Tiny particulates or noxious gases: From the day they are born, all people are exposed to a range of environmental forces. These forces constitute the exposome and affect the health and wellbeing of people around the world. A European research project has been set up to explore how the exposome affects the course of lung diseases. The microelectronics specialists at Fraunhofer IZM are on board and have developed a unique sensor bracelet that can pick up even tiniest concentrations of more than 40 individual harmful substances. The collected clinical data will show how these affect the lives of patients and may feed into more targeted and customised treatments.
First Solar, Inc. (Tempe, Arizona) plans to invest approximately $270M in a dedicated research and development (R&D) innovation centre in Perrysburg, Ohio. The new facility is believed to be the first of its scale in the United States and is expected to accelerate American leadership in the development and production of advanced thin film photovoltaics (PV).
Canatu (Vantaa, Finland), a leader in advanced CNT for automotive and semiconductor industries, announced the closing of a €18M funding round, led by long-standing investors 3M Ventures, the venture capital arm of 3M, Ascend and eFruit International Inc. New investors to Canatu also included Minth Group Ltd., Nordea, and Varma. With this latest funding round, the company has raised a total of €74M in financing since 2008.
