November 13, 2024 • 18 mins
CIPA members have played a key role in the success of Prince William's increasingly influential Earthshot Prize, the multi-million pound annual environmental awards.
This year the awards were held in Cape Town and Deputy Chief Executive Neil Lampert was among the invited VIPs. Neil talks to Lee about his chats with past CIPA-nominated winners and finalists - and hopes that CIPA members can play an even more important role in supporting Earthshot finalists.
Read more about the 2024 winners and the awards ceremony on the Earthshot website.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Lee Davis and Gwilym Roberts are the two IPs in a pod
and you are listening to apodcast on intellectual property
brought to you by the Chartered.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Institute of Patent Attorneys.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
Hello, Neil.
I've not seen you for a littlewhile.
Mate, where have you beenanywhere, exciting?
Speaker 5 (00:24):
Well, I've been out of the country for a week, lucky
enough to be attending theEarthshot Prize week and award
ceremony in Cape Town, southAfrica.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
So just remind me, not that I've forgotten,
obviously, because this is theday job, but just remind me
what's Earthshot.
Speaker 5 (00:56):
Prince William launched the Earthshot Prize in
2020 to award five prizes of amillion pounds each to the most
impactful innovations inenvironmental climate change
sustainability, and it's beengrowing year on year.
The first year, I think, therewere a few hundred nominations,
and this year, many, manythousands of nominations, um,
and the prize has grown intosomething of a kind of an
environmental movement, I wouldsay it's certainly big news,
isn't it?
Speaker 4 (01:15):
and um so kudos to you.
You recognize fairly early onthat there was an opportunity
for sepa to to become involved.
I think, probably, ourinvolvement has outgrown even
your aspirations at that time.
What do we do?
How do we support it?
Speaker 5 (01:27):
So, with the help of Gerry Bridge Butler's team of
patent attorneys Gerry BridgeButler, baron, warren Redfern,
patent attorney and chair ofSEPA's Media and PR Committee he
organises a team to run duediligence checks on the
finalists, as provided by theEarthshot team, to check there's
no IP issues before they awardthe prize.
(01:49):
And from the second year of theprize, we also became an
official nominator.
And we were so successful thatfirst year we had three
finalists and one winner thatthe Earthshot team started
referring to us as a supernominator.
That's amazing, amazing, isn'tit?
And then we had anotherfinalist the following year
unfortunately none this year,but hey, that's the right role,
(02:11):
isn't it?
Speaker 4 (02:11):
you're not always going to get people um through
that process and presumablynominations are open again and
um, and we're looking for futurepotential winners we are.
Speaker 5 (02:22):
We've only had a handful of nominations in so far
, so I'm really hoping that umsome of you know our members
will have a real think about anyclean tech, um green
innovations and innovators theyhave within their client base
and email.
Uh, email me or a pinia, who'sour comms officer.
(02:42):
Um, just get in touch via emailor however you you find most
easiest, and just let us know um, or if you've got any questions
, we're happy to to answer anyquestions you might have,
because we we really would liketo see um a decent number of
nominations from SIPA for 2025and the rewards for the nominees
can be quite extensive, can'tthey so?
Speaker 4 (03:05):
um, and probably the best way to talk about that is
to perhaps listen to some.
And you you were lucky enoughto catch up with some of our
previous nominees.
Where you're at there, who didyou, who did you bump into first
?
Speaker 5 (03:15):
um, I spoke to pierre pallier, um founder and and
co-ceo of not plar.
Notplar are innovators inseaweed and packaging technology
and they replace single-useplastic with a seaweed-coated
card that they create all mannerof food packaging from.
(03:35):
They won the million pounds inBuild a Waste-Free World in 2022
.
And, as we'll hear, they aregoing from strength to strength
and having some amazing successat the moment.
So let's listen to my chat withPierre.
Pierre, I always seem to meetyou at these Earthshot.
Speaker 6 (03:59):
Awards.
It's great to see you again.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
It's quite tense to have fun.
So since we last spoke, NotPlahave had some amazing news with
your new investment.
Speaker 6 (04:09):
Yeah, it's been really exciting because we've
now closed a 20 million poundround and that's going to be
incredibly helpful for growingNotPla, not just in our base in
Europe, but also expanding tonew geographies.
We have a lot of interest fromthe US, so this is going to be
helping us to get there, andthat means that we have now a
(04:30):
new group of investors backingus who are opening incredible
doors, including Temasek Trustwith C3H.
So really exciting to haveanother Earthshot member who is
deeply invested in Notpla andit's going to help us succeed.
Speaker 5 (04:46):
So I've got to ask you, how important do you think
your patents are in attractingthat investment or securing that
investment?
Speaker 6 (04:53):
Well, when you're like a for-profit solution and
there's a lot of tech andthere's a lot of R&D, you need
this kind of like protectionfrom patents to be able to give
the investors that likereassurance that all of those
efforts are going to give youthe return on investment.
So patents are a very, verykind of like helpful way of
(05:17):
giving that framework forinnovation that rewards the
inventors, and so that's why,from the very beginning, we were
very keen to make sure that wewere very well prepared on that
front, to make sure that we wereable to get those equity
investors joining us andtherefore fronting all of these
efforts of R&D.
Speaker 5 (05:37):
And in terms of your technology and your products
that you're putting into themarket at the moment, are there
any new products that we should?
Speaker 6 (05:45):
be aware of Always.
There's always some new patentsfiling in the background,
continuing to work withPortoClax and with the support
from people who've beenfollowing us for a while, so
they really understand as wellwhat is kind of like leading
edge in our space of seaweedpackaging, how to differentiate
ourselves from the rest of thecompetition and, importantly,
(06:08):
just kind of like how we arestarting to navigate new
geographies and how we're goingto kind of like strike
partnerships, start to have thefirst kind of like licensing
conversations.
All of these things are kind oflike revolving around like this
important kind of like base,which is your IPPAP product.
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
And you were just talking to me earlier about the
amazing pro bono work thatHerbert Smith Freehills are
doing with so many Earthshotfinalists and winners.
Can you tell us a little bitmore about that and why you
think there might be maybe anopening for Pat and Eternity to
do something similar?
Speaker 6 (06:44):
Well, I think they're truly like the unsung heroes of
this Earthshot Price supportpackage.
When you think about theEarthshot Price, you think about
Prince William, you think aboutthe million pound award for the
five winners, but actuallythere is so much behind the
scenes that creates so muchvalue.
One of the things that is notsexy to talk about, but that
(07:05):
everyone needs, is legal adviceand so much value.
One of the things that is notsexy to talk about but that
everyone needs is legal advice.
And so HSF has kind of likeshowed up and basically is
helping all of the kind of likefinalists navigate whatever
situation they're in.
They're doing this pro bono.
This is their way of kind oflike helping those kind of like
innovators reach their kind oflike goals, and so having like
(07:25):
been literally getting theirhelp to find some kind of like
creative solutions tomulti-stakeholder kind of like
contracts and getting theirexpertise has been
transformational for Notplapersonally, but I've heard it
from all of the other Alshadfinalists.
So, yeah, here's the idea Likewhat if we had the same kind of
(07:45):
thing on the patent side ofthings?
Not everyone is going to havenew technology, but for the many
Earthshot finalists who aretechnology-based, what if there
was those people that you canpick up the phone and have
conversations, knowing that thisis part of their wider efforts
of supporting innovators.
And I think that would be verypowerful.
It might not be the thing thatis the sexiest making it on the
(08:09):
front line of all the newspapersin the world, but this is what
actually makes a difference inthose companies.
Speaker 5 (08:16):
Thanks, I'll be taking that message back and
seeing if we can make some Makesome progress on that front.
Thank, you.
So we also have Tess Chia fromthe Tamasek Trust I hope I've
pronounced that right and youare the new investor that Pierre
was just telling us about.
Can you tell us why you'reexcited about NotPla's offerings
(08:42):
and why you're investing?
Speaker 1 (08:44):
We're super excited to back Pierre and his amazing
team at NotPla's offerings andwhy you're investing.
We're super excited to backPierre and his amazing team at
NotPla.
So NotPla won their short prizeback in 2022, and Temasek Trust
is a founding partner of theprize.
Their business is aligned withour impact areas.
They're an innovative product,strong customer traction.
We're confident that they'lljust go from strength to
(09:06):
strength and we're so proud tobe part of their journey ah, so
good to hear Pierre's story.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
There it's, um, it's one of continuing success, isn't
it?
And I know that, um, he'sbecome a little bit of a media
star in his own right, isn't it?
Because everyone wants tolisten to the Not For Our Story.
Speaker 5 (09:27):
He and his co-founder , rodrigo.
They are I don't know if star'sthe right word, but I think
they're inspirational figures inthe world of food packaging and
what they're doing is amazing.
I was really interested to talkto Pierre there about his hopes
that, with help from ourmembers, we might be able to
create some kind of offering inIP that Herbert Smith Freehill
(09:49):
provide for the Earthshot Prizein terms of help with other
areas of law.
I spoke to a number of otherfinalists who thought that that
would be probablytransformational for many, many
Earthshot finalists and theirability to scale.
So we'll be reaching out tomembers and seeing what we can
do on that front.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
Yes, and watch this space in terms of other
opportunities that there mightbe to get involved in supporting
Earthshot as it goes fromstrength to strength.
Very much so.
But it wasn't just Pierre andNopla that you bumped into
yesterday, was it?
You came across another formernominee.
Speaker 5 (10:25):
I always seem to bump into Pierre and Natasha at
these Earthshot Awards, which isfunny in a way, because we've
got we've had other finalistswho I never seem to bump into in
the way that I bump into Pierreand Natasha, but it's always
great to see them and to hearwhat they've been up to in the
intervening months and years.
But Natasha Balding is CEO ofLow Carbon Materials, who are
(10:51):
who were sorry, a finalist in2022.
Are, uh, who were sorry, afinalist in 2022.
I was so pleased natasha, Iforgot they're a finalist and I
for a second.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
there I introduced her as a winner, you'll hear,
but uh, hey, you're speaking tosomeone who always stumbles over
podcasts, so I think at the endof their podcasts are just
natural speech, aren't they?
Speaker 5 (11:07):
and um yeah, and these things happen they've had
many new partnerships andreleasing new products um
regularly, all patented, patentprotected, and you'll hear
Natasha talk about theirlicensing model, which is
central to their success.
Let's get Natasha on, shall we?
So I'm here with NatashaBalding, chief Executive Officer
(11:34):
of Low Carbon Materials, theSEPA nominated winner in 2020.
Oh, I don't know.
I see you as a winner, natasha.
I'll keep it in.
I mean congratulations on allyour success since 2022.
Can you update us as to whatyou've been up to?
Speaker 2 (11:56):
2022.
Can you update us as to whatyou've been up to?
Sure, thank you.
We have been very busy since2022, so one of our major
accomplishments this in the lastcouple of years has been we're
developing a product portfolio.
So we entered the Urschop Prizewith a solution to decarbonize
concrete.
Here today we have two products.
We now have a new product todecarbonise asphalt, and we're
(12:17):
working with some of the largestasphalt manufacturers in the
world to help them todecarbonise their roads that we
all rely so much on.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
And how are you going about that?
Speaker 2 (12:31):
So we create additives.
So, if you can touch it, smellit, feel it.
That's what we do, and wecreate additives that you
incorporate into traditionalconcrete or asphalt at about 5%
give or take to lock in andpermanently store CO2 and then
utilise that in roads andbuildings, essentially demanding
(12:53):
more from the built environmentaround us and they're all
patent protected.
Speaker 5 (12:59):
All this is patent protected, obviously of course,
of course.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yeah, it's a huge part of our strategy is to
ensure that all of ourintellectual property is is
protected and you're stillworking with esme swindle at
potter clarkson we are.
We're working with a whole bunchof the potter, fox and team who
are absolutely integraladdition to the lcm team and how
does that help build yourportfolio?
Build um investment interestmultiple different ways, but
(13:27):
primarily for us as a climatetech and deep tech company, it's
ensuring that we can protectnew innovations that are coming
through, that we thencommercialise and get out there
into the market.
Speaker 5 (13:39):
And you're licensing a lot of your innovations.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Yeah, for LCM.
That's the end goal.
So we want to do what we'regood at, which is innovating and
developing that productportfolio for product 3, 4, 5
and then ensuring the widermarket can then license that
technology from us and createsomething valuable For us.
Our core skill set isinnovation.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
And when you're at these Earthshot events and
you're involved in the EarthshotPrize, it's easy to get
enthused and feel the energy inthe room when people are talking
about the importance ofsustainability and working
together and cooperating.
What can you say to maybe SEPAmembers and patent attorneys?
Why is it important they shouldreally think about whether
(14:27):
they've got any clients theycould put forward for the
Airshot Prize.
What could it do for them?
Speaker 2 (14:33):
A huge amount, an absolute huge amount.
I think the airshot prize isnot just a prize.
It's a platform foraccelerating the best solutions
from all over the world and weall benefit from it.
We all benefit from thesolutions that are the thousands
of solutions, I should say,that are nominated the the
(14:56):
finalists and then the winners.
If they scale and they canachieve what they're set out to
achieve, that's going to benefitevery single person around the
world.
So we all have a responsibilityto look around us is there any
up-and-coming startups or SMEsthat we think are doing
incredible things in the worldand then nominate those for the
Ayr prize fabulous thanks,natasha.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
Thank you oh, that's another great story, isn't it?
And I know, despite the factthat, um, that natasha didn't
win, there's there's been hugebenefit for her and the company
for having been nominated in thefirst place and, obviously, for
being shortlisted as a finalist.
(15:39):
I know that that's been a bigpart of their story in terms of
their ongoing success.
Speaker 5 (15:44):
Yeah, pierre and Natasha and all the finalists
will say the same thing, andthat is it's not necessarily the
million pounds.
That is transformational forthem as a startup or an SME is
access to the Earthshotsfellowship program and this
extended family, or certainlyextended bank of resources that
they can dip into, whether thatbe contract assistance or IP
(16:06):
assistance or access toinvestors.
It's an enormous roster of helpthat Prince William and the
Earthshot Prize team have put inplace, and it's that that I
hope we might be able to addpatent attorneys to in time.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
So there's a real community now, isn't there
around Earthshot?
I think that's probably part ofits story in terms of the
transformation that it's making.
So any closing thoughts on yourtime out there and what you
learned, perhaps it's just atrue inspiration.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
Every time you attend an earthshot event.
It's very infectious and,although I'm I'm constantly
aware of the need um to behave,you know, in a sustainable way,
um, and we'll all do what we alldo our bit to help SIPA on on
its journey to net zero andsociety generally, um, it is.
(17:02):
It's difficult to explain quitehow inspirational it can be to
be around such amazinginnovators um and and hear their
stories and for them to saythat to have access to proactive
IP support could betransformational for them.
It could make a huge difference.
(17:23):
It's enough inspiration for meto try and pick this up and run
with it and see what we can do.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
Well, big, big thanks to you and Opinion for going
out there and representing SEPAat Earthshot 2024.
And obviously, for your visionin the first place for seeing
this as something that would bea great thing for us and our
members to get involved in.
So you're doing a great job.
Speaker 5 (17:44):
Thanks.
I must give props to JerryBridge Butler as well, because
it was, I think, to be fair tosay it was primarily his vision
that got us involved in thefirst place.
Since then we've we've becomean official nominator and I've
been able to get more involved.
But respect to Jerry for forhaving the the idea in the first
place.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
Cheers.
Speaker 5 (18:04):
Nope, thanks Lee.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
We'll see you next time.
Two IPs in a.
Two IPs in a.
(18:32):
Two IPs in a.
Lee Davis and Gwilym Roberts are the two IPs in a pod
and you are listening to apodcast on intellectual property
brought to you by the Chartered.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Institute of Patent Attorneys.
Speaker 4 (00:20):
Hello, Neil.
I've not seen you for a littlewhile.
Mate, where have you beenanywhere, exciting?
Speaker 5 (00:24):
Well, I've been out of the country for a week, lucky
enough to be attending theEarthshot Prize week and award
ceremony in Cape Town, southAfrica.
Speaker 4 (00:34):
So just remind me, not that I've forgotten,
obviously, because this is theday job, but just remind me
what's Earthshot.
Speaker 5 (00:56):
Prince William launched the Earthshot Prize in
2020 to award five prizes of amillion pounds each to the most
impactful innovations inenvironmental climate change
sustainability, and it's beengrowing year on year.
The first year, I think, therewere a few hundred nominations,
and this year, many, manythousands of nominations, um,
and the prize has grown intosomething of a kind of an
environmental movement, I wouldsay it's certainly big news,
isn't it?
Speaker 4 (01:15):
and um so kudos to you.
You recognize fairly early onthat there was an opportunity
for sepa to to become involved.
I think, probably, ourinvolvement has outgrown even
your aspirations at that time.
What do we do?
How do we support it?
Speaker 5 (01:27):
So, with the help of Gerry Bridge Butler's team of
patent attorneys Gerry BridgeButler, baron, warren Redfern,
patent attorney and chair ofSEPA's Media and PR Committee he
organises a team to run duediligence checks on the
finalists, as provided by theEarthshot team, to check there's
no IP issues before they awardthe prize.
(01:49):
And from the second year of theprize, we also became an
official nominator.
And we were so successful thatfirst year we had three
finalists and one winner thatthe Earthshot team started
referring to us as a supernominator.
That's amazing, amazing, isn'tit?
And then we had anotherfinalist the following year
unfortunately none this year,but hey, that's the right role,
(02:11):
isn't it?
Speaker 4 (02:11):
you're not always going to get people um through
that process and presumablynominations are open again and
um, and we're looking for futurepotential winners we are.
Speaker 5 (02:22):
We've only had a handful of nominations in so far
, so I'm really hoping that umsome of you know our members
will have a real think about anyclean tech, um green
innovations and innovators theyhave within their client base
and email.
Uh, email me or a pinia, who'sour comms officer.
(02:42):
Um, just get in touch via emailor however you you find most
easiest, and just let us know um, or if you've got any questions
, we're happy to to answer anyquestions you might have,
because we we really would liketo see um a decent number of
nominations from SIPA for 2025and the rewards for the nominees
can be quite extensive, can'tthey so?
Speaker 4 (03:05):
um, and probably the best way to talk about that is
to perhaps listen to some.
And you you were lucky enoughto catch up with some of our
previous nominees.
Where you're at there, who didyou, who did you bump into first
?
Speaker 5 (03:15):
um, I spoke to pierre pallier, um founder and and
co-ceo of not plar.
Notplar are innovators inseaweed and packaging technology
and they replace single-useplastic with a seaweed-coated
card that they create all mannerof food packaging from.
(03:35):
They won the million pounds inBuild a Waste-Free World in 2022
.
And, as we'll hear, they aregoing from strength to strength
and having some amazing successat the moment.
So let's listen to my chat withPierre.
Pierre, I always seem to meetyou at these Earthshot.
Speaker 6 (03:59):
Awards.
It's great to see you again.
Speaker 5 (04:01):
It's quite tense to have fun.
So since we last spoke, NotPlahave had some amazing news with
your new investment.
Speaker 6 (04:09):
Yeah, it's been really exciting because we've
now closed a 20 million poundround and that's going to be
incredibly helpful for growingNotPla, not just in our base in
Europe, but also expanding tonew geographies.
We have a lot of interest fromthe US, so this is going to be
helping us to get there, andthat means that we have now a
(04:30):
new group of investors backingus who are opening incredible
doors, including Temasek Trustwith C3H.
So really exciting to haveanother Earthshot member who is
deeply invested in Notpla andit's going to help us succeed.
Speaker 5 (04:46):
So I've got to ask you, how important do you think
your patents are in attractingthat investment or securing that
investment?
Speaker 6 (04:53):
Well, when you're like a for-profit solution and
there's a lot of tech andthere's a lot of R&D, you need
this kind of like protectionfrom patents to be able to give
the investors that likereassurance that all of those
efforts are going to give youthe return on investment.
So patents are a very, verykind of like helpful way of
(05:17):
giving that framework forinnovation that rewards the
inventors, and so that's why,from the very beginning, we were
very keen to make sure that wewere very well prepared on that
front, to make sure that we wereable to get those equity
investors joining us andtherefore fronting all of these
efforts of R&D.
Speaker 5 (05:37):
And in terms of your technology and your products
that you're putting into themarket at the moment, are there
any new products that we should?
Speaker 6 (05:45):
be aware of Always.
There's always some new patentsfiling in the background,
continuing to work withPortoClax and with the support
from people who've beenfollowing us for a while, so
they really understand as wellwhat is kind of like leading
edge in our space of seaweedpackaging, how to differentiate
ourselves from the rest of thecompetition and, importantly,
(06:08):
just kind of like how we arestarting to navigate new
geographies and how we're goingto kind of like strike
partnerships, start to have thefirst kind of like licensing
conversations.
All of these things are kind oflike revolving around like this
important kind of like base,which is your IPPAP product.
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
And you were just talking to me earlier about the
amazing pro bono work thatHerbert Smith Freehills are
doing with so many Earthshotfinalists and winners.
Can you tell us a little bitmore about that and why you
think there might be maybe anopening for Pat and Eternity to
do something similar?
Speaker 6 (06:44):
Well, I think they're truly like the unsung heroes of
this Earthshot Price supportpackage.
When you think about theEarthshot Price, you think about
Prince William, you think aboutthe million pound award for the
five winners, but actuallythere is so much behind the
scenes that creates so muchvalue.
One of the things that is notsexy to talk about, but that
(07:05):
everyone needs, is legal adviceand so much value.
One of the things that is notsexy to talk about but that
everyone needs is legal advice.
And so HSF has kind of likeshowed up and basically is
helping all of the kind of likefinalists navigate whatever
situation they're in.
They're doing this pro bono.
This is their way of kind oflike helping those kind of like
innovators reach their kind oflike goals, and so having like
(07:25):
been literally getting theirhelp to find some kind of like
creative solutions tomulti-stakeholder kind of like
contracts and getting theirexpertise has been
transformational for Notplapersonally, but I've heard it
from all of the other Alshadfinalists.
So, yeah, here's the idea Likewhat if we had the same kind of
(07:45):
thing on the patent side ofthings?
Not everyone is going to havenew technology, but for the many
Earthshot finalists who aretechnology-based, what if there
was those people that you canpick up the phone and have
conversations, knowing that thisis part of their wider efforts
of supporting innovators.
And I think that would be verypowerful.
It might not be the thing thatis the sexiest making it on the
(08:09):
front line of all the newspapersin the world, but this is what
actually makes a difference inthose companies.
Speaker 5 (08:16):
Thanks, I'll be taking that message back and
seeing if we can make some Makesome progress on that front.
Thank, you.
So we also have Tess Chia fromthe Tamasek Trust I hope I've
pronounced that right and youare the new investor that Pierre
was just telling us about.
Can you tell us why you'reexcited about NotPla's offerings
(08:42):
and why you're investing?
Speaker 1 (08:44):
We're super excited to back Pierre and his amazing
team at NotPla's offerings andwhy you're investing.
We're super excited to backPierre and his amazing team at
NotPla.
So NotPla won their short prizeback in 2022, and Temasek Trust
is a founding partner of theprize.
Their business is aligned withour impact areas.
They're an innovative product,strong customer traction.
We're confident that they'lljust go from strength to
(09:06):
strength and we're so proud tobe part of their journey ah, so
good to hear Pierre's story.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
There it's, um, it's one of continuing success, isn't
it?
And I know that, um, he'sbecome a little bit of a media
star in his own right, isn't it?
Because everyone wants tolisten to the Not For Our Story.
Speaker 5 (09:27):
He and his co-founder , rodrigo.
They are I don't know if star'sthe right word, but I think
they're inspirational figures inthe world of food packaging and
what they're doing is amazing.
I was really interested to talkto Pierre there about his hopes
that, with help from ourmembers, we might be able to
create some kind of offering inIP that Herbert Smith Freehill
(09:49):
provide for the Earthshot Prizein terms of help with other
areas of law.
I spoke to a number of otherfinalists who thought that that
would be probablytransformational for many, many
Earthshot finalists and theirability to scale.
So we'll be reaching out tomembers and seeing what we can
do on that front.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
Yes, and watch this space in terms of other
opportunities that there mightbe to get involved in supporting
Earthshot as it goes fromstrength to strength.
Very much so.
But it wasn't just Pierre andNopla that you bumped into
yesterday, was it?
You came across another formernominee.
Speaker 5 (10:25):
I always seem to bump into Pierre and Natasha at
these Earthshot Awards, which isfunny in a way, because we've
got we've had other finalistswho I never seem to bump into in
the way that I bump into Pierreand Natasha, but it's always
great to see them and to hearwhat they've been up to in the
intervening months and years.
But Natasha Balding is CEO ofLow Carbon Materials, who are
(10:51):
who were sorry, a finalist in2022.
Are, uh, who were sorry, afinalist in 2022.
I was so pleased natasha, Iforgot they're a finalist and I
for a second.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
there I introduced her as a winner, you'll hear,
but uh, hey, you're speaking tosomeone who always stumbles over
podcasts, so I think at the endof their podcasts are just
natural speech, aren't they?
Speaker 5 (11:07):
and um yeah, and these things happen they've had
many new partnerships andreleasing new products um
regularly, all patented, patentprotected, and you'll hear
Natasha talk about theirlicensing model, which is
central to their success.
Let's get Natasha on, shall we?
So I'm here with NatashaBalding, chief Executive Officer
(11:34):
of Low Carbon Materials, theSEPA nominated winner in 2020.
Oh, I don't know.
I see you as a winner, natasha.
I'll keep it in.
I mean congratulations on allyour success since 2022.
Can you update us as to whatyou've been up to?
Speaker 2 (11:56):
2022.
Can you update us as to whatyou've been up to?
Sure, thank you.
We have been very busy since2022, so one of our major
accomplishments this in the lastcouple of years has been we're
developing a product portfolio.
So we entered the Urschop Prizewith a solution to decarbonize
concrete.
Here today we have two products.
We now have a new product todecarbonise asphalt, and we're
(12:17):
working with some of the largestasphalt manufacturers in the
world to help them todecarbonise their roads that we
all rely so much on.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
And how are you going about that?
Speaker 2 (12:31):
So we create additives.
So, if you can touch it, smellit, feel it.
That's what we do, and wecreate additives that you
incorporate into traditionalconcrete or asphalt at about 5%
give or take to lock in andpermanently store CO2 and then
utilise that in roads andbuildings, essentially demanding
(12:53):
more from the built environmentaround us and they're all
patent protected.
Speaker 5 (12:59):
All this is patent protected, obviously of course,
of course.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Yeah, it's a huge part of our strategy is to
ensure that all of ourintellectual property is is
protected and you're stillworking with esme swindle at
potter clarkson we are.
We're working with a whole bunchof the potter, fox and team who
are absolutely integraladdition to the lcm team and how
does that help build yourportfolio?
Build um investment interestmultiple different ways, but
(13:27):
primarily for us as a climatetech and deep tech company, it's
ensuring that we can protectnew innovations that are coming
through, that we thencommercialise and get out there
into the market.
Speaker 5 (13:39):
And you're licensing a lot of your innovations.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Yeah, for LCM.
That's the end goal.
So we want to do what we'regood at, which is innovating and
developing that productportfolio for product 3, 4, 5
and then ensuring the widermarket can then license that
technology from us and createsomething valuable For us.
Our core skill set isinnovation.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
And when you're at these Earthshot events and
you're involved in the EarthshotPrize, it's easy to get
enthused and feel the energy inthe room when people are talking
about the importance ofsustainability and working
together and cooperating.
What can you say to maybe SEPAmembers and patent attorneys?
Why is it important they shouldreally think about whether
(14:27):
they've got any clients theycould put forward for the
Airshot Prize.
What could it do for them?
Speaker 2 (14:33):
A huge amount, an absolute huge amount.
I think the airshot prize isnot just a prize.
It's a platform foraccelerating the best solutions
from all over the world and weall benefit from it.
We all benefit from thesolutions that are the thousands
of solutions, I should say,that are nominated the the
(14:56):
finalists and then the winners.
If they scale and they canachieve what they're set out to
achieve, that's going to benefitevery single person around the
world.
So we all have a responsibilityto look around us is there any
up-and-coming startups or SMEsthat we think are doing
incredible things in the worldand then nominate those for the
Ayr prize fabulous thanks,natasha.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
Thank you oh, that's another great story, isn't it?
And I know, despite the factthat, um, that natasha didn't
win, there's there's been hugebenefit for her and the company
for having been nominated in thefirst place and, obviously, for
being shortlisted as a finalist.
(15:39):
I know that that's been a bigpart of their story in terms of
their ongoing success.
Speaker 5 (15:44):
Yeah, pierre and Natasha and all the finalists
will say the same thing, andthat is it's not necessarily the
million pounds.
That is transformational forthem as a startup or an SME is
access to the Earthshotsfellowship program and this
extended family, or certainlyextended bank of resources that
they can dip into, whether thatbe contract assistance or IP
(16:06):
assistance or access toinvestors.
It's an enormous roster of helpthat Prince William and the
Earthshot Prize team have put inplace, and it's that that I
hope we might be able to addpatent attorneys to in time.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
So there's a real community now, isn't there
around Earthshot?
I think that's probably part ofits story in terms of the
transformation that it's making.
So any closing thoughts on yourtime out there and what you
learned, perhaps it's just atrue inspiration.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
Every time you attend an earthshot event.
It's very infectious and,although I'm I'm constantly
aware of the need um to behave,you know, in a sustainable way,
um, and we'll all do what we alldo our bit to help SIPA on on
its journey to net zero andsociety generally, um, it is.
(17:02):
It's difficult to explain quitehow inspirational it can be to
be around such amazinginnovators um and and hear their
stories and for them to saythat to have access to proactive
IP support could betransformational for them.
It could make a huge difference.
(17:23):
It's enough inspiration for meto try and pick this up and run
with it and see what we can do.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
Well, big, big thanks to you and Opinion for going
out there and representing SEPAat Earthshot 2024.
And obviously, for your visionin the first place for seeing
this as something that would bea great thing for us and our
members to get involved in.
So you're doing a great job.
Speaker 5 (17:44):
Thanks.
I must give props to JerryBridge Butler as well, because
it was, I think, to be fair tosay it was primarily his vision
that got us involved in thefirst place.
Since then we've we've becomean official nominator and I've
been able to get more involved.
But respect to Jerry for forhaving the the idea in the first
place.
Speaker 4 (18:04):
Cheers.
Speaker 5 (18:04):
Nope, thanks Lee.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
We'll see you next time.
Two IPs in a.
Two IPs in a.
(18:32):
Two IPs in a.
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