Week X
Topic A
Title:
A title/headline for your topic
[add content here]
Link:
Link(s) to the source(s) for your topic
[add content here]
Summary/Precis:
In your own words
[add content here]
Why I found this interesting:
In your own words
[add content here]
How this links to the course:
In your own words
[add content here]
Topic B
Title:
A title/headline for your topic
[add content here]
Link:
Link(s) to the source(s) for your topic
[add content here]
Summary/Precis:
In your own words
[add content here]
Why I found this interesting:
In your own words
[add content here]
How this links to the course:
In your own words
[add content here]
Week 3
Topic A
Title: Future batteries, coming soon: Charge in seconds, last months and power
over the air
Link: https:
www.pocket-lint.com/gadgets/news/130380-future-batteries-
coming-soon-charge-in-seconds-last-months-and-power-over-the-air
Summary/Precis: The article points out that while there have been massive advances in
smart devices (phones, wearables, smart homes), there has not been the
same degree of advancement in power and specifically batteries.
Although software has created power usage efficiencies and lithium-ion
atteries have been a huge step forward we are still limited to the useable
timeframe for battery life.
This article provides a comprehensive view on the cu
ent state of battery
esearch. Topics covered include:
• Chemical makeup: Cobalt is an expensive part of cu
ent battery
cathodes and there is research to replace Cobalt with other
materials.. Other materials such as the use of silicon in anodes has
the potential to increase capacity (10x vs graphite), however there
are problems with stability of the materials. IBM are doing
esearch that will replace the cu
ent lithium-ion chemistry and
emove the use of nickel and cobalt. They claim that the materials
equired can be extracted from seawater and have much lower
manufacturing costs. Solid state batteries are a big focus, but still
a work in progress despite the massive investments. The super
material graphene has lots of potential, but is cu
ently too
expensive and complex.
• Management of batteries: there is a lot of focus on the chemical
makeup of batteries, however the article points out that better
management could significantly enhance the performance and life
of the batteries.
• Charging: there is lots of work on alternate approaches to making
charging easier and more convenient. These include over the air
and wifi, capturing energy from the motion of the battery user,
solar and even charging via chemical reactions with urine.
Why I found this
interesting:
Battery tech has not kept up with other areas such as processing power
(Moores Law). If we can get battery
eakthroughs (size, cost, energy
density, speed of charging, number of cycles) then the potential for
disruption across almost all industries is incredible.
There is huge push for electric cars and in certain countries this is being
legislated for. However, despite the advances that companies like Tesla
have made, there is still limited range and charging takes time.
The use of the Internet of Things devices is also constrained by access to
power e.g. deploying devices in remote locations without access to wired
power. Increases in capacity and power output could radically change our
https:
www.pocket-lint.com/gadgets/news/130380-future-batteries-coming-soon-charge-in-seconds-last-months-and-power-over-the-ai
https:
www.pocket-lint.com/gadgets/news/130380-future-batteries-coming-soon-charge-in-seconds-last-months-and-power-over-the-ai
ability to capture insights about our environment, from both a commercial
and a social perspective.
There is also the potential for there to be a positive impact on
green/sustainability issues which is a hot topic. For example the reduction
in the use of greenhouse gas producing fuels such as coal and oil in energy
generation. Enhancements in batteries could make it easier to store
energy produced from renewable sources and then release to users when
equired.
How this links to the
course:
A lot of the research and innovation is happening within startups and spin
offs from universities. This shows how smaller companies can take the
isks that larger ones may not be able to. However the larger companies
are also investing or supporting these companies and then buying them
when their technology gets sufficiently advanced (for example Dyson
acquired Sakti3 for $90M to help commercialize their ‘
eakthrough’ solid-
state battery tech (https:
venturebeat.com/2015/10/19/dyson-acquires-
sakti3-for-90m-to-help-commercialize-
eakthrough-solid-state-battery-
tech/)
Tesla is another example of a company that has not lost its
entrepreneurial culture even as it becomes “enterprise” in scale. It will be
interesting to see the announcements they make during their “Battery
Day” event on the 22nd September
(https:
www.tesla.com/en_au/2020shareholdermeeting)
Topic B
Title:
A title/headline for
your topic
AND CONTINUE WITH YOUR SECOND TOPIC
Link:
Link(s) to the
source(s) for your
topic
[add content here]
Summary/Precis:
In your own words
[add content here]
https:
venturebeat.com/2015/10/19/dyson-acquires-sakti3-for-90m-to-help-commercialize-
eakthrough-solid-state-battery-tech
https:
venturebeat.com/2015/10/19/dyson-acquires-sakti3-for-90m-to-help-commercialize-
eakthrough-solid-state-battery-tech
https:
venturebeat.com/2015/10/19/dyson-acquires-sakti3-for-90m-to-help-commercialize-
eakthrough-solid-state-battery-tech
https:
www.tesla.com/en_au/2020shareholdermeeting
Why I found this
interesting:
In your own words
[add content here]
How this links to the
course:
In your own words
[add content here]
© XXXXXXXXXXVision OT
MCR010: Instructions for Capturing your
curiosity
Background
Entrepreneurs see customer needs that others ignore and identify innovative solutions before others
see the value. Therefore, curiosity and marketplace awareness are critical to entrepreneurial
success.
Instructions
Your personal project runs from week 3 to week 10 and each week you need to:
• Identify two (2) topics/articles etc that you find interesting/curious
• Using the template from the course Moodle page:
o Create a new document each week (from week 3 to week 10)
o Update the heading “Week X” to the co
ect week (starting Week 3)
o Provide a Title and web link to the source material
o Provide a summary/precis of the article (in your own words)
o Explain why this made you curious/interested (in your own words)
o Explain how it links to the course learnings (in your own words)
• Upload your weekly document to the assignment link on Moodle
o Each week the link for that week will be open from 00:01 on Tuesday and will close at
23:59 on the following Monday
• Guidance
o There is no fixed “number of words” required
o However, you need to consider what is reasonable for 20% of your course marks –
clearly 1 sentence is not enough, and 5 pages is too much
o Quality and insights are more important than quantity – you can only do this if you read
and understand the articles
Rules
Please note the following rules:
• If you miss the submission for a week THERE IS NO CATCH UP
• You cannot submit weeks in advance (the links are set to be active only during the appropriate
week)
• Submissions that do not use the template WILL NOT BE MARKED
• Submissions that are shown by Turnitin to have plagiarism will be marked down accordingly (all
the way to zero in extreme cases)
Background
Instructions
Rules