.” Megan: It’s a great name. Denise: It matches what we do, and it’s a memorable name. We’ve really had fun with that throughout. That was an early highlight, and we’ve stuck with that name. The next highlight I’d say was standing next to our first fully functioning PFASigator. It was big. It was all stainless steel. Meng and I had never been part of building a physical, large object like that. Just standing there, and the picture we have of us, it was exhilarating. That was a magnificent feeling. Selling our first machine was a day that everyone in the company, I think we were about eight at that point, received a bottle of champagne. Megan: Fantastic. Denise: For a startup to go from zero to one, they call it, you’ve sold nothing to you’ve sold something. That’s a real strong milestone and was a celebration for us. I’d say most recently, Enspired has been awarded a very exciting project in Michigan. It is in the contracting phase, so I can’t reveal too many details. But it is with a progressive municipality that will have our PFASigator permanently installed, destroying PFAS. That kind of movement from zero to one, and then a significant contract that will raise the visibility of the effectiveness of our approach and machine, has really buoyed our energy and is pushing us forward. It’s amazing to know we are now having an impact on the sustainability of water resources. That’s what we started the company for. Megan: Awesome. You have some incredible milestones there. But it’s a hard journey, as you’ve said as well, being an entrepreneur. I wondered, finally, what advice would you offer to burgeoning entrepreneurs given your own experience? Denise: I would advise that if problem solving and learning new talents do not provide sufficient intrinsic reward for a founder to be satisfied throughout what I guarantee will be a long duration effort, then that founder may need to reset their expectations, because the financial rewards of entrepreneurship are small throughout the process.Meng and I put [in] some of our personal funds and took no salary, and worked harder than we ever had in our lives for at least a year and a half before we were able to take a small salary. The financial rewards are small throughout the process of being a startup. The rewards are delayed, and in many cases, for many startups, the financial rewards never materialize.It’s a tough journey, and you have to love being on that journey, and be intrinsically rewarded for that for the sake of the journey itself, or you’ll be a very unhappy founder.Megan: It needs to be something you’re as passionate about as I can tell you are about the work you’re doing at Enspired Solutions. Denise: There’s probably one other thing I’d like to add to that. Megan: Of course. Denise: Often, founders are coached about formulas for fundraising, formulas for startup success. Learning those formulas and expectations is important, but it’s also important to not forget that it’s your creativity and innovation and foresight that got you to the place you’re in and drove you to start a company. Ultimately, people still want to see that shine through.” Megan: That’s fantastic advice. Thank you so much, Denise. That was Dr. Denise Kay, the co-founder and CEO at Enspired Solutions, whom I spoke with from an unexpectedly sunny Brighton, England.That’s it for this episode of Business Lab. I’m your host, Megan Tatum. I’m a contributing editor and host for Insights, the custom publishing division of MIT Technology Review. We were founded in 1899 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. You can find us in print, on the web, and at events each year around the world. For more information about us and the show, please check out our website at technologyreview.com. This show is available wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, we hope you’ll take a moment to rate and review us. Business Lab is a production of MIT Technology Review, and this episode was produced by Giro Studios. Thanks for listening. This content was produced by Insights, the custom content arm of MIT Technology Review. It was not written by MIT Technology Review’s editorial staff. This content was researched, designed, and written entirely by human writers, editors, analysts, and illustrators. This includes the writing of surveys and collection of data for surveys. AI tools that may have been used were limited to secondary production processes that passed thorough human review.

In partnership withMichigan Economic Development Corporation

What if we could permanently remove the toxic “forever chemicals” contaminating our water? That’s the driving force behind Michigan-based startup Enspired Solutions, founded by environmental toxicologist Denise Kay and chemical engineer Meng Wang. The duo left corporate consulting in the rearview mirror to take on one of the most pervasive environmental challenges: PFAS.

“PFAS is referred to as a forever chemical because it is so resistant to break down,” says Kay. “It does not break down naturally in the environment, so it just circles around and around. This chemistry, which would break that cycle and break the molecule apart, could really support the health of all of us.”

Basing the company in Michigan was both a strategic and a practical strategy. The state has been a leader in PFAS regulation with a startup infrastructure—buoyed by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC)—that helped turn an ambitious vision into a viable business.

From intellectual property analyses to forecasting finances and fundraising guidance, the MEDC’s programs offered Kay and Wang the resources to focus on building their PFASigator: a machine the size of two large refrigerators that uses ultraviolet light and chemistry to break down PFAS in water. In other words, “it essentially eats PFAS.”

Despite the support from the MEDC, the journey has been far from smooth. “As people say, being an entrepreneur and running a startup is like a rollercoaster,” Kay says. “You have high moments, and you have very low moments when you think nothing’s ever going to move forward.”

Without revenue or salaries in the early days, the co-founders had to be sustained by something greater than financial incentive.

“If problem solving and learning new talents do not provide sufficient intrinsic reward for a founder to be satisfied throughout what I guarantee will be a long duration effort, then that founder may need to reset their expectations. Because the financial rewards of entrepreneurship are small throughout the process.”

Still, Kay remains optimistic about the road ahead for Enspired Solutions, for clean water innovation, and for other founders walking down a similar path. “Often, founders are coached about formulas for fundraising, formulas for startup success. Learning those formulas and expectations is important, but it’s also important to not forget that it’s your creativity and innovation and foresight that got you to the place you’re in and drove you to start a company. Ultimately, people still want to see that shine through.”

This episode of Business Lab is produced in partnership with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

Full Transcript

Megan Tatum: From MIT Technology Review, I’m Megan Tatum. This is Business Lab, the show that helps business leaders make sense of new technologies coming out of the lab and into the marketplace.

Today’s episode is brought to you in partnership with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

Our topic today is launching a technology startup in the US state of Michigan. Building out an innovative idea into a viable product and company requires knowledge and resources that individuals might not have. That’s why the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, or the MEDC, has launched an innovation campaign to support technology entrepreneurs.

Two words for you: startup ecosystem.

My guest is Dr. Denise Kay, the co-founder and CEO at Enspired Solutions, a Michigan-based startup focused on removing synthetic forever chemicals called PFAS from water.

Welcome, Denise.

Dr. Denise Kay: Hi, Megan.

Megan: Hi. Thank you so much for joining us. To get us started, Denise, I wondered if we could talk about Enspired Solutions a bit more. How did the idea come about, and what does your company do?

Denise: Well, my co-founder, Meng, and I had careers in consulting, advising clients on the fate and toxicity of chemicals in the environment. What we did was evaluate how chemicals moved through soil, water, and air, and what toxic impact they might have on humans and wildlife. That put us in a really unique position to see early on the environmental and health ramifications of the manmade chemical PFAS in our environment.

When we learned of a very novel and elegant chemistry that could effectively destroy PFAS, we could foresee the value in making this chemistry available for commercial use and the potential for a significant positive impact on maintaining healthy water resources for all of us.

Like you mentioned, PFAS is referred to as a forever chemical because it is so resistant to break down. It does not break down naturally in the environment, so it just circles around and around. This chemistry, which would break that cycle and break the molecule apart, could really support the health of all of us.

Ultimately, Meng and I quit our jobs, and we founded Enspired Solutions. Our objective was to design, manufacture, and sell commercial-scale equipment that destroys PFAS in water based on this laboratory bench-scale chemistry that had been discovered, the goal being that this toxic contaminant does not continue to circulate in our natural resources.

At this point, we have won an award from the EPA and Department of Defense, and proven our technology in over 200 different water samples ranging from groundwater, surface water, landfill leachate, industrial wastewater, [and] municipal wastewater. It’s really everywhere. What we’re seeing traction in right now is customer applications managing semiconductor waste. Groundwater and surface water around airports tend to be high in PFAS. Centralized waste disposal facilities that collect and manage PFAS-contaminated liquids. And also, even transitioning firetrucks to PFAS-free firefighting foams.

Megan: Fantastic. That’s a huge breadth of applications, incredible stuff.

Denise: Yeah.

Megan: You launched about four years ago now. I wondered what factors made Michigan the right place to build and grow the company?

Denise: That is something we put a lot of thought into, because I live in Michigan, and Meng lives in Illinois, so when it was just the two of us, there was even that, “Okay, what is going to be our headquarters?” We looked at a number of factors.

Some of the things we considered were rentable incubator space. By incubator, I mean startup incubators or innovation centers. The startup support network, a pool of future employees, and what position the state agencies were taking regarding PFAS.

While thinking about all those things and investigating our communities, in Michigan, we found a space to rent where we could do chemistry experiments in an incubator environment. Somewhere where we were surrounded by other entrepreneurs, which we knew was something we had to learn how to do. We were great chemists, but we knew that surrounding ourselves with those skills that could be a gap for us was going to be helpful.

Also, we know that Michigan has moved much faster than other states in identifying PFAS sources in the environment and regulating its presence. This combination was something we knew would be the right place for starting our business and having success.

Megan: It was a perfect setting for those two reasons. What were the first stages of your journey working with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, the MEDC?

Denise: Well, both my co-founder, Meng, and I are first-time entrepreneurs. MEDC was one of the first resources I reached out to, starting from a Google search. They were an information resource we turned to initially, and then again and again for learning some fundamental skills. And receiving one-on-one expert mentorship for things like business contracts, understanding intellectual property landscapes, tracking and forecasting our business finances, and even how to approach fundraising.

Megan: Wow. It sounds like they were an invaluable resource in those early days. How did early-stage research and development progress from that point? What were the key MEDC services and programs you used to get started?

Denise: Well, our business is based on cutting-edge science, truly cutting-edge science. Understanding the intellectual property landscape, which is a term used to describe intellectual property, patents, trademarks, trade secrets that are related to the science we were founding our business on, it was very important. So that we knew we were starting on a path, that we wouldn’t hit a wall three years from now.

The MEDC performed an IP landscape survey for us. They searched the breadth of patents, and patent applications, and trademarks, and those things, and provided that for Meng and me to review and consider our position before really, really digging in and spending a lot of emotional time and money on the business.

The MEDC also helped us early on create a model in Excel for tracking business financing and forecasting, forecasting our future financial needs, so that we could be proactive instead of reactive to financial limitations. We knew it wasn’t going to be inexpensive to design and build a piece of equipment that’s the size of two very large refrigerators that had never been built before. That type of financial-forward modeling helped us figure out when we would need to start fundraising and taking in investments. As we progressed along that, the MEDC also provided support of an attorney who reviewed contract language to make sure that we really understood various agreements that we were signing.

Megan: Right. You mentioned that you and your co-founder were first-time entrepreneurs, as you put it. Tech acumen and business acumen are very different sets of skills. I wondered, what was the process like, developing this innovative technology while also building out a viable business plan?

Denise: Well, Meng is a brilliant individual. She is a chemical engineer who also has an MBA. Meng had fantastic training to help understand the basis of how businesses function, in addition to understanding both the engineering and the chemistry behind what we were trying to do.

I am an environmental toxicologist by training. I’ve had a longer career than Meng in that field. Over time, I have grown new offices and established new offices for different consulting firms I’ve worked for. I had the experience with people, space, culture, and running a business from that side. Meng has the financial MBA knowledge basis for a business. We’re both excellent chemists and engineers, and those types of things.

We had much of the necessary knowledge, at least to take the first steps forward. The challenge became the hard limit of 24 hours in a day and no revenue to hire any support. That’s when the startup support networks like the MEDC became invaluable.

It was simply impossible to do everything that needed to be done, especially while we were learning what we were doing. The MEDC and other programs provided support to take some of that load off us, but also helped us to learn to implement the new skills in an efficient manner, less stumbling.

Megan: So many things to juggle, isn’t there, in starting a company. I wondered, in that vein, could you share some successes and highlights from your journey so far? Any partnerships or projects that you’re excited about that you could share with us?

Denise: As people say, being an entrepreneur and running a startup is like a rollercoaster. You have high moments and you have very low moments when you think nothing’s ever going to move forward. I’d love to talk about some of the highlights. Our machine, which we call the PFASigator.

First of all, coming up with that name has a fun story behind it. The machine is, like I said, about the size of two large refrigerators. It’s very large, and it breaks down PFAS in water. The machine takes in water that has PFAS in it, we add a couple of liquid chemicals, then a very intense ultraviolet light shines on that water, which catalyzes a chemical reaction called reductive defluorination. When all of this is happening and the PFAS molecules are being broken apart to nontoxic compounds, to an outsider, it all still just looks like water with a light shining on it. But the machine is big, and it essentially eats PFAS.

Meng and I were bantering, and her young, six-year-old son was in the background at the time. We were throwing names around. Thomas called out, “The PFASigator!” We were like, “Ooh, there’s something there.”

Megan: It’s a great name.

Denise: It matches what we do, and it’s a memorable name. We’ve really had fun with that throughout. That was an early highlight, and we’ve stuck with that name.

The next highlight I’d say was standing next to our first fully functioning PFASigator. It was big. It was all stainless steel. Meng and I had never been part of building a physical, large object like that. Just standing there, and the picture we have of us, it was exhilarating. That was a magnificent feeling.

Selling our first machine was a day that everyone in the company, I think we were about eight at that point, received a bottle of champagne.

Megan: Fantastic.

Denise: For a startup to go from zero to one, they call it, you’ve sold nothing to you’ve sold something. That’s a real strong milestone and was a celebration for us.

I’d say most recently, Enspired has been awarded a very exciting project in Michigan. It is in the contracting phase, so I can’t reveal too many details. But it is with a progressive municipality that will have our PFASigator permanently installed, destroying PFAS. That kind of movement from zero to one, and then a significant contract that will raise the visibility of the effectiveness of our approach and machine, has really buoyed our energy and is pushing us forward. It’s amazing to know we are now having an impact on the sustainability of water resources. That’s what we started the company for.

Megan: Awesome. You have some incredible milestones there. But it’s a hard journey, as you’ve said as well, being an entrepreneur. I wondered, finally, what advice would you offer to burgeoning entrepreneurs given your own experience?

Denise: I would advise that if problem solving and learning new talents do not provide sufficient intrinsic reward for a founder to be satisfied throughout what I guarantee will be a long duration effort, then that founder may need to reset their expectations, because the financial rewards of entrepreneurship are small throughout the process.

Meng and I put [in] some of our personal funds and took no salary, and worked harder than we ever had in our lives for at least a year and a half before we were able to take a small salary. The financial rewards are small throughout the process of being a startup. The rewards are delayed, and in many cases, for many startups, the financial rewards never materialize.

It’s a tough journey, and you have to love being on that journey, and be intrinsically rewarded for that for the sake of the journey itself, or you’ll be a very unhappy founder.

Megan: It needs to be something you’re as passionate about as I can tell you are about the work you’re doing at Enspired Solutions.

Denise: There’s probably one other thing I’d like to add to that.

Megan: Of course.

Denise: Often, founders are coached about formulas for fundraising, formulas for startup success. Learning those formulas and expectations is important, but it’s also important to not forget that it’s your creativity and innovation and foresight that got you to the place you’re in and drove you to start a company. Ultimately, people still want to see that shine through.”

Megan: That’s fantastic advice. Thank you so much, Denise.

That was Dr. Denise Kay, the co-founder and CEO at Enspired Solutions, whom I spoke with from an unexpectedly sunny Brighton, England.

That’s it for this episode of Business Lab. I’m your host, Megan Tatum. I’m a contributing editor and host for Insights, the custom publishing division of MIT Technology Review. We were founded in 1899 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. You can find us in print, on the web, and at events each year around the world. For more information about us and the show, please check out our website at technologyreview.com.

This show is available wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, we hope you’ll take a moment to rate and review us. Business Lab is a production of MIT Technology Review, and this episode was produced by Giro Studios. Thanks for listening.

This content was produced by Insights, the custom content arm of MIT Technology Review. It was not written by MIT Technology Review’s editorial staff.

This content was researched, designed, and written entirely by human writers, editors, analysts, and illustrators. This includes the writing of surveys and collection of data for surveys. AI tools that may have been used were limited to secondary production processes that passed thorough human review.

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The PJM Interconnection must make significant changes to its plan for meeting the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s grid interconnection requirements, the agency said in a decision released Thursday. The issue centers on FERC’s Order 2023, which set baseline requirements for grid interconnection rules. It requires a “first-ready, first-served” cluster study approach and made other reforms intended to cut down the interconnection backlog. The rule also set deadlines for regional transmission organizations and other transmission providers to complete interconnection studies, and imposed penalties for missing those deadlines. PJM had said that its existing interconnection process, which FERC approved in November 2022, met the requirements of Order 2023. But in its decision this week, FERC said that while parts of PJM’s process complies with Order 2023, the grid operator must revise others. FERC gave PJM 60 days to propose changes to its interconnection rules. Some of them include: Striking language that says PJM must only make “reasonable efforts” to meet certain deadlines; Describing how network and substation upgrade study costs will be allocated; Explaining how network system upgrade costs will be shared; Requiring transmission owners to use operating assumptions in their interconnection studies that reflect the planned charging behavior of battery storage projects; and, Requiring that interconnection studies include an evaluation of grid-enhancing technologies. FERC’s order comes amid a spike in PJM’s capacity costs, which reflect tight supply and demand conditions in its footprint in 13 Mid-Atlantic and Midwest states, and the District of Columbia. One of the first steps in building new power supplies is successfully passing through a grid operator’s interconnection process. PJM has paused its review of new interconnection requests as it works through a backlog of interconnection requests. The grid operator expects to begin using its reformed process to start evaluating new requests next year. PJM has approved about 46 GW

Deep Isolation Raises Funds to Use Oil Drilling Tech for Nuclear Waste

A nuclear technology startup raised $33 million in a private placement to test its system for storing radioactive waste deep underground. Deep Isolation Nuclear Inc. uses drilling techniques developed for fracking by the oil and natural gas industry to dig boreholes where it can deposit spent nuclear fuel rods. The Berkeley, California-based company says its technology is nearly ready for use, though it has yet to fully test the system and still needs regulatory approval. Interest in nuclear power is skyrocketing as the world’s electricity needs increase, particularly to power artificial intelligence. While the technology doesn’t emit carbon dioxide, disposing of the deadly waste it creates remains a vexing challenge. Reactors typically rely on nearby, surface storage sites for old fuel, which isn’t a long-term solution and comes with national security and safety risks. Plans for a centralized, underground US repository stalled after years of local opposition, and Deep Isolation Chief Executive Officer Rod Baltzer said his approach offers a needed alternative. “There’s been a recognition that boreholes could play a role in disposal,” he said in an interview. “The technology is there. It’s ready to be deployed.” Existing investor NAC International, along with new backers including Segra Capital Management, participated in the private placement, according to a statement Thursday. Deep Isolation also completed a merger with Aspen-1 Acquisition Inc., a transaction that will let it become a publicly traded company. Baltzer said its shares will be available to trade in the coming months. Deep Isolation has tested a small-scale version of its system, burying and then retrieving a three-foot cannister — it wasn’t filled with waste — about 670 meters (2,200 feet) below the surface. In commercial deployments, Baltzer said he expects to drill about 1 kilometer to 1.5 kilometers (0.6 miles to 0.9 miles) below the surface, then use directional drilling technology to extend the hole laterally about

Supertanker Hauling Saudi Diesel Heads to Europe

A supertanker carrying a cargo of diesel from the Middle East is en route to the fuel-starved European market, reflecting supply tightness in the region. The VLCC Nissos Keros loaded about 2 million barrels of ultra-low sulfur diesel from Saudi Arabia’s Jubail terminal and is currently signaling France where it’s due to arrive Aug. 30, according to Kpler and ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The vessel, which usually transports crude oil, was re-configured to carry diesel. Cargoes of the fuel would typically be carried on smaller tankers, but with freight rates elevated after the latest attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, operators have an incentive to clean up dirty tankers to haul products instead and reap the economies of scale. Europe’s diesel market remains under pressure, driven by a combination of lower refinery output, costly rerouting of imports to replace shunned Russian supplies and sanctions-related uncertainty. The arrival of a large shipment may provide temporary relief, but dependence on long-haul imports continues to expose the European market to spikes in freight costs and supply volatility. WHAT DO YOU THINK? Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.

Oil Slips on Stronger Dollar, Trade Doubts

Oil fell as the dollar strengthened and conviction waned that the US will reach agreements with key trade partners ahead of a deadline next week. West Texas Intermediate crude slid more than 1% to settle near $65 a barrel after President Donald Trump said the US has a 50-50 chance of striking a trade deal with Europe, a contrast to the optimism the bloc’s diplomats expressed this week. Trump also said most tariff rates are essentially settled now. The effective US tariff rate is at the highest in a century, by some estimates, a potential threat to energy demand. In another headwind, Trump indicated he had no plans to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, boosting the dollar and making the commodities priced in the currency less attractive. Crude has remained in a holding pattern this month, but is down for the year as increased supply from OPEC+ adds to concerns of a looming glut. The group will next meet on Aug. 3 to decide on production levels. On Thursday, one member, Venezuela, was given a production reprieve by a US decision to let Chevron resume pumping oil in the country. “We expect crude to slowly sell off this fall, driven by steady acceleration of stock builds, softening physical markets, reduced refinery margin support and continued deescalation of geopolitically driven supply risk,” Macquarie Group analysts including Vikas Dwivedi wrote in a note. Oil Prices WTI for September delivery fell 1.3% to settle at $65.16 a barrel. Brent for September settlement slipped 1.1% to $68.44 a barrel. What do you think? We’d love to hear from you, join the conversation on the Rigzone Energy Network. The Rigzone Energy Network is a new social experience created for you and all energy professionals to Speak Up about our industry, share knowledge, connect with

BP to Exit $36B Australian Green Hydrogen Hub

BP Plc will exit its role in a massive green hydrogen production facility planned in Australia as the British oil major refocuses on the fossil fuels that drive its profits. The company told its partners in the Australian Renewable Energy Hub that it plans to leave the project as both operator and equity holder, according to a statement from a BP spokesperson. It’s the latest setback for green hydrogen, a fuel once touted as a key way for Big Oil to profit from the energy transition that has so far proved too costly for mass production and consumption. The AREH project company will take over as operator over coming months with support from founding partner InterContinental Energy, according to an AREH spokesperson. BP’s decision to exit the project doesn’t reflect the opportunity the hub presents to decarbonize the Pilbara and support the creation of a green iron industry, they said. BP’s entry into the project – once estimated to cost about $36 billion – came at a time when the company sought to rapidly build up a business in low-carbon energy and shrink its oil business. But after years of stock under-performance compared with its peers and the departure of the plan’s architect – Chief Executive Officer Bernard Looney – BP has refined its strategy to focus more squarely on profits than green goals. The company is far from alone in leaving its ambitions for green hydrogen behind. Scores of companies that once saw the fuel as the next big thing in energy have cut back plans as hoped for cost declines failed to materialize. Also on Thursday, Fortescue Ltd. said it would abandon plans for a $550 million Arizona Hydrogen Project in the US and a $150 million PEM50 Project in Gladstone, Australia – resulting in a pretax writedown of $150 million. Meanwhile, Woodside

Eni Profit Tops Estimates

Eni SpA reported profit that beat analyst estimates as proceeds from asset sales and sweeping cost cuts helped counter a weak oil market. While crude prices were lower in the second quarter — weighing on earnings at other European oil companies — Eni has been buoyed by a cost-reduction program introduced earlier this year, while asset disposals brought down debt. Adjusted net income fell 25% from a year earlier to €1.13 billion ($1.3 billion), the Italian energy company said Friday in a statement. That exceeded the €932.6 million average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Eni said it’s now targeting €3 billion of cost cuts this year, up from €2 billion previously. The company has also reaped billions of euros by offloading stakes in its renewables arm and mobility division, and is in talks to sell half of its carbon capture unit. “The combination of divestments set to come through this year, ongoing ‘self-help,’ as well as the additional cash flow from new ramp-ups sets Eni up for a strong second half of 2025 and 2026,” RBC Europe Ltd. analyst Biraj Borkhataria said in a note. He expects “growing free cash flow and a more resilient balance sheet than we’ve seen for many years.” The shares rose as much as 0.6% at the open in Milan, before trading little changed as of 9:08 a.m. local time. Eni confirmed plans for shareholders’ returns this year. It expects free cash flow before working capital of about €11.5 billion at $70-a-barrel crude, up from previous guidance of €11 billion. The company also raised its forecast for annual earnings from its gas division to €1 billion from €800 million. Net debt shrank to €29.1 billion at the end of June. WHAT DO YOU THINK? Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of

AI Project Stargate struggles to get off the ground

Analysts aren’t surprised at the news. “Big IT projects have a long history of dramatically overpromising and it appears that trend is quickly moving into the world of AI data center-based projects as well. The Stargate project, in particular, also seems to have more of a political bent to it than many other projects so that’s likely complicating matters as well,” said Bob O’Donnell, president and chief analyst with TECHnalysis Research. “There’s little doubt we will see massive investments by many different organizations to build out AI infrastructure here in the US, but I’m not convinced that individual projects will end up mattering that much in the long run,” he added. “I have always been skeptical about the huge number that was projected. In the hundreds of billions,” said Patrick Moorhead, CEO & chief analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy. “The only problem was that only a few billion in new funding was raised. And now there’s strife between OpenAI and SoftBank. To be fair, Oracle is part of Stargate now and OpenAI will soak up many GPUs in the Texas facility, but this was already in process when the Stargate announcement happened.”

Storage vendors bring record capacity devices to handle massive data generation

Both are built on Seagate’s Mozaic3+ with advanced storage technology called HAMR, or Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording. By heating the platter to as much as 500°C, they can squeeze up to 3TB per platter. Other than that, it looks like a standard hard drive: 3.5-inch enclosure, 7,200 RPM spin rotation, and SATA III interface with 6Gbps/s transfer speeds. The drivers are available now and are rather affordable. The 30TB Exos is just $599 on NewEgg.com. On the enterprise solid state drive (SSD) front, KIOXIA America has expanded its high-capacity KIOXIA LC9 Series enterprise SSD lineup with the introduction of a 245.76TB NVMe SSD. The drive comes in a 2.5-inch and Enterprise and Datacenter Standard Form Factor (EDSFF) E3.L form factor and is purpose-built for the performance and efficiency demands of generative AI environments.

Technology is coming so fast data centers are obsolete by the time they launch

Tariffs aside, Enderle feels that AI technology and ancillary technology around it like battery backup is still in the early stages of development and there will be significant changes coming in the next few years. GPUs from AMD and Nvidia are the primary processors for AI, and they are derived from video game accelerators. They were never meant for use in AI processing, but they are being fine-tuned for the task. It’s better to wait to get a more mature product than something that is still in a relatively early state. But Alan Howard, senior analyst for data center infrastructure at Omdia, disagrees and says not to wait. One reason is the rate at which people that are building data centers is all about seizing market opportunity.” You must have a certain amount of capacity to make sure that you can execute on strategies meant to capture more market share.” The same sentiment exists on the colocation side, where there is a considerable shortage of capacity as demand outstrips supply. “To say, well, let’s wait and see if maybe we’ll be able to build a better, more efficient data center by not building anything for a couple of years. That’s just straight up not going to happen,” said Howard. “By waiting, you’re going to miss market opportunities. And these companies are all in it to make money. And so, the almighty dollar rules,” he added. Howard acknowledges that by the time you design and build the data center, it’s obsolete. The question is, does that mean it can’t do anything? “I mean, if you start today on a data center that’s going to be full of [Nvidia] Blackwells, and let’s say you deploy in two years when they’ve already retired Blackwell, and they’re making something completely new. Is that data

‘Significant’ outage at Alaska Airlines not a security incident, but a hardware breakdown

The airline told Network World that when the critical piece of what it described as “third-party multi-redundant hardware” failed unexpectedly, “it impacted several of our key systems that enable us to run various operations.” The company is currently working with its vendor to replace the faulty equipment at the data center. The airline has cancelled more than 150 flights since Sunday evening, including 64 on Monday. The company said additional flight disruptions are likely as it repositions aircraft and crews throughout its network. Alaska Airlines emphasized that the safety of its flights was never compromised, and that “the IT outage is not related to any other current events, and it’s not connected to the recent cybersecurity incident at Hawaiian Airlines.” The airline did not provide additional information to Network World about the specifics of the outage. “There are many redundant components that can fail,” said Roberts, noting that it could have been something as simple as a RAID array (which combines multiple physical data storage components into one or more logical units). Or, on the network side, it could have been the failure of a pair of load balancers. “It’s interesting that redundancy didn’t save them,” said Roberts. “Perhaps multiple pieces of hardware were impacted by the same issue, like a firmware update. Or, maybe they’re just really unlucky.”

Cisco upgrades 400G optical receiver to boost AI infrastructure throughput

“In the data center, what’s really changed in the last year or so is that with AI buildouts, there’s much, much more optics that are part of 400G and 800G. It’s not so much using 10G and 25G optics, which we still sell a ton of, for campus applications. But for AI infrastructure, the 400G and 800G optics are really the dominant optics for that application,” Gartner said. Most of the AI infrastructure builds have been for training models, especially in hyperscaler environments, Gartner said. “I expect, towards the tail end of this year, we’ll start to see more enterprises deploying AI infrastructure for inference. And once they do that, because it has an Nvidia GPU attached to it, it’s going to be a 400G or 800G optic.” Core enterprise applications – such as real-time trading, high-frequency transactions, multi-cloud communications, cybersecurity analytics, network forensics, and industrial IoT – can also utilize the higher network throughput, Gartner said.

Supermicro bets big on 4-socket X14 servers to regain enterprise trust

In April, Dell announced its PowerEdge R470, R570, R670, and R770 servers with Intel Xeon 6 Processors with P-cores, but with single and double-socket servers. Similarly, Lenovo’s ThinkSystem V4 servers are also based on the Intel Xeon 6 processor but are limited to dual socket configurations. The launch of 4-socket servers by Supermicro reflects a growing enterprise need for localized compute that can support memory-bound AI and reduce the complexity of distributed architectures. “The modern 4-socket servers solve multiple pain points that have intensified with GenAI and memory-intensive analytics. Enterprises are increasingly challenged by latency, interconnect complexity, and power budgets in distributed environments. High-capacity, scale-up servers provide an architecture that is more aligned with low-latency, large-model processing, especially where data residency or compliance constraints limit cloud elasticity,” said Sanchit Vir Gogia, chief analyst and CEO at Greyhound Research. “Launching a 4-socket Xeon 6 platform and packaging it within their modular ‘building block’ strategy shows Supermicro is focusing on staying ahead in enterprise and AI data center compute,” said Devroop Dhar, co-founder and MD at Primus Partner. A critical launch after major setbacks Experts peg this to be Supermicro’s most significant product launch since it became mired in governance and regulatory controversies. In 2024, the company lost Ernst & Young, its second auditor in two years, following allegations by Hindenburg Research involving accounting irregularities and the alleged export of sensitive chips to sanctioned entities. Compounding its troubles, Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI redirected its AI server orders to Dell, a move that reportedly cost Supermicro billions in potential revenue and damaged its standing in the hyperscaler ecosystem. Earlier this year, HPE signed a $1 billion contract to provide AI servers for X, a deal Supermicro was also bidding for. “The X14 launch marks a strategic reinforcement for Supermicro, showcasing its commitment

Microsoft will invest $80B in AI data centers in fiscal 2025

And Microsoft isn’t the only one that is ramping up its investments into AI-enabled data centers. Rival cloud service providers are all investing in either upgrading or opening new data centers to capture a larger chunk of business from developers and users of large language models (LLMs). In a report published in October 2024, Bloomberg Intelligence estimated that demand for generative AI would push Microsoft, AWS, Google, Oracle, Meta, and Apple would between them devote $200 billion to capex in 2025, up from $110 billion in 2023. Microsoft is one of the biggest spenders, followed closely by Google and AWS, Bloomberg Intelligence said. Its estimate of Microsoft’s capital spending on AI, at $62.4 billion for calendar 2025, is lower than Smith’s claim that the company will invest $80 billion in the fiscal year to June 30, 2025. Both figures, though, are way higher than Microsoft’s 2020 capital expenditure of “just” $17.6 billion. The majority of the increased spending is tied to cloud services and the expansion of AI infrastructure needed to provide compute capacity for OpenAI workloads. Separately, last October Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said his company planned total capex spend of $75 billion in 2024 and even more in 2025, with much of it going to AWS, its cloud computing division.

John Deere unveils more autonomous farm machines to address skill labor shortage

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Self-driving tractors might be the path to self-driving cars. John Deere has revealed a new line of autonomous machines and tech across agriculture, construction and commercial landscaping. The Moline, Illinois-based John Deere has been in business for 187 years, yet it’s been a regular as a non-tech company showing off technology at the big tech trade show in Las Vegas and is back at CES 2025 with more autonomous tractors and other vehicles. This is not something we usually cover, but John Deere has a lot of data that is interesting in the big picture of tech. The message from the company is that there aren’t enough skilled farm laborers to do the work that its customers need. It’s been a challenge for most of the last two decades, said Jahmy Hindman, CTO at John Deere, in a briefing. Much of the tech will come this fall and after that. He noted that the average farmer in the U.S. is over 58 and works 12 to 18 hours a day to grow food for us. And he said the American Farm Bureau Federation estimates there are roughly 2.4 million farm jobs that need to be filled annually; and the agricultural work force continues to shrink. (This is my hint to the anti-immigration crowd). John Deere’s autonomous 9RX Tractor. Farmers can oversee it using an app. While each of these industries experiences their own set of challenges, a commonality across all is skilled labor availability. In construction, about 80% percent of contractors struggle to find skilled labor. And in commercial landscaping, 86% of landscaping business owners can’t find labor to fill open positions, he said. “They have to figure out how to do

2025 playbook for enterprise AI success, from agents to evals

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More 2025 is poised to be a pivotal year for enterprise AI. The past year has seen rapid innovation, and this year will see the same. This has made it more critical than ever to revisit your AI strategy to stay competitive and create value for your customers. From scaling AI agents to optimizing costs, here are the five critical areas enterprises should prioritize for their AI strategy this year. 1. Agents: the next generation of automation AI agents are no longer theoretical. In 2025, they’re indispensable tools for enterprises looking to streamline operations and enhance customer interactions. Unlike traditional software, agents powered by large language models (LLMs) can make nuanced decisions, navigate complex multi-step tasks, and integrate seamlessly with tools and APIs. At the start of 2024, agents were not ready for prime time, making frustrating mistakes like hallucinating URLs. They started getting better as frontier large language models themselves improved. “Let me put it this way,” said Sam Witteveen, cofounder of Red Dragon, a company that develops agents for companies, and that recently reviewed the 48 agents it built last year. “Interestingly, the ones that we built at the start of the year, a lot of those worked way better at the end of the year just because the models got better.” Witteveen shared this in the video podcast we filmed to discuss these five big trends in detail. Models are getting better and hallucinating less, and they’re also being trained to do agentic tasks. Another feature that the model providers are researching is a way to use the LLM as a judge, and as models get cheaper (something we’ll cover below), companies can use three or more models to

OpenAI’s red teaming innovations define new essentials for security leaders in the AI era

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More OpenAI has taken a more aggressive approach to red teaming than its AI competitors, demonstrating its security teams’ advanced capabilities in two areas: multi-step reinforcement and external red teaming. OpenAI recently released two papers that set a new competitive standard for improving the quality, reliability and safety of AI models in these two techniques and more. The first paper, “OpenAI’s Approach to External Red Teaming for AI Models and Systems,” reports that specialized teams outside the company have proven effective in uncovering vulnerabilities that might otherwise have made it into a released model because in-house testing techniques may have missed them. In the second paper, “Diverse and Effective Red Teaming with Auto-Generated Rewards and Multi-Step Reinforcement Learning,” OpenAI introduces an automated framework that relies on iterative reinforcement learning to generate a broad spectrum of novel, wide-ranging attacks. Going all-in on red teaming pays practical, competitive dividends It’s encouraging to see competitive intensity in red teaming growing among AI companies. When Anthropic released its AI red team guidelines in June of last year, it joined AI providers including Google, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, and even the U.S.’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which all had released red teaming frameworks. Investing heavily in red teaming yields tangible benefits for security leaders in any organization. OpenAI’s paper on external red teaming provides a detailed analysis of how the company strives to create specialized external teams that include cybersecurity and subject matter experts. The goal is to see if knowledgeable external teams can defeat models’ security perimeters and find gaps in their security, biases and controls that prompt-based testing couldn’t find. What makes OpenAI’s recent papers noteworthy is how well they define using human-in-the-middle

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