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Helena operates projects around the world. The projects have one goal: to identify solutions to global problems and implement them.
\n"}},"copyBlock":{"eyebrow":null,"mainCopy":"\n"},"randomQuote":[{"quote":{"quoteText":"What you risk reveals\r\nwhat you value.","author":"Jeanette Winterson","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}}],"sidePopups":{"popups":[{"popupId":"the-projects-have-one-goal","title":"Helena Projects are individual efforts to address societal problems.","content":"The purpose of Helena is to search the world for solutions to global problems, analyze these potential solutions to figure out whether they should be implemented, then actually implement them via the most efficient and effective method possible. Helena Projects are how we do this.
\nEach Helena Project is an individual and custom effort. Our role is to use whatever methods, resources and strategies are the most effective way to achieve the goals of the project.
\nIn order to execute Helena Projects, we have created, led and funded projects in their entity, conducted original and/or internal research, utilized original content and earned media to tell a project’s story, worked internationally to convene and coordinate stakeholders in business, academia and politics, and joined forces with or acquired existing organizations.
\nIn cases in which the most effective strategy to implement a project requires action from the business community and capital markets, Helena has invested in or created businesses, formed strategic joint ventures or utilized project-specific operators to aid in an existing business’ growth trajectory. In cases in which the most effective strategy to implement a project requires non-profit, educational or legislative action, Helena has led non-profit projects across multiple disciplines, ranging from electrical grid security to deliberative democracy polling.
\nWe are both field and method agnostic. When considering whether to take a project on, our sole consideration is whether the solution works and whether Helena has the ability to implement it in a constructive and unique way.
\nWe are influenced by a project’s expected impact, feasibility and relevance to pressing global issues of the next 50 years, irrespective of whether the project differs from past efforts, norms, or proves our assumptions wrong.
\nThe Helena Membership is core resource for how Helena Projects are implemented. Alongside Helena’s team, Helena Members have developed the ideas for projects, they have led projects, funded them, advised them, and much more. Member involvement in Helena Projects is highly dynamic and case-by-case. In the same way that each Helena Project is viewed as a custom and unique effort, why and how Helena Members become part of them is similarly distinctive.
\nThis model — in which a highly diverse group of effective leaders is organized around a rigorous search for solutions to critical problems without a preconceived agenda — is a core differentiating factor of Helena.
\n"},{"popupId":"more-projects","title":"More Projects","content":"Helena’s purpose is to implement solutions to global problems through the most effective methods, resources and strategies available for each unique effort.
\nIn some cases, the best way for us to make a difference is to dedicate a major portion of our resources to a given project — whether that is creating and leading a project entirely and/or utilizing significant operational, financial or temporal commitment to implement a solution. Projects that fit this general description are listed above.
\nIn some cases, Helena’s involvement with an effort is still significant, from operational and/or financial involvement to advisory, strategic or domain-specific implementation, but amounts to Helena fitting in through a comparatively more diversified approach. These projects are listed below.
\n"}]}}}}},"pageContext":{"id":123,"topProjects":[{"id":"cG9zdDoyMTgz","databaseId":2183,"title":"America in One Room","slug":"america-in-one-room","link":"https://www.helena.org/projects/america-in-one-room/","date":"2020-11-05T01:58:28","excerpt":"ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT POLITICAL EXPERIMENTS IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
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\n\n
The result was America in One Room: a historic project that brought together the most representative sample of the electorate in U.S. history.
\n","eyebrow":null}}]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":[{"type":"Image","text":"America In One Room was one of the most significant political experiments in U.S. history.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_7850-3-1-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/05011236/IMG_7850-3-1-scaled-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"For the first time, a representative microcosm of the entire American electorate was brought together to a single location.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_6758","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/01194828/IMG_6758-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"With respect and nuance, they deliberated on the most pressing and polarizing political issues facing the country. ","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_6852 (2)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23022018/IMG_6852-2-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Through a process called deliberative democracy polling, the historic group met in small, representative sessions","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_8456","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23022614/IMG_8456-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"and in collective plenary forums with a bipartisan group of political leaders and Presidential candidates. ","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_7892","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23031320/IMG_7892-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"The result was an unprecedented, scientific look at \"the will of the people\" -- what Americans really believe when given the chance to think deeply and engage with different opinions.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_7844","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23174407/IMG_7844-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"We believe this process is a key solution to structural governance issues of the 21st century.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_8074 (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23174508/IMG_8074-1-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"Project Overview","title":"America in One Room","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"The New York Times Report on America In One Room","size":"large","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"NYT_article_graphic_3072px","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23201316/NYT_article_graphic_3072px.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_InstagramtwitterEmbed","instagramtwitterEmbed":{"url":"https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/1182018186146979840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1182018186146979840%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fhelena.org%2Fprojects%2Famerica-in-one-room"}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"America in One Room was one of the most significant political experiments in U.S. history. For the first time ever, a scientifically accurate microcosm of the entire country was brought together to deliberate on and address the critical issues facing the nation.
\n\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/1113591816?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"
A stratified random sample of 523 registered voters, recruited by NORC at the University of Chicago, was identified out of millions of Americans through a rigorous scientific process in order to represent the political, cultural, and demographic diversity of the American electorate.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_InstagramtwitterEmbed","instagramtwitterEmbed":{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/B3KwMgDnoAJ"}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Helena brought each American to a single location — a resort in Dallas, Texas. For four days, the delegates participated in an unprecedented deliberation on the critical issues facing the United States.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_7432","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/22214007/IMG_7432-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_6684 (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/22214021/IMG_6684-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In a process called “deliberative democracy polling”, the 523 participants began by taking an in-depth questionnaire, stating their views on five key issue areas identified in earlier polling as most vital to the 2020 presidential election.
\nThe group was then given a 60-page briefing document, prepared and vetted by a distinguished group of policy experts from across the political spectrum. The document was balanced with arguments for and against specific policy proposals across the five issue areas.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PdfEmbed","pdfEmbed":{"file":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/22225032/CDD_2019A1RBriefingBooklet-1.pdf"}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"During the ensuing 4 days, the America in One Room group vigorously and respectfully deliberated on these polarizing issues with one another.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://pmd.cdn.turner.com/cnn/big/politics/2019/09/23/america-in-one-room-political-discussions-lah-newday-dnt-vpx.cnn_2812007_768x432_1300k.mp4","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Their discussions took place in two formats: moderated, representative small group settings and evening plenary sessions, where the group convened as a single unit to ask live questions to 2020 presidential candidates and a bipartisan selection of experts and political figures ranging from the former White House Chief of Staff and former leaders of the National Security Council, Congressional Budget Office and White Economic Policy advisory.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_7850 (2)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/01184407/IMG_7850-2-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Image","video":"https://vimeo.com/515459052/29685b8451","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_8488 (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/22212131/IMG_8488-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"At the end of the final day, the group took the original questionnaire again.
\nThe outcome was a landmark data set that represented the “will of the people” — what Americans think about values, candidates, and policy issues when given the chance to think deeply, engage with different opinions, and deliberate in a fact-rich and respectful environment.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/515459052/29685b8451","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The results showed dramatic changes in opinion. The most polarizing policy proposals, whether from the left or the right, generally lost support, and a number of more centrist proposals moved to the foreground. Crucially, proposals that were further on the right typically lost support from Republicans and proposals that were further on the left typically lost support from Democrats.
\nHelena and Stanford published the project’s data publicly.
\nWhat ensued was a worldwide response that included a special report from the New York Times and global leaders including Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton citing the project as a needed mechanism to mend structural problems in modern democracy.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Bill Clinton discussing America in One Room at Georgetown University","size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/515531794/2b2a23a823","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Gallery","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"cnn during a1r screenshot","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23000340/cnn-during-a1r-screenshot-1.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"nyt a1r post-event oped screenshot","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23001322/nyt-a1r-post-event-oped-screenshot-1.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"salon a1r rosenberg screenshot","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23001302/salon-a1r-rosenberg-screenshot-1.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"538 a1r screenshot","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23001705/538-a1r-screenshot-1.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen Shot 2021-02-22 at 5.16.32 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23001736/Screen-Shot-2021-02-22-at-5.16.32-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen Shot 2021-02-22 at 4.57.09 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23001341/Screen-Shot-2021-02-22-at-4.57.09-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen Shot 2021-02-22 at 4.49.42 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23001332/Screen-Shot-2021-02-22-at-4.49.42-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"nyt upshot portraits screenshot","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23001314/nyt-upshot-portraits-screenshot-1.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen Shot 2021-02-22 at 4.56.11 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23001339/Screen-Shot-2021-02-22-at-4.56.11-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_InstagramtwitterEmbed","instagramtwitterEmbed":{"url":"https://twitter.com/FareedZakaria/status/1183469374654435328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1183469374654435328%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fhelena.org%2Fprojects%2Famerica-in-one-room"}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"A year later, on election day of 2020, the New York Times released a second report on America in One Room. Revisiting and re-polling the 523 person sample, researchers demonstrated that the project enacted enduring changes in the sample’s political values.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen Shot 2021-02-22 at 3.00.14 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/22220230/Screen-Shot-2021-02-22-at-3.00.14-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"We believe that deliberative polling is a mechanism to address some of the structural problems facing not just the United States but democracies globally.
\nHelena is working to realize a future in which this process becomes more fundamental to how democratic nations consider and make decisions.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_7064 (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/01200337/IMG_7064-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}}]},{"eyebrow":"Origins","title":"Musical Chairs","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"America in One Room was born from a mistake.
\nOn December 3rd, 2017, Helena Member Nicolas Berggruen was hosting the ceremony for the annual Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture at the New York Public Library. In attendance was Helena CEO Henry Elkus as well as James Fishkin, Professor of Communication and Professor of Political Science at Stanford University, the Director of Stanford’s Center for Deliberative Democracy, and a Helena Member (though not at the time).
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":" RUTH BADER GINSBURG HUDDLES WITH NICOLAS BERGGRUEN AND FELLOW AWARD JURISTS AFTER RECEIVING THE 2019 BERGGRUEN PRIZE.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Fourth Annual Berggruen Prize Gala Celebrates 2019 Laureate Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg In New York City – Inside","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/01193717/1x-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The problem for Professor Fishkin was that his name was nowhere to be found on the guest list. Serendipitously, the person who was supposed to occupy the seat next to Henry never made it to the event, so Fishkin, having shown the apologetic staff his personal invitation from Berggruen himself, was given that chair, and he and Henry began talking.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Jim Fishkin A1R First Email","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23011817/Jim-Fishkin-A1R-First-Email.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In 1988, Fishkin originated the concept of what he called Deliberative Polling. The germ for it came from a book by then-Princeton professor Larry Bartels titled Presidential Primaries and the Dynamics of Public Choice. Fishkin was persuaded by Bartels assertion that, according to Fishkin, our primary system is “unrepresentative and unthoughtful. It’s arbitrary in sequence of states, and it’s a kind of sound bite campaign where nobody can really think in any depth.”
\nFishkin, who has Ph.Ds in both Political Science and Philosophy, then tried to think of ways to fix it. His solution became the Deliberative Poll.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Helena Member Jim Fishkin","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"polling_fishkin_news","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/01191318/polling_fishkin_news.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The methodology for a Deliberative Poll is as follows:
\n— A questionnaire is given to a randomly selected, representative sample of a particular electorate. The questionnaire can focus on any number of issues, and the electorate represented can be of any size. The key is that the sample represents the electorate accurately; the more demographics taken into account, the better. Theoretically, this baseline is indicative of the general opinions of the country as a whole.
\n— A subset, itself also representative, is then recruited to be brought together in one location. The rest of the original sample is the control group.
\nThose participating in the event are given balanced, non-partisan briefing materials on whatever issue(s) they were polled on. These materials are comprehensive and vetted by experts of every ideology to ensure accuracy.
— The participants arrive at the event, where they are split into small discussion groups with trained moderators. In these groups the participants discuss the issue(s) among themselves and construct questions to be posed in a town-hall setting (called plenary sessions) to participating experts and policy-makers.
\n— The event concludes with a final questionnaire that is identical to the first. Theoretically, this final poll is indicative of what the country’s general opinions would be, were the entire electorate informed and engaged. It should be noted, too, that media coverage of the event is absolutely necessary, since the goal of a Deliberative Poll is to have a consequential impact on policy, and the only way to do that is through attention and visibility.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"The result is perhaps the most nuanced and accurate view of what can be called “the will of the people.\""},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"At the heart of deliberative polling is the belief that, with enough open and honest communication, it is possible for even the most ideologically disparate people to engage with each other respectfully and to find common ground.
\nIts scientifically-validated process gives participants the time, space, resources, and conditions to think deeply on issues. The result is perhaps the most nuanced and accurate view of what can be called “the will of the people.”
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"18th century philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau is credited with developing the concept of the \"volonté générale,\" or \"the will of the people.\"","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"800px-Jean-Jacques_Rousseau_(painted_portrait)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23012042/800px-Jean-Jacques_Rousseau_painted_portrait.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"A few months after the Berggruen event, Fishkin emailed Helena a white paper he had written titled “Proposing a 2020 Election Reform: The National Caucus.” In that paper, he detailed his ambition to execute a Deliberative Poll in the leadup to the primary process of the 2020 presidential election, and was looking for Helena to put it together.
\nHis proposal was for the largest Deliberative Poll in United States history, populated with a sample that would represent the entire United States electorate, that would engage with society’s most fraught, divisive issues.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"But none of that would have an impact if the project wouldn’t get seen."},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"For the event to be a success, the list of requirements was extensive.
\nFor the science, Helena would need to find a delegation that was representative of the whole of the American electorate; to produce unbiased, curated briefing materials on the most complex issues in the public discourse; and to recruit a bipartisan advisory committee of scholars and policy experts to vet the materials and engage with the delegates in the plenary sessions. But none of that would have an impact if it wouldn’t get seen. Just as important were acquiring the media partners covering to cover the event and the messaging expertise to give the event traction and momentum leading up to it. And, of course, the capital to put the whole thing on.
\nBut the potential benefits were immense. Scientifically, it would provide the most accurate, insightful data both on the country’s present opinion and on where that opinion might shift given more education and information—data that was particular valuable given that it was leading into an election year.
\nAnd by executing it on the scale and with the visibility Fishkin envisioned, it would be seen worldwide, offering a way to actively fight against political polarization and partisanship, to promote unity, civility, and thoughtful democratic discourse. A national Deliberative Poll could help inform politics on every level, from state and local elections to international governmental policy.
\nHelena agreed to make the event happen, and America in One Room—at the time called the National Caucus—commenced.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"The Planning Phase","title":"Making It Happen","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The first thing Helena did upon agreeing to pursue the National Caucus was set up meetings to secure the capital. Luckily, this was completed in just a matter of weeks, since what the project proposed — a scientifically-validated way to reinvigorate the primary process and promote cohesiveness and collaboration — was sorely needed and would provide significant, tangible benefit to the current political environment.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/516414228","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"From there, the Helena team organized weekly calls to stay on top of the project. The calls started small but grew as different teams were brought in to handle different functions and lasted more than a year, from winter of 2018 through the event in September of 2019. Originally, there was Helena; the Stanford team, led by Fishkin and his colleague, Helena Member Larry Diamond, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford University; and Dan Werner of By The People Productions, who had collaborated with Fishkin on past Deliberative Poll productions.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Larry Diamond at America in One Room with Helena CEO Henry Elkus and Helena COO Samuel Feinburg","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_7480 (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/01194418/IMG_7480-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"We thought finding the venue would be tricky.
\nIt would need to comfortably host 500 people, with enough individual meeting rooms for all the small discussion groups, as well as a hall large enough for everyone to come together, and it would ideally be located in roughly the middle of the country, to remain as fair as possible for all delegates traveling. But it took little time to find the perfect location: the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Inside the Gaylord Texan Hotel","size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_6758 (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23015944/IMG_6758-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"A sprawling property with 1,800 rooms, almost half a million square feet of meeting space, plenty of large halls, and located minutes from the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, the Gaylord Texan Resort checked all the boxes. It also had every amenity—from 10 on-site restaurants (though food was provided) to a 4,000 sq. ft. fitness center with private jogging trail—to make the weekend as pleasant for the delegation as possible.
\nTo handle recruiting the 500-person representative sample—the participants in the Deliberative Poll, who were called delegates—as well as the 800-person representative control group, Helena partnered with NORC at the University of Chicago, an objective, non-partisan research institution that is the most thorough and credible organization for census taking and tracking in the country.
\nNORC broke down the nation’s electorate with respect to age, gender, race and ethnicity, educational attainment, political party identification, geography, and other dimensions that corresponded with the American registered voter population benchmarks from the November 2018 Current Population Survey or the 2018 General Social Survey. Then, once the electorate had been broken down and the relative proportions for each category identified, NORC used stratified random sampling to randomly select the participants from the groups of people that fit each category. This way, NORC ensured that the participants and control groups were both perfect microcosms of the electorate as a whole. Along with hotel accommodations, delegates were given airfare, meals, and an honorarium for their time.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_6902 (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23202657/IMG_6902-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The team confirmed that the five issues the delegates would be deliberating on were the economy, the environment, foreign policy, healthcare, and immigration. In order to aid in their deliberations, each delegate was sent a briefing booklet with information on each of these five issues, as well as common points of contention, discussion, and arguments for and against. It was imperative that these documents be as robust, accurate, and balanced as possible, so Helena recruited leading political and academic minds on both sides of the aisle to ensure veracity and impartiality in all materials created and distributed.
\nThis group was called the Advisory Council, and it was populated by 15 members from across political and ideological spectra.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_GallerySlider","gallerySlider":{"title":"Meet The Advisory Council","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":"Jane Mansbridge / Charles F. Adams Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, author of \"Beyond Adversary Democracy”","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"6.15.09-Mansbridge-for-HKS-website-1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/05013244/6.15.09-Mansbridge-for-HKS-website-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Bruce Ackerman / Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science: Yale Law School","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"dae37d78","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/05012728/dae37d78-scaled.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Katherine Spillar / The Feminist Majority & Ms. Magazine","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"17d2128c","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/05012722/17d2128c-scaled.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Norman Bradburn / Tiffany and Margaret Blake Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at Univeristy Chicago Harris School, Booth School, Department of Psychology, and College; Senior Fellow: NORC at the University of Chicago","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"16506e34","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/05012717/16506e34.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Kristen Clarke / President & Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Bio-Picture-768×513","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/05012716/Bio-Picture-768x513-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Lanhee Chen / David and Diane Steffy Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution and Director of Domestic Policy Studies and Lecturer in the Public Policy Program at Stanford University","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"b57f9e9c","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/05012713/b57f9e9c-scaled.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Luis R. Fraga / Rev. Donald P. McNeill, C.S.C., Professor of Transformative Latino Leadership, Joseph and Elizabeth Robbie Professor of Political Science, Director of the Institute for Latino Studies, and Fellow at the Institute for Educational Initiatives at the University of Notre Dame","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"3d37b26a","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/05012708/3d37b26a.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Irasema Coronado / Director of Transborder Studies: Arizona State University","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Irasema-Coronado-1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/05013240/Irasema-Coronado-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Eleanor Smeal / President of the Feminist Majority Foundation and former President of the National Organization for Women (NOW)","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"cc81a50a-e1566428349829","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/05012707/cc81a50a-e1566428349829.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Robert M. Shrum / Helena Member, Director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics and the Carmen H. and Louis Warschaw Chair in Practical Politics at the University of Southern California","link":"members/robert-m-shrum","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"Robert M. Shrum","title":"robert-m-shrum-1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/29223318/robert-m-shrum-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Bill Galston / Ezra K. Zilkha Chair: Brookings Institution Governance Studies Program","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"b367446c-1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/05012703/b367446c-1-scaled.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Benjamin Ginsberg / Partner: Jones Day","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"bginsberg","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/05012659/bginsberg.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Alexandra Rojas / Executive Director: Justice Democrats","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"bc020d49","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/05013237/bc020d49-scaled.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Pete Peterson / Dean of the Pepperdine University School of Public Policy","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"141481_Pete-Peterson-Headshot","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/05013233/141481_Pete-Peterson-Headshot-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Peter Goldmark / Former President of Rockefeller Foundation, Former Chairman and CEO of the International Herald Tribune, Former Director: Climate and Air Program for Environmental Defense","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Peter_C._Goldmark_Jr._2017-07-22","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/05012657/Peter_C._Goldmark_Jr._2017-07-22.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In the lead-up to the event, the delegates and control group were both given the initial questionnaires, then the briefing materials were sent to the delegates for them to review beforehand.
\nFor the findings and results of a Deliberative Poll to be consequential, they need to be seen and understood by the public. In the lead-up to the event, Helena worked to establish media partnerships and to develop a publicity strategy that would generate momentum before the event, faithfully record during it, and provide results and analysis post-event that were both accurate and widely disseminated.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Going Live","title":"The Event","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"On September 19, 2019, 523 delegates arrived at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_7060 (2)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23021633/IMG_7060-2-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"They received their schedule, another copy of their briefing materials, a badge with just their first name and hometown, and then got in line to have the portrait taken by The New York Times. There was a welcome ceremony — at which Fishkin, Diamond and Elkus spoke — dinner, and the proceedings began.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_6852 (2)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23022018/IMG_6852-2-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Over the next three days, the delegates’ schedules were packed with a combination of Small Group Sessions, Plenary Sessions with issue experts, and Plenary Sessions with candidates.
\nSmall Group Sessions: There were seven small group sessions over the course of the weekend: one introductory meeting, one final meeting at which delegates shared their reflections and took their final surveys, and five discussion meetings, one for each issue. Each group was between 11 and 15 people, from all different backgrounds, and each had a trained moderator.
\nThe issue meetings were 90 minutes long. They would open with a brief summary video on the issue to be discussed, and then discussion and deliberation would begin. Delegates had their briefing booklets, so arguments were informed and fact-rich. The small group sessions concluded with each group collectively crafting questions to ask the speakers in the plenary sessions, which incentivized cooperation, as well as a deep understanding of the issues in order to ask good questions.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Gallery","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_6882 (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23022501/IMG_6882-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_6888","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23022457/IMG_6888-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_7021 (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23022453/IMG_7021-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_7074","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23022449/IMG_7074-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_6985","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23022445/IMG_6985-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_8366","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23022441/IMG_8366-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_8456","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23022614/IMG_8456-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_8385","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23022432/IMG_8385-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_8527","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23022353/IMG_8527-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Plenary Sessions: There were five plenary sessions with issue experts over the course of the event—one for every issue, just like the small group sessions. Each session was hosted by Ray Suarez, former host of Inside Story on Al Jazeera America and current John J. McCloy Visiting Professor of American Studies at Amherst College, and featured two (or three) experts on the given issue, each representing a different point of view.
\n\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Ray Suarez hosting a plenary session.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_7676","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23022915/IMG_7676-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"
The delegates had opportunities to interact directly with the speakers through the questions they formulated in their small group sessions. The experts ranged from former White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough to Judy Feder, Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University and former Dean of the Georgetown Public Policy Institute.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Gallery","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_7452 (2)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23031223/IMG_7452-2-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_7534","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23031210/IMG_7534-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_7892","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23031320/IMG_7892-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_8113","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23031302/IMG_8113-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_8074 (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23031234/IMG_8074-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_7934","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23031314/IMG_7934-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_8318","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23031258/IMG_8318-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_8607","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23031252/IMG_8607-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_8107","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23031308/IMG_8107-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_8276","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23031518/IMG_8276-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_7558","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23202839/IMG_7558-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_8324","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23031524/IMG_8324-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The final responsibility of the delegates before departing was to re-take the original survey, just as they had done months before.
\nThere were 9 policy questions on immigration; 8 on the environment; 10 each on healthcare, the economy, and foreign policy; there was also a series of more ideological questions, such as whether taxes should be kept low, whether public officials care about what the public thinks, and whether their own political opinions were worth listening to.
\n\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Measuring The Will of the People","title":"The Results","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"
The results of America in One Room showed that American voters, regardless of political ideology or any of the other demographic breakdowns NORC used, are capable of keeping open minds and trying to find concordance on even the most divisive of issues. Across the board, delegates tended to soften their more extreme views, with the most polarizing proposals on both sides generally losing support, and the more moderate ones gaining it.
\nImmigration
\nThe debate on immigration included several proposals that elicited a more welcoming position on both legal and illegal immigration. This change was mostly due to a softening of the opposition expressed by Republicans in their initial surveys.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A1R-Immigration-Data-for-Web-101119-1200×933","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/12005014/A1R-Immigration-Data-for-Web-101119-1200x933-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The Economy
\nOn certain economic issues, Democratic support dropped for potentially expensive government programs such as increasing the federal minimum wage, guaranteeing universal basic income and covering the cost of college tuition at public universities for all students who could not otherwise afford it. Meanwhile, support for expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit to more middle-class workers increased, especially among Republicans and Independents.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A1R-Economy-Data-Data-Viz-for-Web-101119-1200×933","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/12005146/A1R-Economy-Data-Data-Viz-for-Web-101119-1200x933-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Health Care
\nSimilar to what was observed in the economic proposals, support dropped among Democrats for potentially expensive healthcare programs such as Medicare for All, while support for some more centrist proposals–such as increasing the federal subsidies in the Affordable Care Act that help the poor, expanding these federal subsidies to the middle class, and ensuring that people should have reasonable access to health insurance regardless of pre-existing conditions–all rose across party lines. Support for repealing the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), a conservative proposal, dropped among Republicans.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A1R-Healthcare-Data-Viz-for-Web-101119-1200×933","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/12005303/A1R-Healthcare-Data-Viz-for-Web-101119-1200x933-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Foreign Policy
\nOn foreign policy, Republicans increasingly supported a number of internationalist proposals, including the US rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, reaffirming its commitment to defend any NATO ally attacked by a hostile force, and recommitting to the Iran Nuclear Agreement. Delegates overall also reaffirmed the importance of soft power by increasing support for using diplomacy and financial support to promote democracy and human rights.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A1R-FP-Data-Viz-for-Web-101119-1200×933","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/12005418/A1R-FP-Data-Viz-for-Web-101119-1200x933-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The Environment
\nOn the environment, delegates increased their majority support for rejoining the Paris Agreement, and even for exceeding the cutbacks in greenhouse gas emissions the Paris Agreement sets forth. In both cases, the increases were primarily from Republicans. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions using taxes and market incentives saw the strongest post-event support; however, the goal of requiring zero carbon emissions for cars, trucks, and buses lost support, especially among Democrats.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A1R-Enviro-Data-Viz-for-Web-101119-1200×933","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/12005752/A1R-Enviro-Data-Viz-for-Web-101119-1200x933-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}}]},{"eyebrow":"America in One Room's Aftermath","title":"Response","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The results and story spread across the international press.
\nAmerica in One Room was on the front page of the October 13th print edition of The New York Times, with a feature article accompanied by a spread of every portrait taken of the delegates. It is an arresting image; the journalist Emily Badger, the article’s author, describes the collection: “Together, their faces are a portrait of the American voter.”
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"An America In One Room participant portrait by Chad Batka for the New York Times (Image credit: The New York Times)","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"oakImage-1570830715087-jumbo","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23203216/oakImage-1570830715087-jumbo.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"It was featured in numerous publications both local and national, from the BBC, USA Today and the Christian Science Monitor to Vanity Fair, Salon, and FiveThirtyEight. It was the focus of multiple CNN segments, as well as an eight-part Snapchat video series. President Barack Obama tweeted a link to the Times piece with the caption “Here’s an interesting read—a reminder that behind every opinion lies a human being with real experiences and a story to tell. Sometimes we’ll agree and sometimes we won’t, but if we want our democracy work, listening to each other isn’t optional.”
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"“Together, their faces are a portrait of the American voter.”"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"What seemed to resonate even more strongly than the quantifiable significance of America in One Room was the emotional significance. Delegates returned home more inspired, more open-minded, and more motivated to actively participate in the democratic process, both local and national.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":"https://vimeo.com/515843888","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_8360","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23183104/IMG_8360-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Across the country, articles and interviews sprang up in local papers about local citizens who participated in the event. There was “St. Joseph man listens to America” in The Herald-Palladium in Michigan. In “Cranford Resident Participates ‘America in One Room’ Political Experiment” delegate Robert Schott reflected on his experience, saying “There were all these viewpoints and, as we talked, we heard the different perspectives. We saw the impact of former policies on people, and real-life stories about cost, accessibility, and types of care. So, it was a really phenomenal conversation.”
\nThe Pikes Peak Courier in Colorado ran an interview with two residents, Bonnie Sumner and Donnie Beson, who both happened to be selected. Sumner described the end of the weekend, saying “By the end, people were hugging and kissing; you just felt so emotional, so close to these strangers talking about challenges that we all have. And is it better to try together and fix these challenges or continue to sit at opposite ends of the table and scream at each other?” Beson, for his part, was so inspired by the event he brought a copy of the America in One Room schedule to his local congressman’s office, in order to show him how possible it would be to organize a local deliberative democracy event in Woodland Park.
\nThere was “Meet the Vermonter who represented the state in a voter dialogue published in NYT” in the Burlington Free Press, “Local Reporter Participates in National Political Experiment” in the Gregory Times-Advocate, and “Bullhead City Woman Takes Part in Event to Reach Across Political Divide” in the Mojave Valley Daily News.
\nIn “Middle American – My Experience with American in One Room,” delegate Hannah Hodges Rivera describes the diversity in her group: “A middle Eastern man who served in the American military, but whose father was on our country’s no-fly list; A woman who lived just 45 miles away from me in Kentucky and disclosed that she receives Medicaid and her husband receives Medicare and she can’t work because she is the sole caregiver of her family; a quiet Midwest gentleman who didn’t reveal much other than he worked for the federal government and has a special-needs grandchild; an African American woman from Indianapolis who considered the event one of the “milestones of her life”; a gay man from Pittsburgh who was kind enough to ask everyone to join him for a drink at the bar after a long day of meetings; and a woman from California deeply concerned with providing the employees of her small business affordable health care.”
\nArticles were written by the delegates themselves. The Caledonian Record published “Sharon Fuller: America In One Room,” an account by delegate Sharon Fuller, and the Times-Republican in Iowa published “My time in America in One Room” by delegate Jodi Ash.
\nStories like these inspired Alice Siu, Associate Director at the Center for Deliberative Democracy at Stanford University, to launch an eight-part podcast called Voices of America in One Room. (Available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.) The first seven episodes will be interviews with individual delegates, and the eighth and final one will be with Daniel Lubetzky, founder of KIND LLC and a philanthropist and thinker in the civic engagement space.
\nThe data shows how people’s minds can be changed, but the bar graph does not encapsulate how meaningful it is to hear Beverly, a 74-year-old retiree from North Carolina call the experience “life-changing,” or Lauren, who works in healthcare administration in Florida, describing returning home with “a sense of confidence,” saying that the event “was a turning point in my adult life to feel like a more educated and engaged citizen. And that’s been very special for me.” America in One Room was proof that a country’s electorate can engage in thoughtful, civil, substantive discussions on any issue, no matter how polarizing. The indelible image of the event was one of empathy, its takeaway one of hope.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Further Impact","title":"Global Outcomes","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The America in One Room Project was not designed to be a one-off event; the weekend in Dallas was a way to spread Deliberative Polling, to legitimize and publicize it as a viable and worthwhile social technology. The event succeeded in this aim; it generated a swell of interest in deliberative democracy domestically and internationally. Prior to America in One Room, the Center for Deliberative Democracy at Stanford University had conducted one notable Deliberative Poll since November of 2017. Since A1R, it has conducted or announced nine of varying sizes. The two most significant of which were in Iceland and Chile.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/515843888/8da37ff717?share=copy","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In Iceland, the Poll was called Deliberative Poll-Public Consultation on the Revision of the Icelandic Constitution, and it was conducted by the Social Science Research Institute at the University of Iceland in collaboration with the Grant of Excellence project Democratic Constitution Making and the Center for Deliberative Democracy in November 2019. With revisions to the Icelandic Constitution impending, the event was focused on Iceland’s constitutional amendment process, with results brought to Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir and the Parliament to inform their subsequent decision-making.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Gallery","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":"DELIBERATIVE POLL-PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON THE REVISION OF THE ICELANDIC CONSTITUTION","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"20190926_152647503_iOS-1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/22181317/20190926_152647503_iOS-1-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"DELIBERATIVE POLL-PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON THE REVISION OF THE ICELANDIC CONSTITUTION","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"20190926_152647503_iOS","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/22181331/20190926_152647503_iOS-2.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"DELIBERATIVE POLL-PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON THE REVISION OF THE ICELANDIC CONSTITUTION","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"1170496","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/22181353/1170496-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"DELIBERATIVE POLL-PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON THE REVISION OF THE ICELANDIC CONSTITUTION","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"1170497","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/22181403/1170497-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"There were six issues under consideration: the office of President, referendums, the Court of Impeachment and Parliament’s power of indictment, amendments to the Constitution and international cooperation. As befits a national Poll, the surveyed delegation was extensive; there were 233 people in the attending sample, with roughly ten times that number answering the questionnaire.
\nIn Chile, in the wake of months of political demonstrations, plans were laid to conduct a 400-person Deliberative Poll, called Deliberación País, to address redrafting the current constitution, which was written in the transition period after Pinochet’s dictatorship. The Chilean senate committees will use the Deliberative Poll results, in conjunction with those from another poll conducted in December of 2019, to help form the terms of the new constitution.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Gallery","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":"DELIBERACIÓN PAÍS -- CHILE","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"EPeP6c9X0AAitA9 (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23171758/EPeP6c9X0AAitA9-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"DELIBERACIÓN PAÍS -- CHILE","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"j2HYf","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23171713/j2HYf-e1614100699733.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"DELIBERACIÓN PAÍS -- CHILE","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"21826226234_9ff53f92a6_o (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23171756/21826226234_9ff53f92a6_o-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"DELIBERACIÓN PAÍS -- CHILE","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Congreso-Futuro","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23171754/Congreso-Futuro.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}}]},{"eyebrow":"Lasting Effects","title":"One Year After America in One Room","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The Times Followup
\nOn the one-year anniversary of the event, the Center for Deliberative Democracy and NORC conducted a follow-up survey with the participants of America in One Room—both the delegates and the control group—to see what kind of lasting impact the event might have had (if any). The survey was also covered in a New York Times feature.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen-Shot-2021-07-29-at-2.48.29-PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/22181808/Screen-Shot-2021-07-29-at-2.48.29-PM-1.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"There were statistically-significant differences in opinion between the two groups, most notably in how they rated the government’s response to the pandemic (the delegates rated it worse), how they rated the government’s response to the public health effects (the delegates rated it worse, how they rated the government’s response to the economic effects (the delegates rated it worse), and how likely they were to vote for Trump (the delegates were much less likely).
\nIn perhaps the most telling statistic, the delegates, too, were much more likely to pay close attention to the campaigns. The Times writes: “So many of these voters one year later said they were still clinging to the memory of sitting together, disagreeing but not disparaging one another.”
\nFishkin is quoted as saying “for me, it’s proof of concept in that it shows a long-term deliberative effect is possible.”
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Ongoing Analysis","title":"American Political Science Review","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In July of 2021, Jim Fishkin and Larry Diamond, along with co-authors Alice Siu of the Center for Deliberative Democracy, and Norman Bradburn at NORC, published a peer-reviewed research paper in American Political Science Review determining that deliberative polling drives large-scale depolarization. The empirical evidence forming the basis of their conclusions was derived from America in One Room’s polling data.
\nThe paper demonstrated that participants moved toward the center across 22 of 26 policy proposals identified as extremely partisan. In 19 of these, the results were statistically significant. In addition, America in One Room had a considerable impact on the affective polarization of its participants. While partisans exhibited little change in assessments of their own party, their positive ratings of the opposing party increased dramatically. (13 points in the case of Democrats ratings of Republicans, and 14 points in the opposite scenario.) This effect was even more staggering among participants whose issue-positions were more extreme before deliberation.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In their conclusion, the authors’ issued a call to action toward innovation that makes deliberation accessible to ever-larger groups of people. The potential benefits — from increasing civic education and engagement, to combatting legislative deadlock and incentivizing policy decisions based on the informed will of the people — are hard to overstate. Helena is committed to this goal and currently engaged in ongoing efforts to make deliberation at scale a reality.
\nIn September of 2021, we conducted a follow up to America in One Room, this time focused entirely on climate change. A1R: Climate and Energy was convened online, aided by a Stanford-developed proprietary AI moderator. The event was the largest Deliberative Poll in history. 962 Americans, again recruited by NORC to represent a statistically accurate microcosm of the voting electorate, came together to discuss Net Zero policy pathways in multiple sessions over the course of 6 days.
\nAs with the original A1R, participants received comprehensive, balanced briefing materials on the issues, vetted by a bipartisan Advisory Council that included scientists, policymakers, activists, and stakeholders within the private energy sector. They met in 104 small discussion groups where they debated dozens of policy proposals and formulated nuanced questions for a diverse panel of experts.
\nAs world leaders gathered in Glasgow for the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26), A1R: Climate and Energy produced a comprehensive picture of where Americans stand on climate change when given the opportunity to think deeply about the issues in a fact-rich and respectful environment. Participants post deliberation demonstrated strong bipartisan consensus in the direction of doing more to combat climate change — positions on nearly all substantive policy questions (66 of 72) shifted in support of a wide range of actions to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (No such shift was evident in a control group of 671 Americans who did not engage in the deliberative process.) The full results can be viewed here.
\nA1R: Climate and Energy was proof of concept that the deliberative effect can be scaled to many more Americans through repeated online convenings over time and testifies (against a backdrop of divisive digital interactions and information insecurity) to the power of AI to unite, rather than divide us.
\n"}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":[{"popupId":"affective-polarization","title":"Affective Polarization","content":null}]}}},{"id":"cG9zdDoyMTUx","databaseId":2151,"title":"Shield","slug":"shield","link":"https://www.helena.org/projects/shield/","date":"2020-11-05T01:02:28","excerpt":"PROTECTING THE ELECTRICAL GRID FROM THREATS FOREIGN AND DOMESTIC.
\n","isRestricted":false,"featuredImage":{"node":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/26162714/631951main_sunspot_full.jpg","title":"631951main_sunspot_full"}},"acfProjectDetails":{"seo":{"title":"Shield","metaDescription":null,"metaImage":null},"smallerProject":null,"projectIntro":{"headline":"Shield","region":"Global","tag":"International Security","profit":"non-profit","introBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Our electrical grid is in danger – threatened by cyber attacks, solar storms, earthquakes, and more. If the grid is damaged or disabled, society will suffer greatly. Helena is working to shield it.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/514481670","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}}]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":[{"type":"Video","text":"Electricity is a fundamental need of modern civilization. We rely on it for nearly everything.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/13215010/GridProjectsLandingNoCropCompressedNew.mp4"},"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"But our grids are vulnerable. They have been built for efficiency over resiliency.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"mobile crop","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/20015028/mobile-crop-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/20014843/nasa-43563-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/20014843/nasa-43563-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/20014843/nasa-43563-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/20014843/nasa-43563-unsplash-scaled.jpg"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Video","text":"Extreme weather, cyberattacks, physical attacks, solar flares and other threats have a one in ten chance of crippling the grid during the next decade.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/19233559/ezgif-2-309d1ee70835.mp4"},"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Helena is working to shield the grid from these vulnerabilities.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"casey-horner-n7Bp8zlnhRk-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/19234021/casey-horner-n7Bp8zlnhRk-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/20015157/PowerGridClearedPhoto1-scaled.jpg"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/20015157/PowerGridClearedPhoto1-scaled.jpg"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/20015157/PowerGridClearedPhoto1-scaled.jpg"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/20015157/PowerGridClearedPhoto1-scaled.jpg"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"Executive Summary","title":"The Project: What We've Done","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Without electricity, our way of life is untenable. We rely on an uninterrupted supply of power to bring food to our supermarkets, water into our homes, and prosperity to our citizens. Even minor blackouts cause severe disruption.
\nYet the critical electric infrastructure we depend on to sustain our society has been built for efficiency, not for resilience. It is fragile.
\nOur electrical grid is constantly threatened by cyberattacks and hurricanes, solar storms and terrorist strikes, electromagnetic pulses, and earthquakes.
\nAnd the odds are not in our favor. Over the next decade, research suggests we face a one in ten chance of losing much of our grid to a solar storm – a burst of radiation from the sun that would affect the Earth’s atmosphere and compromise our power grid. In fact, Lloyd’s of London concluded that such a storm is so likely, and its effects so devastating, that it refuses to offer insurance against one.
\nThe entire grid can be shut down by destroying just nine critical transformer substations, like the one crippled in minutes by a team of armed attackers near San Jose, California in 2013.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Gallery","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"59f733bdfc7e93a6458b456d","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/13215445/59f733bdfc7e93a6458b456d.gif"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"59f733bcfc7e93a6458b456a","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/13215511/59f733bcfc7e93a6458b456a.gif"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"59f733bdfc7e93a6458b456f","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/13215530/59f733bdfc7e93a6458b456f-e1606079895978.gif"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"59f733bdfc7e93a6458b456e","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/20000611/59f733bdfc7e93a6458b456e.gif"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"It is only a matter of time until one of these events – manmade or natural – triggers a catastrophic blackout on the mainland United States. Experts estimate it would result in the loss of trillions of dollars in economic value and millions of American lives – many times greater than the losses from Hurricanes Harvey, Sandy, and Katrina combined. And with no outside force to rescue us, a country-wide blackout could last more than a year and would be next to impossible to recover from.
\nThankfully, this tragedy can be prevented – and Helena’s Shield Project is fighting to do so.
\nSince 2017, we have worked with public and private sector actors to support fundraising, educational, and operational efforts to secure the United States’ electrical grid against the threat of prolonged blackout.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A 2017 TEDx talk by Helena COO and Executive Director Sam Feinburg on Grid Insecurity","size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGan5NwJ-LM&t=645s","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Helena’s educational efforts have successfully resulted in the drafting, introduction, and passage in the California State Senate of two bills designed to protect the electrical grid – SJR 20 and SB 1076.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A 2019 Helena Update on the Shield Project: Washington DC","size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/1147420651","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Following this State success, the project supported two successful Presidential Executive Orders.
\nBut while the victories have been welcome, the job is not done. Until we fully harden the electrical grid, our power remains one storm, solar flare, or keystroke away from going out.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"large","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"nasa-43563-unsplash (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/04235030/nasa-43563-unsplash-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}}]},{"eyebrow":"Origins","title":"Project Background","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In 2013, as part of the National Infrastructure Protection Plan, sixteen sectors were identified as comprising the country’s critical infrastructure. They were Agriculture and Food, Chemical, Commercial Facilities, Communications, Critical Manufacturing, Dams, Defense Industrial Base, Emergency Services, Energy, Financial Services, Government Facilities, Information Technology, Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste, Public Health and Healthcare, Transportation Systems, and Water and Water Treatment Systems.
\nThese were chosen based on the criterion that if any one of them were to be significantly disrupted, the societal consequences would be both severe and pandemic.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"The financial services industry is a major element of the United States' critical infrastructure.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"mirza-babic-eYZpTMc7hno-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/20002958/mirza-babic-eYZpTMc7hno-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"But what if they were all to collapse? If the failure of just one would lead to almost irreparable societal harm, what would the failure of all sixteen lead to? It is a scenario that, while seemingly outlandish, is unsettlingly possible, because each one of those systems is critically and immutably reliant on one thing: electricity.
\nTelecommunications satellites and law enforcement; sewage and refrigerators; gas pumps, banks, production factories; hospitals. Without power, they all fail. No running water or complex food production. No internet or credit cards. No advanced medical care or ambulances. Cars and trucks would be useless in days. Cell phones would be fragile paperweights; computers would be typewriters with two-hour lifespans and no printing capabilities. In 2011, the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant melted down because there was no power to cool the reactors after tsunamis disabled the area’s electrical grid. Almost overnight, our society would be transported back to the 1800’s.
\nThe reason this scenario is even possible is that our country’s electrical infrastructure is exceedingly vulnerable. Our electrical grid is constantly threatened by cyberattacks and hurricanes, solar storms and terrorist strikes, electromagnetic pulses, and earthquakes, any one of which can cause a long-term (potentially months, even years) blackout. And the odds are not in our favor. Besides the everpresent threat of a cyberattack, hurricane, or earthquake, each decade, we face a one in ten chance of losing much of our grid to a solar storm – a burst of radiation from the sun that would overload and cripple our electrical grid’s EHV transformers. (In fact, Lloyd’s of London concluded that such a storm is so likely, and its effects so devastating, that it refuses to offer insurance against one).
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Preeminent global insurance market Lloyd's of London does not offer insurance against solar storm threats to the electrical grid. ","size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"boris-stefanik-q49CgyIrLes-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/20003312/boris-stefanik-q49CgyIrLes-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The damage of such a blackout is practically incalculable. Economically, it would easily cause trillions of dollars in damage. Lloyd’s of London estimated that a blackout isolated just in the Northeast, lasting a matter of days or weeks, would cost at least $1T. But that pales in comparison to public health. Some experts have put the potential loss of life in the millions.
\nHardening the grid is neither difficult nor prohibitively expensive. From installing modifications like faraday cages, capacitor banks, surge arresters, and EMP-hardened battery chargers and generator controls, to monitoring where parts are being manufactured or simply expanding the amount of spare parts kept on-site, there are plenty of ways to physically harden the country’s infrastructure. The cost is debated, but it is generally placed somewhere between $2 and $12 billion. Not a small sum, to be sure, but a fraction of the societal cost of a poorly timed solar flare or cyberattack.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Research Phase • July, 2017","title":"Origins","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In July of 2017, Helena Executive Director and COO Sam Feinburg read an article in “The World If” section of The Economist titled “If an electromagnetic pulse took down America’s electricity grid.”
\nIt described the nightmarish scenario in which an EMP device were detonated above Nebraska, resulting in exactly the kind of horrifying effects detailed above. What was particularly terrifying—and perplexing—to Sam was how susceptible the country was. If this threat was real – and so easily solvable – why hadn’t we done anything about it?
\nIn August, Helena led a meeting between a small group of our members to try to answer this question. The issue of grid security was raised, and members reacted with the same incredulity Sam had; bewildered that a threat this severe could exist in developed economies without drawing government attention and remedial regulation.
\nSo Helena decided to investigate whether a potential grid shutdown:
\n1) Would cause an critical level of harm and disruption
\n2) Had a non-trivial probability of occurrence and
\n3) Was within our financial and technological capabilities to prevent.
\nFrom that analysis, the Shield project began. The first step of Shield was its research phase. Helena and a select group of our members interviewed experts from NASA, NOAA, USGS, the CIA, Stanford University, the Congressional EMP Commission, the RAND Corporation, and the United States Congress to investigate threats to the US electrical grid.
\nThree areas of consensus emerged from these meetings:
\n1) A prolonged loss of electric power due to a partial or total failure of the United States’ electrical grid would result in an extremely high magnitude of harm to American society.
\n2) The probability of such a prolonged loss of power is non-trivial.
\n3) This potential catastrophe is avoidable; it is well within our financial and technological means to prevent through simple grid hardening.
\nWe then conducted an analysis of the current state of affairs around grid hardening in the United States. We researched and spoke with a cross-section of public, private, and nonprofit entities with varying opinions, positions, and activities related to grid security and hardening.
\nOur aims were to investigate:
\n— What other efforts to solve the problem currently existed, and whether Helena could add anything non-duplicative to those efforts, either as a partner or an independent actor.
\n— Why those existing efforts had not succeeded in fixing the problem; what mistakes had been made, and how Helena could avoid making them.
\n— The avenues to potential success in hardening the grid and the relative merits and demerits of each.
\nDuring our research, four reports stood out as being of particular significance in the field. They came from the Congressional EMP Commission, Lloyds of London, the National Academies of Sciences, and the RAND Corporation.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PdfEmbed","pdfEmbed":{"file":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/14003350/empc_exec_rpt.pdf"}}}]},{"eyebrow":"Beginning Action • 2017-2018","title":"Strategy and California Legislation","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"It became clear that the ongoing vulnerability of the electrical grid was neither inevitable nor new. Hardening technology had existed for years, it was not prohibitively expensive, and a handful organizations and special interest groups had already been trying to make progress in the space but had been largely unsuccessful.
\nThis begged the question of why. The electrical grid’s vulnerability was a potentially existential issue for the country. It was also eminently solvable. Why had so little been done? Helena examined the various efforts existing organizations had made over the years to secure the grid, and attempted to identify why prior efforts had come up short.
\nOne clear failing was in the messaging and communications used to describe the issue. For some reason, despite its importance, the grid security problem was often unknown or not taken seriously. Its advocates – often highly passionate and technically competent – had struggled to escape a perception that their concerns were overblown or unserious.
\nWhat was also evident from these examinations was that the most effective approach to grid security would most likely be legislative. Between the utilities, power companies, and state and federal governments, electrical grid security is a knot of bureaucratic responsibility, and resolving those entanglements requires legislation.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Helena Member Bob Hertzberg is the Current California State Senate Majority Leader and Former Speaker of the California State Assembly.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Robert_Hertzberg-1-e1530324520243","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/04232823/Robert_Hertzberg-1-e1530324520243.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"So Helena began preliminary educational outreach work. We met with state and national legislators and agencies. We held extensive meetings with public regulators, private corporations, nonprofit entities, other stakeholders, and Helena Members including California State Senator Robert Hertzberg. Senator Hertzberg, it turned out, cared deeply about the issue and was passionate about addressing it.
\nTogether with Senator Hertzberg, Helena immediately began work on drafting two bills, which Senator Hertzberg then introduced to the California State Senate: the first was SJR 20; the second SB 1076.
\nThe first bill, SJR-20, was simple. It expressed the acknowledgement of the California State Senate that the electrical grid is under threat – from geomagnetic storms, EMPs, and more – and “urges the President and the Congress of the United States to work together to implement grid hardening measures and to help ensure our nation’s critical electrical infrastructure is protected from threats from electromagnetic pulses and physical attacks on the infrastructure.”
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PdfEmbed","pdfEmbed":{"file":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/20005705/20170SJR20_99-1.pdf"}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"It was passed unanimously.
\nThis simple resolution represented landmark progress for the grid resilience issue – the Senate of the largest State in the Union publicly declaring the legitimacy and importance of the problem gave weight and validation to those fighting for the cause.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://player.vimeo.com/video/277120879?html5=1&title=1&byline=0&portrait=0&autoplay=0","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"With the Senate unanimously acknowledging the dangers facing the grid, Senator Hertzberg introduced the second bill, SB-1076. This bill took aim at the California’s Office of Emergency Services (roughly analogous to the Federal Government’s FEMA). The OES plans state responses to disaster scenarios including terrorist attacks, earthquakes, and wildfires.
\nCuriously, at the time, a large-scale blackout or brownout across the electrical grid was not among the scenarios it planned for. (Though this was not unusual; the federal government has no such plan, nor do most states in the union.) SB-1076 directly remedied that, requiring “the State Emergency Plan to include preparedness recommendations to harden the critical infrastructure of electrical utilities against an electromagnetic pulse attack, geomagnetic storm event, or other potential cause of a long-term outage.”
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PdfEmbed","pdfEmbed":{"file":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/20005915/20170SB1076_96-1.pdf"}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"On May 29th, it, too, was passed unanimously. It was then passed unanimously in amended form by the California State Assembly 79-0, and was then passed again by the Senate 39-0.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://player.vimeo.com/video/277514622?html5=1&title=1&byline=0&portrait=0&autoplay=0","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In a matter of months, Helena had managed to pass two pieces of legislation, even after similar bills had failed in Maine, Virginia, Florida, and Texas. This legislation represented progress in California, while also setting an example for other states—and organizations—to follow. Perhaps most importantly, they showed that the issue—after remaining dormant for so long—was gaining momentum.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Federal, Military and Presidential Action • 2018-2019","title":"Executive Orders and Expansion","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"With both bills passed in California and the issue gaining more traction, Helena turned its sights nationally. Working with Helena Member R. James Woolsey, former Director of the CIA, Helena became one of the two nonprofit partners of the 2018 United States Air Force Electromagnetic Cybersecurity Summit.
\n\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and Helena Member Jim Woolsey","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"JamesWoolseyCropped","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/04232826/JamesWoolseyCropped.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"
The summit coincided with the kickoff of a DHS initiative to improve cybersecurity defenses across US critical infrastructure. In the wake of revelations that Russian hackers infiltrated U.S. electrical utilities the previous year, government officials’ statements expressed increasing concern over the vulnerability of US critical infrastructure to cyberattack.
\nThis Summit also came on the heels of the United States Department of Defense declassifying two reports relating to solar geomagnetic disturbances. The reports describe an immediate and pressing threat to critical infrastructure posed by the sun, and the insufficiency of the USA’s Federal resiliency standards.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PdfEmbed","pdfEmbed":{"file":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/20010707/REPORTgmdSTANDARDS-1.pdf"}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PdfEmbed","pdfEmbed":{"file":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/20010853/REPORTnercgmdRAD-KAPP-1.pdf"}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"From this Summit came the watershed Executive Order on EMPs signed by President Donald Trump on March 26th, 2019.
\nSigned less than two years after the launch of the Shield Project, the order uses the executive power of the US Presidency to marshal a whole-of-government response to the full spectrum of threats posed by natural and manmade EMPs.
\nIt mandates action by the Departments of Defense, State, Energy, Homeland Security, Commerce, and the Interior to prevent, prepare for, and mitigate the effects of electromagnetic threats to the US grid. This action spans private and public sector R&D, diplomatic deterrence, infrastructure hardening, and more, including mandating the Department of Defense to submit a report every three months on the status of the EMP threat, the National Guard to evaluate the country’s readiness in dealing with a multi-state electromagnetic pulse event by September, and the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to develop plans and procedures for dealing with such an event by June.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"\"If we wait until after a cyberattack or solar storm has plunged part of our nation into chaos and destruction, it will be too late to act.\""},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Hertzberg responded to the Executive Order with the following statement:
\n“If we wait until after a cyberattack or solar storm has plunged part of our nation into chaos and destruction, it will be too late to act. Last year, I worked with Helena– a new type of organization dedicated to taking on urgent societal problems – to pass SJR 20, which called on the federal government to meet this urgent need to implement electrical grid hardening measures nationwide and SB 1076, which paved the way to do so in California. I am relieved, and excited, at the news of the new Executive Order to strengthen Washington’s efforts on this critical issue.”
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"This executive order was quickly followed by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, signed by President Trump on December 20, 2019, which implemented and signed into law the provisions in the Executive Order that called on the government to harden critical electrical infrastructure against both natural and manmade EMPs.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PdfEmbed","pdfEmbed":{"file":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/20013858/PLAW-116publ92.pdf"}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Since then, the momentum has only grown, as has the visibility of the issue. While early inroads had been made mostly with an eye on EMPs (though hardening against EMPs also hardens against other threats), progress—and awareness—began to accelerate with respect to other threats as well.
\nOn May 1st, 2020, President Trump signed the Executive Order Securing the United States Bulk-Power System. The Executive Order makes stringent guidelines for what equipment can be used and installed, prohibiting “Federal agencies and U.S. persons from acquiring, transferring, or installing BPS equipment in which any foreign country or foreign national has any interest and the transaction poses an unacceptable risk to national security or the security and safety of American citizens. Evolving threats facing our critical infrastructure have only served to highlight the supply chain risks faced by all sectors, including energy, and the need to ensure the availability of secure components from American companies and other trusted sources.”
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In early 2020, a budget cut to the United States Geological Survey Geomagnetic monitoring program was put before Congress. The USGS currently operates 14 magnetic observatories spread across the country that monitor the geomagnetic field on a global scale. Chief among their many uses, is that this distribution of observatories is able to monitor and predict space-weather, which means the USGS can give an early warning for potential solar flare impacts.
\nAlthough the proposed budget cuts were not substantial, they would have required the shutting down of two of the fourteen observatories. That may not sound devastating, but the locations of the observatories had been specifically chosen, and losing just two would make the other twelve practically useless. The potential harm cannot be overstated; a lead time of just minutes can be the difference between a blackout of six months and six hours.
\nThe budget cut was rejected. USGS funding was successfully maintained, and all fourteen stations are still operating.
\nIn less than four years, Shield has taken an issue that had seen little progress in decades and brought to the the cover of the Wall Street Journal, before Congress, and onto the President’s desk.
But more needs to be done. Implementing intelligent federal resiliency standards, a greater density of micro-grids, and individual state action to harden infrastructure would offer enough protection to turn an existential catastrophe into a minor disaster. In a sweeping blackout, the difference between 30% electrical coverage and 0% could prove the difference between civilization and none.
\nWe have sat on this knowledge for years without acting. Our government first learned of the threat from electromagnetic pulses in the 1960s. In 1989, a small solar storm left millions of people without power in Quebec. In the Ukraine, cyberattacks have cut the power to hundreds of thousands of homes twice since 2015. Hurricane Maria, which hit Puerto Rico in 2017 and left hundreds of thousands of US citizens without power for months, showed how difficult it can be to restore electricity after a massive outage, even to a small and contained area.
\nIt often takes tragedy to catalyze change. If we wait until after a cyberattack, solar storm, or earthquake has plunged part of our nation into chaos and destruction, it will be too late to act. We cannot afford such complacency now. That is why Helena remains deeply committed to securing the grid.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":null,"title":null,"detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_GallerySlider","gallerySlider":{"title":"Project Contributors","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":"Dr. Martin E. Hellman / Helena Member, Turing Prize Winner and Stanford Professor Emeritus","link":"/members/dr-martin-e-hellman","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"940×940-2","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/04232827/940x940-2.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"R. James Woolsey / Helena Member, Former Director of the CIA","link":"/members/1718","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"JamesWoolseyCropped","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/04232826/JamesWoolseyCropped.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Max Tegmark / Helena Member, MIT Professor and Founder of the Future of Life Institute","link":"/members/max-tegmark","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"1_b_FOj5B53a-yNbT943SVTg-1-1-e1530338687238","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/04232824/1_b_FOj5B53a-yNbT943SVTg-1-1-e1530338687238.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Robert Hertzberg / Helena Member, Majority Leader of the California State Senate","link":"/members/robert-hertzberg","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Robert_Hertzberg-1-e1530324520243","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/04232823/Robert_Hertzberg-1-e1530324520243.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Taylor Wilson / Helena Member, Nuclear Physicist","link":"/members/taylor-wilson","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"taylorinterior-e1530335646393","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/04232821/taylorinterior-e1530335646393.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}}}]},{"eyebrow":"Recent Drone Attacks","title":"Update: Drone Attacks on Pennsylvania Substation","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"According to a report released on October 28th from the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and National Counterterrorism Center, July of 2020 saw the first reported incident of a drone attack on the US electrical grid. A DJI Mavic 2 drone, affixed with a length of copper wire, was flown at a substation in Pennsylvania, with the apparent intention of potentially short-circuiting the high voltage equipment. Thankfully, the attack was unsuccessful, and the drone crashed into the roof of a neighboring building.
\nThere is precedent for air-based attacks on electrical infrastructure. Graphite bombs, such as those used by the United States Air Force in the Gulf War and by NATO in the Kosovo war, work similarly: when they detonate, they don’t explode; they shower treated carbon filaments on electrical infrastructure, causing short-circuits. It is estimated that the USAF disabled 85% of the electrical supply in Iraq, and that NATO disabled 70% in Serbia.
\nThe DJI Mavic 2 attack is a reminder of how ever-present and asymmetric the threats to our grid can be. The drone itself is barely over a foot in width and relatively inexpensive (it can be purchased for around $1000). It is widely available and only requires a single person to operate. And yet, when paired with a simple strip of copper wire, it presented the possibility of doing substantial harm to our electrical infrastructure.
\n"}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":[{"popupId":"Critical-Infrastructure","title":"Critical Infrastructure","content":"As a people, we rely on a handful of infrastructural systems for our society to function, systems that are integral to our way of life. Our agricultural system, for example, or our transportation and communications systems. Together, they comprise our country’s “critical infrastructure,” which The Patriot Act in 2001 defined as “systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination of those matters.” The official list of the different systems that make up our critical infrastructure was most recently compiled in 2013 as part of the National Infrastructure Protection Plan. Sixteen sectors were identified:
\n1. Agriculture and Food
\n2. Chemical
\n3. Commercial Facilities
\n4. Communications
\n5. Critical Manufacturing
\n6. Dams
\n7. Defense Industrial Base
\n8. Emergency Services
\n9. Energy
\n10. Financial Services
\n11. Government Facilities
\n12. Information Technology
\n13. Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste
\n14. Public Health and Healthcare
\n15. Transportation Systems
\n16. Water and Water Treatment Systems
These were chosen based on the criterion that if any one of them were to be significantly disrupted, the societal consequences would be both severe and pandemic.
\nBut what if they were all to collapse? If the failure of just one would lead to almost irreparable societal harm, what would the failure of all sixteen lead to? It is a scenario that is unsettlingly possible, because each one of those systems is critically and immutably reliant on one thing: electricity. Telecommunications satellites and law enforcement; sewage and refrigerators; gas pumps, banks, production factories; hospitals. Without power, they all fail – in 2011, the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant melted down because there was no power to cool the reactors after tsunamis disabled the area’s electrical grid. No running water or complex food production. No internet or credit cards. No advanced medical care or ambulances. Cars and trucks would be useless in days. Cell phones would be fragile paperweights; computers would be typewriters with two-hour lifespans and no printing capabilities. Almost overnight, our society would be transported back to the early 1800’s.
\nElectricity is arguably our civilization’s most important asset, and an extensive, reliable, and resilient electrical grid is vital to our country’s continued prosperity. However, although the extent and reliability of the national grid have been steadily increasing, its resiliency has not. The grid is, at present, highly vulnerable to a host of potential threats from a variety of sources, from cyberwarfare to solar flares, from ballistic EMP devices to inclement weather.
\n"},{"popupId":"How-the-Grid-is-Vulnerable","title":"How the Grid is Vulnerable","content":"The Failure of Grid Transformers: What Happens and Why It Matters
\nA main vulnerability of the national electrical grid stems from its reliance on Extra-High Voltage (EHV) transformers to get electricity from producers (power stations) to consumers.
\nIn its lifecycle, electrical current usually must pass through EHV transformers at two specific points: the first is at the point of production, where Generator Step-Up Transformers increase the voltage of electricity so that it can be transmitted long distances; and the second is at the point of distribution, where Substation Step-Down Transformers decrease the voltage of electricity so that it can be distributed and used by consumers.
\nThe transformers at both of these nodes are critical, since without them the power produced would be either intransmissible or undistributable—either way rendering it inconsumable. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) estimates that 90% of the country’s consumed power passes through an EHV transformer at one or both of these nodes.
\n
If a transformer fails, the national grid is designed to compensate for it—its electrical load is rerouted to adjacent transformers until the failed transformer can be reactivated. This interconnectedness, however, has a potential drawback: when a transformer shuts down and its power is reallocated, the same amount of current is then flowing through fewer transformers, amplifying the strain on those transformers and increasing the likelihood that they, too, overload and fail. This can have a domino effect, called a cascading power failure.
\nConsequently, just a few malfunctioning transformers can have repercussions that extend exponentially over large geographical areas. The Northeast Blackout of 2003, for example, which affected over fifty million people in the northeast United States and Canada, was the result of a cascading power failure that started with the disruption of three power lines in Ohio – allegedly due contact with tree branches.
\nAccording to a study by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, taking down just 9 of the most critical transformer substations could lead to a cascade of shutdowns that would disable the entire electrical grid of the United States.
\nThe average age of installed transformers is almost forty years old, and replacing them – particularly in the event of a blackout where large numbers were damaged – would be immensely difficult, if not impossible. They weigh anywhere from 100 to 400 tons (20,000 to 80,000 pounds), have production costs in the millions of dollars (the large quantities of copper and electrical steel alone account for more than half of this), and, because many of them are unique in their design, must be custom-built substation by substation.
\nAnd the manufacturing of transformers is rarely done domestically; although the United States’s domestic production capacity is increasing, it still must import the vast majority of its EHV transformers from Germany and South Korea. Due to all of these factors, installing a new or replacement EHV transformer can require a lead time of more than twenty months.
\nThe national grid employs over 2000 EHV transformers, and they are connected to 6000 power plants, 390,000 miles of transmission lines, and 200,000 miles of high-voltage lines in an expansive, intricate web. All told, the asset value in the North American electrical grid is more than $1T.
\n"},{"popupId":"Cyberattacks","title":"Cyberattacks","content":"As technology has developed, the national electrical grid has become increasingly interconnected and automated. (And with the ongoing development of the Smart Grid—an initiative to overlay the existing grid with computing and communications systems in order to automate grid monitoring, routing, and allocating—this trend will only increase.) While this is beneficial in many ways, an increase in automation means an increase in cyberwarfare susceptibility.
\nCyberattacks present the threat of both short- and long-term grid failure. To cause failure in the short-term, a cyberattack can deactivate a portion of the grid remotely without physical damage; in this scenario, power can generally be restored relatively quickly, but the financial damages are still significant. Ukraine was hit by a cyberattack in 2017—called the NotPetya attack—that affected government, financial, and energy institutions and resulted in damages in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
\nIn a more domestic example, Lloyd’s of London and the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Risk Studies issued a report called “Business Blackout” in 2015 that imagined a scenario in which a coordinated cyberattack shut down enough substations to cause a 15-state cascading blackout in the Northeast United States. The duration of the blackout was short—days for some areas, a few weeks at the most—but the estimated losses were greater than $1T.
\nSince a cyberattack often results in a remote agent gaining digital control of a physical system, permanent, long-term damage to the grid can be inflicted nearly as easily. In the Aurora Generator Test in 2007, the Idaho National Laboratory used two lines of code to de-synchronize a power generator’s circuit breaker operations. Less than three minutes later, the generator exploded due to the stress caused by the unsynchronized breakers.
\nThe US-Israeli Stuxnet worm, deployed to hinder Iran’s nuclear development and discovered in 2010, destroyed almost 1000 uranium-enriching centrifuges while at the same time disguising its existence by giving false readings on the Iranian technicians’ control panels. In Ukraine two years before the NotPetya attack, hackers remotely took control of three power distribution centers, shutting down almost sixty substations and the power to 230,000 people.
\nThe fact that the hackers deactivated but did not destroy the substations influenced some analysts to conclude that the intention of the attack was to send a message rather than to inflict harm, since once the hackers had control of the power centers, it would have been relatively simple for them to overload and permanently cripple the substations instead of simply switching them off.
\nCyberattacks are particularly troubling because they represent asymmetric threats that are difficult both to predict before they occur, and to trace after. The attack on Ukraine in 2015, for example, has still not been definitively attributed (though it is widely believed that it was of Russian origin, due to tensions over Crimea). Actors can work alone or in coordinated teams, from locations concentrated or disparate, under the banner of a nation, an organization, a cause, or no banner at all.
\n"},{"popupId":"Natural-Weather-Events","title":"Natural Weather Events","content":"Natural Weather Events and Their Effect on the Grid
\nNatural disasters pose as much of a threat to the United States’s electrical infrastructure as they do to its physical one. After Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in September of 2017, the damage to the territory’s electrical system was so extensive that the territory requested $17B in aid solely for grid repairs. By June of 2018, more than eight months later, the territory was still two months away from full power restoration, and even the areas that did have power remained vulnerable to intermittent rolling blackouts. In that time, according to a study conducted by researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, more than 4,645 people died due to a lack of food, water, and medical care. (The official death count for the storm is just 64.)
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/13234740/Puerto_Rico_at_night_before_and_after_Hurricane_Maria-300x150.jpg\")
Even normal weather conditions can have far-reaching consequences. The Northeast Blackout of 2003—the second biggest blackout in history, affecting over fifty million people in the northeast United States and Canada—was the result of a cascading power failure that had its genesis when a few power lines in Ohio, overburdened with both snow and electrical load, sagged into tree branches and short-circuited. The Wall Street Journal estimated that between 2011 and 2014, there were more than seven hundred instances of “weather-related” damage to electrical infrastructure.
\n"},{"popupId":"Solar-Storms","title":"Solar Storms","content":"Coronal Mass Ejections (CME)
\nThe sun, with great regularity, launches bursts of magnetized plasma from its surface. These bursts are called coronal mass ejections (CMEs), or solar storms. Because they are shot indiscriminately, they occasionally strike Earth. Most of these collisions are relatively benign—their only noticeable effects are the beautiful borealis or australis aurorae near Earth’s magnetic poles—but massive CMEs are occasionally released as well. If a massive CME were to hit our atmosphere, the effect would be almost identical to the detonation of a massive high-altitude nuclear electro-magnetic pulse: current would flood the country’s transmission lines and destroy much of its electrical infrastructure.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/13235030/Earth_to_Scale_short_500-300x300.gif\")
There is historical precedent for this. In 1859, a solar superstorm—later called the Carrington Event—struck Earth. It overloaded the North American and European telegraph systems and saturated the air with enough current that messages could be sent without connection to a power source. In 1989, the entire Canadian Province of Quebec lost power due to a much smaller (but still significant) solar storm. In 2012, a CME at least as large as the Carrington Event missed Earth by astronomical inches.
\nOnce the sun releases a CME in Earth’s direction, there is nothing that can be done to block or divert it, so, we are constantly playing a society-wide game of chance that the next massive CME doesn’t happen to fly in our direction. Lloyds of London, an insurer, issued a report
\nRefusing to insure against solar superstorm impact because the insurer determined the likelihood of that eventuality too high, and the risk too great. (It estimated the initial damages to infrastructure to be roughly $2T, and that was without accounting for the second order effects of disruption to business, communication, and other basic societal functions.) Physicist Pete Riley of Predictive Sciences Inc., in a paper published in Space Weather in 2014, estimated that there is an approximately twelve percent chance of a Carrington-level solar storm striking in the next ten years. And the simplest statistic—and the most widely-disseminated one—is that a solar superstorm should hit Earth roughly every 150 years. (The Carrington Event, unnervingly, was 159 years ago.) The threat, inarguably, is existential.
\n"},{"popupId":"Terrorist-Strikes","title":"Terrorist Strikes","content":"In 2013, a small team of terrorists crouched in the hills around the Metcalf substation just outside San Jose, California and fired their AK-47 assault rifles through the chain-link fence at the transformers inside. They crippled seventeen transformers in nineteen minutes and were never apprehended. In 2016, a fifty-seven year-old man fired four bullets into the radiator of a transformer at the Buckskin substation in Utah; the transformer soon overheated and failed. Although the damage inflicted from both of these attacks was eventually reparable, the success and relative ease of the attacks themselves demonstrated how vulnerable so many of the grid’s individual infrastructural pieces are to simple, crude acts of terrorism.
\nAs was mentioned earlier, the grid was designed to withstand isolated transformer failures (neither of the two incidents above resulted in any noticeable difference to consumers). However, the extent of the grid’s vulnerability becomes evident when the number of incapacitated transformers grows. This is because there exists some tipping point—a critical number of inoperable transformers—where the rerouted electrical load would suddenly become too much for the remaining, functional ones to bear. That critical number is up for debate (and obviously depends on which transformers go down, since not all substations are equally load-bearing), but, according to an internal study by the FERC, the number could be as low as the number of transformers in just nine substations. (That is to say, there exists a certain combination of nine substations that, if sabotaged, could cause a complete grid collapse.) Thus even a small, fledgling terrorist organization is theoretically capable of executing a devastatingly asymmetric attack: it would need coordinate just nine attacks similar to the one on Metcalf to potentially collapse the entire national grid.
\n"},{"popupId":"Electromagnetic-Pulses","title":"Electromagnetic Pulses (EMP)","content":"What EMPs Are and How They Work
\nAn EMP is a surge of electromagnetic energy that can overload electronic equipment, disrupting or even destroying the equipment depending on the intensity and frequency of the surge. EMP weapons have been in various stages of development and testing since the 1960’s, and high-altitude nuclear EMP weapons (HEMPs) probably represent the most comprehensively-destructive threat to the national electrical grid.
\nWeaponized EMPs can be nuclear or non-nuclear. Nuclear EMP (NEMP) produces gamma ray energy and has three components: E1, E2, and E3. E1 is fast-acting and intense (it is over in 1000 nanoseconds), with a relatively small pulse radius (small enough, in fact, that the effect of E1 from a surface blast is generally lost since the physical blast from the nuclear warhead probably incinerated almost everything E1 would affect); E2 is a little slower and acts like lightning (and is therefore largely protected against); E3 is the slowest but potentially farthest-reaching, and it can induce power surges that travel along transmission lines and overload transformers.
\nNon-nuclear EMP weapons (NNEMP), or radio-frequency weapons, do not produce gamma ray energy and have much smaller pulse radii and energy capacities, but they are a much more ubiquitous threat. They are easier to acquire, easier to transport, and easier to launch, and can therefore come from a much wider variety of sources than NEMP, and to small, precise targets, they can be just as devastating.
\nThe most efficient way to attack the national electrical grid would be with a high-altitude EMP (an HEMP); a nuclear warhead detonated a few hundred kilometers above the Earth’s surface, in low Earth orbit. At that height, the gamma radiation released from the detonation would become trapped in the Earth’s magnetic field and would create an oscillating electrical current that would sweep out in an expansive circle many times greater than the blast radius. A blast 400km above Kansas, for example, would emit a pulse that would cover the entire continental United States. That height is commonly reached by rockets; the International Space Station, for example, floats in low Earth orbit.
\nEMP is unique among all the threats to the grid in its destructive capacity. This is because the E1 component from an HEMP – as distinct from the purely E3 component released by a coronal mass ejection from the sun – would damage small electrical items rather than large, infrastructure-scale electric wiring. This means an HEMP would disable most electronic devices – from smartphones and laptops to cars and radios, unleashing colossal societal damage.
\nThe EMP Commission, first established in 2000 and then re-established in 2016, has repeatedly emphasized both how existential the EMP threat is, and how catastrophic its impact would be. (In the last five years alone, North Korea has launched two separate satellites into low Earth orbit on almost the exact trajectory to maximize the pulse radius of an HEMP blast.) In a famous statistic from its 2008 Report, it estimated that up to 90% of the US population would die as a result of the societal collapse that would occur from a year-long national blackout.
\n"}]}}},{"id":"cG9zdDozMjQ0","databaseId":3244,"title":"Phaidra","slug":"phaidra","link":"https://www.helena.org/projects/phaidra/","date":"2023-08-07T18:30:13","excerpt":"DEEP-LEARNING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR THE WORLD’S MOST ENERGY INTENSIVE MACHINES TO OPTIMIZE THEMSELVES.
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\nIn addition to capital, Helena is providing strategic support to facilitate widespread adoption of a technology we believe represents a new frontier of AI – one that will dramatically augment human capabilities across diverse fields and applications in the coming years.
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Machine","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"On March 16, 2016 in Seoul, South Korea, the development of advanced AI reached an apex on the board of a 4,000 year-old game called Go. AlphaGo, a program designed by a London-based machine learning company called DeepMind, had just beaten Lee Sedol, an 18-time world champion, in a five-match tournament, four games to one.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"LEE SEDOL DURING THE ALPHA GO MATCH IN MARCH 2016","size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"maxresdefault","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07024216/maxresdefault.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"On the surface, this would not appear to be news. Computer programs had been outmatching human players in gaming scenarios for almost two decades when the AlphaGo victory occurred. In fact, the moment had its earliest antecedent in the supercomputer Deep Blue’s 1997 victory over world chess champion Garry Kasparov. Chess, however, is a “closed game,” meaning there is a large but finite set of possible moves in any given situation.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"KASPAROV DISCUSSING DEEP BLUE AND HIS OUTLOOK ON THE FUTURE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN A 2017 TED TALK.","size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP8xt8o4_5Q&t=1s","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"To beat Kasparov, Deep Blue’s designers had supplied it with a huge number of previously played games. For each of Deep Blue’s moves, it searched its database for similar situations, then played the move that gave it the best odds of winning based on its data. Deep Blue’s computational power was impressive (it could evaluate close to 330 million positions a second), but it did not actually understand the game of chess. It couldn’t develop novel tactics, creatively problem-solve, or improvise. In computer science terminology, Deep Blue could only use brute force.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"\"In Go, there are more possible moves than atoms in the universe. It is impossible for a program to brute-force its way through it.\""},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Go, however, is not a closed game. Once considered one of the “four arts of the Chinese scholar,” it rewards strategy and imagination. There are more possible moves than atoms in the universe, so it is impossible for a program to brute-force its way through it. According to DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, “if you took all the computing power in the world and ran them for a million years, that wouldn’t be enough compute power to calculate all the possible variations.” What DeepMind did instead was load AlphaGo with the rules of the game and a small data set – just 10,000 games played between amateur players. The team then designed a neural network that allowed AlphaGo to not only recognize, but learn.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://player.vimeo.com/video/739370454?","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Then AlphaGo played. It played thousands of games, both against human opponents and itself. And, as it played, it improved. This is called reinforcement learning. By the time AlphaGo played Sedol, it could use creativity and guile, could improvise and innovate. With deep learning, AlphaGo showed that advanced AIs can surpass humans even in complex, multivariable decision-making.
\nSince AlphaGo’s success, DeepMind has advanced its deep learning capabilities. The current iteration is MuZero, which can master board games like Go and chess, as well as visually complex Atari games, all without being told the rules. As determining constraints has become part of its learning process, human intervention has become less and less necessary–even counterproductive.
\nThe point of Deep Blue was to win at chess. DeepMind’s goal for AlphaGo was more ambitious. Hassabis described the intention like this: “our mission is to fundamentally understand intelligence, and recreate it artificially. And then once we’ve done that, we feel that we can use that technology to help society solve all sorts of other problems.”
\nIn 2019, two DeepMind employees decided to do just that. Jim Gao, a Team Lead at DeepMind Energy, and Veda Panneershelvam, who was on the AlphaGo team – along with Katie Hoffman, an Innovation Senior Manager at Ingersoll Rand – decided to use their collective expertise to combat climate change through industrial automation.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"The Energy Stakes","title":"Complexity Exceeding Human Intelligence","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The industrial sector is the world’s largest energy end-user. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the industrial sector accounted for 33% of total U.S. energy consumption. The IEA puts the number at 30% globally, including 42% of the world’s electricity and 37% of its natural gas consumption. And as the global population grows and further industrialization occurs, the energy consumption necessary to maintain these growth trends will only increase.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://player.vimeo.com/video/739061342?","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"This situation is untenable. We are already in a global energy crisis. The world’s energy demand is already putting a great strain on its natural resources, with some groups estimating we have roughly 50 years left of both oil and natural gas. And current renewable energy infrastructure, an absolute necessity to mitigate climate change, does not have the capacity to keep up with the forecasted growth in demand. For context, according to a 2020 Princeton study, to address just the U.S.’s energy needs renewably – until new energy sources are powering the grid – would require a land area equivalent to Wyoming and Colorado combined, just for wind and solar farms. From every angle, the world needs to become more energy efficient.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":" THE COMPLEXITY OF HEATING AND COOLING THE MODERN INDUSTRIAL WORLD -- FROM CITIES THEMSELVES TO DATA CENTERS AND PAPER AND PULP DIGESTERS -- OUTMATCHES THE CAPABILITY OF THE HUMAN BRAIN.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"jezael-melgoza-layMbSJ3YOE-unsplash-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07025209/jezael-melgoza-layMbSJ3YOE-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"But industrial processes are remarkably bad at efficiency.
\nAs industry has become more complex, its machinery and networks have become larger and more sophisticated, exceeding the capacity for traditional, human methods of oversight. Take, for example, a typical paper digester in the paper and pulp industry. The amount of data it produces is staggering: inflow volume and admixture, temperature, chemical consumption, steam pressure.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://player.vimeo.com/video/739061818?","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Almost all of these outputs require monitoring in real-time as the digester operates. A single person – or, at best, a small team of people – is in charge of analyzing all of this data, and then making informed, live decisions on how to optimize the system. But human computational power is severely limited. What industrial processes need, then, is a program that can take all that data, analyze it, learn from it, and decide best courses of action. They need an advanced, self-learning AI.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":" The Solution","title":"Phaidra","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Phaidra designs AI tools for complex industrial systems that are customizable to the industry and plant, that use reinforcement learning to adapt and improve, and that are autonomous, so the changes and modifications can be made in real-time.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://player.vimeo.com/video/739062605?","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Phaidra already has a high-profile success story. Created and led by Phaidra founder Jim Gao, the DeepMind Energy team developed an AI to monitor and optimize Google’s data center cooling.
\nData centers are a huge energy consumer; in 2020, they accounted for 1% of global electricity use. The Energy AI began in 2016 as a recommendation system; the team designed a system of deep neural networks to analyze and recommend to its human operators modifications and adjustments. The results were tremendous: 40% reduction in energy used for cooling, and a 15% reduction in overall Power Usage Effectiveness for the center as a whole.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"DATA CENTERS REPRESENTED 1% OF GLOBAL ELECTRICITY USE IN 2020 AND CONTINUES TO RISE AS A PORTION OF PLANETARY ENERGY DEMAND.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"brecht-corbeel-qtx68-0Qlbs-unsplash-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07025520/brecht-corbeel-qtx68-0Qlbs-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"But that was just the beginning. In 2018, they made the system autonomous, which meant it could self-optimize. Within a matter of months, the system was consistently delivering around 30% energy savings.
\nGoogle’s data centers were already some of the most efficiently run centers in the world. They had brilliant people monitoring them, with streams of data and metrics. They were, in a sense, the Lee Sedol of data center operations. Which means the improvements Gao’s DeepMind Energy team made were essentially improvements on peak human capability: its AI was 30% better than the best humans after just a few months.
\nA year later, in 2019, Gao, Panneershelvam, and Hoffman launched Phaidra.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"AN EXAMPLE OF PHAIDRA'S CUSTOMER INTERFACE, IN THIS CASE MONITORING MULTIPLE CHILLER PLANTS.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen-Shot-2022-07-20-at-2.21.16-PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07025612/Screen-Shot-2022-07-20-at-2.21.16-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Phaidra builds on DeepMind’s advances in AI and applies them to the industrial sector, including applications in pharmaceuticals, paper and pulp manufacturing, chemical manufacturing, and data center cooling. It provides a closed loop control system that is configurable to each customer’s plants and needs. It uses a learned model of the plant operation to evaluate billions of possible actions, then implements the best one automatically.
\nThe results for the customer: lower energy costs (Phaidra targets 15-30%), a more stable process (up to 70%), and less equipment runtime (up to 50% reduction). Plus, the system will improve the longer it is in use.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://player.vimeo.com/video/739063102?","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Helena was the largest investor in Phaidra’s $25 million series A round of funding and is currently supporting the company’s commercial expansion. At global scale, these results vector toward the exponential, leading to a marked reduction in energy consumption in the world’s most energy intensive sector while liberating resources – and critically, limited renewable resources – for use in other arenas.
\n"}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":null}}},{"id":"cG9zdDozNjI3","databaseId":3627,"title":"Helena Biosecurity","slug":"helena-biosecurity","link":"https://www.helena.org/projects/helena-biosecurity/","date":"2024-04-09T16:57:59","excerpt":"UNDERSTANDING AND ADDRESSING GLOBAL THREATS FROM AI-ENABLED BIOLOGY.
\n","isRestricted":false,"featuredImage":{"node":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/04/09193901/biovind_llc_cover-scaled.jpeg","title":"biovind_llc_cover"}},"acfProjectDetails":{"seo":{"title":"Biosecurity in the Age of AI | Helena Projects | Helena","metaDescription":null,"metaImage":null},"smallerProject":null,"projectIntro":{"headline":"Biosecurity in the Age of AI","region":"Global","tag":"Biosecurity","profit":"non-profit","introBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Imagine a world where the capacity to manipulate the building blocks of life, currently the domain of elite scientists and multi-billion-dollar projects, becomes accessible to anyone with a high school education and an internet connection.
\n\n
As rapid advancements in the fields of biotechnology and artificial intelligence converge, this scenario – once considered the realm of science fiction – is quickly approaching reality.
\n\n
In 2003, an international team of researchers achieved a significant milestone in biological research, successfully mapping over 92% of the first whole human genome and creating an unprecedented blueprint for the study of human biology. The Human Genome Project took over a decade to complete and cost nearly $3 billion. Today, the same feat can be achieved in a few weeks for a few hundred dollars.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"In 2003, scientists mapped the first whole human genome","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Human Genome-1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/03/27011141/Human-Genome-1.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"The democratization of gene sequencing, alongside corollary advancements in gene synthesis, has and will continue to accelerate medical innovation. As biotechnology tools collide with emerging AI capabilities, they will also unlock a new and potentially devastating risk frontier by expanding our collective capacity to create and release potent biological weapons.
\n\n
To reduce this risk, we need proactive regulation, coordinated global strategies, and resilient institutional responses. COVID-19 demonstrated the catastrophic consequences of a reactive global stance toward biological threats.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"GettyImages-1231652396-1-1600×900","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/03/27011846/GettyImages-1231652396-1-1600x900-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"As our technologies become more and more powerful, enabling the creation of increasingly transmissible or deadly biological agents, reactive measures are no longer appropriate. It is critical that we act now to guardrail the Biological frontier and prevent irreversible ripple effects of exponential technologies left unchecked or under-regulated.
\n","eyebrow":null}}]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":[{"type":"Image","text":"Explosive advancements in biotechnology are enabling humanity to engineer life itself","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Featured Image-Biosecurity-2","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/03/04161945/Featured-Image-Biosecurity-2.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"This advancement holds the promise of powerful scientific discovery for good – and for ill ","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Featured Image-Biosecurity","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/03/04162053/Featured-Image-Biosecurity.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"With each passing year, more and more people are empowered to create medical breakthroughs","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"national-cancer-institute-zz_3tCcrk7o-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/04/04175234/national-cancer-institute-zz_3tCcrk7o-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"And harmful biological agents","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Map,Of,Coronavirus,(covid-19),,Close-up,Countries,With,Covid-19,,Covid,19","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/04/04164540/shutterstock_1675085026-scaled.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Harnessing the power of these technologies for good while preventing catastrophe will require wise and proactive approaches","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Featured Image-Biosecurity-1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/03/27111937/Featured-Image-Biosecurity-1.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Helena is working with governments, technical experts, and the private sector to unlock the best of innovation without sacrificing our safety","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"HELENA_ 124","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/04/04190138/HELENA_-124-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"A Rapidly Evolving Field","title":"The AI x Bio Nexus","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The Human Genome Project revolutionized our understanding of DNA and ushered in a new era in genetic exploration. Similarly, the fields of gene and recombinant protein synthesis – the processes by which designed sequences are transformed into physical instantiations – have undergone groundbreaking changes leading to increasingly lowered barriers to entry in synthetic biology. (Like sequencing, gene synthesis is orders of magnitude more affordable than ever before.)
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Gene synthesis is more accessible than ever before","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Gene Synthesis","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/03/27012249/Gene-Synthesis.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"These developments will impact a diverse array of sectors, with notable benefits for virus identification and pandemic response. However, the democratization of biological tools and knowledge, propelled by the integration of AI tools like LLMs, will also empower a growing number of actors with the capability to create or enhance pandemic-scale biological threats. Consider the following example:
\nIn a recent academic exercise, an AI chatbot assisted graduate students in identifying four potential pandemic pathogens, issued step-by-step “lay-person” instructions for virus generation, and directed students toward companies that could manufacture synthetic DNA sequences for the purposes of engineering and producing these pathogens. The entire exercise took an hour to complete. While such a set of instructions could not enable an untrained actor to engineer a pandemic-capable pathogen today – and it is possible that with additional training and time, the same results may have been achieved without AI – the example showcases the potential of technology to “upskill” individuals without relevant subject matter expertise or experience. By leveraging a small slice of well-intended research, ongoing technological advancement will also increase the overall “ceiling” of harm by rendering pathogens more transmissible, deadlier, and/or more able to evade existing vaccines or therapies than their natural counterparts.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Bio warfare research exposes deadly pathogen mutations generated by AI. Photo courtesy of Vecteezy.com","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Bio warfare research exposes deadly pathogen mutations generated by AI","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/03/27013442/vecteezy_bio-warfare-research-exposes-deadly-pathogen-mutations_25120742-scaled.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"AI-enabled biology has and will continue to furnish world-changing breakthroughs for human health and disease management, offering opportunities in pandemic preparedness, cancer detection and treatment, and chronic disease management. It also poses significant challenges. As innovation progresses and industry accommodates demand at the AI Bioconvergence nexus, Helena is working to evaluate biosecurity risks, recommend safeguards, and advocate for enhanced, collaborative efforts to mitigate against emerging threats.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Sounding the Alarm","title":"Deep VZN","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In 2022, Helena became aware of critical vulnerabilities in a $125 million USAID-backed program called DEEP VZN (Discovery & Exploration of Emerging Pathogens, Viral Zoonoses). Launched in October 2021, DEEP VZN aimed to collect tens of thousands of wildlife specimens across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, characterize up to 12,000 novel viruses, and open-source the publication of their genomic sequences. The program’s stated goal was to identify pathogens with pandemic potential before they could spill over from animals to humans.
\nThe premise was well-intentioned. But the program followed a model of collaborative, open-source science that had been institutionalized before today’s tools made it possible for a far wider range of actors to weaponize such information. In a landscape where AI is rapidly lowering the barriers to pathogen engineering, publishing the genomic blueprints of thousands of novel viruses posed serious and, in Helena’s assessment, insufficiently examined risks. The program also raised concerns about laboratory safety and the potential for accidental release during fieldwork and sample processing.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/1177391244","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Helena raised these concerns with senior officials across the U.S. government, contributing to a broader coalition of scientists, biosecurity experts, and policymakers who questioned whether the program’s risks outweighed its benefits. Concerns were echoed within the Biden White House, in Congress on a bipartisan basis, and among a growing number of public health and biosecurity leaders.
\nIn July 2023, USAID quietly terminated the program. The agency cited a reassessment of its priorities and approach to pandemic preparedness, noting that investments focused on the search for and characterization of unknown viruses prior to spillover were no longer a global health security priority.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"image","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/04/25125316/image.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The effort crystallized the urgency and complexity of the biosecurity challenge at the intersection of biology and emerging technologies, and catalyzed Helena’s deeper, more sustained commitment to the field. The questions raised by DEEP VZN, about information risk, institutional oversight, and the pace at which technology is outrunning safeguards, became the foundation for the work that followed.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Biosecurity in the Age of AI","title":"The Bellagio Convening and Report","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In January of 2023, Helena undertook a 6-month biosecurity risk landscape analysis, consulting with nearly 100 experts across academia, government, technology, public health, and the private sector. A significant subset oriented us to heightened risks related to the sequencing, characterization, design, engineering, and manufacturing of genetic material and pathogens, and pointed to limitations in oversight creating biosafety risks (relating to accidental release), biosecurity risks (relating to intentional misuse), and information risks (relating to the publication or other communication of materials that could be used to cause harm).
\nRecognizing the exponential growth of emerging technologies and the imperative to urgently address novel threats, Helena convened a group of senior leaders from industry, government, think tanks, and academia to interrogate this risk landscape and pressure-test courses of action. Their conversations took place over the course of two and a half days at The Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"HELENA_ 27","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/03/27022059/HELENA_-27.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The meeting was informed by extensive review of existing policy frameworks and subject matter literature. While primarily focused on emerging threats related to AI, the group also addressed risks relating to Dual Use Research of Concern (DURC) and research with enhanced Pathogens of Pandemic Potential (ePPPs).
\nThese discussions resulted in the Biosecurity in the Age of AI Chairperson’s Statement, authored by the Honorable Mark Dybul, MD, Helena Member, with robust input from the Bellagio attendees.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Gallery","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"HELENA_ 95","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/03/27023607/HELENA_-95.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"HELENA_ 78","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/03/27023636/HELENA_-78.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"HELENA_ 45","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/03/27023730/HELENA_-45.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"HELENA_ 103","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/03/27023756/HELENA_-103-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"HELENA_ 13","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/03/27023834/HELENA_-13-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"HELENA_ 83","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/03/27110738/HELENA_-83.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The report recognized the complexity and pace of developments in AI-enabled biology and emphasized critical areas requiring further reflection, ongoing monitoring, and long-term analysis.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Biosecurity Statement Press Pull","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/04/09165600/Biosecurity-Statement-Press-Pull.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"To advance critical action in the near-term, the Biosecurity in the Age of AI Chairperson’s Statement also recommended the following key interventions:
\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
The full report can be accessed below.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PdfEmbed","pdfEmbed":{"file":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/03/27024529/938f89_74d6e163774a4691ae8aa0d38e98304f.pdf"}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Though many of those in attendance contributed their thoughts under Chatham House rule due to their positions within government, The Biosecurity in the Age of AI Report was publicly endorsed by a group of leading experts. A full list of endorsees can be found here.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Continued Efforts","title":"Impact and Ongoing Work","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The Biosecurity in the Age of AI Chairperson’s statement and related discussions have influenced U.S. executive orders on AI, Senate testimony on AI risks, and reports released in response to the UK AI Safety Summit. The team has been asked to brief a range of policymakers and industry leaders, including senior members of the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and experts such as Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"AI Exec Order","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/04/09165649/AI-Exec-Order.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Significantly reducing biosafety and biosecurity risks without meaningfully curtailing scientific progress will require a combination of immediate, concrete actions alongside long-term analysis. Helena continues to focus on governance, legislative advocacy, and creating fora for meaningful dialogue to help develop adequate, complete, and holistic approaches for a safe and resilient high-tech future.
\n"}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":[{"popupId":"gene-synthesis","title":"gene synthesis","content":"Gene synthesis is a technique in synthetic biology that involves the artificial construction of DNA sequences representing specific genes or genetic material. This process allows researchers to design and produce DNA sequences that may not exist naturally, enabling the study and manipulation of genes and their functions. This technique can be applied to various organisms, including viruses and bacteria, allowing scientists to investigate the characteristics of these pathogens and develop potential interventions or treatment, as well as understanding the role of specific genetic elements.
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\n","isRestricted":false,"featuredImage":{"node":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/10192909/071216_CC_fusion_P-e1610505552717.jpg","title":"071216_CC_fusion_P-e1610505552717"}},"acfProjectDetails":{"seo":{"title":"Commonwealth Fusion Systems | Helena Projects | Helena","metaDescription":"Helena is a new type of institution that seeks to address critical societal problems by running projects alongside its Members.","metaImage":null},"smallerProject":null,"projectIntro":{"headline":"COMMONWEALTH FUSION SYSTEMS","region":"CAMBRIDGE, MA","tag":"MAGNETIC CONFINEMENT FUSION ENERGY","profit":"profit","introBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"For the last 100 years, humanity has been working on a collective project: creating an artificial star.
\n\n
If it is successful, it would rank among the most monumental technological achievements in human history. Generating a virtually limitless supply of low-cost entirely green energy, its impact would be felt around the world and beyond: from climate change to space exploration.
\n\n
This project is to make a fusion energy machine.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"ALCATOR C-MOD, A MAGNETICALLY CONFINED FUSION DEVICE, WHICH OPERATED AT MIT'S PLASMA SCIENCE AND FUSION CENTER UNTIL 2016.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Alcator_C-Mod_Fisheye_from_Hport-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08002614/Alcator_C-Mod_Fisheye_from_Hport-scaled-2.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Fusion energy is produced when two small atoms combine to make one larger one. Unlike nuclear fission, which releases energy when a large atom breaks up into smaller ones, fusion is safe and easily controlled, with negligible byproducts, no risk of meltdowns or combustion, and almost no waste. It is, after all, how the sun generates its power.
\nSince the 1930s, scientists around the world have been working to develop a fusion machine that could generate more energy than it takes to power it. For almost 100 years, they have inched incrementally forward, but each step of progress reveals the true complexity of the problem.
\n\n
Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) may have finally shortened the timeline. Unlocking a significant breakthrough in magnet technology, CFS has brought us to the precipice of a commercial-scale fusion power plant.
\nOnce deployed, it would produce a nearly limitless grid-ready and consistent source of carbon-free energy; its fuel (deuterium and tritium, which we can derive from lithium in the oceans) are plentiful enough that they could power the world for somewhere between 30 million and ten billion years before running out.
\n\n
The potential benefits are staggering. In the near term, it could aid in averting an impending climate catastrophe. The medium and long term implications range from water desalination to universal food security to interstellar space travel.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"FUSION ENERGY AS AN INPUT TO FUEL DESALINIZATION COULD HAVE PROFOUND IMPLICATIONS ON GLOBAL WATER ACCESS.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"072019_MAIN_Dubais-huge-desalination-plant-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08002809/072019_MAIN_Dubais-huge-desalination-plant-scaled-2.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"As continued breakthroughs deliver us to the precipice of achieving net energy fusion, these scenarios, once the stuff of science fiction, appear closer than ever before.
\n\n
Helena participated in a record-breaking investment in CFS, with investors and media around the globe recognizing both the urgency and the impact of fusion energy.
\n","eyebrow":null}}]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":[{"type":"Image","text":"The universe has a preferred energy source: fusion.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"09BLACKHOLEJP1-superJumbo","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08001804/09BLACKHOLEJP1-superJumbo.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Video","text":"It’s how the stars, and our sun, generate power.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08001856/Solar.mp4"},"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"In one of the most consequential collective projects in human history, generations of scientists have been working to harness that power here on Earth.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Alcator_C-Mod_Fisheye_from_Hport-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08001954/Alcator_C-Mod_Fisheye_from_Hport-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08002003/Screen-Shot-2022-04-15-at-2.52.43-PM.png"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08002003/Screen-Shot-2022-04-15-at-2.52.43-PM.png"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08002003/Screen-Shot-2022-04-15-at-2.52.43-PM.png"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08002003/Screen-Shot-2022-04-15-at-2.52.43-PM.png"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"The result would be a commercial fusion reactor – capable of producing virtually limitless safe, low cost green energy.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"bruno-thethe-qyhLjwn6Gpc-unsplash-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08002052/bruno-thethe-qyhLjwn6Gpc-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Fusion energy wouldn’t only represent a solution to global climate and energy issues.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"massimiliano-morosinotto-0Hr2m3V_w1Q-unsplash-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08002306/massimiliano-morosinotto-0Hr2m3V_w1Q-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"It could affect a breathtaking array of fields, including how we explore the cosmos.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"bill-jelen-NVWyN8GamCk-unsplash-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08002410/bill-jelen-NVWyN8GamCk-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08002419/spacex-pnPS3Ox_2vE-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08002419/spacex-pnPS3Ox_2vE-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08002419/spacex-pnPS3Ox_2vE-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08002419/spacex-pnPS3Ox_2vE-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"We’re investing in an approach that utilizes a breakthrough in magnet technology to generate net fusion energy.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"MIT_Fusion-Magnets-01-PRESS-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08002505/MIT_Fusion-Magnets-01-PRESS-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"Fusion Energy","title":"What is Fusion?","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"For a fusion reaction to occur, two nuclei must combine to make a larger nucleus. This is difficult because the positively charged nuclei are repelled by electromagnetic force. In order for them to merge, they must therefore be moving with enough energy to overcome that repulsion and collide. (Even then, a fusion reaction is not guaranteed). The energy generated in fusion comes from the difference in mass between the initial atoms and the new atom.
\nThis process requires both extreme heat and extreme pressure. For context, solar fusion occurs in the sun’s core, where the temperature is roughly 15 million degrees Celsius. Its pressure is 100 billion times than on Earth. The sun’s core temperature transforms hydrogen gas into plasma (where negatively charged electrons are shorn from positively charged nuclei) and accelerates the nuclei, increasing their energy. At the same time, the sun’s pressure and gravitational pull keep the plasma ‘confined’, increasing the likelihood of collisions occurring.
\nFor a human-built fusion device to be successful, it must create an environment in which temperature, plasma density (pressure), and confinement time are all astrally high, despite the fact that these variables are fundamentally at odds with each other. The higher the temperature, the harder it is to maintain pressure and keep it contained.
\nAnd it must do so without expending more energy that it generates. (The ratio of energy generated to energy injected per second is “Q.” The proverbial white whale of current fusion technology is a device that breaks even, a device for which Q = 1.)
\nFusion is one of nature’s most elegant and essential reactions. But artificially creating it has been one of humanity’s most insurmountable technological pursuits. It has also been one of its most collaborative.
\nThe modern understanding of fusion dates back to 1920, when British astrophysicist Arthur Eddington theorized that the sun drew its power from the fusion of hydrogen into helium.
\nEighteen years later, in a clandestine experiment at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics’ Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, physicists Arthur Kantrowitz and Eastman Jacobs became the first to try to actually build a fusion device. The experiment was a failure – no reaction occurred – but it set the stage for the next ninety years of advances in the field.
\nIn 1950, Soviet physicists Andrei Sakharov and Igor Tamm began working on a new design called a tokamak. It resembled a large donut, and it used two magnetic fields to keep the plasma confined and compressed. Since then, many scientists have pursued advancements in fusion through the optimization of tokamak technology.
\nTokamaks are not the only way to approach fusion. The National Ignition Facility (NIF), for example, the current record holder for energy gain, uses inertial confinement. While magnetic confinement holds the plasma in place for (relatively) long periods of time in extreme temperatures, inertial confinement holds it there for very short periods, but it uses plasma that is incredibly dense in pressures that are similar to the sun’s. TAE Technologies uses a combination of hydrogen and boron instead of deuterium and tritium, Helion Energy uses compressed plasmas of deuterium and helium and Lockheed Martin uses magnetic mirrors.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"THE TARGET CHAMBER OF THE NATIONAL IGNITION FACILITY'S LASER-BASED INERTIAL CONFINEMENT FUSION DEVICE IN LIVERMORE, CALIFORNIA. (IMAGE: LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"NIF Livermore July 2008","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08003218/ca_1127nid_nif_target_chamber_online_only.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}}]},{"eyebrow":"The Tokamak Approach","title":"CFS: Magnetic Confinement Fusion","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Commonwealth Fusion Systems has its roots in the Alcator C-Mod tokamak at MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC). The structure of the Alcator is not dissimilar to other tokamaks.
\nWhen turned on, the gas in the chamber is heated using both radio waves and current conducted through oscillating magnetic fields, and the magnets keep the plasma both confined and hot.
\nOne of the greatest challenges in fusion is that, even when the conditions for collisions are perfect, a reaction does not always occur. Therefore any successful fusion device needs to generate as many collisions as possible without expending energy than the fusion reaction will produce. (In other words, it must achieve a Q value greater than 1.)
\nThe Alcator C-Mod tokamak set numerous records – including the highest volume average plasma pressure in a magnetic confinement device. In 2016, the device was placed into “safe shutdown.” To achieve the next echelon of development, the scientists at PSFC understood that the power output of a tokamak like Alcator C-Mod increases exponentially with an increase in magnet strength. What they needed, therefore, were stronger magnets.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF CFS'S HIGH-FIELD LARGE-BORE SUPERCONDUCTING MAGNET","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"MIT_Fusion-Magnets-01-PRESS-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08003326/MIT_Fusion-Magnets-01-PRESS-scaled-2.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In a moment of atomic serendipity, exciting technological developments in high temperature superconductors (HTC) emerged right around the time when the Alcator C-Mod was being retired.
\nSuperconductors are so-named because they provide no resistance to the flow of electrical current. This allows them to create very high currents and very strong magnetic fields. Most tokamaks (including ITER), if they use superconductors at all, use low temperature superconductors (LTS). LTS must be extraordinarily cold –and must remain extraordinarily cold – to allow current to pass through without resistance. HTS, on the other hand, are much more fusion friendly: they are non-resistive at higher temperatures, so they are potentially cheaper, smaller, and easier to operate; and they work across a larger temperature range.
\nThe big development, though, wasn’t the existence of HTS; it was that manufacturers were able to make them into long, flexible tapes. A team at PSFC correctly predicted that, with this new superconductive tape, they could wind and coil it in such a way to drastically increase the strengths of their magnets. The team saw this as the key to developing commercial fusion energy for the world. So in 2018, they raised $18 million to form Commonwealth Fusion Systems.
\nIn late August 2021, less than four years after it was founded, the CFS team wound 165 miles of HTS tape into 256 coils (16 layers of magnets, each with 16 coils) to make one supermagnet. They then placed the supermagnet into the “hole” of a vacuum chamber designed to replicate a tokamak, pumped helium into the chamber, and, once the magnet had been cooled enough, began charging it.
\nOn September 5, the magnet surpassed 20 Tesla. (For reference, MRI machines, which have been known to magnetically pull into their mouths the occasional chair, have a strength of 1.5T.) Not only was this the strongest magnet of its kind ever created, but it was more than 50% more powerful than the projected magnetic field strength of ITER, a $25 billion, 500 acre fusion device.
\nCreating a 20T magnetic field test was the first phase in CFS’s three phase plan to make commercial fusion energy a reality. The next phase is to employ those magnets in a demonstration tokamak called SPARC. SPARC – a pilot device, designed to prove that producing net positive fusion power (Q>1) is possible – is scheduled to be functional by 2025. Though any Q value greater than 1 would be an unprecedented success, the CFS team has higher ambitions: in September 2020, they published a series of papers in the Journal of Plasma Physics in September 2020 detailing the mechanics of yielding higher values.
\nOnce SPARC has demonstrated the feasibility of its device, CFS will move onto the final phase: bringing fusion energy to the power grid. To do this, CFS will use the SPARC design to construct commercial-scale ARC power plants. These plants will generate energy through their fusion devices (larger, more advanced versions of SPARC), then convert that energy into electricity that could be deployed immediately to the electrical grid.
\nThe plan is well under way. In late 2021, Helena joined investors including Breakthrough Energy in a more than $1.8 billion financing, the largest private investment in nuclear fusion to date. Helping lead Helena’s investment process was Member Will Jack, who, before attending MIT, worked at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory on its lithium tokamak experiment and in high school developed particle accelerators capable of carrying our nuclear fusion reactions.
\nIn 2023, CFS broke ground on a new, $300 million, 47 acre campus in Devens, Massachusetts. It will feature a 150,000 square foot research facility for the ongoing development of SPARC, as well as a 165,000 manufacturing facility to mass produce magnets for the future construction of ARC power plants.
\nCFS plans to bring the first ARC online in the 2030’s and scale their production to become humanity’s default source of clean baseload energy.
\nIn July of 2025, CFS reached another major milestone on the path to commercializing fusion energy — a landmark partnership with Google, representing the largest direct corporate off-take agreement for fusion energy.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"CFS-GoogleWeb-1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/02181754/CFS-GoogleWeb-1.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Signing on as CFS’s first customer, the tech leader agreed to purchase 200 MW of power from the company’s first operational ARC power plant. Google has also expanded its existing investment in the company’s 2021 $1.8 billion Series B round, allocating additional funding to accelerate the development and deployment of CFS’s ARC facility.
\nHelena also participated alongside other investors as part of this additional financing.
\nGoogle has a long history of forward-looking investments in innovative clean energy sources. Beyond providing crucial resources to deliver fusion power to the grid at scale, this partnership underscores the significant demand among influential market leaders for safe, abundant, and clean nuclear energy. This latest benchmark further advances CFS’s mission to begin supplying commercial fusion power by 2030.
\n"}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":[{"popupId":"alcator-structure","title":null,"content":"Deuterium and tritium fill a donut-shaped main chamber, which is confined by three sets of magnets: Torroidal field coils wrap around the donut, winding through the ‘donut hole’ and around the outer edge; poloidal field coils halo the top and bottom of the donut; and a central solenoid drops vertically into the ‘donut hole’.
\n"},{"popupId":"exponential-power","title":null,"content":"The fusion power a tokamak produces is proportional to the strength of its magnetic field to the power of four – i.e., if you were to double the magnetic field strength, the tokamak would produce 16 times the fusion power. Given that incremental improvements in magnetic field strength result in significant improvements in fusion power output, breakthroughs in magnet technology could enable appreciably more powerful and smaller tokamaks.
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This capability significantly de-risks therapeutic development, accelerates the journey of new medicines to patients, and provides critical data to unlock the potential of AI in drug discovery.
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","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"nikolett-emmert-6psIlD5l0fM-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02210301/nikolett-emmert-6psIlD5l0fM-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02211315/nikolett-emmert-K-2CZbdWPCQ-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02211315/nikolett-emmert-K-2CZbdWPCQ-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02211315/nikolett-emmert-K-2CZbdWPCQ-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02211315/nikolett-emmert-K-2CZbdWPCQ-unsplash-scaled.jpg"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"94% of drugs that demonstrate promise in preclinical testing on animals ultimately fail when they are tested in human clinical trials. ","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen Shot 2025-06-02 at 2.11.50 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02211156/Screen-Shot-2025-06-02-at-2.11.50-PM.png"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02210914/Screen-Shot-2025-06-02-at-2.09.10-PM.png"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02210914/Screen-Shot-2025-06-02-at-2.09.10-PM.png"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02210914/Screen-Shot-2025-06-02-at-2.09.10-PM.png"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02210914/Screen-Shot-2025-06-02-at-2.09.10-PM.png"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"This fundamental problem costs more than $90 billion each year in wasted resources. More importantly, it leads to incalculable human suffering and lost potential. ","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"viktor-forgacs-iDF0FXUxGhE-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02234144/viktor-forgacs-iDF0FXUxGhE-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/04/27235720/viktor-forgacs-iDF0FXUxGhE-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/04/27235720/viktor-forgacs-iDF0FXUxGhE-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/04/27235720/viktor-forgacs-iDF0FXUxGhE-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/04/27235720/viktor-forgacs-iDF0FXUxGhE-unsplash-scaled.jpg"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Video","text":"What if we could solve this bottleneck – testing and iterating drugs on humans from start to finish, without ethical or medical risk to patients? ","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02214603/Untitled.mp4"},"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Video","text":"Helena is investing in and supporting Vivodyne, a biotechnology company building that breakthrough.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02214510/My-Movie-6.mp4"},"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Vivodyne engineers living, highly-organized human tissues, giving them the capability to discover, develop, and de-risk new therapeutics with human data before human trials. ","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Copy of Vivodyne_ImmuneCell_Release","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02212340/Copy-of-Vivodyne_ImmuneCell_Release.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Video","text":"This allows for massive, automated human studies yielding realistic, reproducible, and clinically predictive data across many human organ systems – without testing on human beings or animals. ","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02213332/My-Movie-5.mp4"},"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Vivodyne’s robotic platform tests on more than 10,000+ independent human tissues at a time, automating the generation of human physiological insights at a scale and fidelity previously unimaginable. ","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Tall Copy of Multiple Arm Position","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02233317/Tall-Copy-of-Multiple-Arm-Position.png"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02204832/Copy-of-Multiple-Arm-Position.png"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02204832/Copy-of-Multiple-Arm-Position.png"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02204832/Copy-of-Multiple-Arm-Position.png"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02204832/Copy-of-Multiple-Arm-Position.png"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Video","text":"These unprecedented, AI-scale datasets are then interpreted by Vivodyne’s advanced machine learning and computer vision models to extract deep phenomic features, identify novel biomarkers, and predict clinical outcomes.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/03000249/My-Movie-9.mp4"},"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Vivodyne’s platform means a future where the development of new medicines for intractable conditions is dramatically accelerated; where the promise of AI in biotechnology is unlocked by high-throughput, human-relevant data; and where personalized therapies, designed and validated in systems that mirror our own biology, become the norm, not the exception.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"ImageJ=1.52pmin=0.0max=65535.0","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02214925/Copy-of-Vivodyne_3D_BoneMarrow-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"The Imperative","title":"The $90 Billion Crisis in Drug Discovery","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The journey of a potential new medicine from laboratory discovery to a patient’s bedside is, by many measures, fundamentally broken. We live in an era of unprecedented scientific understanding, yet this progress is consistently confronted by a stark reality: an astonishing 94% of drugs that demonstrate promise in preclinical animal testing ultimately fail when administered to humans. This is not merely a statistical hurdle; it is a systemic crisis of translation that costs society an estimated $90 billion each year in wasted resources and, more critically, incalculable human suffering and lost potential.
\nFor decades, the cornerstone of preclinical drug development has been the animal model. Therapies are optimized in mice, rats, or even primates, under the prevailing assumption that these biological proxies will adequately predict human responses. Yet, time and again, this assumption shatters in the crucible of human clinical trials. Drugs deemed safe and effective in animals can manifest unexpected toxicities or prove inert in humans, their failures often rooted in human-specific physiological nuances that animal models, by their very nature, cannot capture. The human liver endothelium may partition a biologic differently; human cytokine signaling may react in unforeseen ways; a human protease might degrade a drug with greater efficiency than its animal counterpart. The catalogue of species-specific differences is vast and consequential.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"An astonishing 94% of drugs that demonstrate promise in preclinical animal testing ultimately fail when administered to humans."},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"This crisis of translation means that patients wait longer for effective treatments, and some vital medicines may never reach them, filtered out by models that falsely predict failure. Furthermore, the transformative promise of machine learning in revolutionizing drug discovery is itself constrained by the scarcity of large-scale, physiologically accurate human data.
\nAI models thrive on such data, yet they are starved. Attempts to bridge this gap with traditional in vitro models — such as 2D cell cultures, simple organoids, or early-generation “organs-on-chips” — have largely fallen short, hampered by limited biological realism, lack of vascularization, poor scalability, and reliance on artisanal, labor-intensive processes. Fundamentally, the engine of life sciences R&D remains an anachronism in an age of exponential technological advancement.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Diagnoses with No Roadmap","title":"The Human Cost of a Failing System","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The story of Bertrand Might poignantly illustrates the human cost of this broken system. His symptoms began soon after birth — constant shaking, no eye contact, stalled development. After years of misdiagnoses, genetic sequencing in 2011 revealed Bertrand as the first person ever diagnosed with NGLY1 Deficiency, a genetic mutation preventing his cells from clearing waste.
\nUnfortunately, a diagnosis was only the beginning of further uncertainty. There was no known treatment. No scientist had studied the condition; our medical system had nothing to offer. Bertrand’s parents, Cristina and Matthew, took matters into their own hands.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Bertrand Might (Photo Credit: Matthew Might)","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"image-1-1600×900","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02221822/image-1-1600x900-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Matthew, a computer scientist, immersed himself in rare disease research, launching a foundation and building a global patient registry. Realizing that developing a new drug from scratch would take a decade Bertrand didn’t have, Matthew pivoted to drug repurposing, leveraging his expertise to simulate and screen existing FDA-approved medications. Eventually, a common heartburn drug showed a sliver of hope, reducing Bertrand’s seizures. It wasn’t a cure, but it was something wrestled from a system not built to serve him—the result of years of relentless effort few families could replicate.
\nBertrand’s story, while unique, is tragically common in its essence. Over 300 million people worldwide suffer from rare diseases. In the US, a disease is classified as rare if it affects fewer than 200,000 people. While the number of patients for any one of the 10,000 known rare diseases may be small, collectively they represent a profound failure of our healthcare system. These diagnoses—muscular dystrophies, metabolic disorders, genetic syndromes—are often debilitating and lifelong. Most are caused by a single, well-understood mutation. And yet, fewer than 5% have an FDA-approved treatment. The economics of drug development, costing nearly $2 billion and over a decade per drug, drive the industry’s focus towards conditions affecting millions, leaving patients like Bertrand underserved and highlighting an urgent need for a fundamentally better approach to discovering treatments.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Enter Vivodyne ","title":"Re-Engineering Drug Discovery, From Human Start to Human Finish","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Helena is a major investor in Vivodyne, a company founded on the premise that the future of medicine must be built on human data, from the very inception of a drug program to its final validation. Vivodyne seeks to improve the current model of drug discovery by creating a new status quo: human data, before human trials. The company has engineered a platform that discovers, develops, and de-risks new therapeutics by testing them on thousands of lab-grown, functional, and vascularized human organ tissues — automating the generation of human physiological insights at a scale and fidelity previously unimaginable.
\n\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Vivodyne co-founder and CEO Andrei Georgescu and Chief Operating Officer Julie O’Shaughnessy","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"2025-HIVE_Andrei_Julie-1600×900","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02222500/2025-HIVE_Andrei_Julie-1600x900-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"
Vivodyne’s mission is to make the development of new medicines dramatically more efficient, predictable, and ultimately, more successful. By allowing researchers to iterate, optimize, and validate drug candidates directly in human-relevant systems before the astronomical expense and ethical burden of clinical trials, Vivodyne offers a path to significantly cut the 94% failure rate, with the goal of increasing the number of life-saving therapies that reach patients.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"The Symphony of Living Human Biology, Advanced Robotics, and Predictive AI","title":"How It Works","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Vivodyne’s disruption emerges from the integration of three pillars.
\nEngineered Human Tissues with Unprecedented Fidelity
\nFirst, Vivodyne engineers living, highly organized human tissues of unprecedented fidelity.
\nAt the core of its platform are lab-grown human tissues cultivated from patient-derived primary human cells. These are not mere clusters of cells; they are complex, 3D structures, each containing hundreds of thousands to half a million cells, rendering them over a thousand times larger and physiologically relevant than typical organoids. Critically, Vivodyne’s tissues undergo developmental self-assembly, where controlled environmental cues guide cells to organize as they would in the human body, forming native multi-scale architecture comprised of organ-specific cell types, and, crucially, perfusable blood vessel networks.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A comparison of human tissue biopsy and Vivodyne's lab-grown human tissue","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen Shot 2025-06-02 at 3.30.30 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02223039/Screen-Shot-2025-06-02-at-3.30.30-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"This vascularization is essential, enabling realistic nutrient and drug delivery, waste removal, and immune cell ingress — functions indispensable for accurate biological modeling. Vivodyne has developed a comprehensive portfolio of over 22 proprietary human tissue models. These include bone marrow, airway tissues, solid tumors, placenta, liver, and pancreas, spanning oncology, immunity, and fibrosis, with fidelity consistently validated against native human organs and documented in over 25 publications in leading journals.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A human immune cell produced by Vivodyne ","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Copy of Vivodyne_ImmuneCell_Release","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02212340/Copy-of-Vivodyne_ImmuneCell_Release.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The HIVE: Vivodyne’s Automated Laboratory
\nSecond, Vivodyne deploys these tissues in their end-to-end automated laboratory – the HIVE, an autonomous robotic system that transforms biological research from a manual, artisanal craft into an industrial-scale, data-driven science.
\nEach HIVE system is a completely self-contained, BSL2+ (Biosafety Level 2+) human testing laboratory, roughly the size of an office cubicle. It fully automates every stage of experimentation: the precise injection of cells into proprietary Tissue Disks, the cultivation of up to 10,000 independent tissues to steady-state maturity, the administration of complex drug regimens, live and terminal 3D confocal imaging for tissue-scale phenomics with single-cell resolution, secretory sampling for proteomics, and tissue extraction for assays like single-cell sequencing.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Vivodyne's HIVE Laboratory System ","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Copy of Multiple Arm Position","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02204832/Copy-of-Multiple-Arm-Position.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"This end-to-end, unattended automation operates for weeks, executing vast experimental arrays with unparalleled consistency and speed. With a rapidly expanding fleet, Vivodyne’s vision is to surpass annual human testing capacity of U.S. clinical trials, creating a “human data-center” that turns what was previously artisanal lab work into a scalable discovery engine.
\nAnalysis of AI-Scale Human Data
\nThe Vivodyne platform is architected to produce a torrent of rich, multi-modal data, capturing the effect of drugs and disease on human tissue phenotype, function, and gene signaling with single-cell resolution. This data generation is managed and interpreted by a sophisticated, cloud-hosted software stack.
\n\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"6544239e8aeaa588f4963e67_Frame 1171276598 (1) (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02234451/6544239e8aeaa588f4963e67_Frame-1171276598-1-1.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"
HIVE Mind™ enables scientists to design complex, combinatorial studies with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. HIVE Control™ and its advanced Scheduler then act as the “operating system,” translating these high-level study designs into hundreds of thousands of optimized, low-level robotic actions. All raw and derived data are funneled into the Data Depot™, a unified data mesh infrastructure. Finally, Vivodyne’s Analysis Pipeline™, leveraging advanced algorithms, computer vision, and machine learning models, automates the transformation of this raw data into quantifiable, actionable insights, enabling deep phenomic feature extraction, biomarker identification, and the prediction of clinical outcomes.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Our Thesis","title":" Investing in the Next Paradigm of Healing","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Helena is an investor in Vivodyne’s Series A financing, a commitment born from our conviction that their technology represents a turning point in humanity’s age-old quest to cure disease. Vivodyne is not merely improving an existing process; the comapny seeks to architect a fundamentally new, human-centric infrastructure for medical discovery that addresses one of the most expensive and impactful failures in modern science. We are excited to support Vivodyne’s vision to reduce the 94% clinical trial failure rate, tackling a multi-billion-dollar inefficiency and a profound barrier to delivering life-saving drugs to patients more rapidly and reliably. At scale, we believe technology platforms like Vivodyne offer a tangible approach to de-risk therapeutic development.
\nFurthermore, the current AI revolution in medicine is significantly bottlenecked by a lack of reliable data; Vivodyne is positioned to generate vast, complex, and physiologically relevant human datasets necessary to train sophisticated AI models, thereby unlocking new frontiers in predictive biology and drug design.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Vivodyne Co-Founders Andrei Georgescu (left) and UPenn Professor Dan Huh (right)","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"65c1501946fecb29765d655f_Dan-Huh-and-Andrei-Georgescu_sm","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02234647/65c1501946fecb29765d655f_Dan-Huh-and-Andrei-Georgescu_sm.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Vivodyne was co-foundered by Dr. Andrei Georgescu (CEO), whose doctoral work laid Vivodyne’s technical groundwork, and Dr. Dan Huh (CSO), a world-renowned bioengineering professor and the original inventor of “organs-on-a-chip” technology (whose lab’s IP is exclusively licensed to Vivodyne). The company’s management team includes Julie O’Shaughnessy (COO), with experience scaling global operations at AWS; and Dr. Anthony Bahinski (Chief Biotech Officer), previously Global Head of Safety Pharmacology at GSK and a member of FDA scientific advisory boards.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"The Future","title":"A New Operating System for Biological Discovery","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Vivodyne is not just building a better preclinical model. At scale, the company could help construct a future operating system for human biological discovery.
\nVivodyne’s longer-term vision imagines a world where the 94% preclinical failure rate is a relic of the past and where new medicines for intractable diseases like Alzheimer’s, complex cancers, and rare genetic disorders are developed with far greater speed and certainty because they were designed, tested, and optimized in human-relevant systems from day one. Vivodyne’s approach points toward a future in which mysteries of human biology are systematically unraveled, not through slow, piecemeal experiments, but through massively parallel, AI-driven interrogation of living human tissues. The result is a world in which the path from biological insight to life-saving cure is dramatically shorter, more efficient, and more human.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A sample of Vivodyne's human organ tissues, ranging from vascularized pancreatic islet to bone marrow models.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"65c1504fc4c7cffcfe2ade46_Vivodyne_Organ Model_Examples","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/06/02234815/65c1504fc4c7cffcfe2ade46_Vivodyne_Organ-Model_Examples.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Despite his parents’ heroic efforts, Bertrand Might ultimately succumbed to his disease in 2020, at the age of 12. Had he been born a decade later, his story might have unfolded differently. Not because his biology would have changed — but because the tools available to understand it, to test interventions with speed and human relevance, would have. Vivodyne represents a vision of that new toolset. It is not just a faster horse; it’s an update to the internal combustion engine of biological discovery, shrinking the gap between what we know and what we can test.
\nVivodyne’s technology holds promise to generate future ripple effects across different challenges in drug development. With more efficient and cheaper ways to test at scale, smaller biotech companies could pursue more breakthrough therapies they may otherwise not be able to afford. Drugs combatting rarer diseases, rather than just blockbuster bets, could become cheaper and faster to bring to market. For centuries, we’ve approached medicine by poking, prodding, and guessing. In making deep, predictive biology accessible on demand, Vivodyne is working to break down the next foundational barrier in drug discovery — a transformation that isn’t distant or theoretical, but already underway.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"April 2025 Update: Regulatory Tailwinds","title":"The FDA Embraces Human-First Science","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"On April 10, 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a comprehensive roadmap aimed at significantly reducing, and ultimately replacing, animal testing in preclinical safety studies.
\nThis strategic shift, building upon the legislative foundation of the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 passed in late 2022 , signals a new era where New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) will take center stage. The FDA’s plan emphasizes the adoption of scientifically validated, human-relevant methods such as organ-on-a-chip systems, advanced in vitro assays, and AI-driven computational modeling to enhance the predictive accuracy of drug development.
\nThe FDA’s initiative is driven by the growing scientific recognition that animal models often poorly predict human outcomes, contributing to the high failure rates and costs in drug development. By prioritizing NAMs, the agency aims to streamline the path for safer and more effective therapies to reach patients faster, while also addressing ethical considerations surrounding animal use. The roadmap outlines a phased approach, initially focusing on areas like monoclonal antibody testing, with the long-term vision of making animal studies the exception rather than the norm within three to five years.
\nThis decisive move by the FDA strongly validates the approach of companies like Vivodyne, which have been at the forefront of developing and deploying such human-relevant testing platforms. As the regulatory landscape realigns to favor these advanced methodologies, Vivodyne is well-positioned to lead the charge, empowering the pharmaceutical industry to develop new medicines with greater precision, efficiency, and ethical consideration, ultimately benefiting global public health.
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\n\n
Since Helena’s 2021 investment in Twin Health, the company has scaled considerably, working with the employee populations of top institutional partners including Blackstone and Berkshire Hathaway, among others. Helena is working continuously to support Twin’s further adoption by global employers and insurance companies. With profound implications for patient care across diagnoses, we believe the technology has the potential to create a radically different treatment landscape – one that prioritizes a whole-systems approach and compassionate, personalized care.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Devlin, a Twin Health member, discussing his experience with the platform.","size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/947505685?share=copy","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}}]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":[{"type":"Image","text":"Chronic metabolic diseases affect over a billion people worldwide.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"national-cancer-institute-BxXgTQEw1M4-unsplash-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07235420/national-cancer-institute-BxXgTQEw1M4-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Medical interventions are costly, impersonal, and aimed at disease management – not elimination.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"haley-lawrence-HTttz00wkzU-unsplash-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08000613/haley-lawrence-HTttz00wkzU-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Helena is supporting a breakthrough treatment approach that uses innovative digital twin technology to address the root causes of metabolic disease.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"0.8fccqhl4lz42171ad1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08000643/0.8fccqhl4lz42171ad1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Unique to each patient, Twin Health’s technology is capable of monitoring complex biological systems to deliver targeted recommendations and improve health moment by moment.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"brian-asare-b1l8mK24x_k-unsplash-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08000716/brian-asare-b1l8mK24x_k-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Unlocking the capacity for highly individualized medical care at scale, the model is leading to unprecedented disease reversals and ushering in a transformative era of personalized medicine.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"magicle-xY0s6aNCV24-unsplash-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08000810/magicle-xY0s6aNCV24-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08000817/gift-habeshaw-Of8C-QHqagM-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08000817/gift-habeshaw-Of8C-QHqagM-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08000817/gift-habeshaw-Of8C-QHqagM-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08000817/gift-habeshaw-Of8C-QHqagM-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"The History of Digital Twin Technology","title":"What Got Us Here","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The impact of digital twin technology can be traced back to one of the most famous near-disasters in American history. On April 13th, 1970, some 200,000 miles above Earth, one of the oxygen tanks on board the Apollo 13 exploded. “Houston, we’ve had a problem here,” CMP Jack Swigert radioed down to mission control. The problems were many — failing electronics, sharply rising carbon dioxide levels, charting and following a reentry path. With the shuttle so far away and time running out, mission control had very few options.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"NASA'S MISSION OPERATIONS CONTROL ROOM DURING THE APOLLO 13 MISSION, 1970","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"2048px-1970_Mission_Control_Apollo_13","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08001146/2048px-1970_Mission_Control_Apollo_13.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"What they did have was an exact physical replica of the Apollo 13 shuttle, dubbed a “mirrored system.” Within the spacecraft’s twin, mission control methodically recreated the Apollo 13’s conditions, finding and testing possible solutions in real time. Replicating and troubleshooting each complication as it arose, the ground team managed to guide the Apollo 13 crew to a safe landing in the South Pacific four days later.
\nSince then, the physical has become the virtual. The concept of a digital twin was formally introduced in 2002 by the University of Michigan’s Dr. Michael Grieves in the context of manufacturing. Describing what he called the “Mirrored Spaces Model,” Dr. Grieves outlined the structure for what became the modern technology: a virtual representation of a physical system that is dynamic, allowing the flow of data between the physical and the virtual for the entirety of the system’s lifecycle.
\nAdvancements in technology have enabled digital twins to become more robust, precise, and ubiquitous. They have been used extensively in complex systems like supply chain management, equipment monitoring, and manufacturing.
\nTwin Health CEO Jahangir Mohammed was instrumental in ushering in a new era for the technology. An engineer and serial entrepreneur, Mohammed founded Jaspar – a company Inc. magazine called the “on switch” for the Internet of Things (IoT) – in 2004. Harvesting data from, and enabling communication between, an increasingly diverse array of objects, the IoT allowed twin technologies to proliferate and mature. Originally relegated to large scale implementations, digital twins could now be used for smaller, individual systems, as well. Tesla, for example, creates a digital twin for every car it produces.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"TWIN HEALTH CO-FOUNDER AND CEO JAHANGIR MOHAMMED","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Jahangir-full-body-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08001315/Jahangir-full-body-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In 2016, Mohammed found himself at a crossroads. He had just sold Jasper Technologies to Cisco Systems for $1.4 billion and was having lunch with his family in India. He saw his aunt struggling to read the menu due to blurred vision as a consequence of her type 2 diabetes (T2D). He looked around the rest of the table and did a quick calculation. Forty percent of his family was suffering from some form of chronic illness.
\nMohammed wondered if he could apply the digital twin model to T2D treatment. Inspired, he devoted thousands of hours to research and consultations with scientists and physicians worldwide and discovered the world was merely treating symptoms of chronic metabolic disease, not solving the problem. Having experienced the increasing capabilities of digital twin firsthand, he believed the technology had the potential to transform the global metabolic disease treatment paradigm. Twin Health was founded in 2018.
\nTwin Health creates a “Whole Body Digital Twin” for each person it serves, using the most advanced biometric sensors and data to personalize treatment plans and address the root cause of an individual’s T2D.
\nAccording to the NIH, as of 2017, 462 million people worldwide are affected by T2D, and its incidence is on the rise globally: the number of people diagnosed with T2D has more than doubled since 1980, and it is projected to increase to 642 million by 2040. These statistics are especially troubling–or predictable–since onset of the disease is largely based on lifestyle.
\nHealthy, balanced meals and exercise are proven methods for delaying, or preventing, T2D, but these lifestyle choices are made particularly difficult with our increasingly abundant food, much of which is processed and calorie-dense, and our increasingly sedentary lifestyles. Of course, to have the option of making these lifestyle choices, one needs the time and space to exercise, as well as access to healthy, typically-expensive food options. It follows, then, that T2D disproportionately affects the more vulnerable members of society: low-income communities and ethnic minorities.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"According to the CDC, in 2017, the total cost of medical care and lost productivity for people with diagnosed diabetes was $327B in the US alone, and the average annual medical expenses for a person with diabetes was almost 2.5 times the national average."},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Its consequences are dire. It accounts for more than one million deaths per year, and its impact on quality of life are well-documented and grave: it has been tied to increased risk of everything from heart and kidney disease to Alzheimer’s and dementia, not to mention day-to-day effects like Mohammed’s aunt’s blurry vision.
\nIt is also expensive. According to the CDC, in 2017, the total cost of medical care and lost productivity for people with diagnosed diabetes was $327B in the US alone, and the average annual medical expenses for a person with diabetes was almost 2.5 times the national average. (If you include all chronic diseases, the tally runs to over $3T.)
\nThose costs are reflective of T2D treatment plans that are impersonal, pharmaceutical, and entirely palliative. Patients with the same diagnosis receive the same general recommendations (the same general diet and exercise plans), and disease management relies heavily on medications–insulin and metformin, for example–that can run patients thousands of dollars per year, even with insurance. And none of these treatments address the root cause or reverse the disease’s progress; they merely control the disease’s spread and alleviate symptoms.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"CURRENT TREATMENTS FOR TYPE 2 DIABETES RELY HEAVILY ON PHARMACEUTICAL INTERVENTIONS LIKE INSULIN.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"diana-polekhina-1SutQMy6UVU-unsplash-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08001443/diana-polekhina-1SutQMy6UVU-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Twin Health is a new approach. The technology takes over 3,000 data points from both self-reported preferences and non-invasive sensors such as a continuous glucose monitor, a blood pressure meter, and a body composition scale, and combines them with machine learning models to create a person’s Whole Body Digital Twin: a dynamic, moment-by-moment digital representation of their individual metabolism, accessible through their app.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"THE TWIN HEALTH PLATFORM","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen-Shot-2022-02-04-at-1.48.39-PM-1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08001525/Screen-Shot-2022-02-04-at-1.48.39-PM-1.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The platform collects and analyzes the data automatically and in real-time, giving the user a clear picture of their current metabolic health, both in specific areas and on the aggregate. The data is interpreted by their machine learning models – along with human health experts, called Twin Health Coaches – in order to identify individual causes of metabolic dysfunction, potentially leading to disease reversal. From there, Twin creates treatment plans and recommendations about nutrition, sleep, exercise, activity, and breathing that are highly individualized and minimally disruptive. They are designed to fit seamlessly into the user’s existing life, making them easier to adopt and maintain. And, since the Whole-Body Digital Twin is constantly evolving, it gets more detailed and more accurate over time.
\nTwin’s results have been promising. The company’s clinical research team conducted the world’s first randomized controlled trial for reversing metabolic disease using digital twin technology. Per Twin, the data was published in the American Diabetes Association’s Diabetes journal: 90%+ achieved T2D reversal and 92% eliminated all diabetes medications, including insulin.
\nIn 2021, Helena invested in Twin’s Series C funding round, which closed with ~$140M of capital injection. Since, Twin Health announced broad and growing partnerships with both Blackstone Inc. and Berkshire Hathaway.
\nIn Blackstone’s preliminary trial with Twin, medication costs fell by half for those enrolled at least three months, among other results. Since, Blackstone and other Twin partners have scaled adoption significantly. At one company, Medline Industries, more than a third of its employees who had been on the program at least two months were able to stop diabetes medications. Blackstone estimates that the companies trialing Twin will save hundreds of thousands of dollars per year just for the relatively small number of people who have signed up already.
\nIn December of 2023, Twin announced a capital infusion of $52 million through its Series D raise. The company plans on using the funding to increase the availability of the technology and the way it’s deployed to more health plans and employer partners – achieving lower costs, better outcomes, and higher satisfaction among their members and employees.
\nAs it scales, the company will benefit from a seasoned and diverse Board of Directors that includes Toby Cosgrove (former president and CEO of the Cleveland Clinic), Mohat Bhatnagar (Managing Director of Sequoia India), Caroline Xie (General Partner at ICONIQ), and Bruce Dunlevie (Founder and General Partner at Benchmark Capital). At present, Helena and its partners have been helpful in bringing Twin at-risk employers and other medical networks to begin their own Twin trials, delivering near-term revenue and a path to long-term relationships.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Updates","title":"Twin Expands to Walmart and Beyond","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"As of May 2025, Twin Health has partnered with some of the largest and most trusted employers and health plans in the United States and beyond.
\nTwin announced a breakthrough partnership with Walmart – both the largest private employer in the United States and the largest private employer in the world. The Twin platform has already delivered significant and ahead-of-plan outcomes through the Walmart partnership, which offers Twin Health’s metabolic health services to qualified employees across the organization.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"The inspiring story of Walmart Associate Philip Eccles's Journey with Twin Health","size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/1078447714?share=copy#t=0","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Beyond employers, Twin has also signed multiple partnerships with Blue Cross Blue Shield, including with HCSC and subsidiaries. Now reaching meaningful scale, Twin is focused on expanding its programs to over 1 million active “Twins” on its platform.
\n"}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":[{"popupId":"metabolic-syndrome","title":"Metabolic Syndrome","content":"Metabolic Syndrome includes a group of conditions that increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, such as high blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess body fat around the waist, and abnormal cholesterol levels. The syndrome increases a person’s risk for heart attack and stroke.
\n"},{"popupId":"at-risk","title":"At-Risk","content":"At-risk entities are those that bear the brunt of the financial risk. In this case, in the treatment of T2D, insurance companies, employers, and health systems are all at-risk entities. They would see tremendous savings with healthier patients and a reduction in necessary treatments.
\n"},{"popupId":"iot","title":"Internet of Things","content":"The Internet of Things (IoT) describes the network of physical objects that possess technologies that enable them to connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the internet. (These “objects” can be practically anything with the ability to connect to the internet–a smart microwave, for example, or a person with a heart monitor.) The basic process is that the object creates data; a network transports the data to an application; and the application collects it. Jasper provides the software that enables those three nodes to function together.
\n"}]}}},{"id":"cG9zdDozNjk2","databaseId":3696,"title":"America in One Room: The Youth Vote","slug":"america-in-one-room-the-youth-vote","link":"https://www.helena.org/projects/america-in-one-room-the-youth-vote/","date":"2024-12-02T22:58:05","excerpt":"Uniting Gen Z for an unprecedented exercise in Democracy.
\n","isRestricted":false,"featuredImage":{"node":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/12/13220418/A1RTYV-ProjectImage.png","title":"A1RTYV-ProjectImage"}},"acfProjectDetails":{"seo":{"title":"America in One Room: The Youth Vote | Helena Projects | Helena","metaDescription":null,"metaImage":null},"smallerProject":null,"projectIntro":{"headline":"America in One Room: The Youth Vote","region":"U.S. ","tag":null,"profit":"non-profit","introBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"In an era of unprecedented polarization, eroding institutional trust, and a growing disconnect between citizens and their elected officials, American democracy stands at a critical crossroads. The resilience of our governing institutions will be contingent on the meaningful and informed participation of a rising generation of constituents – a group that is poised to inherit some of the most consequential challenges in human history.
\n\n
What this demographic thinks about the issues shaping America’s future, and how they’re empowered to collaborate, will have profound implications for societal health and well-being.
\n\n
To better understand and activate this critical demographic ahead of a pivotal presidential election, Helena partnered with Stanford’s Deliberative Democracy Lab, the Close-Up Foundation, The Generation Lab, and USC’s Neely Center for Ethical Leadership and Decision Making to engage first-time voters in a powerful exercise in Deliberative Democracy.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/999952806","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"America in One Room (A1R): The Youth Vote was the fourth installment in Helena’s groundbreaking America in One Room series, which has addressed issues ranging from climate change to electoral reform. Featured on the cover of The New York Times and lauded by US presidents and other global leaders, past A1R deployments offered striking proof of true democracy in action and demonstrated the power of an active and informed electorate to transform the American political landscape.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/1035367723","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"The 2024 election cycle highlighted the ideological diversity of a rapidly evolving cohort of young voters that is often treated as a monolith by the media, candidates, and policymakers. Four months before they would cast their first votes, A1R: The Youth Vote platformed the diverse perspectives of these young Americans as they came together to grapple with key issues with nuance and depth across differences. The event garnered widespread media attention.
\n\n
In interviews with outlets including NBC Nightly News, Good Morning America, and in The Wall Street Journal, participants spoke eloquently about the importance of engaging with the other side and using your voice in democratic processes. They left equipped with tools and resources to scale the deliberative effect in their schools and communities and foster a culture of solutions-focused political engagement across the nation.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/999959678","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}}]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":[{"type":"Image","text":"Young Americans are entering the political arena with unparalleled access to information.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Close Up Of A Line Of High School Students Using Mobile Phones","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/12/05192456/AdobeStock_213645954-scaled-2.jpeg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/12/02225525/AdobeStock_213645954-scaled-1.jpeg"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/12/02225525/AdobeStock_213645954-scaled-1.jpeg"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/12/02225525/AdobeStock_213645954-scaled-1.jpeg"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/12/02225525/AdobeStock_213645954-scaled-1.jpeg"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"But they’re interacting in an ecosystem that profits from division and prioritizes soundbites over substance.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"is-social-media-bad-hero","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/12/05192632/is-social-media-bad-hero-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/12/02225740/is-social-media-bad-hero.jpg"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/12/02225740/is-social-media-bad-hero.jpg"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/12/02225740/is-social-media-bad-hero.jpg"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/12/02225740/is-social-media-bad-hero.jpg"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"As they confront their political inheritance, they need new spaces that rewrite the terms of public engagement.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"DSC04116","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/12/05193313/DSC04116.jpg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/26205255/DSC04116.jpg"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/26205255/DSC04116.jpg"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/26205255/DSC04116.jpg"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/26205255/DSC04116.jpg"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"In July of 2024, Helena and its partners provided an unprecedented one. ","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"DSC04485","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/12/05194420/DSC04485.jpeg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/26210626/DSC04485.jpg"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/26210626/DSC04485.jpg"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/26210626/DSC04485.jpg"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/26210626/DSC04485.jpg"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"America in One Room: The Youth Vote brought together the first-ever nationally representative sample of first-time voters in history.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"DSC04145","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/12/05193143/DSC04145.jpeg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/26205434/DSC04145.jpg"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/26205434/DSC04145.jpg"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/26205434/DSC04145.jpg"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/26205434/DSC04145.jpg"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Together, this group collaborated on pressing policy questions, moving beyond partisanship to forge solutions. ","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"DSC_8408","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/12/05192751/DSC_8408.jpeg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/26200958/DSC_8408-scaled.jpg"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/26200958/DSC_8408-scaled.jpg"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/26200958/DSC_8408-scaled.jpg"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/26200958/DSC_8408-scaled.jpg"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"As a contentious election cycle unfolded in the background, their experience revealed a generation ready to engage, bridge divides, and strengthen democracy from the ground up.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"DSC_8857","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/12/05194032/DSC_8857.jpeg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/26204834/DSC_8857-scaled.jpg"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/02182147/DSC_8857-1.jpg"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/02182147/DSC_8857-1.jpg"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/02182147/DSC_8857-1.jpg"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"The Process","title":"A Microcosm of the Nation","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"From July 19-22, 2024, 430 rising high school seniors and college freshmen assembled in Washington, D.C. for an historic event. Designed to foster understanding, respect, and informed decision-making across demographic divides, America in One Room: The Youth Vote marked the first-ever representative gathering of first-time voters in U.S. history.
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This approach – which brings together representative groups of constituents to discuss issues in extended small group deliberations, with access to balanced, in-depth information and expert perspectives – has been used to meaningfully gauge the “will of the people” and ignite lasting civic engagement in over 110 executions in more than 30 countries worldwide.
\nOver the course of four days, the Youth Vote participants delved into substantive discussions on four key policy areas:
\nEnergy and the Environment
\nHealthcare
\nThe Economy and AI
\nDemocracy and Elections
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PdfEmbed","pdfEmbed":{"file":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/12/02184134/America-in-One-Room-Briefing-Guidebook.pdf"}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Guided by balanced briefing materials and expert panels, participants grappled with the nuances of each issue, challenging their own preconceptions in dialogue with their peers. Small group deliberations fostered an atmosphere of civility and mutual respect, while town hall discussions with policy experts provided deeper insights into the complexities of the challenges at hand. Participants completed surveys before and after the deliberations, revealing how their views evolved through the process of informed and collaborative reflection.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Gallery","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":"Photography by Igor Pjörrt, art direction by Lead + Develop","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"DSC04138","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/26205401/DSC04138.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Photo courtesy of the Close-Up Foundation","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_8901","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/12/02190136/IMG_8901.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Photography by Igor Pjörrt, art direction by Lead + Develop","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"DSC04343","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/26210509/DSC04343.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Photography by Igor Pjörrt, art direction by Lead + Develop","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"DSC04538","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/12/02235718/DSC04538.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Photography by Igor Pjörrt, art direction by Lead + Develop","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"DSC04216","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/26205732/DSC04216.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}}]},{"eyebrow":"The Results","title":"A Constructive Vision for the Future","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The results of the deliberations offer a fascinating glimpse into the priorities, concerns, and aspirations of first-time voters when given the chance to engage deeply in a fact-rich discussion with their fellow Americans. On issues ranging from climate action to electoral reform, participants demonstrated remarkable capacity for nuance, pragmatism, and common ground.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A1R TYV-Web1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/12/02210131/A1R-TYV-Web1.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A1R TYV-Web2","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/12/02210140/A1R-TYV-Web2.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"On energy and environmental policies, an overwhelming majority of participants agreed that the U.S. must take bold action to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Support for investments in clean energy research and development, along with incentives for carbon capture and storage, cut across party lines. At the same time, participants recognized the importance of a just transition, with strong backing for measures to support workers and communities impacted by the shift away from fossil fuels.
\nOn healthcare, the deliberations revealed a generation deeply concerned about access, affordability, and equity. Participants expressed strong support for expanding mental health coverage, with a particular emphasis on integrating mental health services into primary care. They also favored measures to protect reproductive rights, including access to contraception and abortion care.
\n\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Gallery","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":"Photos courtesy of Close Up Foundation","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_8927","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/26201709/IMG_8927-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_8894","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/26201641/IMG_8894-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"
In discussions on the economy and AI, participants grappled with the implications of rapid technological change for jobs, skills, and social inequality. While they recognized the potential of AI and automation to drive innovation and productivity, they also called for proactive policies to ensure that the benefits of these technologies are broadly shared. This included support for investments in education and workforce development, as well as measures to strengthen the social safety net.
\nPerhaps most strikingly, the deliberations on democracy and elections showcased a generation deeply committed to the health and integrity of our democratic institutions. Participants expressed strong support for measures to expand voter access, including automatic voter registration and the restoration of voting rights for formerly incarcerated individuals. They also favored reforms to reduce the influence of money in politics and to ensure fair and impartial redistricting processes.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PdfEmbed","pdfEmbed":{"file":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/12/02210859/Executive-Summary-A1R-TYV.pdf"}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The discussions in Washington D.C. defied the hyper-partisan rhetoric dominating national discourse and challenged stereotypes of Gen Z as apathetic and politically disengaged. Instead, the event demonstrated that when given meaningful opportunities to participate, this generation stands ready to confront society’s pressing challenges and chart a more inclusive path forward for American democracy.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"From Participants to Ambassadors","title":"Creating a Ripple Effect","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"A1R: The Youth Vote was conceptualized, not just as a one-off event, but as a catalyst for broader democratic revitalization. Outside of the deliberations themselves, participants received in-depth facilitation training, empowering them to carry their experience forward in community-centered discussions. In the months following the event, Helena’s partners at Close-Up and the Deliberative Democracy Lab instituted a slate of national online deliberations, scaling a culture of informed and respectful discourse nationwide.
\nPost-event surveys confirmed the enduring impact of the experience. Participants reported shifts in their attitudes and a heightened appreciation for political complexity. They expressed greater willingness to engage with diverse viewpoints and renewed faith in the power of democracy to bridge divides.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Photography by Igor Pjörrt, art direction by Lead + Develop","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"DSC05397","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/11/26211358/DSC05397.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The project’s impact was amplified in the media. The event garnered national attention, with segments airing on NBC Nightly News and Good Morning America and features in The Wall Street Journal and other publications. In the lead-up to a contentious presidential election, the Youth Vote participants penned op-eds and modeled a more thoughtful, nuanced mode of political engagement on popular podcasts. Their voices served as a reminder that even in times of deep division, good-faith dialogue and collective problem-solving are not only possible but essential for the health and resilience of our democracy.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A1RTYV-Emilea Press Pull","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/12/13220216/A1RTYV-Emilea-Press-Pull.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"At its core, America in One Room stands as both a proof of concept and a functional antidote to broken public discourse. The forum underscores the power of citizen deliberation to repair the frayed fabric of our democracy and rebuild the civic bonds that are the foundation of a free and resilient society. It reminds us of the importance of engaging in the challenging work of democratic citizenship—embracing complexity, resisting the allure of oversimplified solutions, and striving for thoughtful compromise. And it calls on us to invest in the civic potential of our citizens by fostering spaces within government, media, and public life where individuals can grapple with the nuanced issues that will determine our collective future.
\n"}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":null}}},{"id":"cG9zdDozNjY3","databaseId":3667,"title":"Matter","slug":"matter","link":"https://www.helena.org/projects/matter/","date":"2024-10-08T19:42:55","excerpt":"Bringing the first mass-market electric motorcycle to India.
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\n\n
With its ambitious growth plans and rapid urbanization, India’s trajectory, in particular, will be critical to achieving global net zero targets.
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\n\n
Founded by a team with over a century of combined automotive experience, Matter has created the AERA, an innovative electric motorbike designed to meet a young, tech-savvy, and environmentally conscious emerging market.
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\n","eyebrow":null}}]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":[{"type":"Image","text":"In most of the world’s most populated places, travel happens on 2 wheels, not 4.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"38702699120_bf8b2c38e9_k","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/08/22193226/38702699120_bf8b2c38e9_k.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"But while mass market cars are now moving electric, motorcycles largely remain gas-powered.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"rock-staar-dQjTFIzw6qo-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/08/22193332/rock-staar-dQjTFIzw6qo-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"We think that is poised to change. A clean-energy transition in one of the most important sectors of transportation is coming.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"radek-kilijanek-xggEbQEVW_0-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/08/22193914/radek-kilijanek-xggEbQEVW_0-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Helena is backing Matter, the first mass-market electric motorcycle for India and beyond.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"3_Edit copy","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/10/08202140/3_Edit-copy.png"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/10/08202155/3_Edit.png"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/10/08202155/3_Edit.png"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/10/08202155/3_Edit.png"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/10/08202155/3_Edit.png"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"With its vertically integrated approach, Matter is reimagining mobility for billions, and doing it in style.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"03","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/08/22194418/03-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"The Developing World and Net Zero","title":"The path toward a sustainable future","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In the global fight against climate change, the most decisive victories may emerge from the developing world.
\nAccording to the IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report, to keep global warming to non-catastrophic levels, global CO2 emissions must reach “net zero” by 2050. Since the report was issued in 2021, over one hundred and forty countries have set net-zero targets; yet despite these commitments, global emissions continue to rise.
\nIn order to stave off a worst-case climate scenario, we need to develop and deploy the technologies and infrastructure to support a net zero world. From electrifying almost all global transportation to tripling clean energy investment, these investments must be significant and far-reaching,.
\nNowhere are the stakes higher– or will contributions be more impactful– than in the developing world. Emerging Market and Developing Economies (EMDEs) were responsible for over 95% of the increase in GHG emissions in the last decade– a number will surely rise in the upcoming one, as EMDEs are expected to account for 98% of global population growth, as well as over 90% of new middle-class households.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"hanson-lu-cdkZOTMYTmc-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/08/22220904/hanson-lu-cdkZOTMYTmc-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"As these nations urbanize and their economies develop, how they are able to meet their growing demands– the decisions they make in energy generation and manufacturing practices, in transportation and construction– will have global effects. Interventions that support the best of innovation, allowing these sectors to advance profitably and sustainably, will be critical. Fortunately, investments in these areas are particularly cost-effective– it is much more efficient to integrate clean technologies at earlier stages of development than to adapt or retrofit legacy infrastructure– but adoption will require affordable and available sustainable alternatives.
\nIndia’s trajectory is perhaps the most crucial. It is the world’s fifth largest economy, the fastest-growing large economy, and recently became the world’s most populous country; it is urbanizing rapidly and has long-term, aggressively ambitious plans for economic growth (it intends to grow more than 6x in the next 25 years). There is no net zero pathway without a renewably-powered, sustainably developed India.
\nElectrifying global transportation is practically a necessity, and India’s transport sector, in particular, is ripe for almost immediate sustainable development. It currently accounts for 14% of the country’s GHG emissions– and with the expected increased demand for personal vehicles, that percentage is on the rise– as well as 44% of the country’s oil consumption. It contributes to deleterious pollution levels and some of the worst congestion in the world.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"pedestrian-people-road-traffic-street-old-265520-pxhere.com","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/08/22221051/pedestrian-people-road-traffic-street-old-265520-pxhere.com_-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In a landscape primed for innovation, within a promising economic and regulatory environment, Matter – India’s first geared electric two-wheel vehicle – holds the potential to drive a significant shift toward sustainable transportation.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"India","title":"Ushering in a new era of sustainable development","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"It’s an exciting time for India. It is the world’s fastest growing large economy and the fifth largest overall, with some experts projecting its economy will overtake Germany and Japan for third as early as 2027. Since 2014, when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Narendra Modi was elected Prime Minister, India’s GDP has grown 83% (15% more than China’s) and its per capita GDP 55%. Investors and foreign nations are bullish: India’s stock market is routinely hitting record highs, and last year, India received $71B in foreign direct investment. (It is eyeing $100B/year going forward.)
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"2023-08-09-081621994-India_to_become_world_s_second_largest_economy_by_2075","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/08/22221425/2023-08-09-081621994-India_to_become_world_s_second_largest_economy_by_2075.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"To help spur long-term economic growth, Modi, who was reelected to his third term in June, has prioritized manufacturing, as well as electrification and the development of digital public infrastructure. On the manufacturing end, in 2023, the government announced $26B Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes in 14 manufacturing sectors, ranging from electronics and textiles to automobile production and battery cells.
\nDigitization is one of Modi’s greatest victories. His administration has electrified 18,000 villages, and since the 2016 launch of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), India has become the largest global market for digital payments, more than four times the size of China’s. A G20 document from the World Bank estimates that India’s digital infrastructure helped the nation hit financial inclusion markers 40 years faster than it would have otherwise. Modi himself tweeted about it.
\nSocially, the country is urbanizing at breakneck speed. In April, it became the most populous country in the world, while also being one of the youngest; the average age of its 1.4 billion people is just 29, and 65% of the population is under 35.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"12697712595_e315fca630_o","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/08/22221802/12697712595_e315fca630_o-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"By 2050, according to University of Pennsylvania Professor Tariq Tachil, director of the Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI), India will add more than 400 million people to its cities. Social transformation is expected to go hand-in-hand: the rate of extreme poverty has fallen from 12.2% in 2012 to 2.0% in 2022, and by the mid-century, the middle class– already the fastest growing segment of the population– is forecasted to consist of more than 1 billion people.
\nThis shift has been facilitated by the BJP’s investment in public infrastructure. Since Modi took office, India’s highway network has increased by 60%, with plans to increase by another 200,000km by 2037. In February, the Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, announced $134B for infrastructure, an increase of more than 11% year on year. This includes more than $30B each for railways and the road transport ministry, as well as more than $45B for states to spend on infrastructure. His most ambitious project was the 2021 Pradhan Mantri Gati Shakti National Master Plan, a $1.1T project to digitally unite, centralize, and implement infrastructural projects throughout the country.
\nThis infrastructural expansion, however, also highlights India’s problems associated with transportation– its pollution is the second worst in the world, and its roads are congested and dangerous.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"3257681978_6964701d2e_o","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/08/22221900/3257681978_6964701d2e_o-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"To combat these issues, in 2015, Modi launched the Faster Adoption & Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme, which provides purchase incentives and charging vehicle support, to both hasten and ease the electric transition. (FAME II was approved in 2019, and then extended again in 2024.) The PLI schemes, as well, have an emphasis on forward-looking automobile manufacturing, as well as battery cell production.
\nThe result is that EV sales are projected to reach 35% of total vehicle sales by 2030. But India is a country of two-wheelers, which account for more than 70% of all vehicles. The forecast is even more optimistic there: The Economist puts electric adoption of electric two-wheelers at 60-70% by 2030.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Rush hour fast car moving night city ,Fast moving traffic drives moving fast light each effect line light cg time lapse","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/08/22232006/iStock-1407042482-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"This transition is necessary not just for global emissions targets, but for the health of the country. India is the second most polluted country in the world, behind only Bangladesh. From 2013 to 2021, it was responsible for more than 59% of the world’s increase in pollution.
\nThe Clean Air Fund estimates that pollution is responsible for 1 in 8 deaths globally while The Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) calls particulate pollution “the greatest threat to human health in India.” It estimates that particulate pollution shortens the average Indian’s life expectancy by 5.3 years, a number that balloons to 11.9 years for someone living in Delhi, currently the most polluted city in the world. India’s transportation sector is a major contributor, with internal combustion engine two-wheelers producing 30% of all particulate matter in the country.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Matter","title":"Paving the way for two-wheeler electrification","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Matter Motorworks was founded in 2019 by Mohal Lalbhai (CEO), Arun Singh (COO), Saran Babu (CDO), and Prasad Telikepalli (CTO) to meet the needs of a rapidly changing, rapidly developing India.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"13_3","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/08/22222706/13_3-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"With extensive leadership and engineering experience in the machinery, design, and electric vehicle spaces, the team at Matter is ideally suited to meet such a need. Lalbhai is an entrepreneur who previously served as Director of Ethereal Machines, which specializes in advanced machinery manufacturing. Singh was business head of a start-up specializing in manufacturing deep-discharge batteries and electric/hybrid vehicle applications before becoming the COO of Steelstrong Valves Private Limited. Babu was the Chief Design Officer at Ethereal Machines with Lalbhai, leading the team to receiving the 2018 CES Best of Innovation Award. And Telikepalli was head of the Electronics Center of Excellence and EV Applications with Mahindra Rise, after leading eMobility at Eaton Innovation, an intelligent power management company. Between them, they share over 100 years of automotive manufacturing experience and have built over 10 greenfield manufacturing facilities.
\nWith Matter, the team has leveraged their collective expertise to develop a new, vertically integrated electric motorbike from the ground up. The founders prioritized domestic design and production, establishing the first independent electric vehicle ecosystem in India. Since 2019, Matter has filed 307 patents, 69 designs, and 237 trademarks. They have created their own manufacturing facility and have invested in cell manufacturing and cell-chemistry research.
\nMatter debuted its inaugural product, the Matter AERA, in 2023.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/1001772383","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The online launch generated over 40,000 pre-orders, with deliveries scheduled to begin in October. The AERA is designed specifically for an Indian population that is young, technologically-savvy, and environmentally-aware. The bike is safe, fast (0-40kmph in 2.8 seconds), can accommodate two riders comfortably. It has a real-world range of 125 km per charge, with a certified range of over 170 km per charge. It is also relatively affordable, with its base model starting at around $2000.
\nMatter was meticulous in its design. Its 7-inch touchscreen display supports Bluetooth and 4G connectivity, as well as smartphone integration. Safety is a paramount concern throughout the AERA’s design, functionality, and durability specifications. To address the challenge of extreme temperatures and prevent adverse effects from overheating in critical components – a pressing issue in India, where temperatures can soar above 125°F (51.7°C) in the hottest months – Matter developed an innovative in-house liquid coolant system. This advanced cooling solution circulates through the motor, battery pack, and motor controller, effectively managing heat and enhancing overall vehicle reliability and performance. Battery ignition is prevented through Matter’s Super Smart Battery Management System (BMS), a key innovation ensuring safety and durability.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/1001770073","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"India is just the first market that Matter intends to penetrate. Matter is working ground-up to bring a lower-cost, mass-market vehicle to developing economies in 2027. The product will exist on the company’s next gen platform, which will have the added benefit of leveraging swappable batteries.
\nIt’s a massive, untapped market. Two-wheelers make up a huge portion of vehicles in many developing nations. (In Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam, for example, more than 80% of households have a motorbike). Matter plans to expand locally in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation region (neighboring countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal). From there it will deploy in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, which has a growing demand for electric vehicles and a hot and humid climate that make Matter products, with their unique liquid coolant system, particularly desirable. Then it will expand into Africa, and finally into the mature markets of Europe and the Americas.
\nInitially, Matter will ship completely built units, then, as it builds out its distribution and service networks, it will slowly transition to semi- and completely-knocked down kits, in order to optimize costs and unit prices.
\nAt scale, Matter is poised to revolutionize global transportation by deploying up to 3.5 million electric motorcycles worldwide, catalyzing a significant shift towards sustainable mobility and accelerating the global renewable energy transition.
\n"}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":null}}},{"id":"cG9zdDozMzU1","databaseId":3355,"title":"Cruz Foam","slug":"cruz-foam","link":"https://www.helena.org/projects/cruz-foam/","date":"2023-08-10T20:57:36","excerpt":"REPLACING FOREVER MATERIALS.
\n","isRestricted":false,"featuredImage":{"node":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/10205724/ANEP-Hero-Image_TrashSurfByZakNoyle-scaled.jpg","title":"_ANEP Hero Image_TrashSurfByZakNoyle"}},"acfProjectDetails":{"seo":{"title":"Cruz Foam | Helena Projects | Helena","metaDescription":"Helena is a new type of institution that seeks to address critical societal problems by running projects alongside its Members.","metaImage":null},"smallerProject":null,"projectIntro":{"headline":"CRUZ FOAM","region":"GLOBAL","tag":"CLIMATE TECHNOLOGY: PACKAGING AND PLASTICS REMEDIATION","profit":"profit","introBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"According to the UN Environment Program, the equivalent of a garbage truck of plastic is dumped into our ocean every minute. Of the 9 billion tons of plastic produced between 1950 and 2017, roughly 70% ended up as plastic waste.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"shutterstock_1036531933-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08015953/shutterstock_1036531933-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Of these waste products, fossil-fuel based plastic foams are some of the most intractable – creating risks that cut across human health, climate change adaptation capabilities, food production, and economic well-being.
\n\n
Inspired by the resiliencies found in the natural world, Cruz Foam is a cost-competitive, bio-derived compostable foam that outperforms existing plastic foams, unlocking a cheap, tough, and flexible alternative that holds the potential to meet consumer demand at scale.
\n","eyebrow":null}}]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":[{"type":"Image","text":"Plastic pollution is overtaking our ecosystems","image":{"altText":"Waste,Plastic,Bottles,And,Other,Types,Of,Plastic,Waste,At","mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"426187984-huge-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08014948/426187984-huge-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Plastics contaminate our waterways","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"naja-bertolt-jensen-BJUoZu0mpt0-unsplash-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08015031/naja-bertolt-jensen-BJUoZu0mpt0-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"And bloodstreams","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Red,Blood,Cells.,Computer,Generated,Image.","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08015540/shutterstock_54958660.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Issues that are intensifying as human consumption increases","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"shutterstock_290122892-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08015636/shutterstock_290122892-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Fossil-fuel based foams like Styrofoam are particularly hazardous – breaking down over centuries into toxic waste that threatens the environment and human health","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"how-big-a-problem-is-ocean-polystyrene-pollution-2","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/23203206/how-big-a-problem-is-ocean-polystyrene-pollution-2-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"We need an alternative that is durable, abundant, natural, and cost-competitive. Helena is supporting one.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"AdobeStock_175913545-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08015757/AdobeStock_175913545-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Cruz Foam is a human-generated solution that leverages one of nature’s most abundant biopolymers to address one of humanity’s trickiest problems","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"shutterstock_39196450-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08015842/shutterstock_39196450-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"The Problem Space","title":"The Plastics Epidemic","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Humans are producing plastic at a catastrophic rate. Since the year 2000, annual global plastic production has more than doubled to 460 million tons. Plastics, which are almost universally fossil-fuel derived, account for 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions and 6% of global oil production, a number projected to reach 20% by 2050. Experts estimate that by then, the total tonnage of plastic humanity has produced will exceed 34 billion.
\nDesigned to be cheap, practical, and virtually indestructible, the overwhelming majority of plastic produced today is here to stay. Less than 10% of plastic is recycled successfully, and recycled plastic only accounts for 6% of total plastic production. A 2017 Science study estimated that, in 2015, 12% of plastic was incinerated and 79% ended up in landfills and the natural environment. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) puts the current numbers at 19% for incineration, 50% in landfills, and 22% in “uncontrolled dumpsites, burned in open pits, or in terrestrial or aquatic environments.” The severity of aquatic plastic pollution is most clearly exemplified by the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. A tract of water more than three times the size of France, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch contains 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic and weighs 80,000 tons – six times the weight of the local fish.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"shutterstock_2213699549-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08020117/shutterstock_2213699549-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Most plastics don’t biodegrade, but they do break down, gradually turning into microplastics– a term that refers to plastic particles less than 5mm in length. Microplastics have been detected everywhere, from the ice in Antarctica to the deepest parts of the oceans. They have been found in human placenta, lungs, and bloodstreams.
\nIn 2019, the World Wildlife Foundation commissioned a study that concluded that people individually ingest around five grams of plastic per week. The long-term health effects of microplastics consumption are still largely unknown, though they will likely become clearer in the coming years. In an ominous sign, a small study conducted at the University Medical Centre Utrecht established a connection between contact with microplastics and immune cell death.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"21282786668_2ce70ca17c_k","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08020146/21282786668_2ce70ca17c_k.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The environmental repercussions of plastics production are manifest. Plastics contaminate our water and soil, and destroy food chains and ecosystems. The WWF-Australia estimates that plastic pollution kills 100,000 sea mammals every year, either through ingestion or entanglement. Another study conducted in New Zealand found that 75% of the fish caught over a two year period contained microplastics. These numbers are only projected to increase – GDP is highly correlated to plastics production, meaning that as GDP grows, so too will the demand for plastics, particularly as developing economies industrialize.
\nPackaging plastics and fossil fuel-based foams are particularly problematic. They are usually lightweight, bulky, porous, and difficult to clean, which makes them challenging to recycle. Packaging comprises 40% of annual single-use plastics production, which in turn accounts for 50% of overall plastic production. By total mass, non-microplastics make up 92% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and they will continue to do so for years, as they can take centuries to break down.
\nFossil-fuel based foams are also dangerous. Inputs can include benzene, styrene, and ethylene – toxic byproducts of oil and gas refinement. Styrofoam is particularly hazardous; when exposed to sunlight, it breaks down into tiny toxic fragments of styrene which contaminate the surrounding environment. Benzene, which is used in Styrofoam’s creation, is classified as a carcinogen by the Department of Health and Human Services, and exposure to benzene in the air has been linked to leukemia.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"AdobeStock_162310240-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08020221/AdobeStock_162310240-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Unfortunately, products like Styrofoam are both incredibly useful and increasingly necessary. They have low thermal and audio conductivity, making them ideal for insulating and sound-proofing our houses and buildings. They are lightweight, strong, and highly malleable, so they are perfect for protection and shock absorption in shipping and transport – particularly of fragile, scratchable items like electronics. They can be sourced cheaply and produced in large quantities, so they can scale with demand.
\nIn an increasingly electronic and globalized world, we need a sustainable packaging alternative to fossil-fuel based foams that can meet accelerating demand. Such an alternative needs to be bio-derived and compostable. It also needs to perform as well as existing foams (to be as tough and as flexible). It needs to be cheap, so that it can cost-compete with existing single-use plastics. And it needs to be made from materials abundant enough, and use production processes familiar enough, that it can scale to meet consumer needs.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"The Solution Space","title":"Cruz Foam","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Cruz Foam is working on an alternative.
\nThe origin of Cruz Foam is as organic as its product. When John Felts, the founder and CEO of Cruz Foam, was a chemical engineering undergraduate student at UC Santa Barbara, his mother suffered a stroke and he meditatively began surfing every day. This inspired a deep and enduring love of the ocean – and a visceral awareness of what was plaguing it. He made it his mission to create an ocean-specific solution to the plastics epidemic.
\nGalvanized by this pursuit, Felts earned a master’s degree in materials engineering at the University of Washington. While there, he met Dr. Marco Rolandi, an Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and fellow avid surfer. Rolandi had previously founded KiToTech Medical, a medical supplies company that used chitin as its main input. Chitin is the most abundant polymer in the oceans – around 1012–1014 tons are produced by living oceanic organisms annually – and second most abundant in nature (to cellulose, which lacks chitin’s structural integrity). It is primarily found in cell walls, insect skeletons, and crustacean shells. Six to eight million tons of crustacean shells go to waste every year, with the cost of disposal sometimes actually exceeding the market value of the shells. Chitin is both rigid and flexible, and since it is made up entirely of organic materials, it is also entirely biodegradable.
\nIntrigued by the possibilities chitin offered, Felts continued his work at the University of California, Santa Cruz working on a chitin-based plastic foam alternative. He founded Cruz Foam in 2017.
\nCruz Foam’s chitin-based materials combine a variety of naturally-occurring ingredients that would otherwise go to waste. They are strong enough to package and protect heavy, fragile products like televisions, while maintaining structural flexibility. Cruz Foam is free from fossil fuel inputs, non-toxic, and “backyard-compostable” — that is to say, you can throw it in your backyard compost heap, and it will biodegrade into high-quality, nutrient-rich organic waste.
\nCritically, Cruz Foam was designed to meet global demand in both price and quantity. The materials Cruz Foam uses are cheap and plentiful, and since Cruz Foam products can be produced on existing plastic manufacturing equipment scale, they will be price-equivalent to petroleum-based foams. The result is a product with the potential to take on the single-use, petroleum-based plastic packaging industry.
\nHelena is excited for the many potential applications of the Cruz Foam circular materials. In October, Helena led Cruz Foam’s $18M Series A funding round, with Matt Saunders, Principal of Helena Special Investments, joining the Cruz Foam board. Helena was joined by Small Planet, Regeneration VC, At One Ventures, and SoundWaves. The goal of the round is “to accelerate and scale the commercialization” of Cruz Foam, according to Felts, and help catalyze the transition of global supply chains away from single-use materials.
\nIn February of 2023, Cruz Foam formally introduced its product to the market with a diversity of applications including foam and paper wrap that can replace bubble wrap or styrofoam, foam mailers and coolers, and large foam products to protect furniture and electronics.
\nIn tandem, the company announced its partnership with Atlantic Packaging to deploy the solution across a wide range of grocers and retailers.
\nThe partnership reflects an “ever-increasing demand from the world’s biggest brands for sustainable protective packaging that offers high technical performance and is earth-friendly, according to Felts. ” The company notes that it can potentially avoid the release of 53,000 tons of CO2 over the next three years based on current projections.
\nThe joint effort is part of Atlantic Packaging’s A New Earth Project initiative which brings together the voices of ocean and water advocacy with brands and initiatives that can make positive impact within the supply chain.
\nWhile in the near-term, Cruz Foam will bring its focus to the ecommerce sector, with an emphasis on temperature-sensitive and fragile shipping needs, the core components of the company’s compostable material offer a potential solution for enormous market demand that market demand that encompasses everything from coffee cups to takeout food containers.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Update","title":"Life Cycle Assessment","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Cruz Foam is constantly looking to improve its products and processes, in order to ensure it is the best, safest, cleanest product on the market. Toward that end, it underwent a peer-reviewed life cycle assessment (LCA), the results of which are summarized in a white paper, embedded here. The LCA assessed the Cruz Foam standalone product from cradle-to-grave — that is, from raw material extraction, through manufacturing and use, to disposal — and evaluated its environmental impact across nine different indicators, including smog, human toxicity, and acidification. The LCA was a success on both fronts; it both proved Cruz Foam’s current effectiveness and also gave Cruz Foam invaluable information on how it can be even better.
\n"}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":null}}},{"id":"cG9zdDozNTI3","databaseId":3527,"title":"Resilient","slug":"resilient","link":"https://www.helena.org/projects/resilient/","date":"2024-01-05T13:02:57","excerpt":"Leading psychedelic-assisted therapy for mental health.
\n","isRestricted":false,"featuredImage":{"node":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/05050049/rodion-kutsaiev-TMa_5BLvDqQ-unsplash-scaled.jpg","title":"rodion-kutsaiev-TMa_5BLvDqQ-unsplash"}},"acfProjectDetails":{"seo":{"title":"Resilient | Helena Projects | Helena","metaDescription":null,"metaImage":null},"smallerProject":null,"projectIntro":{"headline":"Resilient Pharmaceuticals","region":"Global","tag":"Mental Health","profit":"profit","introBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Helena is the lead investor in Resilient Pharmaceuticals (formerly Lykos/ MAPS PBC) – an entity furnishing solutions at the leading edge of psychedelic research.
\n\n
Led by Helena’s contribution to the company’s Series A round, Resilient Pharmaceuticals has raised over $150mm, including previously issued convertible notes, to support its planned launch of MDMA-Assisted Therapy.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Helena MAPS Media links-Web-V2.006","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/11/15195411/Helena-MAPS-Media-links-Web-V2.006.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Amidst a global mental health epidemic with significant human and economic repercussions, Resilient Pharmaceuticals has been innovating the therapeutic treatment model for intractable diagnoses, starting with PTSD.
\n\n
Combining talk therapy with the administration of the psychedelic MDMA, MDMA Assisted Therapy unlocks feelings of safety, openness, connection, and empathy in patients – enhancing their ability to process and integrate challenging emotions and experiences. Clinical studies have yielded stunning results projecting untold relief for the millions suffering from PTSD.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Helena MAPS media links-Social-V2.008","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/09215747/Helena-MAPS-media-links-Social-V2.008.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"In final, confirmatory Phase 3 FDA trials, 86.5% of participants experienced clinically meaningful improvement and 71.2% of participants no longer met the clinical criteria for the diagnosis.
\n\n
With bipartisan support in the US and abroad, the future of psychedelic medicine looks bright. Resilient Pharmaceuticals is dedicated to bringing better treatments to those living with mental health conditions. The treatment model has implications for eating disorders, substance abuse, and more. At the forefront of psychedelic science, we believe Resilient Pharmaceuticals’ efforts will usher in a powerful new era in mental healthcare.
\n","eyebrow":null}}]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":[{"type":"Image","text":"PTSD is an epidemic affecting hundreds of millions of individuals over the course of their lifetimes.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"tim-foster-cRDUjKh6Xj0-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/05044407/tim-foster-cRDUjKh6Xj0-unsplash.jpg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/05044407/tim-foster-cRDUjKh6Xj0-unsplash.jpg"},"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Traditional interventions including talk therapy and SSRIs have fallen short of alleviating the tremendous emotional suffering endured by a significant portion of those afflicted.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"prozac–paxil-and-zoloft-anti-depressant-tablets–close-up-858253-001-5a8b4dcb0e23d900379b8918","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/11/10182350/prozac-paxil-and-zoloft-anti-depressant-tablets-close-up-858253-001-5a8b4dcb0e23d900379b8918.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"PTSD has ripple effects for families and communities and places a significant financial burden on the healthcare system.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"1967_AUGUST_CONTENT_Understanding_Addiction_V2_1000x500","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/11/10182453/1967_AUGUST_CONTENT_Understanding_Addiction_V2_1000x500.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Helena is supporting an FDA “breakthrough” designated treatment furnishing much-needed hope for patients in need.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"federico-bottos-_f7mBDzXIKw-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/11/17011156/federico-bottos-_f7mBDzXIKw-unsplash.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Pioneered by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) and its Public Benefit Corporation Resilient Pharmaceuticals for over 30 years, MDMA-assisted therapy has demonstrated dramatic clinical results in Phase 3 FDA trials.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"rodion-kutsaiev-TMa_5BLvDqQ-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/05050049/rodion-kutsaiev-TMa_5BLvDqQ-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"With implications for diagnoses beyond PTSD, the treatment holds the potential to transform the therapeutic paradigm and address a growing mental health crisis.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"abyan-athif-BCx6t5pJwVw-unsplash copy","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/11/10182911/abyan-athif-BCx6t5pJwVw-unsplash-copy-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"The Problem","title":"The Costs of PTSD","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Note: Click here for an essay from Helena Founder/CEO Henry Elkus on Resilient Pharmaceuticals and the future promise of psychedelic therapy.
\nPost-Traumatic Stress Disorder begins with a stressor. A person, or someone close to them, experiences a catastrophic or potentially catastrophic event: a near-death experience, an assault, combat. Then, perhaps right after, perhaps months or years later, the symptoms begin. Intrusive images – nightmare, flashbacks – as if the incident were happening again; hypervigilance; avoidance and emotional numbing; negative thoughts about themselves, their futures, their capabilities. The range of potential symptoms is broad, but the experience is devastating.
\nThe PTSD diagnosis was only introduced in the DSM-III in 1980, but that’s certainly not when it started. Over the years it’s been called many things – “nostalgia” in the 1800s and “irritable heart” after the Civil War; the famous “shell shock” during World War I, reflecting the new artillery; “combat stress reaction,” “battle fatigue,” and “combat exhaustion” post World War II; “survivor syndrome” in Vietnam. Its effects have been observed and chronicled in histories, medical reports, and correspondences for millennia.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"ptsd-wwi-3c0ec8ecd646e0232f67ee356eb37585240d2dc9-s1100-c50","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/11/14210116/ptsd-wwi-3c0ec8ecd646e0232f67ee356eb37585240d2dc9-s1100-c50.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Today in the United States alone, an estimated 13 million adults will suffer PTSD in a given year, and 280 million people in their lifetimes worldwide.
\nAlthough exposure to combat is a significant indicator – veterans are more than twice as likely as civilians to suffer from PTSD at some point in their lives – the majority of cases are non-military related. Thirty-four percent of PTSD cases are triggered by sexual abuse before the age of 18; 29% by death and loss; 23% by sexual violence; 21% by serious injury; and 6% by military combat.
\nIndividuals with PTSD are twice as likely to abuse alcohol, four times as likely to suffer anxiety, and three to five times as likely to suffer depression. PTSD has been linked to increased rates of eating disorders, substance abuse, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disease, and Parkinson’s. Women are especially at risk; they represent 66% of the total PTSD cases and exhibit higher levels of PTSD symptoms when exposed to trauma.
\nThe economic burden on society is substantial. In the US, PTSD costs an estimated $232 billion dollars each year. For civilians – who account for 81% of the total cases – the primary drivers are direct health care and unemployment; for military personnel, disability. PTSD’s economic burden is on par with that of depression and anxiety.
\nThe disorder has also proven incredibly difficult to treat. Talk therapy is the most common approach, but it’s only been shown to alleviate PTSD symptoms in about half of cases. Patients treated with Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI’s) like Zoloft and Paxil are responsive in only around 60% of cases, with full remission in only 20-30%. A new drug application hasn’t been approved in over 20 years.
\nMDMA-assisted therapy suggests a powerful alternative.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Background","title":"The History of Psychedelics and The Birth of MAPS","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Naturally occurring psychedelics – psilocybin (mushrooms), ayahuasca, mescaline (peyote), DMT – have been used for spiritual and medicinal purposes for thousands of years. Prized for the way they promoted empathy and communal connectedness, indigenous leaders and healers have employed them in rites and ceremonies in civilizations all over the world.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"adult-art-bracelets-1911580_1_60-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/11/14210239/adult-art-bracelets-1911580_1_60-scaled-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Despite their myriad global and historical uses, psychedelics were largely absent from Western medicine until 1938, when the Swiss chemist Albert Hofman synthesized LSD. Intending to create a respiratory and circulatory stimulant for Sandoz Laboratories, Hofman instead discovered the drug’s mental health applications. He began distributing it to psychiatrists under their brand name Delysid in 1947. By the early 1950s, they were seeing incredibly encouraging results in the treatment of alcoholism, depression, and end-of-life anxiety. Between 1950 and 1965, practitioners had prescribed LSD to 40,000 patients and published more than a thousand scientific papers (of varying degrees of robustness) on the topic. Instances of negative reactions in clinical settings were exceedingly rare, results were overwhelmingly positive, and scientists, as they better understood psychedelics, were increasingly optimistic about their potential. The period has been called the “golden age of psychedelics.”
\nBut this heyday of Western psychedelic medicine came to a screeching halt in 1970. Books like Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception, which detailed his experience with clinically-administered mescaline, brought awareness of psychedelics to wider audiences.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"RRB-139481","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/11/14210505/RRB-139481.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"As the drugs seeped into the mainstream, they exited the scientific community’s oversight and care. Instances of recreational abuse increased, stories of the potential dangers of psychedelics mounted, and the drugs became associated less with scientific breakthroughs and more with a burgeoning counterculture and the decay of classic American values, especially against the backdrop of the Vietnam War. In 1970, President Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act into effect, classifying LSD and other known psychedelics (DMT, psilocybin, mescaline) as Schedule I drugs – illegal to possess, with no accepted medical use.
\nLess than a decade later, in a UC-Berkeley lab in 1975, a chemist named Alexander Shulgin, together with student Carl Resnikoff, synthesized 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, better known as MDMA.
\nThis was not the first time MDMA had been synthesized; it was originally formulated in 1912 by German Merck scientists trying to make a blood coagulant. It was (probably) not even the first time Shulgin himself had synthesized it – his lab notes suggest he had formulated it in 1965 and had shared the process with a chemist in Los Angeles in 1970.
\nIt wasn’t until 1976 however, that Shulgin ingested it himself for the first time. He wrote, “this substance stimulated but was not a stimulant; it disinhibited without being an intoxicant; it helped to express feelings and emotions more freely, but without impairing self-control.” He said it “enabled me to see outside without distortion or reluctance, and to look inside myself.”
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Alexander Shulgin","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"17661586_h1729591","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/11/14210545/17661586_h1729591-cb613e99c383a6436972bbe65b77309571966203.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Recognizing MDMA’s potential in psychotherapy. Shulgin gave the compound to a psychologist named Leo Zeff, who had overseen thousands of psychedelic-assisted therapy sessions in the 60s. Zeff called the drug Adam because it seemed to put users in a primordial, neuroses-free state, and he introduced it to hundreds of his fellow therapists. “I kept him supplied with the drug and he went out and supplied the Western world with the experience itself,” Shulgin said. “That was the blossoming of its use in psychotherapy.”
\nHowever, just like the psychedelics did before it, MDMA leaked out of psychiatry offices and science labs and into the pockets of recreational users. Ecstasy, as it became known, became incredibly popular, and its demand – and visibility – grew.
\nThis visibility was, of course, a potential death knell for the legality of MDMA. But the therapeutic community had learned its lesson. Anticipating a DEA response to recreational use, therapists and researchers began preparing a petition to classify MDMA as Schedule III instead of Schedule I – a designation that would outlaw recreational use but preserve medical and research applications.
\nIn early 1984, a group called the Association for the Responsible Use of Psychedelic Agents (ARUPA) met at the Big Sur retreat-center and educational institute Esalen to carve out a pathway for the continued, sanctioned use of MDMA in psychiatric settings. Among those invited was a 30-year-old psychotherapist named Rick Doblin.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Rick Doblin","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"rickdoblin_2019-embed-1ab4a40e1c21cea04660a2ce1292bd2646ec2455","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/11/14210639/rickdoblin_2019-embed-1ab4a40e1c21cea04660a2ce1292bd2646ec2455.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Galvanized by the meeting, Doblin co-founded the Earth Metabolic Design Laboratories to support ongoing psychedelic research. He installed Shulgin, Zeff, and others as the board of advisors. They funded toxicity studies, set up meetings with FDA officials, and secured legal counsel. When the DEA announced that it intended to classify MDMA as a Schedule I drug, Doblin filed the necessary legal documents to request a hearing.
\nBut shortly thereafter, Charles Schuster, founder and director of the University of Chicago’s Drug Abuse Research Center, appeared on The Phil Donahue Show to discuss MDMA. Though he, too, supported the medical and therapeutic use of MDMA, his appearance instigated an uproar based on his citation of a neurotoxicity study he had conducted that tied large doses of MDA (not MDMA) to brain damage in rats.
\nThe fact that the drug administered in the study was MDA and not MDMA, the massive doses used, and the fact that it was injected instead of ingested – key differences between the applications of MDMA Doblin and allies were promoting – did little to quell the alarms Shuster’s media moment sounded. In response, the DEA asserted emergency powers and placed MDMA on its list of Schedule I drugs. (Notably, MDMA has not been shown to be neurotoxic in the years since, despite extensive testing.)
\nFor Doblin and other proponents of the medical use of MDMA, things looked bleak, but there was a way back in: the long, arduous FDA approval process.
\nDoblin was steadfast, and in 1986, he founded the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies to shepherd MDMA through regulatory channels.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"The Solution","title":"MDMA, PTSD, and MAPS","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"MAPS undertook the study of MDMA-assisted therapy (MDMA-AT) and commenced the FDA’s four-phase approval process.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"The molecular structure of 4-methylone (MDMA)","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Figure-4-Methylone","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/11/14210851/Figure-4-Methylone.gif"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The process is laborious and expensive, even for non-Schedule I drugs. The first two initial studies must prove safety and effectiveness. Based on the results of these Phase 1 and 2 trials, the FDA must then approve an indication for a large-scale Phase 3 study. This is no easy feat – While 70% of indications move from Phase 1 to Phase 2, just 33% make it to Phase 3. To make matters even more challenging, not only was MAPS attempting to have the FDA approve an indication using a Schedule I drug, but the indication itself – MDMA-AT – would be the first time in FDA history that it approved a drug in conjunction with a therapy.
\nAlmost 30 years later, having completed Phase 1,2, and 3 trials, MAPS established Resilient Pharmaceuticals (previously known as Lykos) to finance the resource-intensive final steps in the FDA approval process and develop the strategy to bring the treatment to market.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"The Science","title":"How It Works","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"The brain on MDMA","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"1-s2.0-S0278584617308655-gr1-1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/11/14212228/1-s2.0-S0278584617308655-gr1-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The neurological effects of PTSD are myriad and highly variable, but there are some general commonalities. Rachel Nuwer explains it excellently in her book I Feel Love. Even in normal, calm situations, people with PTSD have higher levels of stress hormones like adrenaline. They have been shown to have increased activity in the amygdala, which is involved in threat detection, as well as heightened connectivity between the amygdala and the insula, which is how we perceive bodily sensations. So not only are they more prone to perceive threats, but, when they do, they are more prone to “feel” the threat sensorily.
\nRecalling their trauma–voluntarily or involuntarily– is associated with decreased activity in Broca’s area, which is responsible for speech, and increased activity in the visual cortex. So not only are they less able to verbalize their suffering, but the suffering itself feels more real and more present. This often results in alexithymia, or emotional blindness, which is, essentially, difficulty experiencing, identifying, and expressing emotions. This emotional cut-off is likely a defense mechanism the person uses to isolate from the dangerous, terrifying feelings associated with the trauma, but it means the person is also isolated from beneficial, soothing, connected emotions as well, making it that much harder to reach them in those moments of suffering.
\nMDMA, meanwhile, induces feelings of well-being, connectedness, and social acceptance by increasing levels of dopamine (which contributes to mood elevation and motivation) and serotonin (which creates feelings of warmth and social connection) in the brain. The effect for a person is elevated energy and motivation, coupled with and guided by feelings of emotional openness and empathy, both for others and for themselves. (This is why MDMA is called an empathogen). A more detailed explanation for the science behind MDMA can be found here.
\nImportantly, MDMA does not treat PTSD on its own; Resilient Pharmaceuticals is seeking approval for MDMA-AT because the effectiveness of MDMA in PTSD treatment is predicated on it being paired with good talk therapy. It is thought that MDMA opens what is called a “critical period,” in which a person is particularly impressionable and sensitive to stimuli. Critical periods can be both positive–they can catalyze lasting growth–and negative–they can catalyze lasting trauma. Talk therapy is necessary to make the best use of that openness and vulnerability, to guide the patient through reprocessing the trauma. As Nuwer writes, “Severe PTSD tends to be triggered by social interactions gone awry, and the maladaptive habits that result from these traumas which become symptoms of PTSD largely pertain to the social environment including distrust, guilt, paranoia, fear, and disconnection from the self and others.” With MDMA-AT, “people are literally given the ability to rewire the neural memory circuits they’ve built around the personal narrative of their trauma; the memories are not erased but they can be recontextualized.”
\nMDMA-AT is a 14-week process. An initial patient intake and screening is followed by three 90-minute sessions with a pair of talk therapists, spaced one week apart. The patient then undergoes three eight-hour MDMA sessions with the same two therapists. In those sessions, the patient ingests a controlled dose of MDMA, and may take an optional booster two hours in that is half the strength of the initial dose. After those sessions, the patient will again undergo three 90-minute, MDMA-free talk therapy sessions, one week apart.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"The Results","title":"Clinical Trials, Media Attention, and Institutional Support","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"By 2016, Resilient Pharmaceuticals (then operating as MAPS PBC) had compiled data from 107 pilot studies of MDMA-AT and presented its findings to the FDA. The results were remarkable. While the control group (therapy with no MDMA) saw 23% full remission, the number more than doubled for the MDMA-AT group: 56% no longer met the diagnostic criteria of PTSD. And the number grew even after the treatment, suggesting that patients continued to improve on their own; at the 12-month check-in, two thirds of the MDMA-assisted group no longer retained the diagnosis.
\nNot only did the FDA greenlight MDMA Assisted Therapy for Phase 3 trials, it designated it a “breakthrough therapy,” fast-tracking its development and review. The company launched its larger-scale studies almost immediately: eleven study sites were established in the United States, two in Canada, and another two in Israel.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Scientific American article","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Helena MAPS Media links-Web.002","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/11/14212752/Helena-MAPS-Media-links-Web.002.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In May of 2021, they published the results of the first Phase 3 study in Nature. The data was in line with the breakthrough data from Phases 1 and 2. A remarkable 88% of patients responded favorably to the therapy. After three sessions of MDMA-AT, 67% of patients lost their PTSD diagnosis, with 33% of responders reporting full remission of symptoms. (To put those numbers in perspective, correlative responses in the placebo group were just 32% and 5%.) To make the results even more impressive, the average duration of prior PTSD for the participants in the study was 14 years.
\nA final and confirmatory Phase 3 study demonstrated even more promising findings. 87% of participants responded favorably to MDMA-AT, 71% no longer meet the criteria for PTSD, and an incredible 46% experienced full remission of their symptoms. PTSD patients given traditional drugs and therapies generally have about a 50% chance of a favorable response. This means that the portion of patients who experience full remission from MDMA-AT is roughly equal to the portion of patients who respond at all to traditional drugs and therapies.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PdfEmbed","pdfEmbed":{"file":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/11/15195219/s41591-023-02565-4.pdf"}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The results have generated excitement in the media, veterans groups, even Congress. Signaling a potential sea change in mental healthcare, outlets including The Economist, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Yorker have all reported on MAPS and the burgeoning field of psychedelic medicine. On Capitol Hill, the support is strong and bipartisan: in March, United States Representatives Lou Correa (D-CA) and Jack Bergman (R-MI) announced that they were relaunching their Congressional Psychedelics Advancing Therapies (PATH) Caucus. In November 2022, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced the Breakthrough Therapies Act to “enable the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to make the findings necessary to transfer breakthrough therapies involving Schedule I substances such as MDMA and psilocybin from Schedule I to Schedule II.”
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Gallery","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":"New York Times","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Helena MAPS Media links-Web-V2.006","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/11/15195411/Helena-MAPS-Media-links-Web-V2.006.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"New Scientist","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Helena MAPS Media links-Web-V2.007","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/11/15195455/Helena-MAPS-Media-links-Web-V2.007.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"The Economist","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Helena MAPS Media links-Web-V2.002","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/11/15195512/Helena-MAPS-Media-links-Web-V2.002.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In December of 2023, the company filed a New Drug Approval application for MDMA Assisted Therapy with the FDA – a historic submission representing decades of dedication and a watershed moment for the future of psychedelic medicine.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_InstagramtwitterEmbed","instagramtwitterEmbed":{"url":"https://twitter.com/hubermanlab/status/1734651366457688487?s=20"}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Helena Lykos-Web.001","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/03021120/Helena-Lykos-Web.001.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Anticipating the surge in demand if FDA approval is obtained, Resilient Pharmaceuticals has been educating psychiatrists in MDMA-AT and working with institutions such as the Department of Veteran Affairs to deliver treatment to those most in need. Helena member Dr. Rachel Yehuda, Director of the Center for Psychedelic Psychotherapy and Trauma Research at Mt. Sinai and Director of Mental Health at the James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Center, became convinced that the treatment allowed people to break through “the immutable narrative of trauma” by creating a state of “maximum self-compassion … and minimal self-criticism.” Her lab at the VA has subsequently conducted a number of Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials in the treatment.
\nIn January of 2024, The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced a significant research initiative to explore the effectiveness of psychedelic compounds in treating PTSD and depression among veterans. The endeavor marks the first VA-funded research into psychedelics since the 1960s. Of the announcement, VA Under Secretary of Veteran Affairs Denis McDonough remarked, “our nation’s Veterans deserve the very best care, and the VA is constantly supporting innovations to deliver that.” VA Under Secretary of Health Dr. Shareef Elhnahel echoed McDonough’s support and underscored the “potential promise of psychedelics to treat mental health.”
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxKuqYgeKh4&ab_channel=VeteransHealthAdministration","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The initiative indicates a paradigm shift in institutional reception for psychedelic therapies and reflects calls from veterans and Veteran Service Organizations such as the American Legion and Disabled American Veterans to expand research in the field.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"The Future","title":"Beyond PTSD, and beyond MDMA","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In the “golden age” of the 50s and 60s, psychedelics were used to treat a wide range of conditions, including eating disorders, addictions, anxiety, and major depressive disorder. Resilient Pharmaceuticals is committed to expanding its focus beyond PTSD. It is currently planning a Phase 2 study on MDMA-AT (with caregiver involvement) for treating anorexia nervosa restricting subtype (AN-R) and binge-eating disorder (BED). It has also published its Phase 3 findings on MDMA-AT’s effects on alcohol and substance abuse.
\nBeyond MDMA, Resilient Pharmaceuticals will be well-positioned to explore alternative psychedelic treatments for a range of conditions. Recently, the FDA gave psilocybin a “breakthrough therapy” distinction for treatment of substance abuse. Esketamine has already been approved for treatment-resistant depression. (Under its brand name, SPRAVATO, it was Johnson and Johnson’s fastest growing product this year). Explorations are underway for the use of LSD and psilocybin in the treatment of physical pain. A recent study of mice published in Nature suggests that psychedelics can “reopen” a “critical period” for learning social and emotional skills (“the social reward learning period”), which could prove life-changing for cult survivors.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Helena MAPS Media links-Web-V2.003","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/11/15195645/Helena-MAPS-Media-links-Web-V2.003.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The company is committed to enacting a global rollout, with a research entity in Europe and Phase 3 MDMA-AT studies in Canada and Israel.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"The Investment","title":"Helena","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Helena is proud to be the lead investor in Resilient Pharmaceuticals’ Series A funding round, contributing to over $100 million raised in the last 12 months to support the launch of MDMA-Assisted Therapy.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen Shot 2024-01-05 at 10.39.48 AM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/08190738/Screen-Shot-2024-01-05-at-10.39.48-AM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The burden of PTSD on society is extensive – it affects millions of people each year, it can last for decades, and it has an incredibly high incidence of comorbidity. For those that suffer from chronic, debilitating PTSD, for their communities and loved ones, MDMA-AT offers help that is two to three times more effective than existing treatments, and exponentially faster-acting. Yehuda has said that she has seen MDMA-AT accomplish “in eight hours what one might do in the course of 10 years in psychotherapy.”
\nHelena’s decision to partner with the company was bolstered by the composition of the Resilient Pharmaceuticals team, led by a group of experienced industry leaders. Helena’s Managing Partner Protik Basu brings his extensive public health experience to bear as a MAPS PBC board member. Outside of his work at Helena, Basu chairs the Advisory Board at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Helena also holds one Observer seat.
\n"}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":[{"popupId":"breakthrough-therapy","title":"Breakthrough Therapy","content":"The FDA’s Breakthrough Therapy Designation is a special status granted to certain medical treatments, such as drugs or therapies, that show substantial promise in treating serious or life-threatening conditions. This designation aims to expedite the development and review process, allowing for quicker access to potentially life-saving treatments for patients. It’s intended for innovations that demonstrate significant advantages over existing treatments and address critical unmet medical needs.
\n"},{"popupId":"talk-therapy","title":"Talk Therapy","content":"FROM DELIBERATION TO LEGISLATION
\n","isRestricted":false,"featuredImage":{"node":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/08/11190055/A1R2025_PA_060525-322-scaled.jpg","title":"A1R2025_PA_060525-322"}},"acfProjectDetails":{"seo":{"title":"America in One Room: Pennsylvania | Helena Projects | Helena","metaDescription":"Helena is a new type of institution that seeks to address critical societal problems by running projects alongside its Members.","metaImage":null},"smallerProject":null,"projectIntro":{"headline":"CONSTRUCTING A BRIDGE FROM DELIBERATION TO LEGISLATION","region":"UNITED STATES","tag":"DEMOCRACY","profit":"non-profit","introBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"In June of 2025, Helena and its partners at Stanford’s Deliberative Democracy Lab brought America in One Room (A1R) to one of the country’s most important bellwether states.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/1100083839?share=copy","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Recruited by Public Opinion Strategies in collaboration with Sago, America in One Room: Pennsylvania (A1R: PA) convened a scientifically representative sample of 175 constituents to thoughtfully deliberate on complex policy challenges facing the state and the nation. Outside of the deliberative sessions, participants engaged directly with state leaders, including Governor Josh Shapiro, State Senator Joe Picozzi, and Speaker of the Pennsylvania House Joanna McClinton.
\n\n
The results demonstrated significant bipartisan opinion shifts, increased faith in democracy, and renewed civic agency.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":"https://vimeo.com/1107381257?share=copy#t=0","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A1RPA-Politico (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/08/12155820/A1RPA-Politico-1.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"For the first time in A1R’s history, the event produced a direct bridge to legislative impact, with Speaker McClinton’s commitment to use the data produced to guide senate reconciliation of House Bill 1396.
\n\n
At a time of deepening division and institutional mistrust, A1R offers as a powerful example of participatory democracy in practice and a functional model for leaders committed to infusing decision-making processes with greater transparency and accountability.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/1107381257?share=copy#t=0","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}}]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":[{"type":"Image","text":"Democracy isn’t broken, it’s been hijacked by tribalism and ideological warfare","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Divided,American,Political,Groups,And,United,States,Culture,War,Between","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/18010807/shutterstock_2174502799-scaled.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"In Pennsylvania, we provided a forum for citizens to reclaim it","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A1R2025_PA_060525-504","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/08/11180339/A1R2025_PA_060525-504-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"America in One Room: Pennsylvania brought Helena’s landmark deliberative democracy initiative to one of the nation’s most pivotal swing states","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screenshot 2025-08-11 at 2.08.58 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/08/11180920/Screenshot-2025-08-11-at-2.08.58-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"The event produced a direct line from deliberation to policymaking, and created a case study for participatory democracy in action","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_9069","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/08/12153937/IMG_9069.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"At Helena we’re working to turn this process into a movement – building trust, recalibrating perspectives, and igniting civic engagement at scale","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_7850-3","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/08/11184656/IMG_7850-3.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"Background","title":"A proven model for democratic revitalization","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"A1R: PA is the fifth installment of Helena’s America in One Room series. Launched in 2019 as an innovative effort to capture the “will of the people” ahead of a critical presidential election, the original A1R drew significant media coverage—including a dedicated Sunday supplement in The New York Times—and earned praise from global leaders, including Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
\nSince 2019, we’ve brought this process to a series of issue-specific online events, utilizing a proprietary AI-driven online platform developed by Stanford’s Deliberative Democracy Lab, and convened the first-ever representative national sample of first-time voters for a historic in-person event in Washington, D.C.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"America in One Room: The Youth vote convened nearly 500 17 and 18-year-olds for deliberations ahead of the 2024 presidential election.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Frame 5","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/12/02183321/Frame-5.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Rooted in Deliberative Polling®, a methodology pioneered by Helena Member Jim Fishkin, A1R provides a radically different understanding of public opinion compared to traditional surveys or polls. Instead of capturing surface-level responses or partisan talking points, it reveals considered perspectives that emerge when citizens engage deeply and respectfully with complex policy issues. Deployed over 150 times in more than 40 countries worldwide, Deliberative Polling has consistently resulted in reduced polarization, increased faith in democratic processes, and long-term civic engagement.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Jim Fishkin addressing the A1R: PA delegates","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A1R2025_PA_060525-063","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/08/11182942/A1R2025_PA_060525-063-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"How it works:
\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Pennsylvania offered the perfect laboratory for democratic renewal. A key swing state that encompasses urban centers, vast rural areas, Rust Belt manufacturing towns, and growing suburbs, this diversity is reflected in the political leanings and voting behaviors of its residents – which embody the deepening polarization that characterizes American politics.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Gallery","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Skyline-from-Loews-December-Sunset-10-credit-Kyle-Huff-34","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/08/12164227/Skyline-from-Loews-December-Sunset-10-credit-Kyle-Huff-34.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"139655-1280×640","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/08/12164239/139655-1280x640-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Bethlehem_Steel_(1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/08/12174523/Bethlehem_Steel_1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Just months into President Trump’s second term, with political tensions running high, A1R: Pennsylvania would provide the first rigorous measurement of where voters actually stood on the issues when given the chance to move beyond soundbites and slogans.
\nThe discussions centered five key policy areas:
\n\n
Over the course of 3 days, participants brought their lived experiences to discussions with diverse fellow Pennsylvanians. In small groups, they formulated questions for a bipartisan slate of political leaders that included Governor Josh Shapiro, Senator Joe Picozzi, and Speaker Joanna McClinton.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Gallery","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A1R2025_PA_060525-322","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/08/11190055/A1R2025_PA_060525-322-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A1R2025_PA_060525-505","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/08/11190246/A1R2025_PA_060525-505-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_5655","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/08/11190253/IMG_5655-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_9046","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/08/11190300/IMG_9046.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_5776","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/08/11190256/IMG_5776.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A1R2025_PA_060525-133","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/08/11185946/A1R2025_PA_060525-133-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A1R2025_PA_060525-342","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/08/11191042/A1R2025_PA_060525-342-scaled.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A1R2025_PA_060525-414","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/08/12170410/A1R2025_PA_060525-414-scaled.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A1R2025_PA_060525-201","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/08/12170122/A1R2025_PA_060525-201-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The results challenged the prevailing narrative that Americans are hopelessly divided and offered a clear and actionable understanding of public opinion on policy proposals of state and national significance. From voting reform to immigration to education to healthcare to foreign policy, our participants tackled nuanced policy proposals and moved in surprising directions when compared to the control group.
\nOne month before Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” H.R.1. was signed into law, A1R: PA reflected constituent perspectives on many of the issues congress would soon debate, revealing which provisions aligned with public sentiment and which lacked consensus when stripped of partisan framing.
\nParticipants left with dramatically renewed faith in democracy and an expanded willingness to engage with the other side.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"The Results","title":"A snapshot of American priorities","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A1R-PA-WebStats1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/08/12171346/A1R-PA-WebStats1-1.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A1R-PA-WebStats2","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/08/12171350/A1R-PA-WebStats2.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Education
\nStrong bipartisan consensus emerged supporting tuition caps at public colleges and universities (77% support), while support for free college tuition significantly dropped from 60% to 46%, as participants considered budgetary realities. In addition, deliberations led to substantial bipartisan support (approximately 81%) for policies subsidizing trade education and guaranteeing job opportunities for graduates, reflecting widespread recognition of vocational education’s economic benefits.
\nHealthcare
\nParticipants demonstrated strong bipartisan support for policies addressing healthcare disparities in underserved areas. They expressed overwhelming approval for initiatives such as tax credits for healthcare facilities expanding into rural areas (88% support), loan forgiveness incentives for healthcare workers serving these communities (94% support), and grants for rural hospitals to hire and retain medical staff (85% support). Conversely, proposals such as repealing the Affordable Care Act in favor of state grants or requiring work hours for Medicaid recipients received far less enthusiasm, reflecting concerns about effectiveness, administrative complexity, and unintended consequences.
\nEconomic Opportunity
\nDiscussions about economic opportunity revealed clear bipartisan agreement on practical workforce policies. Substantial support emerged for subsidizing trade schools and creating guaranteed job opportunities upon graduation (around 81% support). However, more ambitious measures like “baby bonds” (state-funded bonds for children) lost support when participants considered long-term fiscal impacts, highlighting a preference for targeted, directly impactful initiatives over broader wealth redistribution programs.
\nForeign Policy
\nForeign policy deliberations showed a dramatic shift towards robust, pragmatic international engagement. Support doubled (from 35% to 69%) for providing military support to Taiwan in case of a Chinese invasion, reflecting strong bipartisan agreement on the strategic importance of deterring aggression. Participants also strongly supported new-generation nuclear plants and creating a “Resilient Resource Reserve,” while notably rejecting increased defense spending. This demonstrated a preference for strategic readiness and diplomacy over broad military budget increases.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"From deliberation to legislation","title":"A historic policy commitment","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Helena worked directly with legislators in Pennsylvania to ensure the findings from A1R: PA would meaningfully shape state policy.
\nThe deliberative results will be integrated directly into legislative strategy through a partnership with Speaker of the PA House Joanna McClinton.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Speaker McClinton fielding questions from the delegates","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A1R2025_PA_060525-325","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/08/11191404/A1R2025_PA_060525-325-scaled.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Recognizing the value of citizen-driven policy deliberations, the Speaker formally committed to using the A1R: PA outcomes to inform reconciliation of House Bill 1396, a significant election reform package.
\nFive key policy proposals deliberated during A1R: PA aligned directly with provisions of HB 1396:
\n\n
Speaker McClinton’s office agreed to prioritize elements receiving supermajority support (67% or greater) from participants, while deprioritizing provisions facing supermajority opposition. Beyond quantitative survey data, the Speaker’s team also committed to reviewing qualitative insights, including anonymized participant quotes and synthesized reasoning from small-group discussions, to inform internal strategy and external negotiations with Senate leadership.
\nThis explicit alignment between citizen deliberation and legislative action reflects a powerful new model for policymaking—one rooted deeply in rigorous, representative public input.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Conclusion","title":"A functional tool for democratic resilience","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"America in One Room: Pennsylvania embodies a transformative new vision for governance—one in which citizens and elected officials collaborate directly to tackle the state’s most urgent challenges, driven by informed consensus rather than partisan gridlock. By harnessing the rigor of Deliberative Polling and expert insights, the initiative empowered Pennsylvanians to develop forward-looking solutions on critical issues ranging from education reform and economic opportunity to healthcare access and justice system improvements.
\nThe practical integration of deliberative outcomes into the policy process by Speaker Joanna McClinton’s office represents a historic milestone, demonstrating deliberative democracy’s real-world potential to bridge divides, strengthen civic trust, and transform policymaking. Amplified by extensive national media coverage, America in One Room: Pennsylvania offers a compelling, scalable blueprint for democratic renewal. It highlights how structured, informed deliberation can effectively channel the diverse perspectives of the electorate into tangible, actionable solutions — charting a path toward a more vibrant, inclusive, and resilient democratic future for communities across Pennsylvania and beyond.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A1R2025_PA_060525-026","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2025/08/12174859/A1R2025_PA_060525-026-scaled.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":null}}},{"id":"cG9zdDoyMTQz","databaseId":2143,"title":"COVID-19 Response","slug":"covid-19-response","link":"https://www.helena.org/projects/covid-19-response/","date":"2020-11-04T22:26:13","excerpt":"PURCHASING AND ROUTING TENS OF MILLIONS OF VITAL MEDICAL SUPPLIES DURING THE HEIGHT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.
\n","isRestricted":false,"featuredImage":{"node":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/10001153/home_project1.jpg","title":"home_project1"}},"acfProjectDetails":{"seo":{"title":"COVID-19 Response","metaDescription":"Purchasing and routing tens of millions of vital medical supplies during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. ","metaImage":null},"smallerProject":null,"projectIntro":{"headline":"COVID-19 Response","region":"United States","tag":"Pandemic Response","profit":"non-profit","introBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe in March of 2020, hospitals worldwide faced a crisis. Braced for an onslaught of COVID patients, the medical community was uncertain about the severity of the disease or how best to treat it.
\n\n
Front line workers watched as stores of critical personal protective equipment (PPE), like masks and gloves, dwindled ever smaller – with no new shipments arriving to resupply.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Image","video":"https://player.vimeo.com/video/505381869","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"chris-mclay-362ErvpEOfw-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23190753/chris-mclay-362ErvpEOfw-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Globally, demand for masks, gowns, disinfectant wipes, and other critical medical supplies had exploded overnight. Manufacturers were overwhelmed. And, since selling into the new black market had become wildly more profitable than shipping products through traditional channels, big distributors were unable to find products.
\n\n
The hospitals at the end of the supply chain – used to calling their distributors and being able to buy as much as they wanted on favorable payment terms from trusted counterparties – were suddenly left in the dark. The combination of demand and supply shocks upended the markets virtually overnight, and left frontline medical workers vulnerable in their time of greatest need.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/505381869/a6397187de","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"To address this problem, Helena launched a major effort in March of 2020 to identify sources of PPE globally, purchase items out of the hands of profiteers, and transfer them – at cost – to the US hospitals, governments, and care facilities that needed them most.
\n\n
Helena raised nearly twenty million dollars and directly purchased or financed the delivery of over 37 million masks, gloves, gowns, and other critical medical supplies – putting them into the hands of front line workers at nearly 100 hospitals and care facilities across the US.
\n","eyebrow":null}}]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":[{"type":"Video","text":"During the COVID-19 pandemic, the world experienced a major shortage of vital medical supplies.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/13195425/Covid-Video.mp4"},"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Critical items like masks, gloves, face shields, hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes and diagnostics did not reach hospitals in time, leading to significant and unnecessary loss of life. ","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"visuals-d9UaoD4Rq7w-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/10192846/visuals-d9UaoD4Rq7w-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Helena quickly responded: finding, purchasing and routing into the hands of medical workers more than 37 million units of these critical supplies during the peak of the crisis. ","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"sj-objio-8hHxO3iYuU0-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/27201112/sj-objio-8hHxO3iYuU0-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"The Onset of COVID-19","title":"Early Warnings","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In December 2019 and January 2020, a novel coronavirus spreading through Wuhan, China began to make global headlines.
\nIn February, Helena began to receive warnings from Members including Justin Lewis-Weber and Daniel Schmachtenberger, who drew attention to the disease’s potential for exponential spread. Early analysis indicated that the risk was under-appreciated, particularly as statistics from the Diamond Princess and Northern Italy outbreaks suggested that the coronavirus’ case fatality rate could hit 1-2% with a functioning hospital system, and get as high as 8-10% during an ICU-overwhelm scenario.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A now globally circulated visualization of the novel coronavirus, created by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)","size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"cdc-mf2rtg2V8S8-unsplash (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23193426/cdc-mf2rtg2V8S8-unsplash-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In early March, Helena Members began reaching out asking for assistance with getting medical supplies to hospitals. As the pandemic began to spread, global demand for PPE rocketed upwards, and hospitals were caught off guard.
\nIn response, Helena began searching for stockpiles of PPE or distributors with close manufacturer relationships. Within 24 hours, we had located more than enough supplies to fill the demand we’d been contacted about – and proceeded to connect the two parties — hospital purchasing departments and PPE suppliers — directly.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"Hospitals were moving too slowly - committed to outdated best practices for purchasing that made sense in the normal world, but not in a crisis."},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Unfortunately, hours and days went by. While supplies of PPE at the hospitals continued to run desperately short, no transactions were executed. Hospitals were moving too slowly – committed to outdated best practices for purchasing that made sense in the normal world, but not in a crisis. For every box of masks or gloves, suppliers suddenly had dozens, even hundreds of buyers. Insisting on examining samples, paying after receiving delivery (as opposed to before), and other precautionary steps meant getting shut out of the market. Worst of all, hospitals were often being outbid by profiteers ready to pay cash immediately, hold masks or gowns in a warehouse for a few days or weeks, and then flip for a profit as prices continued to rise.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"First Actions","title":"Helena's First PPE Test Purchase","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Frustrated by this lack of action, Helena decided to use some of its own operating funds to buy 500,000 gloves from a depot in Virginia, and ship them to a group of hospitals on the East Coast. We promised to take the risk of fraudulent supplies and get paid back only after the hospitals had taken delivery.
\nIn other words, Helena was offering emergency, philanthropic bridge financing – to close the gap between supplier and buyer, and get goods flowing to the front line as quickly as possible.
\nMeanwhile, as COVID numbers climbed, hospitals were tearing through their supplies of PPE at record pace. And since hospitals like to minimize costs, they do not keep large, potentially superfluous caches of PPE on hand.
\nFor hospital procurement departments without global sourcing networks, or the capacity to conduct due diligence on new companies claiming to have legitimate supplies, restocking had become extraordinarily difficult.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"The N95 Surgical Mask","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"photo-1584903849137-544817c1c393","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23193904/photo-1584903849137-544817c1c393.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Prices on basic staples like surgical masks, once available for pennies, had skyrocketed above $1. More protective N95 masks were climbing in price by the day, from $1.20 to $4.15 to $8.90 to $12, with huge price spreads and minimal market transparency. Supplies would often be available for mere hours, snapped up by foreign governments or profiteers – or being oversold to multiple parties. Fraud abounded.
\nSadly, the US Government’s Strategic National Stockpile – designed and held to meet crises like this one – was woefully insufficient.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"Helena was offering emergency, philanthropic bridge financing - to close the gap between supplier and buyer, and get goods flowing to the front line as quickly as possible."},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"On March 4th, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services stated that the Strategic National Stockpile had just 12 million medical-grade N95 respirator masks – roughly 1% of what would likely be needed. And without a system to measure real-time PPE need at the care facility level, even this small stockpile couldn’t be allocated efficiently to areas of greatest need.
\nInternationally, other countries’ governments began aggressively buying PPE from the main manufacturers in South-East Asia, often paying up front to guarantee 100% of a facility’s supply for weeks or months. In addition to further bidding up prices, this made authentic products harder and harder to come by.
\nAnd, as manufacturers rushed to expand capacity, the shortages shifted up the supply chain to raw materials like rubber from Malaysia and Thailand for nitrile gloves, to the melt-blown fabric used as a filter in medical masks.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Rubber, a vital raw material for PPE, saw its supply chain disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic ","size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"NP_Llanos62_lo_(5853947082)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23223010/NP_Llanos62_lo_5853947082.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Indeed, even some legitimate mask makers began being sold (or deliberately using) polypropylene instead of melt-blown fabric. Indistinguishable to the end consumer, this inferior material radically reduces the filtering efficacy of masks – meaning hospitals had to worry about buying product that looked and felt legitimate (sometimes even from legitimate manufacturers), but would fail their nurses and doctors in the field.
\nAmidst this chaos, front-line medical workers from Northern Italy to Manhattan continued to place themselves in harm’s way. Caring for a single COVID patient burns through X/day [let’s get the figures here and explain why – I remember the numbers of masks, gloves required being extremely high due to continual removal and re-application from checking on patients multiple time. As PPE supplies ran out, some hospital workers resorted to extreme measures, like reusing dirty masks, or wearing make-shift cloth coverings – which offer little to no real protection in environments with high viral load.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"Fraud abounded."},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Observing this, Helena spotted an opportunity.
\nWe were better positioned than most hospitals to find sources of medical supplies, conduct diligence on them, and compare prices to find the cheapest, closest, and most reliable options. Most importantly, we were not bound by rules around standard practices, net-30 procurement requirements. Just like the profiteers, we could move quickly, racing them to snap up stores of supplies and get goods moving to hospitals in need. We also had a higher risk tolerance; we were willing to take losses on some percentage of bad orders in order to execute on good ones more quickly.
\nAs word spread that we were a reliable source of supplies, more and more front-line medical workers, hospital executives, and medical procurement officers started reaching out through warm introductions or by cold-emailing through our website. We were being inundated with millions of units of demand for critical PPE, and we had the supply to fill it. We’d completed a test order, and knew we could buy up gloves, get them to hospitals at zero markup, recycle the funds and do it again. But we were facing a multi-billion dollar wave of need with thousands of dollars in funding – we needed to scale up.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"CovidEmail","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23194901/CovidEmail.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"On March 21, 2020, Helena CEO Henry Elkus sent the entire Helena Membership an urgent email detailing Helena’s experience over the past weeks and detailing the plans for a major Helena Project to direct PPE across the country.
\nThe email yielded hundreds of responses, leading to the first instance in Helena’s history in which nearly every Member aided the operations of a single effort.
\nHelena raised nearly $20m in capital in the ensuing days, working with dozens of members representing fields as diverse as manufacturing, capital markets, storytelling, military logistics, film and television, international non-governmental organizations, intelligence community leaders and public officials.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"On March 23rd, 2020, we began operating our bridge financing fund. Armed with this new capital, we had a simple mandate: put critical medical supplies in the hands of the front line workers that needed it most.
\nHowever, the flood of inbound supply and demand was starting to exceed our team’s capacity to effectively diligence and triage it. While continually sourcing new supply was proving easy, confirming its legitimacy was not. Similarly, we faced a flood of hospitals in need, but a shortage of team-members that could perform “customer success work” – communicating with the hospitals to give constant updates on what was available, how quickly it could get to them, the state of our due diligence on the source, where existing orders were in the shipment/customs pipeline, coordinating delivery, inspection, payment, and more.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"We faced a choice – slow our work to a crawl, or specialize in one part of the procurement chain, and partner with other organizations who could handle the rest. We chose the latter, quickly forming relationships with organizations like Decisive Point (whose team of special-forces veterans were able to liaise with City and State government officials in New York – including by driving vans to warehouses of allegedly legitimate supplies we’d located in Brooklyn, and ferrying them to officials at City Hall in Manhattan for testing), Operation Masks (a non-profit whose Silicon Valley team had built a sourcing network on the ground in China, with on-site representatives to visit manufacturing facilities and negotiate purchase agreements), Solve Together (an NJ-based distributor skilled at identifying “on the ground” depots of goods already imported to the US or neighboring country), and more.
\nHelena’s role was to help connect these partners with hospitals in need, and supply the critical “bridge” financing necessary to get goods moving. We took on financing risk so that hospitals didn’t have to, and surveyed a wide landscape of options to balance price, speed, and risk. Along the way, we also met and partnered with inspiring groups like Apiary Medical, 100% owned and operated by service-disabled veterans. Sometimes, as with Apiary, these groups would have their own customer and supplier relationships, and Helena would act only as financier.
\nSometimes this role was essential to help get supplies to government customers, which were forced in their bylaws to only pay for goods after they’d arrived. Intended to prevent fraud, these “net-15” or “net-30” payment term mandates meant groups like the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) struggled to obtain supplies in a market where “50% upfront, 50% on delivery” was the norm. Indeed, when Helena financed an Apiary-led order for the VA in April, we were tragically told we were the first group to successfully get a meaningful number of surgical masks to VA hospitals.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Partially due to an overwhelm in demand for PPE but lack of up-to-date data on where to send it, Helena launched a parallel project called The Covid Network","size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen-Shot-2020-04-22-at-1.54.23-PM-scaled (5)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23200831/Screen-Shot-2020-04-22-at-1.54.23-PM-scaled-5.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"As of February 2021, Helena has been responsible for financing the delivery of over 11 million surgical masks, >4.5 million N95s and KN95 masks, >21 million gloves, 1000 ventilators, 5000 face shields, and 3000 bottles of hand sanitizer, for a total of over 37 million units of medical supplies.
\nDeliveries have gone directly to hospitals and care facilities across the US – from Stockton to Morristown – as well as to State and local governments, including New York City Hall, the State of California and the State of Illinois.
\nThe project has also had failures. One of our biggest occurred in May of 2020. In late April, Helena funded a purchase for ~1.6 million KN95 masks from China for a government entity in the US. While the masks were on the boat to North America, the CDC released their whitelist of approved manufacturers in China. This list contained the names of products/manufacturers the CDC and FDA had approved – it was non-exhaustive and began regularly updated, but the manufacturer our partner had ordered from did not appear on its first draft. This didn’t mean the goods were necessarily deficient – just that they hadn’t been explicitly whitelisted. Understandably, the end buyer cancelled the order, and the price of the masks in question collapsed, leaving our partner holding enormous levels of inventory and our fund a big loss.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"The New York Times' front page on May 24, 2020: A Major moment in quantifying the human cost of COVID-19","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"NYT-front-page-05-24-20-articleLarge-v2","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23195341/NYT-front-page-05-24-20-articleLarge-v2.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Far more meaningfully, Helena was unable to help address one of the other systemic failures of the medical supply crisis – the “long tail” of need. As the PPE industry erupted into chaos, suppliers quickly began to favor large buyers – selling out bulk orders or even whole factory capacity to a single hospital, government, or private distributor. For large buyers, like big city hospitals or government agencies, this was no problem; they were able to meet large “minimum order quantities”, which require purchasers to buy a minimum of hundreds of thousands or millions of units in order to receive any at all.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Gallup, New Mexico was particularly hard-hit by COVID-19. The town, surrounded by the Navajo Nation, was called an infection \"epicenter\" by the New York Times","size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Gallup_NM_south_3rd_street","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/23200201/Gallup_NM_south_3rd_street-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Sadly, this left smaller hospitals, care facilities, and treatment centers – particularly in sparsely populated, impoverished communities, especially communities of color and Native American reservations – unable to secure supplies. The solution was obvious – pooling the demand from dozens or hundreds of these facilities into a single order, batching the delivery into smaller chunks, and then distributing it among a large group of participants. While we worked to encourage others (especially large companies famous for their distribution prowess) to step in and play this role, we felt unable to play it ourselves – our team was too thinly spread, without logistics expertise or capacity.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"As of February 2021, Helena has been responsible for financing the delivery of over 11 million surgical masks, >4.5 million N95s and KN95 masks, >21 million gloves, 1000 ventilators, 5000 face shields, and 3000 bottles of hand sanitizer, for a total of over 37 million units of medical supplies."},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"As a result, this “long tail” of the smallest, poorest care facilities in the country still struggles to obtain the supplies they need.
\nHappily, our PPE bridge financing fund has become less important with each passing day.
\nOver time, a degree of normalcy has returned to the PPE market – traditional distributors have managed to re-establish supply chains, government purchasing and distribution has grown enormously, and new manufacturing firms have sprung up to increase global supply. Hospitals and government agencies alike have adapted procurement methods, and built relationships with new suppliers. As of early 2021, prices have fallen steeply in certain categories like masks. However, they have risen where shortages still exist, particularly in certain products like gloves, syringes, and disinfectant wipes.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_GallerySlider","gallerySlider":{"title":"Explore the Helena Members working on this project.","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":"William Jack / Helena Member","link":"/members/william-jack","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_5409-1-e1561505302635","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/04223846/IMG_5409-1-e1561505302635.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Anne Madden / Helena Member","link":"/members/anne-madden","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Anne-Madden-Photo-taken-by-Bret-Hartman","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/04224039/Anne-Madden-Photo-taken-by-Bret-Hartman.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Michael Tubbs / Helena Member","link":"/members/michael-tubbs","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"MichaelTubbsHelenaMemberProfilePhoto4","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/04224324/MichaelTubbsHelenaMemberProfilePhoto4-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Myron Scholes / Helena Member","link":"/members/myron-scholes","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"MyronScholesMain-e1530331575670","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/04224441/MyronScholesMain-e1530331575670.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Jane Lute / Helena Member","link":"/members/jane-holl-lute","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Jane_Lute_1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/13212934/Jane_Lute_1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"MICHÈLE FLOURNOY / Helena Member","link":"/members/michele-flournoy","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Michèle_Flournoy_1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/13212951/Miche%CC%80le_Flournoy_1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}}}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":[{"popupId":"personal-protective-equipment","title":"Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)","content":"Personal protective equipment, known as PPE, comprises any type of wearable feature that protects humans from bodily harm or infection. Dedicated PPE from body armor to makeshift masks has been in use for centuries.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/27195638/photo-1498549034898-427b982d547e-300x152.jpeg\")
An example of non-medical related PPE: firefighters utilizing masks and protective clothing.
But it was the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic that made the term a household name, as PPE began to extend far beyond the medical and military communities and into the daily lives of the public.
\nMedical COVID-related PPE items include: Masks, Gloves, Goggles, Face Shields, Scrubs, Aprons, Gowns, Hazmat Suits, Bio-Hazard Bags and more.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/27195508/cdc-3ywq86TB7Tg-unsplash-197x300.jpg\")
A 2008 CDC image showcasing wearable medical PPE items.
Helena’s COVID response project purchased and routed items that also fall outside of what is considered PPE.
\nThese items, from diagnostics (COVID tests) to respirators, also include items known as Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) supplies like medical-grade wipes and disinfectant. For simplicity’s sake, this page places all of these items under the term “PPE.”
\n"},{"popupId":"icu-overwhelm","title":"What is An ICU Overwhelm Scenerio? ","content":"ICUs, or Intensive Care Units, are sections of hospitals where critically ill patients with severe COVID are treated. These patients get urgent medical attention – originally this often meant mechanical ventilation, but now includes new treatments like monoclonal antibodies.
\nAn “ICU overwhelm scenario” occurs when more people require extreme, ICU-level treatment for COVID than local hospitals can provide. When ICUs run out of beds, doctors, or other factors that limit treatment capacity, patients with severe COVID are unable to receive proper care. As a result, a higher percentage of them die. This raises the overall “case fatality rate” of COVID for in that area, as happened in Lombardy in Northern Italy in early March of 2020.
\nAt the time, the fear was that hospitals – and their ICUs – would be “overwhelmed” by a wave of severe COVID cases, and that death rates would spike as critically ill people were unable to receive treatment.
\nThankfully, those scenarios have thus far been largely avoided – potentially due to measures taken to slow the spread of the virus and increase hospital capacity, but also due to COVID turning out to be a less severe disease than was feared at the start of the pandemic.
\n"}]}}},{"id":"cG9zdDoyNzMy","databaseId":2732,"title":"The Covid Network","slug":"the-covid-network","link":"https://www.helena.org/projects/the-covid-network/","date":"2021-02-04T00:45:45","excerpt":"GETTING AHEAD OF THE NATIONAL RESPONSE TO COVID.
\n","isRestricted":false,"featuredImage":{"node":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/04003109/Screen-Shot-2020-04-22-at-1.54.23-PM-scaled-2-e1612467285563.png","title":"Screen-Shot-2020-04-22-at-1.54.23-PM-scaled (2)"}},"acfProjectDetails":{"seo":{"title":"Helena: The Covid Network | Helena Projects","metaDescription":null,"metaImage":null},"smallerProject":null,"projectIntro":{"headline":"The COVID Network","region":"United States","tag":"Institutional Covid Response and Predictive Modeling ","profit":"non-profit","introBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"During the COVID-19 pandemic, Helena led a major effort to respond to a breakdown in vital medical equipment, purchasing and routing more than 37 million supplies to hospitals and frontline workers across the United States.
\n\n
In the process, it became clear that a more fundamental problem needed to be solved. No free, public platform existed to identify which hospitals needed PPE and in what quantities. As a result, medical supplies were being misallocated at scale.
\n\n
So we built one.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen-Shot-2020-04-22-at-1.54.23-PM-scaled (2) (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/09195746/Screen-Shot-2020-04-22-at-1.54.23-PM-scaled-2-1.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Helena raced to launch The Covid Network, an online platform that provided real-time data about the state of COVID’s spread across the United States and current PPE needs for individual hospitals.
\n\n
The platform also used advanced predictive modeling to make PPE supply projections four weeks in the future, allowing hospitals, government institutions and suppliers to proactively address shortages before they materialized.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"d0967b7b-1409-4b4f-8787-cddaabfd973f-scaled (2)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/04003431/d0967b7b-1409-4b4f-8787-cddaabfd973f-scaled-2.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"The result was a single place to connect those in most need of PPE and other essential supplies with those who had it.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"The Covid Network's Launch Video ","size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/415774129/598738bb82","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Led by Helena Member Will Jack, Simon Hewat and Rochelle Shen, The Covid Network went from conception to operational in just 60 hours.
\n\n
As the pandemic raged over the ensuing year, the platform was utilized by health systems and suppliers across the country, including the US Air Force.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"93244829_2887122598032395_8698802736869922490_n","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/04004536/93244829_2887122598032395_8698802736869922490_n.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}}]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":[{"type":"Image","text":"During the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, the United States faced a data problem. ","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"enric-moreu-rIymmvOq3P8-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/04005130/enric-moreu-rIymmvOq3P8-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"No free, publicly available platform was available to show which hospitals needed PPE at what levels. As a result, medical supplies were being misallocated at scale.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"josue-ladoo-pelegrin-Ay1GXusQSU8-unsplash (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/04181650/josue-ladoo-pelegrin-Ay1GXusQSU8-unsplash-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"So we built one.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"helena_v15.00_00_04_02.Still001","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/04193331/helena_v15.00_00_04_02.Still001.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/04003109/Screen-Shot-2020-04-22-at-1.54.23-PM-scaled-2-e1612467285563.png"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/04003109/Screen-Shot-2020-04-22-at-1.54.23-PM-scaled-2-e1612467285563.png"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/04003109/Screen-Shot-2020-04-22-at-1.54.23-PM-scaled-2-e1612467285563.png"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"The Problem","title":"Figuring It Out The Hard Way","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe in March of 2020, hospitals worldwide faced a crisis. A huge spike in demand for critical personal protective equipment (PPE) meant that many frontline workers were left without protection against a dangerous new pandemic.
\nTo combat this, Helena launched the COVID Response Project. During the early days of the pandemic, we began to purchase tens of millions of masks, gloves, gowns, and other critical medical supplies, immediately routing them to hospitals and care facilities across the country.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/516887305","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Quickly, we faced a fundamental question: how could we ensure we were sending these supplies to those that needed them most?
\nAt the time, there was no comprehensive database, public or private, that tracked the live need for different types of medical supplies across the thousands of hospitals and point-of-care facilities in the United States. So Helena decided to build one.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A walkthrough of the Helena Covid Network","size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/515986009","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"We were trying to answer a simple question: where is the need? If we — or anyone else for that matter — had access to one mask or a million, where should we send it? What about one pallet of gloves? One airplane full of gowns?
\nOur goal was to build a software platform that could apply analytics to this challenge, and help Helena, and other responders like state governments and federal agencies, figure out which supplies to spend where.
\nFirst, we needed to get real-time information from every hospital in the country. This would have been challenging enough in normal times. In the midst of a pandemic, chaos reigned.
\nThe hospitals experiencing the worst shortages were overwhelmed — by COVID patients, by media attention, by the fight to secure more supplies — and difficult to get in touch with. When we managed to make contact, the situation became even more challenging. Often, hospitals themselves didn’t even know how many masks (or gloves, gowns, or other supplies) they needed; the situation on the ground was changing hour by hour and day by day, and their inventory tracking systems couldn’t keep up.
\nAnd even if the hospitals did know how many masks they had today, they didn’t know how many they’d have – or need – tomorrow, or next week, or next month. That’s because they didn’t know how many COVID patients to expect, or how many orders of new supplies would come through. Often, hospitals placed orders and watched them continually delayed, while others showed up unexpectedly, days in advance. Some never arrived at all.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Will Jack: Helena Member and COVID Network Lead","size":"small","type":"Image","video":"https://vimeo.com/401465600/bef3c7449d","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"will-jack-1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/28223944/will-jack-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Faced with mounting challenges, we reached out to a Helena Member named Will Jack. At age 16, Will was generating nuclear fusion reactions with a particle collider he constructed in his basement. By 23, he had graduated from MIT, developed communications systems for SpaceX’s Starlink Satellites, and co-founded healthcare company Remedy, which developed machine learning models to guide medical care for at-risk patients.
\nWith his background in software engineering and machine learning, Will was a perfect fit for the project. We called him at 6:30pm on Friday March 20th, and asked if he would consider taking a leave of absence to lead our effort to build a software platform that could help solve the logistical dilemma at the heart of the medical supply crisis. Will asked for some time to think, and called back an hour later. He was in.
\nOver the weekend, Will began building a team. Within hours, he’d recruited Rochelle Shen and Simon Hewat. Rochelle, who studied computational neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania, was the youngest employee at Civis Analytics, one of the first companies to apply machine learning to elections, then became a deployment strategist at Palantir, where she worked on projects like gun control, financial analytics, fraud detection and healthcare innovation. Simon, a machine learning engineer and entrepreneur, had worked on security systems that ingested and analyzed data from hundreds of cameras, contributed to large-scale pharmaceutical testing efforts, spent time building self-driving technology as a member of Tesla’s Autopilot team, and founded a company, Copilot, that augments heavy machinery with an AI guidance system.
\nWill, Simon, and Rochelle, joined by a team of volunteer engineers, spent the next 72 hours coding furiously. After three days of minimal sleep, they’d built a prototype.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A walkthrough of the first iteration of The COVID Network ","size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/401465600/bef3c7449d","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Their progress was remarkable; in the space of a few days, they had built a tool from scratch that could take in hospital-level demand data, translate it coherently for private and government responders, and facilitate communication between everyone involved.
\nWe immediately began showing the product to its potential “users,” a group that included hospital CEOs and heads of procurement, federal, state, and local government officials, philanthropists donating supplies, and military officers. We set up a daily “standup” call with a group of these stakeholders, took in feedback and suggestions, and iterated the product virtually on the spot, often shipping new features minutes or hours after they’d been requested.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"An example of one such feature: The Covid Network showed county-level visualizations of the approximate amount of time people stayed at home from March to September 2020. Warmer colors indicate less time spent at home.","size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/515978007","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In parallel, the team started building a more elegant and capable version of the platform; one that could track not only on-the-ground requests for PPE, but information about the pandemic at large and how it was shifting.
\nThis updated COVID Network was able to display live predictions about how cases and deaths would evolve across the country, county-by-county. It even evaluated how closely residents were following ‘stay at home’ order or social distancing guidelines by drawing on anonymized cell tower data to calculate movement. Users could also view the total population, poverty rate, and prevalence of common comorbidities in a county — all of which helped responders identify the areas most urgently in need of assistance across the United States.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A visualization of the relative intensity of the consumption of PPE across the southwest of the United States from March to September 2020. Data from The Covid Network.","size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/515978120","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The platform made it easy for essential healthcare workers to input data anonymously via a special “situation on the ground” form. This protected workers who voiced concern that their jobs would be in jeopardy if they reported their facility wasn’t adequately equipped. Even so, data collection slowed after the initial surge in spring and early summer.
\nIn part, this was good news, signifying that the PPE crisis had eased to a degree, cases were falling across most of the country, and many state governments had instituted their own data collection processes and system.
\nUnfortunately, because states weren’t making their data public, projects like The Covid Network couldn’t benefit from the information they had aggregated. And even if we had been able to access this, since each state asked its hospitals different questions in different ways, the responses couldn’t be cross-referenced or comparatively analyzed.
\nAs a result, if one had a million masks to give away on the border between Illinois and Indiana, it was accessible data wasn’t available to determine which hospitals in those states — or in nearby Michigan and Missouri — needed them most.
\nIn advance of the pandemic’s second wave and growing PPE shortages in new categories like nitrile gloves, this meant that the COVID Network’s capabilities were still sorely needed. Without direct information from hospitals, however, the platform couldn’t perform as it was intended to.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Further Development","title":"Complexity","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"To solve this problem, we worked with a brilliant group at the venture capital firm Decisive Point, led by Tommy Hendrix. A former Green Beret and West Point and Columbia graduate, Tommy had worked with Helena earlier in the year to chase down depots of masks for the City of New York. Now, he leapt into action, building a fast-response team to conduct direct outreach to thousands of hospitals and care facilities across the East Coast.
\nTommy and his team emailed, called, and physically visited hospitals across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, to pilot a new, direct data collection approach for the COVID Network. Frustratingly, this approach was stymied by hospital non-responsiveness. People were either too overworked, didn’t see the need, or didn’t feel authorized to communicate on behalf of their hospital systems for fear of embarrassment or retribution. As a result, the inflow of data to the network slowed to a crawl.
\nWhile it was difficult to foster widespread adoption of the COVID network among healthcare providers, we noticed that our predictive models for COVID spread were both more granular, and more accurate, than many other models, in part due to their ability to integrate a massive amount of data. Our models looked over anonymized, census-block level cell phone tracking data to understand how and where people were spending time, county-level sociological and economic data to provide a view of the population we were making predictions for, and epidemiologic data to understand the trend of the pandemic.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A Covid Network visualization of the relative incidence (new cases/population) of COVID-19 nationwide from February to September 2020. Brighter colors indicate the geographic region that has the highest relative incidence at a given point in time.","size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/515982127/27bd3293d2","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Through conversations with the Army, we saw an opportunity to extend our model to help them make more informed decisions about how to proactively direct their supplies of PPE to regions that would be in great need soon — hotspots-to-be . We developed a PPE add-on to our model that leveraged expert estimates of PPE utilization for different types of patients to output the predicted supply requirements of several types of PPE for every hospital across the US. The Army used these predictions, along with a hardware-based simulated quantum annealing optimizer, to rapidly reach conclusions about how to most effectively allocate PPE across a given region.
\nSince March 2020, the PPE crisis — and specifically the allocation problem of assessing the areas of greatest need — has happily become a far less pressing issue. In March 2021, Helena began to sunset the COVID Network, transitioning our attention on the pandemic to other projects, including our work supporting DynaShield — a polymer technology designed to help solve the ‘cold chain’ storage problem with distributing vaccines and biologics.
\n"}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":[{"popupId":"personal-protective-equipment","title":"Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)","content":"Personal protective equipment, known as PPE, comprises any type of wearable feature that protects humans from bodily harm or infection. Dedicated PPE from body armor to makeshift masks has been in use for centuries.
\nAn example of non-medical related PPE: firefighters utilizing masks and protective clothing.
But it was the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic that made the term a household name, as PPE began to extend far beyond the medical and military communities and into the daily lives of the public.
\nMedical COVID-related PPE items include: Masks, Gloves, Goggles, Face Shields, Scrubs, Aprons, Gowns, Hazmat Suits, Bio-Hazard Bags and more.
\nA 2008 CDC image showcasing wearable medical PPE items.
Helena’s COVID response project purchased and routed items that also fall outside of what is considered PPE.
\nThese items, from diagnostics (COVID tests) to respirators, also include items known as Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) supplies like medical-grade wipes and disinfectant. For simplicity’s sake, this page places all of these items under the term “PPE.”
\n"}]}}},{"id":"cG9zdDo2Mw==","databaseId":63,"title":"Factory in the Sky","slug":"factory-in-the-sky","link":"https://www.helena.org/projects/factory-in-the-sky/","date":"2020-10-07T00:22:10","excerpt":"SUPPORTING THE WORLD’S FIRST COMMERCIAL CARBON CAPTURE FACTORY.
\n","isRestricted":false,"featuredImage":{"node":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/10001225/home_project3.jpg","title":"home_project3"}},"acfProjectDetails":{"seo":{"title":"Factory in the Sky","metaDescription":null,"metaImage":null},"smallerProject":null,"projectIntro":{"headline":"Factory in the Sky","region":"GLOBAL","tag":"Climate Technology and Sustainability","profit":"non-profit","introBlocks":[]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":[{"type":"Image","text":"In order to fight climate change, we can't just decrease the amount of carbon that enters the atmosphere. We must remove the carbon that is already trapped there -- and we must remove it at massive scale.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"tom-barrett-2t60-JYQ5pk-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/20182933/tom-barrett-2t60-JYQ5pk-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Video","text":"Helena is supporting a breakthrough technology that does just that.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/20204600/iceland_main.mp4"},"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"PROJECT OVERVIEW","title":"The Problem, The Prize, and The Future","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Anthropogenic climate change is quite possibly the world’s most heavily researched, scientifically-validated threat. Its existence has been corroborated by decades of studies by thousands of scientists who have looked at millions of years of climate history. Hundreds of thousands of pages have been devoted to examining the causes of climate change and nearly as many to illuminating its effects. Agricultural devastation. Coral reef collapse. Hurricane and fire seasons that span the majority of the year. The number of extinct species could be in the millions. Human refugees in the billions. All in the next 83 years.
\nThe International Panel on Climate Change, in its Fifth Assessment Report, concluded that the only way for this disaster to be averted is by keeping global warming to 2℃ over pre-industrial levels, and the only way to do that is by limiting global carbon dioxide emissions. The Paris Agreement was signed shortly after, with the one hundred and ninety-five signing nations pledging to do what is necessary to keep warming under that 2℃ threshold. We are not on pace to follow through. In fact, at its current rate, the world will emit enough CO2 to cause 2℃ warming in the next thirty years.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"World Leaders at the signing of the 2015 Paris Agreement","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":"paris agreement 2015","mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"paris-agreement","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/20172525/paris-agreement.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"As such, attention must be paid not just to ways to limit global CO2 emissions, but also to ways to actually remove existing CO2 from the atmosphere. In fact, the I.P.C.C. estimates that to meet the Paris goals there is almost a 90% chance that negative emission technologies will need to be deployed. Without them, our current trajectory leads to catastrophe.
\nThe nature of the problem—that the consequences of environmental inaction are incontrovertibly dire, that they will be felt most strongly by the rising generation, and that the only way to avert them is through action now—makes it exactly the kind of issue that Helena was designed to take on.
\nSo, in 2016, Helena launched The Helena Prize, an international competition for embryonic concepts, technologies, or companies in climate science, to be awarded to the applicant whose project would have the largest measurable effect on climate change (or, more specifically, the largest net-negative effect on radiative forcing).
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Helena CEO Henry Elkus speaking at the awarding of The Helena Prize in Los Angeles, CA","size":"large","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"factory-in-sky-office","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/20172526/factory-in-sky-office.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The Prize was intended to enable Helena to recognize and evaluate as many external teams in the climate change sector as possible, to identify the ways Helena could potentially catalyze the biggest difference, and to accelerate the development and effect of the eventual recipient’s project. In order to do that, Helena made the benefits of the prize proportional to the magnitude of the problem.
\nThe Prize gave the winner management and digital consulting from Boston Consulting Group, technological and scientific mentorship from top climate experts, access to a cutting-edge laboratory and workspace, and permanent Helena membership, which provided access to and assistance from Helena’s full network of world leaders.
\nThe Prize accepted applications from around the world, with each applicant judged by a panel of some of the preeminent scientists, analysts, entrepreneurs, and policy-makers in the climate science field.
\nAfter analysis, the winner of the Prize was announced: Climeworks, a direct-air carbon capture company based out of Switzerland that was founded by a pair of thirty-three-year-old German engineers, Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher. Climeworks offered the prospect of building facilities that remove carbon dioxide from the air and then store or repurpose it, making it an effective negative emissions technology. It offered a for-profit venture that had the technology to be revolutionary, but it was still nascent and needed help developing.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"CRISTOPHE GEBALD AND JAN WURZBACHER, CO-FOUNDERS OF CLIMEWORKS","size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"03-Gebald-Wurzbacher-Front-Vertical-Copyright-Climeworks-Photo-by-Julia-Dunlop-1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/11174255/03-Gebald-Wurzbacher-Front-Vertical-Copyright-Climeworks-Photo-by-Julia-Dunlop-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Since the announcement of the Prize, Helena has been working to help Climeworks with its growth, scalability, and funding.
\nIn that time, Climeworks has made tremendous strides. It first launched the world’s first commercial-scale direct-air capture plant in Hinwil, Switzerland. And then, less than six months later, it launched the world’s first direct-air capture plant with carbon removal, making it the first developed carbon capture plant that is carbon net-negative. It is now the world leader in the field of direct-air carbon capture.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A component of the Climeworks carbon capture system","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"factory-in-sky-machinery","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/20172526/factory-in-sky-machinery.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}}]},{"eyebrow":"Origins • August, 2016","title":"Initial Helena Meetings and Diligence ","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Beginning in August 2016, Helena held a series of focused member meetings on the critical issues threatening our world. Chief among them was the vital importance of taking action to fight climate change. Members looked at Helena’s unique structure and asked: what are the most unique and efficient means through which Helena could help to address climate change?
\nTo answer this question, our staff and members interviewed dozens of experts from Oxford, Harvard, MIT, the Center for Carbon Renewal, the American Renewable Energy Institute, and elsewhere.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A 2017 Helena meeting focused on climate. Los Angeles, California.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"meeting","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/20172526/meeting.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"This research revealed two important facts. First, carbon capture technologies are vitally important to averting climate disaster. It is not enough just to transition to a carbon neutral society – rather, mankind will need to emit large negative quantities of CO2 by the middle of the 21st century. Second, the technology to achieve this planetary-scale carbon capture and storage does not exist in any technically or economically viable form.
\nGiven this, it is vital that global society devote significant resources to carbon-capture R&D and commercialization now, so that the technology will be ready for global deployment by mid-century. In late-2016, nowhere near enough attention or resources were being used to do so.
\nThis presented us with two options. Either:
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"A — Work to invent or commercialize our own greenhouse gas reduction technology, or\r\nB — Find and support an external team working to do the same."},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Bhutan remains the world's only carbon negative country. Its constitution mandates that 60 percent of its landmass be maintained and protected as forest.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"cliffside","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/20172526/cliffside.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In this instance, Helena did not have the proprietary expertise or technical abilities that would have enabled us to make a technological breakthrough in the science of carbon capture. Instead, it was evident that our assets would be more useful if applied to help commercialize an existing technology, by supplying it with management and technical expertise, customers, investors, media exposure, and more.
\nFurthermore, assisting an outside organization or team would allow Helena to produce disproportionate impact through leverage. Helena was well positioned to benefit from this leveraging effect for a number of reasons.
\nFirst, we had already assembled a network of skilled and globally influential individuals whose support would be significant for an early venture. Second, we held relationships with a number of partners who could offer valuable services to an eventual winner. Third, we had proven capable of finding and recruiting passionate and accomplished individuals pursuing meaningful work across the globe.
\nWith these advantages in mind, we felt confident in our ability to successfully support an external venture designed to fight climate change. Our task was now to search the globe for the person or people doing the best work in the world on this issue and to support them from every angle with the full power of the Helena network.
\nIn order to find the best possible team to support, and incentivize them to share information we could use to evaluate their quality, we launched a formal award: The Helena Prize.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Helena members, team, advisors, prize judges and other climate experts discussing direct-air carbon capture at The Helena Prize ceremony.","size":"large","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"conference","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/20172525/conference.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}}]},{"eyebrow":"Creating a World-Wide Search • October, 2016","title":"The Creation of The Helena Prize","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Helena’s first step was to populate a panel of judges to evaluate the applicants. Using our network, we recruited thirteen globally recognized scientists, analysts, clean-tech entrepreneurs, and policy-makers in the field of climate science and technology.
\nSwipe left and right below to view the Helena Prize Judges.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_GallerySlider","gallerySlider":{"title":"The Judges Panel","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":"Aaron Berger / Co-Chairman for the Nexus Working Group on Climate Change and International Advisor for US Climate Plan","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"aaron-berger","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/20172524/aaron-berger.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Alexander Pfeiffer / Geography and the Environment: The University of Oxford ","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"alexander-pfeiffer","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/20172524/alexander-pfeiffer.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Austin Rosenbaum / Renewable Energy: The University of Denver","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"austin-rosenbaum","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/20172524/austin-rosenbaum.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Ben Caldecott / Director of the Sustainable Finance Programme at the University of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"b819b3a6-1e09-4947-97e4-1e11e495a87b-1020×877-e1530593009960","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/11180449/b819b3a6-1e09-4947-97e4-1e11e495a87b-1020x877-e1530593009960.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Cameron Hepburn / Professor of Environmental Economics at the University of Oxford ","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"CHepburn-headshot-e1530593422117-757×1024","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/11180609/CHepburn-headshot-e1530593422117-757x1024-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Chip Comins / Founder and CEO: American Renewable Energy Institute","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"aspenmag_chip_commins_61265","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/11180754/aspenmag_chip_commins_61265.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Dan Miller / Managing Director: The Roda Group","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"20130426-Climate-One_Pipeline-Paradigm_0004_Miller-web","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/11180844/20130426-Climate-One_Pipeline-Paradigm_0004_Miller-web.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Gordon L. Clark, FBA FAcSS / Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"GLC-e1530589318430-1007×1024","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/11180939/GLC-e1530589318430-1007x1024-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"John R. Seydel / Director of Sustainability for the City of Atlanta","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"15780885_10154843927104556_6431440161901904327_n-e1530594706624","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/11181026/15780885_10154843927104556_6431440161901904327_n-e1530594706624.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Klaus S. Lackner / Director of the Center for Negative Carbon Emissions","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Klaus-Headshot-e1530591421293-1024×983","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/11181112/Klaus-Headshot-e1530591421293-1024x983-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Maria Carvalho / The evolution of renewable energy and carbon at LSE","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"MariaCarvalho_HelenaProfilePicture","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/11181154/MariaCarvalho_HelenaProfilePicture.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Noah Deich / Executive Director of the Center for Carbon Removal","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"static1.squarespace-2-e1530594168130","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/11181234/static1.squarespace-2-e1530594168130.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Richard Martin / Energy Editor: MIT Technology ReviewJu","link":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen-Shot-2018-07-02-at-10.03.39-PM-811×1024","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/11181311/Screen-Shot-2018-07-02-at-10.03.39-PM-811x1024-1.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The judging panel, once established, worked with Helena to finalize both the metrics for evaluating the applicants and the parameters for accepting them. The metrics were two-fold: Feasibility and Magnitude.
\n— Feasibility: Applicants were judged on the likelihood of their project to succeed. The Prize was not, at its heart, an intellectual endeavor; it was a practical one. If a technology could never come to fruition, its practical impact—regardless of its theoretical one—would be none. The goal of the prize was to catalyze the largest quantifiable impact possible on climate change, so feasibility in both the short- and long-term was a necessary criterion.
\n— Magnitude: Applicants were judged on the potential scientific impact of their project. To measure this, the judges analyzed each project’s effect on radiative forcing. Put simply, radiative forcing measures the difference between how much sunlight is absorbed by Earth and how much sunlight is reflected back out. If radiative forcing is very positive, a lot more energy is being absorbed than reflected, which results in the planet getting warmer. (And, inversely, a negative radiative forcing means the planet reflects far more than it absorbs, resulting in cooling, which is what the judges were looking for.) There are many ways to theoretically measure a technology’s effect on climate change, but the judging panel agreed that the effect on radiative forcing was the most direct and unbiased metric available.
\nThe parameters on applicants were kept as simple and straightforward as the judging metrics were. There were two of these as well: the venture must be for-profit, and the founder(s) must be thirty-five years old or younger.
\n— For-Profit: Climate change is a long-term problem, so the winner of The Prize needed to be a long-term solution. Solutions which combat climate change need to be able to stand on their own – regardless of the political, social, or philanthropic mores of the day. Ventures which can compete in the capital marketplace will be more likely to grow in strength over time, more resilient to social headwinds beyond their control, and ultimately more likely to endure and succeed. For these reasons, Helena decided to limit the Prize to for-profit efforts to fight climate change. Additionally, Helena wanted to keep the deliberation process as objective as possible, and businesses (and potential businesses) would be much more accurately assessed by the two judging metrics than more sociological or governmental initiatives would be.
\n— Age Restriction: Societal, political, and technological changes will need to be implemented over an extended period of time (30-50+) years in order to effectively address the issue and repair the environment. The generation that will bear the weight of this responsibility – and face the brunt of the consequences should humanity fail to act – is currently 35 years of age and younger. This is a demographic where Helena has great reach and access; Helena was founded on the importance of supporting and empowering the next generation of inventors, innovators, and entrepreneurs. Further, assistance is likely to have a greater impact when offered early in a career – when contacts, advice, and support may be scarcer. For these reasons, Helena decided to focus exclusively on individuals 35 and under.
\nThe Helena Prize was developed in order to catalyze the growth of a budding company. Towards this aim, Helena wanted to surround the winning concept with what was essentially an entrepreneurial ecosystem: a permanent network of connections, third-party consulting and support, a board of advisors, and access to a lab. The winners of The Prize would receive:
\n— Lifetime Helena Membership. This would provide the winners of the prize with integration into the heart of Helena’s extraordinary network of leaders from across generations and fields. As part of the Helena Membership, the winners would be able to leverage the full power of Helena’s network toward accomplishing their goal of reducing radiative forcing.
\n— Management and digital consulting support from Boston Consulting Group (BCG). BCG ranks among the largest and most prestigious management consulting firms in the world. They count among their clients Google, the Harvard School of Public Health, and the Government of Canada. They are among the world’s best and most experienced corporate strategists, but their assistance is normally reserved for companies large enough to afford them. For a company in an embryonic stage, consulting from BCG is game-changing.
\n— Mentorship from the judging board. The thirteen judges on the board not only agreed to choose the winner, but they also agreed to become an advisory board for the winner.
\n— Access to Sierra Energy’s Area 52. Area 52 is a state-of-the-art business incubator and workspace at the University of California Davis. It was opened in 2016 and specializes in the physical manifestation of ideas into tangible products. It provides all kinds of advanced manufacturing technologies and tools.
\n— Everything else. Our aim with the Prize was to use every asset at our disposal to increase the winners’ chances of success. Since different winners would need different things, we pledged the power of our staff and membership network to assist ad-hoc in overcoming whatever problems or obstacles the eventual winner faced.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Gallery","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":"THE AREA 52 INCUBATOR","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"area52-logo","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/11193600/area52-logo.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"BCG_MONOGRAM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/11182940/BCG_MONOGRAM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Unlike most awards, The Helena Prize was intended to be forward-looking. The goal was not to acknowledge a revolutionary technology or concept—though that was a welcome corollary—but to incubate and stimulate the technology or concept and enable it to become fully realized. The strength of The Helena Prize was always intended to grow after it was awarded.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"The goal was not to acknowledge a revolutionary technology or concept—though that was a welcome corollary—but to incubate and stimulate the technology or concept and enable it to become fully realized."},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In October 2017, we launched The Helena Prize: a global search for the most promising young person or team working on a for-profit venture that would reduce radiative forcing. Applications were open from October 1st, 2016.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"A Winner is Chosen • May 13, 2017","title":"Awarding the Helena Prize to Climeworks","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"After months of soliciting applications from our judges, membership network, and at conferences around the globe, applications for The Helena Prize closed on January 31st, 2017. In the weeks that followed, our judges deliberated over applications from extremely high-quality teams in industries as diverse as agriculture and private flight.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://player.vimeo.com/video/277151844?html5=1&title=1&byline=0&portrait=0&autoplay=0","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"After several months of evaluation, the judging panel awarded The Helena Prize in a nearly unanimous vote to Climeworks, a direct-air capture (DAC) company based in Switzerland.
\nClimeworks was founded in 2009 by German engineers Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Cristoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Climeworks_Portrait_08_001_small1-1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/04203521/Climeworks_Portrait_08_001_small1-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"They launched the company directly out of their PhD. program at ETH Zurich, where they had initially designed their proprietary carbon-capture system that would be the basis for Climeworks. At the time of winning The Prize, Gebald and Wurzbacher, both thirty-three, had a team of approximately twenty-five engineers and scientists, and they had developed small pilot and demonstration plants, with the hopes of launching a full-scale plant in the near future.
\nClimeworks’s magnitude metric score was maximal. With fully-matured technology, Climeworks could remove billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere every year, resulting in an effect on radiative forcing that would be quantifiably profound. The extent of carbon capture potential atmospheric benefit had been corroborated just a few years prior by the International Panel on Climate Change in its Fifth Assessment Report.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"Climeworks’s magnitude metric score was maximal."},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The report, released in 2014, made clear how necessary negative emissions technologies (NETs) would be in the coming years. According to their models, there was an 87% percent chance that NETs would need to be employed in order for the world to abide by the Paris Agreement and limit global warming to two-degrees above pre-Industrial levels, and they would need to be employed on a large scale: roughly 10 gigatons of CO2 removed annually by the year 2050. It was the first time NETs had occupied a prominent a place in the I.P.C.C.’s reports, and, though the I.P.C.C. did not specify the particular NETs it envisioned being used, carbon capture with sequestration was implied, since it is one of the only technologies theoretically capable of removing carbon dioxide in volumes that high.
\nThe project’s feasibility score was also high. Carbon capture was an established technology; it had been used for decades on the flues of factories and production plants, where carbon dioxide is heavily concentrated (roughly 10,000ppm). The struggle had been to take the gas out of the ambient air—where its concentrations are much lower (roughly 400ppm)—for a reasonable price. Gebald and Wurzbacher, armed with data from their demonstration plants and eight years of running Climeworks, presented a clear, attainable, and scientifically-tested way of direct-air carbon capturing that was both financially viable and required no technological miracles to scale up. Their technology was also modular — that is, it could be scaled up or down to fit almost any environment. This meant that Climeworks’s future implementation and growth would be less affected by potential resource constraints (such as available land) than other technologies would be.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Carbon capture as a technology is not brand new. Carbon capture systems have previously been used in areas of concentrated emissions, such as factory smokestacks.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"smoke_stack__hdr_by_todd_centric","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/04204200/smoke_stack__hdr_by_todd_centric.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"They laid out a three-step plan for execution and expansion:
\nFirst, use captured CO2 to supply beverage companies, greenhouses, and other consumers with on-site, carbon-neutral CO2. The moderate quantities of CO2 Climeworks initially captured would be sold and repurposed locally. Though this would have a negligible impact on the environment, it would give them data and a revenue stream to prepare for larger projects. (The full-scale plant that they were looking to launch would be in this step; they intended to siphon the plant’s captured CO2 to a greenhouse nearby.)
\nSecond, provide captured CO2 for the synthesis of renewable fuels. The demand here is greater than that from greenhouses and soda companies, and the reach and revenue would be broader. Climeworks had signed a partnership with Audi in 2015, though the extent was still limited.
\nThird, sequester and store gigatons of the captured CO2 underground. The ultimate goal of DAC is to close the carbon cycle, which requires CO2 to be permanently removed from the atmosphere, not just recycled or repurposed. Injecting the CO2 underground—where it would react with the basalt in the earth and mineralize—would provide a stable, permanent storage location for tens of billions of tons of CO2 captured annually. This is the scale of carbon removal the Paris Agreement had practically mandated.
\nBefore The Helena Prize, Climeworks was already one of the nascent industry’s leaders, but the industry—and the company—was still in its infancy. Climeworks had raised roughly $20.5m in the eight years since its inception. For its technologies and capacities to develop enough to reach Step 3, its investment needed to rise exponentially. It needed corporate partnerships, access to United States’ venture capitalists and angel investors, marketing and publicity assistance to tell its story, and the support of a large consulting firm. Exactly what The Prize offered.
\nThe Helena Prize was presented to Gebald and Wurzbacher on May 13th, 2017 in a ceremony at Helena Headquarters in Los Angeles. “We’re thrilled to be the inaugural recipient of the Helena Prize,” Gebald and Wurzbacher said in a statement. “We have a long road ahead of us, and our future depends on help from smart partners like Helena and BCG, which can provide the business advice and know-how we need to grow rapidly. We look forward to a long-term relationship with them to work toward negative emissions.”
\nJeff Hill, a BCG senior partner and the head of the firm’s Los Angeles office, said “Climeworks demonstrates the aim of The Helena Prize, with its groundbreaking technology and social impact mission. We look forward to lending our expertise to ensure that the venture grows and gains momentum.”
\nSam Feinburg, Helena’s executive director and COO, said “Investing in and supporting the developing of this carbon capture technology is critical to saving the planet from disaster. Climeworks is the world leader in this space and we are incredibly proud to be supporting them.”
\nImmediately after the awarding of the Prize, Helena met with Climeworks to evaluate precisely what the company needed – where its biggest challenges and strategic priorities laid, how it planned to meet them, and how Helena could help catalyze and accelerate that process. In parallel, Boston Consulting Group began their pro-bono engagement with Climeworks, working to improve the businesses management and functioning, with a particular focus on customer acquisition.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"A World Record • May 31, 2017","title":"Climeworks Launches the World’s First Commercial Carbon-Capture Factory","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"On May 31st, 2017, less than a month after accepting The Helena Prize, Climeworks launched the world’s first commercial-scale direct-air carbon capture plant in Hinwil, Switzerland. The full-size plant is the largest of its kind, featuring 18 suction fans and filtering 900 tons of CO2 annually from ambient air. It is also the first DAC plant to have a large-scale commercial consumer; Climeworks sells its captured CO2 at market price to a local greenhouse.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://player.vimeo.com/video/277150864?html5=1&title=1&byline=0&portrait=0&autoplay=0","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"“Highly scalable negative emission technologies are crucial if we are to stay below the two-degree target of the international community,” Gebald said in a statement.
\nClimeworks partnered with agricultural producer Gebrüder Meier Primanatura AG to create a sustainable, cradle-to-cradle carbon cycle for its captured CO2. The pure CO2 gas Climeworks collects is pumped through an underground pipeline 400m away to a large greenhouse complex operated by Gebrüder Meier. The gas is then vented into the greenhouse’s atmosphere, acting as a fertilizer and boosting vegetable growth by up to 20%.
\nThe plant is strategically placed on the roof of the KEZO waste utilization facility, right above the incinerators. Climeworks’s technology requires energy in order to isolate and collect the CO2 it captures, so placing the plant above the waste incinerators allows Climeworks to use the free, ambient heat already emanating from the facility. This cuts down drastically on the amount of energy the Climeworks plant must generate itself, resulting in more efficient carbon-capturing cycles.
\nThe plant removes CO2 from the atmosphere at a cost of approximately $550 per ton. This is the lowest cost for DAC on record and $50 below the theoretical minimum that the American Physical Society had claimed was chemically and physically possible.
\nFor DAC to be feasible on a large scale, it needs to be cost non-prohibitive. The Hinwil plant is a major step towards establishing DAC as an economically viable NET, as well as the first step in the plan for expansion Climeworks had presented in its application for The Helena Prize.
\n“With the energy and economic data from the plant, we can make reliable calculations for other, larger projects and draw on the practical experience we have gained,” said Wurzbacher.
\nGebald and Wurzbacher’s goals for their company remained ambitious. “We’re working hard to reach the goal of filtering one percent of global CO2 emissions by 2025.” Gebald said. “To achieve this, we estimate around 250,000 DAC plants like the one in Hinwil are necessary.”
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Iceland • October 12, 2017","title":"The Launch of The World’s Second Direct-Air Carbon Capture Factory","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"On October 10th, 2017, less than five months after the launch of its first plant in Switzerland, Climeworks launched its second plant in Hellisheidi, Iceland. This was another watershed moment: while the Hinwil plant is the world’s first full-scale DAC plant with a commercial consumer, Climeworks partnered with Reykjavik Energy to make its Hellisheidi plant the world’s first DAC plant with permanent geological storage.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://player.vimeo.com/video/277150309?html5=1&title=1&byline=0&portrait=0&autoplay=0","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The CO2 is collected using precisely the same process that the Hinwil plant uses. But once collected, the gas, instead of being repurposed as a greenhouse fertilizer, is isolated and stored using Reykjavik Energy’s CarbFix process. In CarbFix, the captured CO2 is first dissolved in water, and then that aqueous solution is injected 700m underground into basaltic rock formations. Over the next two years, the CO2 reacts with the metals in the rock and mineralizes, changing states from a gas to a solid that is both stable and safe. This results in the permanent removal of CO2 from the atmosphere.
\nEdda Sif Aradottir, a CarbFix project leader at Reykjavik Energy, said “We have developed CarbFix at a unique location here in Iceland and proved that we can permanently turn this greenhouse gas into rock. By imitating natural processes this happens in less than two years. By integrating the Climeworks and CarbFix technologies, we create a solution that is deployable where we have basalt but independent of the location of emissions. This is important to scale up the CarbFix approach on a global level.”
\nThe Hellisheidi plant is part of CarbFix2, an EU-sponsored research project designed to implement Reykjavik Energy’s CarbFix sequestration technology on a global scale. The goal of this individual plant is demonstrative: to prove the effectiveness and viability of creating a complete CCS chain by combining CarbFix with Climeworks’s Direct-Air Capture technology. The Climeworks module used is, therefore, one of its smallest units; it has one suction fan and captures roughly 50 tons of CO2 per year. It is located on the grounds of a geothermal power plant, a place chosen for precisely the same reason that the waste incineration plant was chosen in Switzerland: the Climeworks plant can use the heat naturally emanating from its environment. Both Climeworks and Reykjavik Energy intend to use the success of this plant to launch larger projects.
\nGebald said in a statement: “The potential of scaling-up our technology, in combination with CO2 storage, is enormous. Not only here in Iceland but also in numerous other regions which have similar rock formations. Our plan is to offer carbon removal to individuals, corporates, and organizations as a means to reverse their non-avoidable carbon emissions.”
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"To The South Pole • December, 2017","title":"Climeworks Becomes the First Company to be Commissioned to Remove CO2 from the Atmosphere ","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"On February 2nd, 2018, Climeworks announced that it had become the first company to be commissioned to permanently remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Two customers—the 2041 Foundation and the ClimateWorks Foundation—both contracted Climeworks to extract from the atmosphere an amount of carbon dioxide equivalent to the amount the companies emit, enabling them to continue their operations without adding to net global emissions.
\nPreviously, all private contracts—for example, Climeworks’s agreement with Gebrüder Meier in Switzerland—had been to buy and use captured CO2, which is a carbon-neutral process, since the CO2 never actually leaves the atmosphere. These two new contracts, however, are to permanently sequester CO2 from the atmosphere, which is a net-negative process and closes the carbon cycle. Not only does this help to curb global emissions, but it also establishes a new market mechanism to accrue investment for DAC in the future.
\nThe 2041 Foundation was founded by Helena Member Robert Swan, OBE, in 1984 to protect and preserve Antarctica through the promotion of recycling, renewable energy, and sustainability. Swan, a lifelong adventurer who was the first man to walk to both the North and South Poles, recently spearheaded the South Pole Energy Challenge (SPEC), in which he and his son Barney trekked to the South Pole using only renewable energies. Their exclusive reliance on renewables allowed them to complete the peripatetic portion of their expedition with no carbon footprint; however, the preparatory work and logistics of the expedition—plane flights, scouting, research, etc.—could not be accomplished in a similar manner. In order to keep the whole SPEC operation carbon-neutral, Swan commissioned Climeworks to remove enough CO2 from the atmosphere to offset what they produced.
\nClimeworks’ second customer, the ClimateWorks Foundation, is a global NGO that focuses on strengthening the impact philanthropic efforts have on climate change. Because its primary functions are organizational and strategic, ClimateWorks emits very little CO2 directly from its day-to-day operations. However, the company does have indirect emissions due to electricity consumption, business travel, and employee commuting—what are called Scope 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions according to The Greenhouse Gas Protocol—which Climeworks agreed to offset with DAC.
\nAll emissions will be captured by Climeworks’ plant in Hellisheidi and sequestered using Reykjavik Energy’s CarbFix.
\nJan Wurzbacher, Climeworks co-founder and co-CEO, said in a statement, “Unlike compensation schedules, where emissions are offset through the trade of pollution rights, the Climeworks solution involves the direct removal of the same amount of emissions from the atmosphere as the customer is creating. Climeworks offers a metered and permanent approach to Carbon Dioxide Removal. This makes the Climeworks solution an important opportunity for companies and organizations to ensure they are actually carbon neutral despite unavoidable CO2 from their operations, such as Scope Three emissions.”
\nAll of the I.P.C.C.’s under-two-degree scenarios involve a drastic reduction in global emissions over the next few decades. In many industries, however, emissions, direct or indirect, are inescapable. Climeworks has effectively established a new market mechanism: a way for every organization, company, or government to reduce its net emissions without having to revamp its economy, overhaul its production methods, or wait for a technological maturation or breakthrough. This is particularly important for companies, like the ClimateWorks Foundation, that doesn’t have the direct, visible emissions of a production plant. For the first time, these companies have a clear, measurable way to ensure their carbon neutrality.
\nThis mechanism is multiplicatively beneficial: not only are companies able to reduce their net emissions, but the money they invest to approach carbon neutrality increases the rate at which Climeworks can expand and optimize its own technology and production methods. This allows Climeworks to increase the scope and effectiveness of its DAC, which, in turn, creates a virtuous cycle because it better enables companies to become carbon neutral.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do. — Voltaire"}]},{"eyebrow":"Fuel from the Air • August 22, 2019","title":"Climeworks Helps Create Synthetic Fuels Produced with Renewable Energy","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"On August 19, 2019, Climeworks announced that it had partnered with Ineratec, Sunfire, and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) to develop a synthetic fuel produced from air-captured carbon dioxide and renewable energy sources. The fuel-creation plant is housed on the KIT campus, and it was designed as part of the German government-backed P2X Kopernikus Project. It is the first integrated “Power-to-Liquid” facility in the world.
\n“Worldwide, wind and sun supply a sufficient amount of energy, but not always at the right time,” Professor Roland Dittmeyer, KIT said. “Moreover, a few important transport sectors, such as air or heavy-duty traffic, will continue to need liquid fuels in the future, as they have a high energy density.”
\nClimeworks direct-air capture is the first in the four-step process of creating fuels from air and green power. The captured carbon dioxide is used to create a hydrogen and carbon monoxide synthesis gas, which is subsequently converted into long-chain hydrocarbon molecules, which are, finally, turned into directly usable fuels like gasoline, kerosene, and diesel. These synthetic fuels can also function as storage for renewable energy.
\nThe plant is still a test facility, capable of producing about 10 liters of fuel per day. In the next phase, production will expand to 200 liters per day, and, after that, a pre-industrial demonstration plant will be developed with a capacity of 1500 to 2000 liters. Efficiency will increase with size, with an ultimate goal of 60% conversion from green power to stored fuel.
\nThe P2X Project, according to the KIT press release, gets its name because it focuses on technologies that convert power from renewable sources to energy storage materials, energy carriers, and energy-intensive chemical products (“Power-to-X”). The Project is government funded and currently involves 18 research institutions, 27 industrial companies, and three civil society organizations. It has a goal of reaching industrial maturity for a number of new technological developments within the next ten years.
\nThe full KIT Press Release can be viewed here.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":null,"title":null,"detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_GallerySlider","gallerySlider":{"title":"Meet the Project Contributors","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":"Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher","link":"/members/christoph-gebald-and-jan-wurzbacher","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher","title":"christoph-gebald-and-jan-wurzbacher-1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/29025008/christoph-gebald-and-jan-wurzbacher-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Robert Swan","link":"/members/robert-swan","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"robert-swan-1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/30142440/robert-swan-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Julio Friedmann","link":"/members/dr-julio-friedmann","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"dr-s-julio-friedmann-2","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/29031923/dr-s-julio-friedmann-2-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}}}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":[{"popupId":"climate-change","title":"Consequences of a Changing Climate","content":"The Literature
\nTwo examples of peer-reviewed literature on agricultural impact, human resettlement, extreme weather and extinction trends include the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report and Cornell University’s Impediments to inland resettlement under conditions of accelerated sea level rise (Geisler and Currens).
\n"},{"popupId":"direct-air-capture","title":"Direct Air Capture (DAC) Technology","content":"What is it and How Does it Work?
\nAlthough there are various methods for isolating atmospheric CO2, most of the DAC technology developed so far (including Climeworks’s) has focused on the application of reversible sorbents. The basic premise of this method is that ambient air is cycled through a filter that has been treated in such a way that it will chemically bind with the CO2 in the cycled air. The bound CO2 sticks to the filter—effectively removing it from the atmosphere—while the rest of the air passes through.
\nAfter the CO2 is bound, it must be collected in order to be repurposed or stored. Again, there are many ways to accomplish this, and every company does it differently, but the intention is similar: isolate the captured CO2 by first closing the filtration system’s circulation, and then breaking the chemical bonds between the CO2 and the filter with some combination of increasing heat and decreasing pressure. (The precise amount of heat required depends on the nature of the bonds, which depends on the sorbent used.) Once sufficient heat has been applied, the bonds holding the CO2 are broken, and the CO2 is released from the filter in a concentrated gas, at which point it can be collected. Because the sorbents are reversible, the same filter can be used for potentially thousands of iterations.
\nSorbents can be aqueous (examples include hydroxides and amine solutions) or solid (alkali carbonates), with each possessing advantages and disadvantages in terms of sorption, energy required, and cost.
\nOne of the main obstacles that DAC faces is that carbon dioxide in ambient air is ultra-diluted; its concentration is roughly 400ppm, or just .04% of the atmosphere. Therefore, to capture significant volumes of CO2, vast amounts of air must be cycled through the filters many times. This can make the capturing process expensive both financially and thermodynamically.
\nIn terms of financial cost, DAC is still an embryonic technology, so the theoretical minimum is very speculative. It was initially estimated to be between $600 and $1000 per ton of CO2 removed. (The first estimate was determined by the American Physical Society in its 2011 paper “Direct Air Capture of CO2 with Chemicals,” and the second estimate was determined in a 2010 study conducted by MIT, Stanford, and UC-Berkeley titled “Economic and energetic analysis of capturing CO2 from ambient air.”) These numbers, however, have been disproved, since Climeworks eclipsed both by removing it for $550 in Switzerland—and it did so without benefiting from economies or scale or optimized production methods—so the theoretical minimum of DAC is still up for debate. DAC companies like Climeworks, Carbon Engineering, and Global Thermostat have all posited estimates in the $100-200 per ton range—with some as low as $50—assuming further investment and optimization.
\nThermodynamically, DAC requires energy to push air through the filters, and to separate captured CO2 for collection. Again, there is natural variability depending on the specific technologies used, but, according to a 2015 article in Nature titled “Biophysical and economic limits to negative CO2 emissions,” the energy required to capture one ton of CO2 would be approximately 12GJ. If this were extrapolated to a billion-ton scale, the amount would be larger than the capacity of the largest nuclear plant in the US. However, while the Climeworks’s Hinwil plant seems to corroborate this, Gebald and Wurzbacher maintain that they can decrease that number by 40% with investment, development, and scale.
\n"},{"popupId":"The-Climeworks-Carbon-Capture-System","title":"The Climeworks Carbon Capture System","content":"How it Works
\nIn Climeworks’s propriety carbon-capture system, the cycle starts with a large suction fan drawing ambient air into the Climeworks chamber. The chamber houses a cellulose fiber filter that has been treated with amines, so that when the suctioned air passes through the filter, the amines catch the CO2 in the air and chemically bind the gas molecules to the filter. The cellulose fiber of the filter acts like a sponge, increasing the filter’s surface area and maximizing the amount of CO2 absorbed each cycle. The rest of the air continues unobstructed back out into the atmosphere.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/11183642/How-technology-workS_V17webready-300x169.jpg\")
The process is repeated until the filter is fully saturated with CO2 (this can take two or three hours), at which point the fan is turned off and the chamber is closed, so that nothing can flow in or out. The CO2 is still stuck to the filter, so, in order for it to be collected, it must be released. To do that, the chamber is heated to around 100℃, and the pressure in the chamber is lowered to 200mbar; the combination of increased temperature and decreased pressure causes the CO2 molecules to break the chemical bonds, emptying the filter of CO2 and filling the chamber with a cloud of free-floating, concentrated gas. The gas is vacuumed out of the chamber and stored, and the chamber is then re-opened, the suction fan switched back on, and the whole process started over again.
\nThe collected CO2 gas is high quality and pure, so it can be used in any number of ways: bubbled into soft drinks, injected into oil fields, vented into greenhouses. This is also the point at which it can be transported underground and sequestered.
\n"},{"popupId":"modular","title":"Modularity","content":"Why Modular Carbon Capture Systems Are Advantageous
\nClimeworks plants are modular—depending on the number of suction fans (1, 3, 18, or 36), a plant can be the size of a large walk-in closet or a two-deep stack of industrial shipping containers. Climeworks even offers a fully-automated, wheeled demonstration plant that is small enough to be completely mobile.
\nThe modularity allows for Climeworks to scale a plant up or down depending on the needs of the client. Gebald said, “our plan is to offer carbon removal to individuals, corporations, and organizations as a means to reverse their non-avoidable carbon emissions.”
\nThe fact that the plants are modular gives them great adaptability in terms of their location. This is advantageous in two ways: 1) the size of the plant can be scaled to the amount of available land, so DAC can be implemented even if space is restricted; and 2) a plant can be located in order to benefit from its environment. For example, the Climeworks plants in Hinwil, Switzerland and Hellisheidi, Iceland are both placed where there is ample ambient heat: in Hinwil, the plant is on the roof of waste incinerators; in Heillisheidi, the plant is on the grounds of a geothermal power plant.
\n"},{"popupId":"Greenhouse-Gas-Protocol","title":"Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG)","content":"A part of the World Resources Institute, Greenhouse Gas Protocol establishes the definitive standards for public- and private-sector operations to measure and manage their GHG emissions.
\nThe GHG Protocol differentiates between three different emission “scopes” for a business/government/etc.
\nIn June of 2023, Helena deployed its third installment of America in One Room to pulse a representative sample of the voting electorate on the topic of democratic reform.
\nOn the docket were a slate of policy initiatives aimed at making structural changes to American Democracy – ranging from expanding voter registration and access to the abolition of the electoral college to ranked choice voting.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A,Medium,Sized,Polling,Station,Sign,And,Disabled,Access,Sign","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/18010338/shutterstock_1968973939-scaled.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Heading into a presidential election cycle that follows one of the most historically divided in U.S. history, the results proved that American citizens can come together to discuss nuanced policy areas with depth and civility, and arrive at conclusions that are not nearly as divided as news cycles would suggest.
\n\n
A1R: Democratic Reform ‘s findings and methodology offer a critical roadmap for addressing polarization and revitalizing democracy – and testify to the potential of informed and engaged citizens in shaping a more united and effective democratic society.
\n","eyebrow":null}}]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":[{"type":"Image","text":"The foundations of Democracy have never been more tested than they are today","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"pexels-photo-13727885","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/18005710/pexels-photo-13727885.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Across the globe, institutional trust has eroded and experts have warned of democracy in decline","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Washington,D.c.,/,U.s.a.,-,Nov,7,,2020:,Biden,Wins","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/18005814/shutterstock_1849536304-scaled.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"In the U.S., constituents are divided on policies that would seek to remake the fabric of of our governing institutions","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Young,Man,Proudly,Waving,The,American,Flag,At,Sunset","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/18005910/shutterstock_220513060-scaled.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"In June of 2023, Helena convened the third installment of America in One Room, its landmark Deliberative Democracy project, this time focused entirely on Democratic Reform initiatives","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_7850-3","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/18010001/IMG_7850-3.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"The results provided a surprising snapshot of the will of the people when given the chance to think deeply about the issues with fellow Americans – and demonstrated the discursive power of respectful fora for civic engagement","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_8488","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/18010049/IMG_8488.jpeg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/18010049/IMG_8488.jpeg"},"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"The Problem","title":"Democracy in Decline","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"On November 2, International IDEA released its annual report, The Global State of Democracy. It painted a grim picture. For the sixth consecutive year–the longest since their records began in 1975–they found democracy to be in decline. According to the Economist Group’s Democracy Index, for the seventh consecutive year, the United States has a “flawed democracy.” The V-Dem Institute’s Democracy Report 2023 might be the most alarming: global democracy at its lowest point since 1986, with 72% of the world’s population under autocratic rule.
\nHealthy democracies are built on civic participation, high quality public discourse, and institutional trust. When these deteriorate, the political system deteriorates. One need look no further than the contested 2020 election to understand the ramifications of political disenfranchisement born from deep-seated institutional mistrust, corrupted information streams, and a breakdown in public dialogue.
\nIt is no surprise, then, that a 2022 Pew Research survey found that 62% of US citizens surveyed said that they were dissatisfied with the way democracy was working, and, perhaps more tellingly, 71% said they felt powerless to do anything about it. According to a separate study, trust in the government is at its lowest point since the data was first collected in 1958: an average of just 16% of respondents trusted the government “to do what is right just about always/ most of the time.” Unsurprisingly, polarization is on the rise.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Divided,American,Political,Groups,And,United,States,Culture,War,Between","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/18010807/shutterstock_2174502799-scaled.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In 2022, Democrats and Republicans were both three times more likely to view the opposing party unfavorably than they were in 1994. And a 2020 paper out of Brown identified the US as having the fastest rise in polarization of 12 countries measured.
\nThe path we are on is clearly untenable. As the U.S. grapples with an increasingly fragile democratic state, legislators have passed a slate of democratic reform measures aimed at addressing the operating framework of democratic governance itself. In just the past year, 37 states have passed laws regarding voting registration (enacted restrictions, 24 expanded access), and 14 have either passed or proposed bills that would institute some form of ranked-choice voting for elections.
\nIn an era of widespread and deepening polarization, making structural changes to democracy presents a formidable challenge. Understanding the diverse viewpoints of constituents will be an integral component in building more resilient governance.
\nIn 2023, Helena convened a third installment of America in One Room, its landmark Deliberative Democracy project, this time focused entirely on Democratic Reform initiatives. A1R: Democratic Reform pulsed a representative sample of the voting electorate on key policy areas and provided a forum for participants to actively engage with proposals in fact-rich, respectful dialogue with their fellow citizens. The results provided a snapshot of where Americans stand on key issues ranging from voting access to campaign finance to the electoral college.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Inception","title":"The History of A1R","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"James Madison once remarked: “a popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy.”
\nA1R is predicated on the idea that while the issue of democratic decline is urgent, it is not inevitable – and that informed communication, robust civic engagement, and an empowered electorate are fundamental to counteracting it. To create better discourse and accurately discern the will of the people under the best possible conditions, the project utilizes a methodology called Deliberative Polling. The process was invented by Helena Member and Stanford professor Jim Fishkin as a way to combat what Madison famously called “the mischiefs of faction”.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"james-fishkin-2","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/18011310/james-fishkin-2.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Fishkin was frustrated by what he perceived as “the splintering of the public sphere into innumerable filter bubbles, where we don’t have the shared process by which arguments offered are answered and people just consort with the like-minded.” Deliberative Polling furnishes the opportunity to bridge these divides. The process relies on four core mechanisms. First, a scientifically accurate representative sample of the voting electorate is convened. Those participants are given vetted, bipartisan information on the policy issues at hand. They then engage in moderated discussions with a diverse group of fellow citizens. Following these discussions, they have the opportunity to ask questions of issue-area experts. To measure change, their opinions are recorded before and after participating in the deliberative process.
\nSince 1988, Deliberative Polls have been conducted 120 times in 50 countries, often leading to direct policy outcomes. The methodology has resulted in the desegregation of Roma-only schools in Bulgaria. It has been used to amend the constitution in Mongolia, (where Deliberative Polling is now a required component of the constitutional amendment process). The convening of a Deliberative Poll by Texas utility companies in 1996 led to the state’s widespread transition to renewables, ultimately making Texas first in the nation in the production of wind energy.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Gallery","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":"Mongolia's first deliberative poll","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"mongolia-dp-participants-2_0","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/18011723/mongolia-dp-participants-2_0.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"McGrath1-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/18011453/McGrath1-scaled-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/18011453/McGrath1-scaled-1.jpg"},"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Persuaded by the methodology’s historical impact, Helena launched what was then the largest Deliberative Poll in history in 2019. Executed in collaboration with Stanford’s Deliberative Democracy Lab and NORC at the University of Chicago, the original America in One Room brought together a stratified random sample of 523 registered voters from across the country to address broad, national issues like immigration policy, health care, and the economy. The event countered the prevailing notion that Americans are irreconcilably divided, resulting in significant shifts in affective and issue-based polarization, as well as increased faith in democracy. A1R 2019 garnered widespread media attention. It was covered by outlets including Tthe New York Times, CNN, FiveThirtyEight, the BBC, Vanity Fair, and The National Interest. The project inspired a podcast and an eight-part Snapchat documentary. Former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton cited it as a cure for an ailing democracy.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"NYT_article_graphic_3072px","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/18011851/NYT_article_graphic_3072px.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In 2022, America in One Room: Climate and Energy recruited an even larger sample: 962 participants. Helena’s first issue-specific poll utilized an innovative AI moderator to meet citizens remotely. The results showed convergence in participants’ opinions on a number of proposals – including across-the-board support for nearly all proposals to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions – and provided a schematic for future US action on climate change. In public discussions, policymakers including Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Lindsay Graham and Congressmen John Curtis and Rho Khanna engaged with the results.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screenshot 2024-01-16 at 3.23.58 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/18012150/Screenshot-2024-01-16-at-3.23.58-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"A1R: Climate and Energy not only validated the depolarizing effects of the original A1R, but its technology platform also demonstrated how scalable the process can be, opening the doors for Deliberative Polls that are timelier, more precise, and potentially even more impactful.
\nAmerica in One Room: Democratic Reform is the second issue-specific A1R, and the second to use the remote, AI-moderated system. With so many eyes on the health and future of our democracy, it offered a timely, necessary overview of the will of the American people.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"A1R: Democratic Reform","title":"The Poll","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Like its predecessors, A1R: Democratic Reform began with the selection of its participants – nearly 600 citizen delegates selected across subcategories including political affiliation, race, age, gender, and geographic location as a statistically accurate microcosm of the American electorate.
\nThe participants filled out an extensive questionnaire to record their initial opinions on the policy reform proposals that would be under discussion. A control group did the same. A total of 76 policy proposals under discussion fell into the following categories:
\n\n
After completing the survey and prior to the deliberations, participants were given objective, balanced briefing documents vetted by a 17-member bipartisan expert advisory Council on the issue areas. These encompassed in-depth breakdowns of each proposal, complete with arguments for and arguments against.
\nThe event itself took place over two weeks in June, with each deliberator participating in four small group discussions and four plenary sessions with policy experts.. The small group deliberations were conducted over the Stanford Online Deliberation Platform, with an AI moderator that promoted engagement and civil discussion, eliminated bias, ensured all important points on issues have been addressed, and encouraged the group to formulate thoughtful, considered questions for the speakers in the plenary sessions.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Gallery","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screenshot 2024-01-17 at 2.04.11 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/18014550/Screenshot-2024-01-17-at-2.04.11%E2%80%AFPM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screenshot 2024-01-17 at 2.08.44 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/18014609/Screenshot-2024-01-17-at-2.08.44%E2%80%AFPM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screenshot 2024-01-17 at 8.28.07 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/18014848/Screenshot-2024-01-17-at-8.28.07-PM-1.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screenshot 2024-01-17 at 8.31.09 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/18014904/Screenshot-2024-01-17-at-8.31.09-PM-1.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screenshot 2024-01-17 at 8.32.07 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/18014702/Screenshot-2024-01-17-at-8.32.07-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"To conclude, the participants took the same questionnaire again; changes in opinion were analyzed.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"The Data","title":"Results","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Results showed increased movement toward bipartisan support on previously divisive policy issues.
\nDemocrats and Republicans moved similarly on proposals to expand voting access. A majority of participants supported online voter registration, and a supermajority endorsed extending voting rights to formerly incarcerated individuals. There was strong support across the political spectrum for the value, “Making sure everyone who wants to vote can do so.” In addition, participants expressed bipartisan support for protections against interference or intimidation of voters or vote counters, as well as for a nonpartisan commission to redraw congressional districts.
\nThe deliberators closely aligned on many nonpartisan issues, as well, including majority support for 18-year term limits for Supreme Court Justices and super majority support for the disclosure of large donors. When it came to election system reform, ranked choice voting (which has already been adopted in Maine, Alaska, and Nevada) became the most popular alternative to our current “first past the post” system. It was supported by an overall majority of deliberators in all six scenarios for which it was proposed.
\nTellingly, and encouragingly, there were similar improvements and consensus on the questions that centered around mutual respect and understanding. Republicans, Democrats, and Independents all increasingly agreed with the statement “I respect their [others’] point of view though it is different from mine,” which ended with a supermajority of 75%. And an even larger percentage agreed with the statement, “I would be willing to compromise to find a solution we can both support.”
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A1R ChartsDRV3","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/02/07191605/A1R-ChartsDRV3.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"These changes reflect a critical design feature of A1R – it offers a vital space for participants to discuss the real-world impact of policies on their lives, and to learn from each other’s experiences. The A1R experience illuminates what one participant referred to as Americans’ “amazing ability to be critical, empathetic thinkers.” In the words of another attendee, the process underscores the importance of “being willing to hold your ideas loosely and do an intelligent analysis when someone doesn’t agree with you” and teaches participants that, “if you get a chance to hear someone else’s perspective, take it! And don’t seek so much to be understood as to understand.”
\nFull results here.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PdfEmbed","pdfEmbed":{"file":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/18015657/A1R-Democratic-Reform-Executive-Summary-2.pdf"}}}]},{"eyebrow":"Impact","title":"Democratic Resilience","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Perhaps most illuminating were the responses to a more general question: whether the deliberators were satisfied with American democracy. Before the event, only 27% of participants agreed with that statement. After the event: 45%. Republican satisfaction more than doubled from 19% before the event to 50% after. And in a striking instance of depolarization, the difference between Democrats and Republicans on that question narrowed from 15% to 4.
\nA1R: Democratic Reform provided a more accurate picture of where Americans stood on a panoply of initiatives driving political debates and candidate platforms in the 2024 election cycle. It also demonstrated that democratic backsliding and polarization are not calcified or unavoidable; they can be remedied by improving our civic institutions.
\nAt its core, the America in One Room is designed to help citizens find their voice, value, and agency in democratic processes. The initiative equips citizens with high quality information and provides a forum for civil discourse with peers of diverse opinions and balanced, issue-area experts. Post A1R, participants feel more connected, more unified, and more heard. In deployment after deployment, they report a sense of empowerment post-deliberation and go on to take part in democratic processes more actively – suggesting the change-making potential of an engaged and motivated constituency.
\nCovering the Democratic Reform effort the journal Democracy, writer James Traub observed, “The partisan hatred that increasingly poisons our politics and endangers our democracy would seem to doom in advance any hopes for a more participatory politics.” Yet America in One Room has “shown that, under the right conditions, deliberation causes people to listen to one another, and even respect one another, despite profound differences of opinion. Deliberation blunts polarization. A more deliberative politics might be the precondition for a more participatory democracy.”
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Helena Web image s11324.002","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2024/01/18015919/Helena-Web-image-s11324.002.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Commenting on The New York Times coverage of America in One Room in 2019, President Obama tweeted, “Here’s an interesting read—a reminder that behind every opinion lies a human being with real experiences and a story to tell. Sometimes we’ll agree and sometimes we won’t, but if we want our democracy [to] work, listening to each other isn’t optional.”
\n"}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":null}}},{"id":"cG9zdDoyNTg2","databaseId":2586,"title":"Energy Vault","slug":"energy-vault","link":"https://www.helena.org/projects/energy-vault/","date":"2021-01-28T18:05:16","excerpt":"CHANGING THE WAY WE STORE ENERGY.
\n","isRestricted":false,"featuredImage":{"node":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/28204247/DWG-EV03000-210525-01-solar-1-1-e1745872988139.jpg","title":"DWG-EV03000-210525-01-solar-1"}},"acfProjectDetails":{"seo":{"title":"Energy Vault","metaDescription":null,"metaImage":null},"smallerProject":null,"projectIntro":{"headline":"Energy Vault","region":"GLOBAL","tag":"CLIMATE TECHNOLOGY: ENERGY STORAGE AND WASTE REMEDIATION","profit":"profit","introBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Helena is a major investor and operating partner in Energy Vault, a breakthrough in energy storage. Energy Vault produces systems that store and release energy at grid-scale, high efficiency, longer durations, and at low cost.
\n\n
The systems harness gravity to operate, vertically lifting and descending massive weights.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Energy Vault's first commercial system in Ticino, Switzerland","size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/505866260/41e8f6e774","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"All of this is accomplished with an added environmental advantage. Energy Vault’s systems can be made with significant volumes of waste material, creating a major opportunity to clean up materials that otherwise make their way to landfills or sit as multi-billion dollar liabilities for utility companies.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"EVTower_Rendering_Landscape_0004","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/29190839/EVTower_Rendering_Landscape_0004.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"The result is a comprehensive solution that fights two different critical environmental problems of our time: speeding the safe global transition to renewable energy while reducing waste byproducts of fossil fuels.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Energy Vault featured in the Wall St. Journal's \"Future of Everything\" report","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"WSJ_Energy Vault_ February 14 2020","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/29204741/WSJ_Energy-Vault_-February-14-2020.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}}]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":[{"type":"Image","text":"The world is racing to transition away from fossil fuels, investing trillions of dollars in renewable energy and setting aggressive targets.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"nicholas-doherty-pONBhDyOFoM-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/28210500/nicholas-doherty-pONBhDyOFoM-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"But this shift cannot happen unless we can store energy from these new sources at massive scale and for long periods of time.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"american-public-power-association-dCx2xFuPWks-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/28210450/american-public-power-association-dCx2xFuPWks-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Video","text":"Helena is investing in and supporting a new approach to energy storage that can hold energy longer, more efficiently, and at lower cost. And it does all of this while cleaning up significant amounts of waste in the process.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/29182437/My-Movie.mp4"},"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"The Problem","title":"Transitioning Away From Fossil Fuels Isn't Easy","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Since 2009, the World has invested over $2.6 trillion in renewable energy across solar, wind, and geothermal assets. Today, clean renewable energy represents 17% to 20%+ of the power mix in the United States and is quickly growing as additional projects are commissioned and coal plants rapidly retire.
\nAs renewable generation proliferates, one would think our reliance on fossil fuels or energy sources with significant negative externalities would materially decrease. But this has not yet happened.
\nThe modern electrical grid was designed many years ago, with the bulk of our existing infrastructure built without an expectation of any shift to renewable energy generation. To simplify, today’s grid has been built to accommodate one-way transfer of energy produced at large single point sources (such as large coal power plants), fed into the network of power lines that transmit energy, ultimately reaching distribution to homes and businesses. This grid expects power generation to be consistent.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"Our grid has a big problem with renewable assets: the source of energy is intermittent."},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Thus, our grid has a big problem with renewable assets: the source of energy is intermittent. This does not mean that the energy generation cannot be predicted — we know that the sun shines during the day and we will get more sun in certain places and during certain parts of the year. It means that the energy generation comes in waves and does not steadily provide energy over a 24/7/365 cycle. In other words, the sun sets. If power has to be used close to the time that it is generated, our electrical grid has times of great power generation by renewables and times of very little.
\nBoth cause problems for our electrical grid. Though renewables produce plenty of energy, we lack control over how much energy is produced by these nature-based generation assets. The result is that we cannot control the assets to avoid over-injecting energy when that energy is not needed (and similarly, cannot ramp up production to produce more energy when needed).
\nIf power that is generated then has to be injected into the grid immediately, the grid must to absorb this power and direct it to customers. If customer demand for this power is low, however, the power is stuck within the grid. This leads to serious problems, including blackouts.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":null,"title":null,"detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"An archival image of New York's Grand Central Station during the famed 1965 \"Great Northeastern Blackout.\"","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"ratio3x2_2400","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/29202926/ratio3x2_2400.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In 2020, California experienced numerous daytime blackouts caused by large rises in demand for energy. Without sufficient storage capacity installed, grid operators are forced to either import more power from other states or intentionally blackout service areas. When there is little demand for power but a high supply of it, generators often lose money.
\nHuman energy usage does not map well with when renewable energy is available. During the sunniest part of the day, most urban environments require only a moderate amount of power. Most metropolitan areas require the most power when people head home from work for the day and households and families convene just as the sun is setting.
\nWhen we lack effective methods for accessing energy when we need it most or for harnessing self-generating energy when we don’t need it at all, we can severely harm our electrical grid, our economy, and our life at home.
\nGiven the need for reliable power, baseload power generation sources need to be available around the clock. Unfortunately, the most reliable baseload power sources available today rely on fossil fuels or nuclear energy. To provide control and balance out the inconsistency of renewables, we still rely on coal, natural gas, and some nuclear power generation assets – systems designed to allow human intervention to increase or reduce energy generation as markets and consumers demand – to prevent blackouts.
\nTherefore, as we’ve pushed towards a world of renewables, we’ve also become more dependent on certain dirty energy sources. So how do we make a truly sustainable and renewable power generation regime? How do we fix the intermittency problem with renewables and make fossil fuel generation extinct?
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"When we lack effective methods for accessing energy when we need it most, we can severely harm our electrical grid, our economy, and our life at home."},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The solution lies within finding an economical way of storing renewable generated power that can then be injected into the grid on a more predictable and reliable schedule. In practice, this means taking power generated from, for instance, solar farms and capturing it in a storage device rather than immediately releasing the power to the grid. In a world where we are trying to move toward a decarbonized electric economy, we need grid-scale energy storage.
\nWithout storage, we cannot move toward a fully renewable energy generation economy. Beyond a certain point, adding extra renewable capacity is actually harmful due to over-injection issues. Over-generation, and thus over-injection, in times of low demand (and the opposite) create big problems for the grid. If we can store energy that is generated during periods of low demand and repurpose this energy during periods of high-demand and low-generation we then reduce the need for baseload energy. As such, we enable the efficient use of power and eliminate reliance on fossil fuel power generation assets.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"How to Solve It","title":"The Energy Storage Industry","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Energy storage is a $59bn+ a year industry with over 160 GWhs installed globally. This has increased massively — by 117% from 2019 to 2020 alone — and is projected to grow by 91% through 2035.
\nEnergy storage is not a new concept. For many years, the electrical grids in many countries have used gravity-based storage devices that utilize a highly abundant resource–water–to store and release energy. This solution, called pumped-storage hydropower (or colloquially “pumped hydro”), starts by taking energy that a client wishes to store and using it to pump water from a reservoir at a low altitude upwards to a reservoir at a higher altitude. When energy is needed, the water is then released from the upper reservoir and through a turbine that generates power through its connection to a large motor or generator. As of 2018, pumped hydro accounted for 95% of grid-scale energy storage in the United States.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Lake Mead flowing into the Hoover Dam. When full, it is the United States' largest reservoir.","size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"clay-banks-xmeNoMLmRBM-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/29220618/clay-banks-xmeNoMLmRBM-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"But there is a problem with pumped hydro. Its topographical requirements restrict where the large systems can be built.
\nGiven the size of the system, environmental groups and local residents often oppose construction plans. Even without opposition, the areas suitable for a pumped hydro asset, which on their own are very few and hyper-specific, tend to be in more rural, less developed areas that are far from existing generation assets and urban centers. Altogether, the environmental restrictions and impact, coupled with the size and related cost of pumped hydro assets, have limited interest in building new assets. In fact, the last pumped hydro asset came online in the US in 2012, with the bulk of our existing assets built in the 1970s. Project overruns around the world stymie future pumped hydro projects.
\nIn addition, pumped hydro systems are simply too big to pair with generation assets. Even if size compatibility were not an issue, renewable assets like solar farms are often prohibitively located hundreds of miles or more from the nearest pumped hydro facility. In the absence of on-site storage alternatives, when a solar farm generates power, it releases this power onto the grid at the interconnect where it is located, at the time the power is generated, at a price determined by supply and demand dynamics at that precise moment. In order to manage fluctuating injection prices and maximize revenue, solar farms, which generate large volumes of electricity at periods of low demand, are therefore incentivized to invest in on-site solutions that allow them to store this energy for injection at periods of high demand when associated injection prices are higher.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A weakness of hydroelectric facilities is the efficiency losses incurred from transporting energy across power lines for storage.","size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"ricardo-gomez-angel-xhrZm4WhS2M-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/29225412/ricardo-gomez-angel-xhrZm4WhS2M-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Chemical batteries, which currently occupy the second largest market share in energy storage, are one such solution.
\nWith more than 1,200 MWH’s of installed battery storage in the US as of 2018, the battery energy storage market is expected to grow to roughly 20 bn by 2027.The primary battery storage technology is lithium ion, which represented more than 90% of battery storage in the US in 2018. Nickel, sodium, and lead-based batteries also exist, though their use is far less widespread. Some companies are also developing redox flow battery designs, which rely on the flow of two liquids. The cost curve for battery storage has declined 89% from 2010 to 2020, and experts predict continued, yet flattening, reductions moving forward.
\nBut there are drawbacks to chemical batteries. First, they require the extraction of diminishing elemental resources (such as lithium, cobalt, and magnesium) and the vast majority of mining activity occurs in only a handful of countries. These include China, the Democratic Republic of Congo (the DRC), Australia, Chile, and Argentina. And though Australia owned nearly half of global lithium reserves in 2019, the bulk of this output was refined in China, who has also heavily invested in the DRC, which mined over 70% of global cobalt output in 2017. Countries including Russia, Cuba, Australia, and Canada mined the remaining 30%. Now as ever, reliance on highly consolidated, finite resources carries significant geopolitical risk.
\nSecond, chemical batteries degrade very quickly, a process accelerated by frequent use. Most chemical batteries are expected to last no more than 10 to 15 years and grid scale chemical batteries may last only 7 to 10 years. Additionally, chemical batteries pose safety concerns. A massive 2019 Arizona lithium ion battery farm fire, for example, raised questions about the compatibility of chemical battery storage with solar assets in desert environments that provide optimal sunlight conditions for power generation.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Lithium and other resources like cobalt and manganese are essential to the chemical batteries that power many cell phones, laptops and electric vehicles. But the process of mining and extracting these resources in the first place comes at major human rights and environmental costs. ","size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"lachlan-dn8SEqz-7Rc-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/29233942/lachlan-dn8SEqz-7Rc-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Ongoing research has informed the development of chemical battery variations including solid state batteries (using solid key components, enhancing safety), lead-acid batteries, redox flow batteries (leveraging the flow of liquid key components), sodium-sulfur batteries, sodium metal halide batteries, and zinc-hybrid cathode batteries.
\nThese technologies vary across key categories such as performance, cost, resiliency, efficiency, and sustainability. Some utilize cheaper, more common raw materials than lithium ion batteries, but degrade more quickly. Others have a longer operational lifetime, but generally require ongoing maintenance or part replacement. Some demonstrate built-in resiliencies to higher temperatures, while others are housed in climate controlled environments, making them more compatible with warmer climates. Temperature stabilization methods, however, are generally more expensive than other technologies.
\nGiven the limitations of battery storage technologies, certain players in the energy storage industry have begun to focus on new types of batteries or storage devices that are (1) non-chemical; (2) smaller and cheaper than pumped hydro; (3) grid scale; and (4) affordable and efficient. Examples of these technologies include gravitational storage (using the potential energy of gravity to store and generate energy), thermal storage (which stores energy as heat and generates energy by using the heat to create steam to drive a turbine), compressed air storage (storing compressed air and the energy generated from compression), flywheel storage (storing energy by spinning a rotor), cryogenic liquid air storage (cooling air down to a liquid, storing energy as the cooled and pressurized liquid air), and hydrogen storage (using excess power to run electrolysis, creating hydrogen gas to be stored).
\nWhile many of these technologies and the companies developing them are promising, most suffer from several, if not all, of the following flaws: (1) the technologies are unproven and still require millions of dollars in R&D investment; (2) the storage devices are not ready to be built for customers; (3) they are not cost competitive with chemical batteries; and (4) the complexity of the designs make it difficult to build at scale, and ever more expensive.
\nAfter deeply studying this field and various alternative storage devices, Helena invested in Energy Vault, believing it to be uniquely positioned for success in this sector.
\nEnergy Vault’s designs are proven and ready for market. The units are cost competitive with chemical batteries and easily scalable. What’s more, Energy Vault’s technology leverages waste material remediation to provide additional environmental benefits beyond any other storage technology.
Energy Vault harnesses gravity and the potential energy gravity creates to store energy and release power. The company builds above ground vertical storage devices that are grid scale and long-duration. By lifting and dropping extremely dense mobile masses in coordinated autonomous movement, orchestrated by machine vision technology, Energy Vault can decouple energy from power and store many megawatt hours of power vertically.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Gallery","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"20200922_CDU_0010_LOGO","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/29235213/20200922_CDU_0010_LOGO-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"20200914_CDU_0004_LOGO","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/29235200/20200914_CDU_0004_LOGO-scaled-e1614208156637.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"20200911_CDU_0003_LOGO","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/29235207/20200911_CDU_0003_LOGO-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"20200917_CDU_0008_LOGO","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/29235326/20200917_CDU_0008_LOGO-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Energy Vault’s storage solutions can be easily paired with renewable assets and effectively positioned to replace retiring generation assets. Per company statements, Energy Vault systems “deliver the benefits of a pumped hydro system but at a much lower price, starting size, and without the need for hard to find topography.”
\nEnergy Vault outperforms existing storage solutions – most notably chemical batteries – due to its high efficiency (80% to 90% round trip), lack of system degradation and long operational life. Energy Vault presents a better and more sustainable solution with lower initial capex and levelized cost per kWh price.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Energy Vault Co-Founder and CEO Robert Piconi","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"20210107_CDU_0007_PICONI (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/29235834/20210107_CDU_0007_PICONI-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"System highlights include:
\n— Up to 40% lower levelized cost of storage versus incumbent storage technologies. Upfront costs and low operating expenses due to automation make Energy Vault cheaper than most existing energy storage solutions.
\n— Near-unmatched performance. Meaningfully high round-trip efficiency with a 30-year life (vs. batteries around 10-15 year life).
\n— Power storage longer than most battery solutions without losing much relative charge.
\n— Does not experience chemical degradation.
\nBeyond this, the block component of the Energy Vault system utilizes low-cost materials like on-site soil or waste materials and Energy Vault actually conducts significant environmental remediation by sequestering existing waste materials, such as coal ash, within its blocks for beneficial reuse.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Energy Vault's Brick Construction","size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/506332624","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Such innovations have allowed the company to reduce costs per unit and maximize environmental impact beyond that of making renewables a baseload-like power source. And since Energy Vault localizes brick manufacturing, they reduce transportation emissions in the transportation of their building materials.
\nHelena is particularly excited about Energy Vault as it is one of the only non-chemical energy storage solutions ready to be deployed today. Helena Special Investments has invested in Energy Vault, joining its Board of Directors, and built a strong strategic partnership with the company in its mission to further decarbonize the planet.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Updates","title":"The Commercial Demonstration Unit (CDU) and First Generation System (EV1)","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Energy Vault’s first grid-scale constructed system is its Commercial Demonstration Unit (CDU).
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_InstagramtwitterEmbed","instagramtwitterEmbed":{"url":"https://twitter.com/wef/status/1272921885412675585?lang=en"}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Built in Lugano, Switzerland, the CDU achieved mechanical completion in July 2020, is connected to the Swiss national utility grid, and is now undergoing final testing and software commissioning.
\nThe structure uses the architecture of Energy Vault’s first generation system, called EV1. A tall single tower with a central crane, EV1 lifts and lowers mobile masses to store and release energy. Specialized software controls the crane, ensuring the optimal descent for each brick.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen-Shot-2021-06-09-at-11.06.01-AM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/11160828/Screen-Shot-2021-06-09-at-11.06.01-AM-1.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The EV1 can be used for short and medium-term power storage, but it is designed primarily for long duration storage. It is designed to be economically deployed with storage capacity that ranges from 20 MWh to 80 MWh, with 35MWh as a current standard configuration.
\nIn 2020, Energy Vault was named a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, a distinction granted to 100 early to growth-stage companies affecting the world in substantial ways. Past Technology Pioneers include Google, Palantir, Twitter, Airbnb, and Spotify.
\nIn June 2021, Energy Vault announced its second generation system: EVx.
\nEVx represents the result of a multi-year process in which Energy Vault worked closely with some of the world’s largest utility and energy companies to produce an energy storage system designed to optimize flexibility and address higher power and variable duration needs. The result is a product platform poised to set a benchmark in the economics and efficiency of grid-scale energy storage.
\nA core advantage of EVx is its modular architecture. The system can be built in individual, 10MWh increments that can scale to multi-GW-hour storage capacity. This modular platform design allows for the construction of large-scale Energy Vault Resiliency Centers, a product line addressing the need for grid resiliency to manage critical events including wildfire or extreme weather.
\nForty percent shorter than the EV1’s tower, the EVX is highly customizable. The system is designed to meet international building standards with no topographical restrictions, allowing for broader deployment and with a form factor of a 30 story building.
\nMoving the same mobile masses as EV1 and utilizing the same technology, EVX is also capable of utilizing remunerated waste material such as coal combustion fiberglass from decommissioned wind turbine blades and waste tailings from mining processes, without adding additional end-of-life disposal material.
\nEVX facilitates a wide range of energy storage duration flexibility because it allows for a decoupling of energy and power. The result is a capability to still store energy efficiently for longer duration (6-12+ hours) while also offering deployments for high power/shorter duration needs (2-6 hours).
\nAs of 2021, over 100 companies have expressed interest in building Energy Vault Systems and the company has already secured agreements on four continents. Publicly, Energy Vault has partnered with Energy Volt to deploy systems in Ukraine and Kazakhstan and with EV Brazil to commercialize the technology in Brazil and South America.
\nOn June 2, 2021, Energy Vault announced that Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, the strategy technology venturing program of global integrated energy and chemicals company Aramco, will focus on the deployment of EVx Energy Storage Systems within Aramco.
\nAccording to the Global Wind Energy Council’s 2021 report, the wind industry recorded 53% new capacity growth in 2021, marking an unprecedented increase in renewable wind power which is expected to continue exponentially.
\nThe expansion marks a milestone on the path towards decarbonization and Net Zero targets, but the finite life cycle of wind power plants and wind turbines in particular (which utilize fiberglass and carbon fiber) underscores the need for circular solutions that address recycling and reuse.
\nIn July 2021, Enel Green Power, a global leader in renewable energy with a presence in 29 countries and an installed capacity of over 47GW of power generation, entered into a partnership agreement with Energy Vault.
\nThe multi-phased partnership will commence with feasibility studies aimed at assessing deployment opportunities for EVx technology alongside Enel’s wind power plants.
\nThe company aims to integrate the technology to diversify its already-existing storage solution portfolio, which includes lithium-ion batteries, to address wind’s intermittency.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen-Shot-2021-07-12-at-12.35.59-PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/11170712/Screen-Shot-2021-07-12-at-12.35.59-PM-1.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"A critical future phase of the partnership will assess feasibility for the integration of decommissioned turbine blades into the mobile masses used in Energy Vault’s storage systems, providing a circular remediation solution for a first generation of wind power plants nearing the end of their life cycle.
\nThis integration will mark the first application of EVx’s toxic waste remediation capabilities.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Updates","title":"Energy Vault Raises $100m in Series C Funding","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"On August 25, 2021, Energy Vault announced $100 million in Series C funding amid a year of significant global growth and momentum. In addition to Helena’s original investment of $20m, Helena also invested in this financing.
\nBeyond supporting execution of the company’s overall growth, the Series C accelerates Energy Vault’s ability to meet the strong global customer demand for the EVx platform. This includes a growing pipeline of customer agreements across markets in the U.S., Middle East, Europe, and Australia.
\nPrime Movers Lab, an investment firm focused on breakthrough scientific developments with the chance to positively affect billions of lives, led the financing.
\n“To truly harness the power of renewable energy, the world needs to develop reliable, flexible storage solutions for when the sun does not shine or the wind does not blow,” said Zia Huque, general partner at Prime Movers. “Energy Vault has cracked the code with a transformative solution that is designed to fulfill clean energy demand 24/7 with a more efficient, durable and environmentally sustainable approach than other options. Energy Vault is a game-changer in our green energy transition and Prime Movers Lab is delighted to support the company in scaling the deployment of its technology.”
\nOn September 9th, 2021, Energy Vault announced it will go public via a special-purpose acquisition merger that initially values the company at $1.6 billion.
\nThe merger combines Energy Vault with Novus Capital Corporation II. Upon closing, the combined company will be named Energy Vault Holdings, Inc.
\nThe transaction is expected to additionally provide up to $388 million in gross cash proceeds to Energy Vault Holdings, Inc. As part of the transaction, Novus II received commitments for a $100 million common stock PIPE, which will be used (among other uses) to fund the combined company’s growth strategy.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"ENERGY VAULT CO-FOUNDER AND CEO ROB PICONI","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Energy_Vault_-_CEO_and_Co-Founder_-_Robert_Piconi-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/11171141/Energy_Vault_-_CEO_and_Co-Founder_-_Robert_Piconi-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The PIPE is comprised of anchor commitments from premiere global investors, including funds and accounts managed by Adage Capital Partners LP, Pickering Energy Partners, Sailingstone Capital Energy Transition Strategy Fund, SoftBank Investment Advisers, Cemex Ventures, Palantir Technologies Inc. and other investors.
\nRobert Laikin, CEO of Novus Capital, stated: “Energy Vault is bringing an entirely new energy storage solution to the energy market and will lower the costs for utility companies and power producers that are transitioning to renewables but who need to maintain consistent energy supply to deliver dispatchable power.
\nTheir unique approach to addressing the need for dispatchable power delivery through their creation of transformative technologies while reusing waste materials in their process, sets them apart from any other player in the market, and makes them an obvious choice as a partner. We are thrilled to be joining Rob and his team at such a pivotal moment for the company and have every confidence in their ability to capture the rapidly growing energy storage opportunity. Since our IPO in early 2021, we looked at over 100 companies and we found a fantastic company, with a public company ready management team addressing a massive global market need that is underserved with existing solutions today. In our view, Energy Vault is the only grid-scale pure ESG energy storage company that exists in the market today.”
\n"}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":[{"popupId":"energy-storage","title":"Energy Storage","content":"Energy storage refers to the temporary transformation of power, or another type of energy, into a contained medium to be held until needed for use. Ideal forms of energy storage absorb nearly as much energy as they’re able to release. Depending on the technology, users of energy storage may see losses of as much as 20% to 30% or even 40% of all energy – demonstrating the value of efficient storage solutions.
\nExamples of energy storage devices include batteries, gravity-based systems like Energy Vault’s towers, and pumped hydro plants. Lithium-ion batteries, from handheld to grid-scale, , store energy through chemical reactions.
\nEnergy Vault systems are an example of “gravity-based energy storage” — they consume power to lift mobile masses up to store energy and drop mobile masses to generate power. Thermal storage uses power or energy to heat up a material, which then stores that energy until needed for use. Pumped hydroelectric plants utilize excess power or energy to move water from a lower altitude reservoir to a higher altitude reservoir, letting the water flow back down through a turbine to generate a resultant energy when needed.
\nThe overarching goal behind energy storage is to identify processes that absorb some amount of energy to transform a material or conduct a process and that produces a nearly identical amount of energy when the process is reversed.
\nIf the energy into the process equals or nearly equals the energy out of the process, then energy storage can be conducted efficiently without much loss of energy. Depending on the technology, users of energy storage may see losses of as much as 20% to 30% or even 40% of all energy – demonstrating the value of efficient energy storage.
\n"},{"popupId":"grid-scale","title":"Grid Scale","content":"The size and scale of energy storage technologies varies depending on the desired use case. For instance, some batteries are small and built for a single person or household’s use (i.e. a car battery or a back-up generator battery).
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/29192224/danilo-alvesd-w1p05F4gyNg-unsplash-300x200.jpg\")
An energy storage device you might use every day: the AAA battery.
\n
![\"\"](\"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/29192422/chuttersnap-xJLsHl0hIik-unsplash-300x200.jpg\")
Many electric vehicles utilize lithium-ion batteries.
Grid-scale storage, on the other hand, describes energy storage devices that interface with the national power grid, typically storing large amounts (many MWhs) of energy and helping minimize issues for the grid.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/29193948/jani-brumat-CJTUbgI1N1s-unsplash-1024x687.jpg\")
Pumped-storage hydroelectricity is an example of gird-scale energy storage. Water is pumped from a lower to higher elevation, then released to yield electric power.
Problems arise when the difference between the supply of energy being injected into the grid and the demand for using energy rises. When there is too much energy being injected, grid-scale storage holds onto the excess energy. When there is more demand for energy than supply, grid-scale storage injects the energy stored during periods of excess production to meet demand.
\nGrid-scale energy storage has created a future where excess energy that would be injected into the grid during periods of low demand gets stored until it is needed, generally during periods of low energy generation.
\n"},{"popupId":"weights","title":"Weights","content":"Energy Vault’s energy storage systems lift heavy and highly dense objects to store energy and release those objects to release energy. For the purposes of this page, we are defining these objects as “weights”, but they are also frequently referred to as “bricks” or “mobile masses.”
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/16192141/Screen-Shot-2021-02-16-at-12.21.18-PM-300x158.png\")
They can be constructed from a variety of materials including some types of waste material. By harnessing these types of low or negative cost materials to manufacture the weights, Energy Vault is able to yield two benefits: further price competitiveness compared to other types of energy storage and the beneficial reuse of significant volumes of waste materials that may otherwise make their way into landfills.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/16192158/Screen-Shot-2021-02-16-at-12.20.50-PM-300x162.png\")
An Energy Vault “press” machine, used to solidify individual weights in high density formation.
Waste material generally refers to all material considered harmful to the well-being of humans or Earth’s ecosystem, as well as non-harmful waste material. Wastes are usually defined in part by characteristics such as ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, and carcinogenicity.
\nHarmful waste materials therefore includes harmful byproducts from the burning of coal for energy production, wastes from industrial chemical processes, and tailings from other mining processes.
\n![\"\"](\"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/29194853/klim-musalimov-TH7S45za51c-unsplash-200x300.jpg\")
The burning of coal, often in coal-fired power plants, produces byproducts known as “coal-ash,” ranging from fly ash to boiler slag.
Some wastes are organic and can be incinerated for safe disposal, whereas others require permanent to semi-permanent storage facilities, including landfills. In cases of extreme toxicity, storage even in remote landfills may not adequately prevent the release of toxins into the natural environment.
\nEnergy Vault, through its innovative material science and its partnership with CEMEX R&D lab has developed the capability to sequester certain waste materials in the construction of its energy storage solution .
\n"},{"popupId":"negative-externalities","title":"Negative Externalities","content":"Externalities are the secondary and related outputs of activity on uninvolved parties, which in many cases are unintended. For example, the carbon emissions generated at coal power plants are not a desired output but instead a byproduct of generating power. Importantly, externalities have an impact on those not directly involved in the activity.
\nThe pollution from a coal plant harms almost everyone living nearby. Externalities can be negative, as in the case of pollution, or positive, as in the case of education (bettering society, not just the students themselves). In the absence of proper legislation and regulation, no one is directly (legally) responsible for externalities.
\nNegative externalities pose significant problems when actors do not choose to handle their externalities of their own volition. However, clever companies figure out how to profit by taking ownership over negative externalities – for example, businesses selling goods made from pollutants.
\n\n"},{"popupId":"require-the-most-power","title":"Photovoltaic Generation Curves (The Duck Curve)","content":"
![\"\"](\"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/29214932/Screen-Shot-2021-01-29-at-2.48.55-PM-300x169.png\")
The Duck Curve (Data from the US Department of Energy and The Australian Gas Light Company)
A helpful way to visualize this issue is known affectionately as the “Duck Curve.”
\nIn the graph above, note the sharp decrease in demand for energy during mid-day, and the sharp increase in demand during the evening. Think about how this connects to your personal energy usage: you’re less likely to use electricity in your home around noon, when there’s an abundance of natural sunlight when and members of your household are at work or school vs. during the evenings, when the sun has set and you’re preparing dinner.
\n"}]}}},{"id":"cG9zdDozMjcy","databaseId":3272,"title":"Aether Diamonds","slug":"aether-diamonds","link":"https://www.helena.org/projects/aether-diamonds/","date":"2023-08-09T21:03:02","excerpt":"CARBON NEGATIVE DIAMONDS ALCHEMIZED FROM AIR.
\n","isRestricted":false,"featuredImage":{"node":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/09205737/Aether_floating-Diamond-with-particles-1-scaled.jpg","title":"Aether_floating Diamond with particles (1)"}},"acfProjectDetails":{"seo":{"title":"Aether","metaDescription":"Helena is a new type of institution that seeks to address critical societal problems by running projects alongside its Members.","metaImage":null},"smallerProject":null,"projectIntro":{"headline":"AETHER DIAMONDS","region":"UNITED STATES","tag":"CLIMATE TECHNOLOGY","profit":"profit","introBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Helena is the lead investor and strategic partner of Aether. Together, we’re working to scale a proprietary first-in-kind use case for sequestered carbon: premium-grade diamonds.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen-Shot-2022-02-27-at-10.45.11-PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07232758/Screen-Shot-2022-02-27-at-10.45.11-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://player.vimeo.com/video/738031397","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Indistinguishable from the highest quality mined diamonds on Earth, Aether is ethically intervening in a product category steeped in environmental and human rights exploitation – and meeting the demand of a new age of conscious consumerism.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"aether-stones-1-4-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07232919/aether-stones-1-4-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"254929783_593476098524233_1541173518143090876_n","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07232956/254929783_593476098524233_1541173518143090876_n.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Supporting direct air carbon capture has been central to Helena’s climate goals since our inaugural project. Since then, we have been searching for ways to create meaningful market demand for the industry.
\n\n
Anointed by industry insiders and in-demand among consumers, we believe Aether answers this call.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"201110_Aether_Shot05_Terumi_165","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07233039/201110_Aether_Shot05_Terumi_165.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"220222_AetherDiamond_JakeRosenberg_GABE_LK03_1929","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07233103/220222_AetherDiamond_JakeRosenberg_GABE_LK03_1929.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"220222_AetherDiamond_JakeRosenberg_ADITI_LK03_2160","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07233132/220222_AetherDiamond_JakeRosenberg_ADITI_LK03_2160.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://player.vimeo.com/video/683460508","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}}]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":[{"type":"Image","text":"In order to combat climate change, we need to capture carbon from the atmosphere on a global scale.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"graham-ruttan-vcbf904pJDY-unsplash-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07030242/graham-ruttan-vcbf904pJDY-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"To achieve this, entirely new industries must turn that captured carbon into compelling, cost-effective products.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"ricardo-gomez-angel-CreFgVDEtzI-unsplash-1-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07030422/ricardo-gomez-angel-CreFgVDEtzI-unsplash-1-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"We’re working on a project that uses atmospheric carbon to create one of the most desirable and essential materials the Earth has to offer.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"ramiro-pianarosa-xUpbQ9GX7SQ-unsplash-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07030553/ramiro-pianarosa-xUpbQ9GX7SQ-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07030604/chuttersnap-sLUOsr4BoQA-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07030604/chuttersnap-sLUOsr4BoQA-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07030604/chuttersnap-sLUOsr4BoQA-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07030604/chuttersnap-sLUOsr4BoQA-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Diamonds.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Aether_floating-Diamond-with-particles-1-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07030749/Aether_floating-Diamond-with-particles-1-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Video","text":"Helena is the lead investor in and strategic partner of Aether, a technology company that transforms carbon from the air into diamonds atomically identical to their mined counterparts.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07232240/14322.mp4"},"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Removing 20 tons of carbon for every carat sold, Aether is the world’s first negative emissions diamond.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Aether_Tweezers-1-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07031034/Aether_Tweezers-1-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Aether ushers in an era in which you don’t need to sacrifice quality when purchasing a diamond without harmful consequences for the planet or its people.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"201110_Aether_Shot03_Essence_077-1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07232349/201110_Aether_Shot03_Essence_077-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07232349/201110_Aether_Shot03_Essence_077-1.jpeg"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07232401/201110_Aether_Shot03_Essence_073_comp-1.jpeg"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07232401/201110_Aether_Shot03_Essence_073_comp-1.jpeg"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07232401/201110_Aether_Shot03_Essence_073_comp-1.jpeg"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"In fact, we think it’s even better.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"aether-hand-1-2-2","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07232501/aether-hand-1-2-2.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Video","text":"The result is an entirely new category of diamond – one that helps scale an industry we believe will be essential to the future of humanity’s climate response.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07232601/Aether-MP.mp4"},"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"The Cost of Carbon","title":"The Cost of Carbon","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released the first part of its Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) on climate change. The Report paints a bleak but unsurprising picture: human greenhouse gas emissions have caused around 1.1℃ of warming since 1850-1900; to keep warming at or below 1.5℃, the world must significantly roll back carbon emissions and become net-zero by midcentury at the latest; but, at its current pace, we will emit enough CO2 to blow through our carbon budget in the next eight years.
\nIn the report, the IPCC also makes clear that in order to limit warming to 1.5℃, we will need to not just limit the CO2 we emit, but actually remove existing CO2. Every single projection that the IPCC examined that successfully limits heating to 1.5℃ requires some degree of carbon dioxide removal.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"CLIMEWORKS CO-FOUNDERS AND HELENA MEMBERS CHRISTOPH GEBALD AND JAN WURZBACHER AT THEIR \"ORCA\" PLANT IN ICELAND -- THE WORLD'S LARGEST CARBON CAPTURE FACILITY","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"climeworks-orca-plant-iceland-technology-news_dezeen_1704_hero","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07233304/climeworks-orca-plant-iceland-technology-news_dezeen_1704_hero.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Currently, we have the technology to pull and sequester carbon dioxide directly from locations where CO2 is being emitted (called Point Source Carbon Capture, or PSC), as well as from ambient air (Direct Air Carbon Capture, or DAC).
\nClimeworks, which Helena supported in its first project, Factory in the Sky, recently launched the largest DAC facility of its kind. Orca captures roughly 4000 tons of CO2 annually, which is about .00001% of global emissions.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"CHRISTOPH GEBALD AND JAN WURZBACHER ACCEPTING THE HELENA PRIZE IN 2017 FOR THEIR BREAKTHROUGH IN DIRECT-AIR CARBON CAPTURE.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"factory-sky-26-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07233417/factory-sky-26-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"To reach “Net Zero” this technology will need to scale – but capturing and sequestering carbon is expensive. In the absence of significant government regulations or incentives, Helena believes the most impactful path forward is to establish legitimately profitable use cases for captured carbon.
\nCurrently, captured carbon goes to one of three places: injected underground, into the ocean, or in materials (called “carbon-to-value”). There is little market for underground injection, and the ocean – already the world’s largest and best carbon sink – is overwhelmed and acidifying from the CO2 it is already absorbing.
\nThe carbon-to-value market has a number of possible players, including cement and concrete; oil and gas production, chemicals; and consumer products like soda, shoes, watches, yoga mats, alcohol, and perfume.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"\"Every single projection that the IPCC examined that successfully limits heating to 1.5℃ requires some degree of carbon dioxide removal.\""},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Ultimately, the ones that have the best chance of significant and enduring impact are those that have higher profit margins to weather possible carbon price fluctuations, and those that sequester the carbon in goods that maintain their integrity, in order to store that carbon permanently. Diamonds tick both boxes.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen-Shot-2022-08-16-at-10.21.00-PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07233639/Screen-Shot-2022-08-16-at-10.21.00-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Few industries are more in need of revolution than the diamond trade. From 1960 to 2005, global annual rough diamond production increased almost 500%, from about 30 million carats to 177 million.
\nMines opened worldwide, but roughly 65% of gem-quality diamonds come from mines in Africa, particularly in the Southern, Central, and Western areas. The value of diamonds relative to GDP in these regions is extraordinary. For local actors, the incentives to extract diamonds exceed the often lethal consequences, and competition to control mines has fueled decades of insurgencies and coups and led to devastating widespread human rights violations.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"THE NURBINSKAYA DIAMOND MINE IN RUSSIA, ONE OF THE LARGEST IN THE WORLD.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"08781e77-5abf-44d5-8cab-f7f926e13f30","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07233817/08781e77-5abf-44d5-8cab-f7f926e13f30.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The environmental impact is also significant.
\nAlthough some countries, like Canada, have very strict environmental regulations, in less developed areas, environmental oversight has been practically nonexistent. Beyond the depletion of rare earth minerals, extraction leads to soil erosion and deforestation, rock displacement and water contamination.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen-Shot-2022-03-01-at-10.50.30-AM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07233902/Screen-Shot-2022-03-01-at-10.50.30-AM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Rivers are rerouted and dammed; entire communities are relocated. Open-pit mining is especially dangerous. Not only does it destroy the land, but it leaves behind artificial pits of stagnant water. A 2013 resurgence of malaria in Venezuela is attributed to the proliferation of open-pit mining.
\nTo complicate matters, production of mined-diamonds has likely peaked.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"WHILE DEMAND FOR DIAMONDS INCREASES, SUPPLY HAS LIKELY PEAKED, LEAVING THE DIAMOND INDUSTRY IN A CROSSROADS.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"clarisse-croset-EiiijhnJLVs-unsplash-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07233944/clarisse-croset-EiiijhnJLVs-unsplash-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"According to Bain’s most recent report, rough diamond production has decreased about 5% per year since 2017, a trend that will likely continue as some of the world’s most prolific mines reach depletion.
\nDemand, on the other hand, remains strong. In that same report, Bain projects demand to continue to grow 1-3% annually. This combination of high demand and depleting supply could be dangerous, as the pressure on producers could spur even more harmful practices.
\nBut it can also inspire valuable, much-needed change: diamonds that have all the benefits and characteristics of their mined relatives but that are created sustainably–even beneficially.
\nWe at Helena think we have found the best one.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"What’s Next","title":"Changing Tides in the Diamond Trade","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The diamond consumer is changing – and the market is following suit.
\nSustainability, transparency, and social welfare play an increasingly important role in consumer decision-making, particularly for younger generations, and the percentage of people that would consider a lab-grown diamond engagement ring has increased by more than 20% since 2009.
\nThe lab-grown diamond industry saw double-digit growth in 2020, with total lab-grown carats sold reaching 6 to 7mm. Pandora, the world’s largest jeweler, announced in Spring 2021 that it was moving exclusively to lab-grown diamonds.
\nHistorically, there are two ways to produce a lab-grown diamond. Neither are perfect.
\nThe first is the high-pressure, high temperature (HPHT) process, which requires a diamond seed to be placed in pure carbon, then subjected to intense pressure (north of 70,000 atmospheres) and heat (more than 2000℃) for a long enough time that the carbon melts and new diamond is created around the seed.
\nThe second is the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, In CVD, a diamond seed is also placed in a high temperature chamber (though only about half as hot as HPHT). The chamber is flooded with hydrocarbon gases (i.e. fossil fuels), which are then ionized, isolating the pure carbon, which collects and crystallizes atom by atom on the diamond seed.
\nStatistics differ on the exact energy requirement for both the HPHT and CVD processes, but it’s not insignificant, with alarms raised about both the quantity of energy required and the potential for that energy–as well as the carbon and hydrocarbon in CVD–to be sourced from fossil fuels. According to Forbes, even the Lighthouse (De Beers’s lab-grown diamond arm) CMO Sally Morrison admitted in 2019 that their lab-grown diamonds were not yet sustainable due to energy sources and consumption.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"21st Century Alchemy","title":"A New Category: Aether Diamonds","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Aether diamonds are an entirely new product category.
\nAether uses CVD, but instead of employing fossil fuels to create its hydrocarbon, Aether’s proprietary process uses pure CO2 directly sequestered from the air.
\nAether has no detrimental effect on the environment through outsized fossil fuel consumption, and the diamonds it produces can be compared to the highest quality mined diamonds in quality, clarity, strength, and color.
\nThe result is the inception of a new luxury category, defined by a beautiful product that not only mitigates the consequences of diamond mining but also creates a viable commercial pipeline for direct air carbon capture.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"AETHER CO-FOUNDER AND CEO RYAN SHEARMAN INTERVIEWED ON CNN","size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://player.vimeo.com/video/683469355?","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"AN ASSORTMENT OF PIECES FROM AETHER'S INAUGURAL COLLECTION","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"photography by Steven DeVilbiss","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07234454/GROUP-B-ROSE-GOLD-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"With heritage luxury brands signaling a transition away from mined diamonds, the appeal and impact are already apparent. Aether has generated significant buzz in the media with validators spanning science, tech, business, and fashion.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen-Shot-2022-03-01-at-11.46.35-AM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07234626/Screen-Shot-2022-03-01-at-11.46.35-AM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In addition to leading Aether’s $18mm Series A equity round, Helena is also partnering with the company to support its commercial expansion.
\nAether’s proprietary technology has implications for industries that use diamonds for saws, drills, blades, bevels, etc.–and those industries are vast: the USGS, for example, estimated that the United States’ automotive industry consumed 1.5 carats of industrial diamond for every car produced. Between its superior quality and its extensive commercial applications, we believe Aether offers a meaningful vehicle to drive the evolution of the direct air capture sector necessary to achieving Net Zero targets.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"RYAN SHEARMAN WITH AN AETHER DIAMOND 05","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"257483438_941787089771873_3753939267544805397_n-1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/07234704/257483438_941787089771873_3753939267544805397_n-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}}]},{"eyebrow":"Awards","title":"Industry Recognition","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"On February 17th, 2022, Aether became the first and only diamond producer in the world to receive a B Corp Certification.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"273667254_107016275162196_2774874898128754019_n","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/09212629/273667254_107016275162196_2774874898128754019_n.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"A B Corp Certification is awarded to a company based on its social and environmental impact, and it is one of the most prestigious and esteemed accreditations a company can receive in the sustainability space.
\nThe certification process is rigorous. To earn B Corp Certification, a company is evaluated by B Lab, a third party non-profit, on the company’s “entire social and environmental impact.”
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"273819932_311658154325877_2685206623275962165_n","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/09212703/273819932_311658154325877_2685206623275962165_n.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"This includes its social and environmental performance, its accountability to all stakeholders (not just shareholders), and its transparency in making public its social and environmental impact and performance. Over the last ten years, more than 100,000 companies have applied for B Corp Certification; Aether is one of fewer than 5,000 to have received it.
\nThis was just the latest in a string of awards and recognition that Aether has recently received. Inc. magazine named Aether one of its “Best in Business” for 2021 in the “Environmental Issues” category. Fast Company awarded it a 2021 Innovation by Design Award, and the Accessories Council gave it the Member’s Choice Sustainability Award. In March 2022, Aether was named to one of the “World’s Most Innovative Companies” by Fast Company and highlighted as No. 7 within the Consumer Goods category.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"273715268_633048561333331_4793032735885881442_n","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/09212741/273715268_633048561333331_4793032735885881442_n.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}}]},{"eyebrow":"Aether Releases First Fine Jewelry Collection","title":"Bombé","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"On August 1st, 2022, Aether unveiled its first fine jewelry collection, prompting industry authorities to signal the brand’s widening presence in the luxury diamond market.
\nDistinguished by its directional point of view, the statement-making line solidifies the brand’s offering as a wholly unique product category. Noting that “we wanted to do something different with our product,” Chief Design Officer and Stephen Webster alum Jenna Housby explains, “everything [in the lab-grown space] was quite generic and we wanted strong design that created a handwriting for our product to tell a story.”
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"220222_AetherDiamond_JakeRosenberg_NIKITA_LK01_0425","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/09212926/220222_AetherDiamond_JakeRosenberg_NIKITA_LK01_0425-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"220222_AetherDiamond_JakeRosenberg_ADITI_LK03_2048","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/09212942/220222_AetherDiamond_JakeRosenberg_ADITI_LK03_2048-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The article is just one indicator that Aether is making waves in both fashion and sustainability circles. Named a Best for the World B Corp, Aether’s luxury bona fides are underscored by the addition of Alain Bernard to the board. Previously, Bernard served as President and CEO of both Richemont North America and Van Cleef & Arpels.
\n"}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":null}}},{"id":"cG9zdDozMzQz","databaseId":3343,"title":"A1R Climate and Energy","slug":"a1r-climate-and-energy","link":"https://www.helena.org/projects/a1r-climate-and-energy/","date":"2023-08-10T20:51:19","excerpt":"THE LARGEST DELIBERATIVE POLL IN HISTORY.
\n","isRestricted":false,"featuredImage":{"node":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08012403/A1R-Web-Gif-1.gif","title":"A1R-Web-Gif-1"}},"acfProjectDetails":{"seo":{"title":"America in One Room: Climate and Energy | Helena Projects | Helena","metaDescription":"Helena is a new type of institution that seeks to address critical societal problems by running projects alongside its Members.","metaImage":null},"smallerProject":null,"projectIntro":{"headline":"AMERICA IN ONE ROOM: CLIMATE AND ENERGY","region":"THE UNITED STATES","tag":"DEMOCRACY AND CLIMATE","profit":"non-profit","introBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"In September 2021, Helena and the Stanford Center for Deliberative Democracy conducted the largest Deliberative Poll in history.
\n\n
America in One Room (A1R): Climate and Energy took place online using proprietary AI moderation. The project provided an unprecedented forum for Americans to discuss in-depth climate policy areas with a representative cross-section of the US voting electorate.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A1R-Web-Gif-1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08012403/A1R-Web-Gif-1.gif"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"In the lead up to the 26th UN Climate Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, while forward momentum on climate initiatives stalled in Congress, A1R: Climate and Energy demonstrated that everyday citizens can grapple with nuanced legislative issues and arrive at viable solutions.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"COP_negotation","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08012432/COP_negotation.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Americans want climate action and they want it now. A1R: Climate and Energy showed that they also largely agree on how we should get there.
\n\n
Pre and post deliberation results showed significant increase in support for substantive interventions to reduce greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere. Participants moved in the direction of wanting to do more to combat climate change on 66 of 72 policy proposals under discussion.
\nA1R: Climate and Energy provided a comprehensive roadmap of actionable solutions supported by the American public. While Helena and partners worked with legislative and private sector stakeholders to translate key takeaways into real-world real-world impact, media coverage of the project drove home the message that Americans are capable of coming together and reaching consensus on complex issues.
\nWe believe A1R is a vehicle for participatory democracy at scale. Creating opportunities for repeated convenings around key issue areas over time, the platform offers a framework for a new era of government for the people, by the people.
\nIn 2019, Helena organized an historic event alongside members Jim Fishkin and Larry Diamond and the Stanford Center for Deliberative Democracy. America in One Room (A1R) brought 526 everyday Americans together for three days in Dallas, Texas to debate policy issues central to the 2020 presidential campaign.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_InstagramtwitterEmbed","instagramtwitterEmbed":{"url":"https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/1182018186146979840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1182018186146979840%7Ctwgr%5E5074b472e501ed596ec8cc3ce18b8ea9dcdc2b75%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fhelena.org%2Fprojects%2Fa1r-climate-and-energy"}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"A1R produced a landmark data set representing the “will of the people” when given the opportunity to engage deeply with the issues in conversation with diverse others. World leaders including Barack Obama and Bill Clinton cited the project as a salve for an ailing democracy; it was widely covered in media outlets including The New York Times, CNN, FiveThirtyEight, and The National Interest.
\nThe event resulted in dramatic depolarization and increased civic engagement. In a follow up study conducted on the one-year anniversary of the event, this deliberative effect was still evident.
\nBelieving the power of Deliberative Polling to combat the extreme polarization dividing the nation and resulting in political gridlock in Washington, Helena and the Center for Deliberative Democracy have been working to scale A1R to reach many more Americans and provide real-time data inputs for policymakers and stakeholders within the private sector . In September 2021, we expanded the project to meet citizens where they are using a proprietary online platform developed in collaboration with Stanford’s Crowdsource Democracy Team.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"America in One Room: Climate and Energy","title":"America in One Room: Climate and Energy","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The first in what will be a series of issue-specific convenings over time, A1R: Climate and Energy took place in the wake of a summer of catastrophic weather events and the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s most damning report on record. In it, the authors asserted that while significant global warming is inevitable, there is a brief but viable window to take aggressive steps to curb the most devastating effects of climate change.
\nFacilitated by a broad coalition of partners that included California Forward, The Greater Houston Partnership, The Center for Houston’s Future, and In This Together, A1R: Climate and Energy proved that everyday Americans could grapple with some of our most intractable policy issues and create a strategy for impactful climate action.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen-Shot-2021-12-20-at-4.11.27-PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08014218/Screen-Shot-2021-12-20-at-4.11.27-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"A1R: Climate and Energy was the largest Deliberative Poll ever assembled.
\nRecruited by NORC at the University of Chicago, 962 participants were rigorously vetted to represent a statistically accurate microcosm of the American electorate. Californians and Texans were deliberately oversampled, with results weighted accordingly, to provide a robust comparison of where the largest blue and red states in the nation stood on climate policy.
\nParticipants received comprehensive, balanced briefing materials evaluated by a bipartisan Advisory Council containing arguments for and against specific policy proposals on climate and energy. Over the course of 6 days, 104 small discussion groups debated dozens of policy issues and formulated nuanced questions for a panel of diverse experts. Their conversations were aided by an automated moderator designed to increase engagement, eliminate bias, and encourage participation. In plenary sessions, scientists, policymakers, energy executives, and NGO leaders answered questions formulated during the deliberations. Participants and a demographically consistent control group took an in-depth questionnaire before and after the event.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Results","title":"Results","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Post-deliberation, opinions converged across political party affiliation, age, income, race, ethnicity, and geography — with surprising convergence among Californians and Texans — in support of nearly all proposals to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (No such convergence was evident in the control group despite devastation wreaked by recent severe weather events throughout the US.) And though Americans were in favor of aggressive action on climate change, their discussions emphasized integrated solutions that would limit the impact on low-and-middle income Americans and maintain US competitiveness abroad. They supported a mixed technology approach, investments in innovation, and private sector flexibility, and called for a durable bipartisan approach, including a long-term budget that demonstrates how much the transition will cost and who will pay for it.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"A1R-Charts-Web-Full","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08014313/A1R-Charts-Web-Full.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Full results can be found here.
\nCritically for the future of America in One Room, participants were united in their approval of the Deliberative Polling process and the online platform itself.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Slide-4-v2","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08014347/Slide-4-v2.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Over the course of 12 hours of deliberations, the automated moderator guided respectful conversations that omitted tribal cues, facilitated equal participation, and allowed Americans from across the political spectrum to discuss polarizing issue areas with extreme nuance and in great depth. An overwhelming super majority (91%) found the event as a whole valuable and the methodology helpful in clarifying their positions. At a moment when our digital ecosystems are optimized to foster discord and sow misinformation, A1R: Climate and Energy demonstrated the power of AI to unite rather than divide us.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Impact","title":"Impact","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Central to the mission of A1R is translating its results into action. As global leaders prepared to present themselves on the world stage at COP 26, Helena and partners worked to brief impact-drivers including stakeholders within government, non-profit organizations, and the energy sector. We collaborated with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health to release the results in an open-to-the-public event that included a policy discussion around the issue areas with Senator Lindsay Graham and Senator Jeanne Shaheen.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://player.vimeo.com/video/657605134?","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Media outlets including The Washington Post, Fast Company, Forbes, and Newsweek, reported on the event. Against a backdrop of hyper-partisanship and political infighting, the coverage drove home the message that Americans want immediate and substantial climate action.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://player.vimeo.com/video/657601706?","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen-Shot-2021-12-20-at-4.16.01-PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2023/08/08014612/Screen-Shot-2021-12-20-at-4.16.01-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"A1R: Climate and Energy proved that Deliberative Polling at scale is possible. The online platform provides a vehicle to convene continuing and timely samples of the American people, creating meaningful inputs for decision makers within the public and private sectors, and laying the groundwork for solutions based on the balanced deliberations of informed citizens. A proven vehicle for dramatic and lasting increases in civic education and engagement, repeated iterations of A1R over time have the potential to unlock the enormous power of civically invested constituencies and rewrite the terms of engagement for American Democracy.
\n"}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":null}}}],"bottomProjects":[{"id":"cG9zdDo0MDUx","databaseId":4051,"title":"Type One","slug":"type-one","link":"https://www.helena.org/projects/type-one/","date":"2026-03-18T17:44:54","excerpt":"Stellarator fusion energy machines.
\n","isRestricted":false,"featuredImage":{"node":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/03/18153635/Stellarator_Warehouse_0000.png","title":"Stellarator_Warehouse_0000"}},"acfProjectDetails":{"seo":{"title":"Type One","metaDescription":null,"metaImage":null},"smallerProject":true,"projectIntro":{"headline":"Type One","region":"Global","tag":"Fusion Energy","profit":"profit","introBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Helena is an investor in Type One Energy, an energy company advancing one of the most promising fusion devices ever invented: the stellerator.
\n\n
For decades, the stellarator’s promise was constrained by the complexity of its design. The precisely twisted magnetic coils it requires were too difficult and too costly to manufacture at reactor scale. Recent breakthroughs in high-temperature superconducting magnets and computational optimization have finally removed that barrier, and Type One Energy has assembled a world-class team to meet the moment.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Type One's Stellarator reactor design.","size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/1174151734","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Type One’s stellarators incorporate high-temperature superconducting magnets built on the same HTS tape platform pioneered by Commonwealth Fusion Systems, another Helena-backed fusion company. Helena’s support for both reflects a deeper conviction: that fusion energy will be essential to the world’s clean energy future, and that backing complementary approaches — across reactor designs, supply chains, and commercialization pathways —is the fastest way to get there.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Type One's 2025 Ribbon Cutting ceremony with the Tennessee Valley Authority","size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/1174121224?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"That future is rapidly approaching. In 2025, Type One partnered with the Tennessee Valley Authority, one of the nation’s largest public utilities, to develop a 350-megawatt stellarator pilot plant, marking one of the most significant utility-fusion agreements ever signed and a major milestone on the pathway to commercial fusion power.
\n","eyebrow":null}}]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":[{"type":"Image","text":"The world needs a new energy source – one that is clean, abundant, and always on.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"casey-horner-265UjRsLgd8-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/03/18181849/casey-horner-265UjRsLgd8-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/03/18182129/casey-horner-265UjRsLgd8-unsplash-1-scaled.jpg"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/03/18182129/casey-horner-265UjRsLgd8-unsplash-1-scaled.jpg"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/03/18182129/casey-horner-265UjRsLgd8-unsplash-1-scaled.jpg"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/03/18182129/casey-horner-265UjRsLgd8-unsplash-1-scaled.jpg"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"For decades, fusion has held that potential. But delivering on its promise has required solving one of the hardest engineering problems in history.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"UCSD-JacobsSchool-20240923-Fusion_Beg_lab-07889-2MP","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/03/16181340/UCSD-JacobsSchool-20240923-Fusion_Beg_lab-07889-2MP.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Today, new breakthroughs are pushing us closer to a powerful fusion approach: the stellarator.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Stellarator_Warehouse_0000","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/03/18153635/Stellarator_Warehouse_0000.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Its innovative, twisted design can sustain fusion reactions continuously, enabling the steady-state power generation that a functioning grid demands.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Stellarator_Warehouse_0003 2","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/03/16184847/Stellarator_Warehouse_0003-2.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Type One Energy is building the most advanced stellarator ever attempted, and partnering with major utilities to bring it to the grid.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_8817 (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/03/16185022/IMG_8817-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Helena is backing Type One to help turn fusion from a scientific frontier into a deployable and commercially viable energy source at scale.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"image-from-rawpixel-id-3286547-original","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/03/16185818/image-from-rawpixel-id-3286547-original-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"The Fusion Bet","title":"An Elusive Silver Bullet","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The promise of fusion power is immense: a virtually limitless supply of energy, constant and entirely clean; with negligible waste, no risk of meltdown, and a minor land footprint.
\nAnd yet, if achieved, they’re all true. It’s why scientists have been pursuing a working, commercial-scale fusion device for more than a hundred years, ever since Arthur Eddington correctly theorized in 1920 that the energy of the sun – the energy that animated life on earth – was produced by atomic collisions.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"cloud-sky-sun-sunlight-atmosphere-dark-1196386-pxhere.com","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/03/16192218/cloud-sky-sun-sunlight-atmosphere-dark-1196386-pxhere.com_.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Those collisions unfold as follows: two hydrogen nuclei collide to form deuterium, a heavier hydrogen isotope. That deuterium nucleus collides with another hydrogen nucleus to form helium-3. Two helium-3 nuclei then collide with each other to create helium-4, releasing two hydrogen nuclei in the process. Two conditions make this possible inside the sun: first, the core temperature — a tepid 15,000,000 degrees Celsius — is hot enough to strip electrons from their atoms, turning hydrogen gas into plasma, a state in which bare nuclei can collide directly; second, the sun’s immense gravity keeps that plasma dense enough for collisions to occur with extraordinary frequency.
\nAt the end of this chain, four hydrogen nuclei have become one helium-4 nucleus. But helium-4 is slightly less massive than the four hydrogen nuclei that produced it — a tiny amount of matter has gone missing in this atomic round of bumper cars. That’s where the energy comes from. Per Einstein’s E = mc², even a very small loss in mass (m) becomes an enormous gain in energy (E) when multiplied by the speed of light (c) squared.
\nThat E is the energy of a fusion reaction
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Pict–proton-proton-chain-reaction-diagram-proton-proton-chain-reaction-diagram","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/03/16193501/Pict-proton-proton-chain-reaction-diagram-proton-proton-chain-reaction-diagram.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Replicating that process on Earth, without the sun’s size, gravity, or 4.6 billion years of practice, has been one of the defining scientific challenges of the modern era.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"A History of Innovation","title":"A Trajectory of Fusion Devices","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"A sustained fusion reaction depends on three three things: temperature, density, and time. It needs to be hot enough for the gas to become plasma, and for the ions to move sufficiently fast. The ions need to be close enough together for collisions to happen frequently. And they need to be confined in this very hot, very dense environment for as long as possible.
\nOf course, on Earth, our temperature is a bit chillier than on the sun, and our force of gravity slightly less bone-crushing. While this is great for our continued existence, it makes initiating fusion reactions much trickier.
\nAttempts to create a fusion device have encompassed many approaches, from mirrors to diamonds to magnets, and thousands of experiments. In 2022, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory achieved momentary ignition — the point at which the energy produced by a fusion reaction exceeds the energy required to drive it — by firing laser beams at a gold-coated cylinder containing a tiny capsule of deuterium and tritium (another hydrogen isotope).
\nOf these, the most explored and most funded, by far, has been the tokamak.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Interior view of plasma confined inside a tokamak fusion reactor","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"EAST_Tokamak_plasma_image3","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/03/16194949/EAST_Tokamak_plasma_image3.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"A tokamak device starts with a large, perfectly symmetrical toroidal chamber. This chamber is filled with a gas of deuterium and tritium. An electric current is induced in the gas (called Ohmic heating) to increase the temperature (along with other heating methods like neutral beam injection and high-frequency electromagnetic waves) and turn the gas into plasma, while magnets in the middle, coiled around, and on the outside keep the plasma contained. Crucially, the electric current must be induced in the plasma because it prevents the plasma from drifting horizontally out (which it wants to do, since the magnetic fields are not uniform).
\nTokamaks were first designed in the USSR in 1950. Since then, more than 220 have been developed, including ITER, a 500-acre tokamak project in Southern France backed by 34 countries and more than $20 billion in funding. (You can read more on the history of tokamaks here.)
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Helena-backed company Commonwealth Fusion System's tokamak reactor","size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screenshot 2026-03-16 at 3.54.58 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/03/16195653/Screenshot-2026-03-16-at-3.54.58-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Founded in 2019, Type One Energy has drawn on decades of tokamak research and engineering breakthroughs to pursue a closely related, but fundamentally different, device: the stellarator.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Stellerator Technology","title":"The Next Frontier","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"A stellarator is also roughly toroidal like a tokamak, but less symmetrical — more twisted, intricate, and visibly complex. It is lined and striated with snarls of magnetic coils that can appear haphazard and random. Professor Aaron Bader, a Senior Scientist at Type One Energy, gave a simple visual comparison: if a tokamak is a donut, a stellarator is a cruller.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"The Wendelstein IIa stellarator, built in the 1960's","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screenshot 2026-03-16 at 4.01.19 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/03/16200245/Screenshot-2026-03-16-at-4.01.19-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The reason for all this points to the central difference between a tokamak and a stellarator: While a tokamak relies on a strong current flowing through the plasma (which helps generate part of the confining magnetic field), while a stellarator confines the plasma primarily with magnetic fields produced by external coils and does not require a sustained plasma current for confinement. To achieve this, magnetic coils are twisted and belted around the device to keep the field uniform. Although a stellarator does not have axisymmetry, if the magnetic coils are placed strategically, it does have quasi-symmetry; that is, the magnetic field acting on the plasma is uniform, even if the magnets are not placed uniformly.
\nType One Energy did not invent the stellarator. It was designed in 1951, just a year after the tokamak, by Princeton astrophysicist Lyman Spitzer in a secret Cold War research project called Project Matterhorn. (When it was declassified a decade later, Project Matterhorn became the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. Its address is 100 Stellarator Road.) However, tokamak development quickly outpaced stellarators, driving the majority of attention and funding toward its advancement. In the intervening decades, several key developments occurred that would make a stellarator renaissance possible.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Lyman Spitzer, in front of his Model A Stellerator","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Copy of LymanSpitzer Model A Stellarator","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/03/16200644/Copy-of-LymanSpitzer-Model-A-Stellarator.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In 1983, Allen Boozer developed a mathematical framework for the quasi-symmetry described above. Then, in 1988, Jurgen Nuhrenberg and Regine Zille at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics showed that quasisymmetry could be applied to a stellarator design.
\nOf the roughly dozen stellarator projects built to date, two stand out as especially influential: the Helically Symmetric eXperiment (HSX) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Germany’s Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X). Each has helped validate a different piece of what would need to work for stellarators to be commercially viable.
\nEarly stellarators struggled because small variations in field strength drove strong neoclassical transport—particles would get trapped in “banana” orbits and leak energy. In 1999, HSX, a small research device, became the world’s first stellarator to operate with a quasi-symmetric magnetic field, demonstrating drastically improved results in energy confinement (i.e., reduced neoclassical transport and lower particle/energy losses).
\nMeanwhile, W7-X – far larger than HSX – spent nearly two decades in design and construction before achieving first plasma in 2015.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Interior view of the W7-X","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Interior_of_W7-X_stellarator","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/03/16201207/Interior_of_W7-X_stellarator.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In the years since, it has shown that those sophisticated coil shapes can deliver what they promise at scale: very low neoclassical transport and steadily improving confinement in long, high-quality discharges. It has also set stellarator performance records on key metrics, including the triple product—the product of plasma temperature, density, and energy-confinement time, and a standard yardstick for gauging how close a device is to reactor-relevant conditions.
\nBut even with HSX and W7-X proving that modern stellarators could solve long-standing physics and engineering problems, the path to a power plant still looked remote—largely because stellarators demand extremely strong, precisely shaped magnetic fields, and traditional superconducting magnets made that strength and complexity expensive at reactor scale.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"The Company","title":"Type One Energy","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"That constraint loosened in 2018, when researchers at MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center helped push high-temperature superconductors into a form factor that fusion engineers could actually build with: long, flexible tape. For fusion devices, that mattered less as a materials novelty than as an enabling technology. HTS tape can carry far more current in high fields than conventional superconductors, allowing smaller magnets to generate much stronger fields.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"High-temperature superconducting tape capable of being wound into a high-field magnet coil","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"80d285e4a15b6f1d9c515160a495e354eabd1ed2","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/03/18180853/80d285e4a15b6f1d9c515160a495e354eabd1ed2-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Commonwealth Fusion Systems built its tokamak design around that HTS tape and the magnet architecture it enables—reaching 20-tesla-class field strength and laying out a machine that targets ITER-like performance at a fraction of ITER’s size. Type One Energy is leveraging that same HTS tape–based magnet stack—essentially borrowing the high-field “hardware” breakthrough and applying it to a stellarator, where field strength and coil complexity are even more central.
\nWith HSX and W7-X supplying the confidence that stellarator geometry could deliver strong confinement, and with HTS magnets making the required fields more practical and compact, a small group of engineers and physicists from those programs concluded the long-standing blocker had finally shifted. In 2019, they founded Type One Energy.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Type One has assembled a world-class team to capitalize on advancements in the field","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Magnet Zero MIT4","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/03/16203206/Magnet-Zero-MIT4.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The team is a combination of engineers, scientists, and energy industry leaders, all with extensive experience in fusion–and stellarators, in particular. The CEO is Chris Mowry, former CEO of General Fusion. The Chief of Stellarator Optimization is Chris Hegna, Director of UW-Madison’s Center for Plasma Theory and Computation. John Canik, first author on the 2007 HSX confinement paper, is the Chief Science Officer. David Anderson, who has led the HSX experiment since 1999, is the Chief of Stellarator Engineering. And Thomas Sunn Pedersen, one of five Division Directors at W7-X, is the Chief Technology Officer.
\nType One Energy’s goal is stellarator-produced energy that is commercially accessible. Their commercialization program, Project Infinity, is designed to move beyond scientific proof points and into the many facets of implementation: partners, permitting pathways, supply chains, and manufacturable designs.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"From Concept to Grid","title":"The Project Infinity Roadmap","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In February 2025, Type One Energy took a major step on that path by signing a cooperative agreement with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to jointly develop plans for Infinity Two, a nominal 350 MWe pilot plant intended to deliver baseload electricity in the Tennessee Valley region – an unprecedented step for a utility fusion partnership. In September 2025, TVA followed with a Letter of Intent to construct one or more Infinity Two plants at its Bull Run site, and Type One brought in AECOM to lead preliminary design engineering, signaling a shift from “concept and physics” to the front-end work required for a real power project.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"0NEkS","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/03/18152846/0NEkS-scaled.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Project Infinity is meant to do more than prove the stellarator works on paper. It’s a commercialization roadmap: stress-testing the design against the practical realities of siting, licensing, procurement, and modular construction, while building the supply-chain and manufacturing muscle a first-of-a-kind plant will demand.
\nFrom there, Type One Energy sees a pathway to providing power at a cost under $50/MWh, placing it competitive with the most efficient renewables and significantly cheaper than fossil fuel alternatives, as well as heating at a cost under $30/MWh. The total addressable market is projected to exceed $1T annually by 2050.
\nAnd it is well on its way. It has already developed Magnet Zero, its HTS magnet prototype, which is currently being tested at MIT PSFC. In 2023, it received $5M from the Department of Energy, the largest amount given to a stellarator company, and it recently closed an oversubscribed $80M+ convertible note funding round, with a $200M+ Series B launching soon.
\nHelena has demonstrated a believe in the thesis of fusion energy as a key mode of positive civilizational progress, and continues to support the technology’s development. Toward that end, not only has it invested in Type One Energy, is working to accelerate commercialization by connecting Type One Energy with potential utility customers, strategic partners, and fusion supply chain ecosystems.
\n"}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":null}}},{"id":"cG9zdDo0Mjc5","databaseId":4279,"title":"Star Catcher","slug":"star-catcher","link":"https://www.helena.org/projects/star-catcher/","date":"2026-05-22T14:29:35","excerpt":"Building the first power grid in space.
\n","isRestricted":false,"featuredImage":{"node":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/23091029/Star-Catcher-Orbital-Energy-Grid-1.png","title":"Star Catcher Orbital Energy Grid"}},"acfProjectDetails":{"seo":{"title":"Star Catcher","metaDescription":"Star Catcher | Helena Projects | Helena","metaImage":null},"smallerProject":true,"projectIntro":{"headline":"STAR CATCHER","region":"Low Earth Orbit","tag":"SPACE INFRASTRUCTURE","profit":"profit","introBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"The defining infrastructure project of our time may not be built on Earth.
\n\n
As humanity moves more technology into orbit, the space economy is on the precipice of a massive industrial revolution. Today, orbital networks already form the invisible backbone of modern life.
\n\n
Soon, they will host data centers and AI compute, manufacture new materials and medicines in microgravity, power space stations, and carry human activity to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
\n\n
To power this leap, Helena is investing in Star Catcher to help build the first electrical grid in space.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/1194532109?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Its Power Nodes collect solar energy in orbit, refine it into wavelengths optimized for existing satellite solar arrays, and wirelessly beam it to client satellites with precision adaptive mirrors.
\n\n
The result is a new model for space power: shared, wireless, scalable, and available on demand. By enabling up to ten times more power generation without retrofits, Star Catcher is poised to unlock the energy layer needed for a new era of ambition in orbit.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/1194533175?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}}]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":[{"type":"Image","text":"Humanity is moving more and more of its critical infrastructure into orbit.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"wing-sky-technology-guitar-atmosphere-vehicle-1135304-pxhere.com","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21214416/wing-sky-technology-guitar-atmosphere-vehicle-1135304-pxhere.com_.jpg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21214416/wing-sky-technology-guitar-atmosphere-vehicle-1135304-pxhere.com_.jpg"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21214416/wing-sky-technology-guitar-atmosphere-vehicle-1135304-pxhere.com_.jpg"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21214416/wing-sky-technology-guitar-atmosphere-vehicle-1135304-pxhere.com_.jpg"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21214416/wing-sky-technology-guitar-atmosphere-vehicle-1135304-pxhere.com_.jpg"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Satellites already shape how we navigate, communicate, monitor the planet, and understand the world around us.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"pexels-spacex-586063","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21173809/pexels-spacex-586063-scaled-e1779527928582.jpg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21173809/pexels-spacex-586063-scaled-e1779527928582.jpg"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21173809/pexels-spacex-586063-scaled-e1779527928582.jpg"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21173809/pexels-spacex-586063-scaled-e1779527928582.jpg"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21173809/pexels-spacex-586063-scaled-e1779527928582.jpg"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Soon, they will do far more, dramatically expanding opportunities for discovery and industry. ","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Global communication network concept.","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21184007/iStock-1092964846-scaled-e1779528335470.jpg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/23092548/iStock-1092964846-1-scaled-e1779528395530.jpg"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/23092548/iStock-1092964846-1-scaled-e1779528395530.jpg"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/23092548/iStock-1092964846-1-scaled-e1779528395530.jpg"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/23092548/iStock-1092964846-1-scaled-e1779528395530.jpg"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"But the next era of the space economy depends on solving a basic constraint. Power. ","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"getty-images-3QPzoA4UmH0-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21180805/getty-images-3QPzoA4UmH0-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21180805/getty-images-3QPzoA4UmH0-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21180805/getty-images-3QPzoA4UmH0-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21180805/getty-images-3QPzoA4UmH0-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21180805/getty-images-3QPzoA4UmH0-unsplash-scaled.jpg"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Helena is investing in Star Catcher, a company building the first electrical grid in space.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Star Catcher Orbital Energy Grid","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21175237/Star-Catcher-Orbital-Energy-Grid-e1779527321634.png"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/23091029/Star-Catcher-Orbital-Energy-Grid-1.png"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21175237/Star-Catcher-Orbital-Energy-Grid-e1779527321634.png"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21175237/Star-Catcher-Orbital-Energy-Grid-e1779527321634.png"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21175237/Star-Catcher-Orbital-Energy-Grid-e1779527321634.png"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Its proprietary Power Node system harnesses abundant orbital sunlight to beam concentrated power directly to satellites.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Star Catcher Power Node","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21175408/Star-Catcher-Power-Node.png"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21175408/Star-Catcher-Power-Node.png"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21175408/Star-Catcher-Power-Node.png"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21175408/Star-Catcher-Power-Node.png"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21175408/Star-Catcher-Power-Node.png"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"By turning space-based energy into a shared utility, Star Catcher is forging a new infrastructure in space – and turning the lights on for the next frontier of orbital innovation.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Light Beam, Blue Particle Background","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21184434/iStock-926211910.jpg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21184434/iStock-926211910.jpg"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21184434/iStock-926211910.jpg"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21184434/iStock-926211910.jpg"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21184434/iStock-926211910.jpg"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"The Exponential Orbit","title":"Breaking the Power Bottleneck","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Every twenty-eight hours, a rocket is launched into space. Each of these is a delivery system for objects – mostly satellites – generally 20-60 at a time. Four thousand five hundred ten objects were sent into space last year, a more than 50% increase from the year before. In the last five years, more satellites were launched into space than in the previous sixty years combined. The orbit is getting so thick with satellites (and constellations of satellites) that they are contaminating some Hubble images (and could prove ruinous to wider-field telescopic photography).
\nThere’s a reason for this. Satellites already touch every part of our lives – GPS, weather forecasting, financial transactions, agricultural planning, internet routing – so much so that countries like France, Belgium, and Spain have formally listed the space sector as critical national infrastructure. And their footprint is getting bigger as orbital activity enters new domains, from the deployment of space-based data centers and orbital AI to the expansion of direct-to-cell connectivity to manufacturing pharmaceuticals in microgravity.
\nAll of this is part of a burgeoning space economy that spans three interconnected layers:
\nEverything on Earth that enables humanity to access space (rockets, launch pads, ground control systems)
\nEverything in space that provides service to Earth (GPS, broadband internet)
\nEverything in space that supports our presence there (space manufacturing, in-orbit refueling).
\n\n
The global space economy was valued at $613 billion in 2024, and is on track to exceed $1.8 trillion by 2035, figures that outstrip the projected growth of semiconductors.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Gallery","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":"A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lauanch.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"49956691783_6c9b538578_k","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21195950/49956691783_6c9b538578_k.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Low Earth Orbit satellites support a range of services, from GPS to broadband internet to financial transactions.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"iss056e025331~large","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/22003744/iss056e025331large.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"In-orbit servicing expands what humanity can build and sustain in space.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screenshot 2026-05-21 at 4.08.58 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21200930/Screenshot-2026-05-21-at-4.08.58-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"But this economy cannot scale without a corresponding expansion of power. To meet demand, it is estimated that we will need to increase our space power by a factor of 20 within the next five years. (For context, it took 200 years to achieve this terrestrially via the electrical grid infrastructure that powers our cities, industries, and societies.) This problem cannot be solved through satellite upgrades alone. Spacecraft are constrained by the hardware they carry at launch, from solar panels to batteries, and every major systems change requires a redesign. The next era of orbital activity will require a different approach: shared power infrastructure built for space itself.
\nStar Catcher is leading this charge. Its technology wirelessly transmits concentrated solar energy directly to client satellites’ existing solar arrays, enabling up to 10x more power generation than onboard systems alone – no retrofit required.
\nStar Catcher builds “Power Nodes” on satellites that collect sunlight and concentrate it into a precise beam of light. The nodes then refine that solar power into wavelengths tuned for maximum transmission and conversion efficiency on existing satellite solar panels, and its adaptive mirrors beam the light to 40 satellites at once.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A rendering of Star Catcher’s Power Node — the building blocks of the first orbital energy grid that will power the next Industrial Revolution in space. (Credit: Star Catcher Industries)","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Star Catcher Power Node Silhouette","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21201854/Star-Catcher-Power-Node-Silhouette.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}}]},{"eyebrow":"The Gridless Frontier","title":"A History of the Space Power Constraint","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The first satellites were, predictably, battery-powered. When Sputnik 1 was launched in October of 1957, it transmitted its famous “beep…beep” for a total of 22 days before going silent. This era was short-lived. By the time Vanguard 1, the United States’ first satellite, was launched the following March, batteries had made way for solar panels. Vanguard 1’s little one-watt panel transmitted for six years.
\nSolar was clearly the way forward, and onboard power accelerated rapidly: the Nimbus, launched in 1964, had a 470-watt photovoltaic array; in 1966, the first Orbiting Astronomical Observatory took off with 1-kilowatts. Thirty years later, the International Space Station has more than a quarter million solar cells covering over 2500 square meters. This, while immensely impressive, illuminates one of the primary limitations of onboard power generation: a spacecraft’s energy capacity is constrained by whatever hardware it was equipped with at launch.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"The ISS transformed sunlight into an orbital power source at extraordinary scale, while revealing the built-in limits of launch-day energy capacity.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"International Space Station orbiting above Earth. Outer space laboratory. Elements of this image furnished by nasa. Not AI content","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21202859/iStock-2234857452.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"A second limitation is inherent to low earth orbit (LEO): eclipses. Satellites in LEO spend roughly half their time in the dark. This means every satellite requires a battery pack robust enough to get them through those dark periods.
\nOnboard power is sufficient for legacy spacecraft performing low-impact tasks like weather monitoring. But as orbital applications evolve, their energy demands are skyrocketing. A typical LEO satellite in the 2010s required just 1 to 1.5 kW of power; today, a single direct-to-cell platform demands more than 10 kW. This energy spike is fueled by a massive surge in consumer volume as the number of direct to cell users is projected to balloon exponentially over the next decade.
\nAnd the uses only get more energy-intensive. If we want data centers and AI compute? A single Nvidia H100 GPU requires more than a kW by itself. SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) enables high resolution imaging of the Earth’s surface no matter the weather or time of day, allowing for continuous environmental monitoring.
\nAll this amounts to the 20x power demand increase we are facing in the next five years – a demand the power constraints of our satellites cannot solve.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) capture of Amazonian wetlands. Unlike traditional photography, SAR shoots microwave pulses to render topography through total darkness and cloud cover, a process requiring massive bursts of orbital power.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"PIA26112~orig","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/22004759/PIA26112orig.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}}]},{"eyebrow":"Inception","title":"Glaser and Solar Power Transmission","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In 1968, Peter Glaser, an engineer at Arthur D. Little, published a paper in Science proposing that solar energy could be harvested by satellites and beamed down to power stations on Earth’s surface. He envisioned two satellites in geosynchronous orbit high enough to rarely be in shadow. They would convert the solar energy into microwaves, which could be set via antennas on the ground, where it would be converted into grid-safe electricity.
\nHe called it the Solar Power Satellite, and he received the U.S. patent for it in 1973. The U.S. Department of Energy, along with NASA, Grumman, Boeing, and Arthur D. Little studied the viability of it through the 70s, but the project was ultimately shelved. Beaming gigawatts of microwave energy through the atmosphere toward populated areas raised safety and regulatory concerns. Beyond that, the necessary receiving infrastructure was too immense, and without cheap launch vehicles, reaching geosynchronous orbit was prohibitively expensive.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"For decades, the dream of an orbital energy grid remained exactly that: a brilliant, unbuildable idea."},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"For decades, the dream of an orbital energy grid remained exactly that: a brilliant, unbuildable idea. That changed when a collapse in launch costs and a surge in orbital demand transformed a fifty-year-old vision into a viable commercial opportunity.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Founding","title":"The Team","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Star Catcher was founded in 2024 by Andrew Rush, Michael Snyder, and Bryan Lyandvert. Rush and Snyder had worked together in the space industry for nearly a decade. First at Made In Space, where Rush was CEO and Snyder was co-founder and chief engineer, and then at Redwire, where Rush was President & COO and Snyder was CTO. Under Rush, Made In Space was the first company to manufacture an object in space (aboard the ISS, Made In Space’s 3D printer created a faceplate for the printer itself, demonstrating that the machine could manufacture its own replacement components), and Redwire successfully replaced solar arrays on the ISS.
\nAfter selling Redwire in 2022, Rush and Snyder came back together to found Star Catcher. “For the first time, technologically and from a business perspective, a space-to-space power grid makes sense,” Rush said. “We have a good handle on the technology … and there is a geographic concentration of customers in low-Earth orbit that all have a common need. They want more power.”
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"The Star Catcher Network","title":"How it Works","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Instead of forcing satellites to generate their own power from scattered, ambient sunlight, Star Catcher acts as a localized orbital utility. The network collects, refines, and transmits energy directly to existing satellites via targeted optical beams—delivering a massive power boost with absolutely zero retrofits required.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A rendering of Star Catcher’s Power Node, which leverages lightweight, low-cost Fresnel lenses to collect and concentrate sunlight in Earth orbit. A refined beam is then transmitted to client satellites when and where they need it. (Credit: Star Catcher Industries)","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Star Catcher Power Node Fresnel Lens","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/21210830/Star-Catcher-Power-Node-Fresnel-Lens.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The underlying architecture operates across four distinct operational layers:
\nAdvanced Harvesting (The Power Nodes) The heart of the system is a fleet of Power Nodes orbiting at roughly 1,500 km. Rather than carrying heavy, fragile glass mirrors, each node deploys a Fresnel lens array, spanning 15 to 20 meters on each side, constructed from featherweight optical film. This array concentrates incoming sunlight at intensities far exceeding natural solar flux, converting it into usable electric power.
\nTailored Transmission (The Multi-Wavelength Laser) That concentrated electricity is fed into specialized laser cavities. To ensure seamless compatibility with existing satellites, Star Catcher doesn’t just shoot a generic beam. The laser cavities transmit at three distinct wavelengths simultaneously. This activates all three layers of the standard triple-junction solar cells used by most satellites in orbit today. Using deformable-mirror transmission optics and a proprietary tracking system, the Power Node locks onto client spacecraft with high precision, keeping the beam on target and minimizing wasted energy.
\nOutsmarting the Shadow (The Relay Layer) To solve the low Earth orbit eclipse problem, Star Catcher utilizes a high-altitude sentinel layer. Relay satellites sit stationed at 10,000 km, an altitude high enough that they are never eclipsed by Earth’s shadow. When a lower Power Node plunges into darkness, these high-altitude relays feed energy back to it, keeping the entire grid continuously active.
\nMass Deployment (The Power Band)The network is built for rapid, cost-effective scale. Star Catcher packages eight Power Nodes and two relay satellites into a single deployment payload called a Power Band. A single Falcon 9 rocket can launch an entire Power Band into orbit at once, with each band delivering more than one megawatt of power capacity.
\nBy shifting power from a launch-day bottleneck to an on-demand utility, Star Catcher fundamentally rewrites the economics of space operations. A single Power Node can dynamically scale energy delivery from 100 W to over 10 kW for up to 40 client satellites simultaneously, maximizing operational uptime across entire constellations. This continuous energy stream does more than just supercharge healthy payloads; it breathes new life into legacy infrastructure by supplementing solar arrays that historically degrade long before a satellite’s core electronics wear out. Most profoundly, this network grants future spacecraft radical design freedom. Decoupled from the burden of carrying cumbersome battery packs or fragile, oversized solar wings, aerospace engineers can finally build sleeker, lighter, and infinitely more capable hardware—knowing the energy layer required to power them is already waiting in orbit.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Star Catcher’s advanced suite of multi-wavelength lasers delivered a record-breaking 1.1 kW of electrical power to commercial off-the-shelf solar panels in October 2025 at Space Florida’s Launch and Landing Facility — a key milestone toward the first power grid in space. (Credit: Star Catcher Industries)","size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/1194530260?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Through a series of demonstrations in 2025, Star Catcher validated each piece of its transmission sequence. In March, it successfully conducted its first end-to-end ground demonstration, beaming 100 watts of solar energy over 100m to commercial satellite solar panels. In October, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, it upped that to 1.1 kW, setting the record (which was previously 800 W, held by DARPA, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). Finally, near the end of the year, Star Catcher completed Sextant Alpha, which validated the tracking and pointing capabilities of the system.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Capitalized for Flight","title":"The Commercial Roadmap","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Helena is supporting the transition from successful technical validation to a fully scaled orbital grid with an investment in Star Catcher’s oversubscribed $65 million Series A. The round was co-led by B Capital and Shield Capital, with participation from Cerberus Ventures, where retired General Jay Raymond, the first Chief of Space Operations of the United States Space Force, joined the company’s board.
\nThe deployment roadmap is aggressive but deliberate. Later this year, Star Catcher will launch Protostar, its first in-space power beaming demonstration. DemoSat-2, planned for 2027 to 2028, will be the first operational pilot — transmitting one to two kilowatts of power to paying customers across up to 500 kilometers of orbital distance. The first full commercial Power Node follows in 2029, capable of serving 40 client satellites simultaneously. At full constellation scale, approximately 200 Power Nodes delivering around 20 megawatts of capacity will provide global coverage of low Earth orbit.
\n"}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":null}}},{"id":"cG9zdDoyODE1","databaseId":2815,"title":"Project Cold Chain","slug":"project-cold-chain","link":"https://www.helena.org/projects/project-cold-chain/","date":"2021-02-11T19:07:01","excerpt":"Stabilizing essential medical treatments for global transport.
\n","isRestricted":false,"featuredImage":{"node":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/11183055/Nanoly-1-scaled.jpg","title":"Nanoly (1)"}},"acfProjectDetails":{"seo":{"title":"Helena: Project Cold Chain | Helena Projects","metaDescription":null,"metaImage":null},"smallerProject":true,"projectIntro":{"headline":"Project Cold Chain","region":"GLOBAL","tag":"Bioscience","profit":"non-profit","introBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/511237865/70dc5614d6","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Helena is supporting a new technology that addresses the cold-chain problem. Dynashield is a polymer system that stabilizes temperature-sensitive proteins for long term long-term storage, potentially eliminating the need for the use of freezing or glycol.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A Visual Rendering of DynaShield","size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Nanoly-Labelled (2)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/17225912/Nanoly-Labelled-2-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"The technology was developed by Nanoly, a leading biotechnology company co-founded by Helena Member Nanxi Liu. Nanoly and Helena are partnering to release Dynashield at no cost for use in vaccines, biologics, therapeutics, or other critical treatments needed to respond to global pandemics like COVID-19.
\n","eyebrow":null}}]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":[{"type":"Image","text":"Responding to global pandemics requires transporting life-saving treatments to billions of people across every corner of the world.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"robson-hatsukami-morgan-NKr0qBAkU4s-unsplash (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/11183700/robson-hatsukami-morgan-NKr0qBAkU4s-unsplash-1-scaled-e1613073059380.jpg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/11195128/robson-hatsukami-morgan-NKr0qBAkU4s-unsplash-1-1-scaled.jpg"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/11195128/robson-hatsukami-morgan-NKr0qBAkU4s-unsplash-1-1-scaled.jpg"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/11195128/robson-hatsukami-morgan-NKr0qBAkU4s-unsplash-1-1-scaled.jpg"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/11195128/robson-hatsukami-morgan-NKr0qBAkU4s-unsplash-1-1-scaled.jpg"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Many of these treatments are temperature sensitive. They break if they are not constantly refrigerated from the point of creation to the end patient, a process called the “cold-chain.”","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"mufid-majnun-ruQ-_rc5tOo-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/11190626/mufid-majnun-ruQ-_rc5tOo-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Sustaining a cold-chain is expensive and logistically challenging. Communities without the financial ability or workforce to sustain one have the most to lose. ","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"felix-berger-fZFUlC0l00E-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/11190631/felix-berger-fZFUlC0l00E-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Achieving global health equity requires a better solution. We are supporting a promising new alternative.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Nanoly (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/11183055/Nanoly-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"The Problem","title":"The Cold Chain","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Transporting life-saving medical treatments around the world is no easy feat. Beyond the immense logistical complexity of coordinating the transportation of billions of individual medical goods, there is another challenge — many of these goods are temperature-sensitive.
\nThat means they can break or become damaged when they come into contact with temperatures outside of a specific range. To ensure that this doesn’t happen, the good must somehow be kept in a specific, often refrigerated environment through the entire “chain” of events that stretches from its creation in a laboratory to its final use on the other side of the world. The global system of sustaining this temperature control is called the “cold-chain.”
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"guillaume-bolduc-uBe2mknURG4-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/23185206/guillaume-bolduc-uBe2mknURG4-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The cold-chain is a massive industry. In 2020, it had an estimated market size of $233.8B and by 2025 it is projected to grow to $340.3B. It is also a significant emitter of carbon-dioxide. Refrigeration has been identified as one of the most important sectors to decarbonize in order to address climate change, a goal that will be challenging to fulfill with an ever-increasing reliance on the cold-chain.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Global Pandemics and The Cold Chain","title":"A Compounding Challenge","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The onset of a global pandemic like COVID-19 adds considerably more pressure to the cold-chain for the transportation of critical medical treatments.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"A better solution is overdue."},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Even prior to the COVID pandemic, the World Health Organization estimated that 50% of vaccines may be wasted each year because of temperature control, logistics, and shipment-related issues. Breaks in the cold chain are cited as a major constraining factor in achieving universal immunization coverage and, as a result, leaving millions of people under-vaccinated across the globe and disease elimination and eradication harder to achieve.
\nCOVID has only accelerated the immediacy and negative repercussions of these problems. Responding to COVID and future global pandemics will amount to some of the largest logistical efforts in human history. They require producing, shipping and administering treatments from vaccines, biologics and therapeutics to billions of people, large portions of which are in remote, hot-climate geographies.
\nThen there is cost. Sustaining a cold chain requires resources that are not always available to medical facilities, especially in underserved communities and the developing world. While wealthy nations, well-financed private corporations and NGOs are able to afford the costs, many communities won’t. While this was already a significant problem prior to COVID, the exponentially increased need for temperature-sensitive medical treatments as a result of global pandemics only exacerbates the problem.
\nA better solution is overdue. A reliable, cheaper, and less carbon intensive solution to the cold chain problem is not just superior for the bottom line, but will further the goal of universal health equity and reduced emissions.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Nanoly and Dynashield","title":"The Technology","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Dynashield, a new technology developed by bioscience firm Nanoly, is a highly promising alternative.
\nDynashield is a polymer system that encapsulates molecules in a hydrogel matrix which shields from forces causing degradation. Technologies of this kind are often known as “excipients” or “additives.”
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Nanoly Co-Founder and Helena Member Nanxi Liu","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"nanxi-liu-1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/29030449/nanxi-liu-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"At the point of use, molecules are released from NanoShield by photo-triggered degradation of the hydrogel by exposure to a specific wavelength of benign, low-intensity light for a short period of time. After these molecules are released, all that remains is soluble polyethylene glycol (known as PEG) and the cargo molecule now ready for use.
\nEach component of DynaShield has been FDA approved. The base polymer, polyethylene glycol, is FDA approved for both injection and oral consumption and is on the FDA’s inactive ingredient list, classified as a generally recognized as safe (GRAS) compound. However, companies that use DynaShield in their products must still test the product combined with DynaShield and take it through the FDA approval path.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"The Project","title":"Our Goal and Next Steps","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Project Cold Chain is a non-profit Helena project. Its sole purpose is to further the development and implementation of DynaShield.
\nIn partnership with Nanoly, Helena is working to offer the use of DynaShield at no cost, for any developer of medical treatments for COVID-related uses, including but not limited to vaccines, biologics and therapeutics.
\nDyanshield’s next step is continued advanced testing and early deployment. Developers looking to utilize the technology will incorporate it into their treatments as those treatments seek FDA approval. Through this project, we hope to further test and validate DynaShield as a cold-chain solution and more efficiently roll it out into the field, both for the global response to COVID and for future pandemics.
\n"}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":null}}},{"id":"cG9zdDoyNTY3","databaseId":2567,"title":"Proteus","slug":"proteus","link":"https://www.helena.org/projects/proteus/","date":"2020-12-17T02:47:05","excerpt":"An international space station on the ocean floor.
\n","isRestricted":false,"featuredImage":{"node":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/12/25182249/Proteus_Backside-angle-view_logo.png","title":"Proteus_Backside angle view_logo"}},"acfProjectDetails":{"seo":{"title":null,"metaDescription":null,"metaImage":null},"smallerProject":true,"projectIntro":{"headline":"Proteus","region":"Underwater","tag":"Marine Science","profit":"non-profit","introBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Proteus is an international space station, underwater.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Proteus_NightFloor_logo","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/12/25204026/Proteus_NightFloor_logo.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Led by Helena Member Fabien Cousteau and his Ocean Learning Center, Proteus is designed as a permanent, multi-person habitat on the ocean floor.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Proteus_Full View_logo","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/12/25204201/Proteus_Full-View_logo.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"The 4,000 square foot structure, outfitted with state-of-the-art dry and wet laboratories, will allow researchers to live and work underwater for extended periods of time.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Proteus IG Story3","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/12/25204323/Proteus-IG-Story3-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Proteus’s first of its kind concept was designed by Member Yves Behar, who began working with Cousteau through Helena. The project is poised to change the way we go about deep-sea exploration and research.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen Shot 2021-02-25 at 1.46.59 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/12/25205806/Screen-Shot-2021-02-25-at-1.46.59-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}}]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":[{"type":"Image","text":"We know less about our oceans","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"vino-li-gGX1fJkmw3k-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/12/25183018/vino-li-gGX1fJkmw3k-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/12/25183011/marat-gilyadzinov-MYadhrkenNg-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/12/25183011/marat-gilyadzinov-MYadhrkenNg-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/12/25183011/marat-gilyadzinov-MYadhrkenNg-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/12/25183011/marat-gilyadzinov-MYadhrkenNg-unsplash-scaled.jpg"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"than we know about parts of our solar system.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"nasa-rTZW4f02zY8-unsplash (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/12/25185218/nasa-rTZW4f02zY8-unsplash-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Video","text":"Yet our marine worlds hold many of the keys to the future of humanity.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/12/25192700/ProteusHeroVideo.mp4"},"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"To address some of society’s most critical challenges, we must go beyond an international space station in the cosmos.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"iss064e036104","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/12/26014210/iss064e036104-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"We need one on the ocean floor.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Proteus_Full View_ed2_final (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/12/25192045/Proteus_Full-View_ed2_final-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"A pioneering Helena Member is turning that vision into reality.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"fabien-cousteau-1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/30045537/fabien-cousteau-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"And we’re supporting it.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"4 night","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/12/25192307/4-night-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"The Opportunity","title":"The Ocean's Potential","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"We know far too little about our oceans.
\nThey are Earth’s “lifeblood”. Yet while we have mapped all of the surface of Mars, all of the surface of the Moon and 98% of the surface of Venus, we can’t say the same about our marine world.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Effectively all of the surface of Mars has been mapped. Taking a break from mapping and other activities, NASA's Curiosity Mars rover snapped this famous \"selfie\" on the red planet in November 2020.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"25382_PIA24173-1600","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/12/25234349/25382_PIA24173-1600.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Around 80 percent of the ocean is still uncharted. Only four manned expeditions — the first of which was co-led by explorer and Helena Member Don Walsh — have successfully visited the Mariana Trench, the ocean’s lowest point. More than 4,000 people have reached the earth’s highest point, Mount Everest, and 553 people from dozens of nations have made it into space.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Captain Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard aboard the bathyscaphe Trieste, which made it to a depth 35,798 feet below the surface in 1960.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"CAPTAIN WALSH AND JACQUES PICCARD","title":"captain-don-walsh-2","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/29221052/captain-don-walsh-2.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"But exploration is far from the most important reason to explore our oceans. The marine world is a laboratory for the future.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Underwater agriculture has a multitude of benefits including carbon sequestration.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"seaweed-4","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/12/25235210/seaweed-4.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Critical technological development, essential for addressing global climate change and improving our everyday way of life, can be yielded from a deeper study of the oceans. Underwater agriculture to subsea energy capture and storage are only two such examples of already burgeoning (and market-friendly) sustainable solutions.
\nOur lack of knowledge of what lies in our oceans also comes at a grave expense to ecological conservation.
\nThe international community has a long history of safeguarding land, but a middling track record when it comes to the ocean. Only 7.5 percent is currently under some official conservation status, with more conservative estimates at less than 5%. Meanwhile, efforts that could harmfully exploit or privatize the ocean, but require research to understand, continue to progress.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Ocean ecosystems including coral reefs are continually under threat from the global under-prioritization of ocean conservation.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"francesco-ungaro-8AaKYZZxoN4-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/12/26000324/francesco-ungaro-8AaKYZZxoN4-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"There are very real reasons why humanity has lagged behind on ocean exploration. Basic physics is one of the biggest. Without a depressurized environment, standing on the bottom of the Mariana Trench is the equivalent being crushed by 50 jumbo jets. Visibility decreases to near zero, and buoyancy considerations make the engineering of subsurface transportation crafts more challenging.
\nYet the biggest barrier that remains is human interest and funding. Drawing upon a rich history, Fabien Cousteau has been a leading force in breaking through.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Legacy","title":"Cousteau, Mission 31 and Proteus","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/516937661","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Fabien Cousteau is an aquanaut by blood. His childhood took place aboard the legendary vessels of his grandfather, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, and he began scuba diving on his fourth birthday.
\nSince, Fabien has contributed greatly to environmentalism, oceanography, and exploration in his own right.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"The Cousteaus","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"McUgHgM0","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/12/26005641/McUgHgM0.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"A world-renowned documentary filmmaker whose projects have reached billions, Cousteau also served as Explorer-at-Large for National Geographic.
\nIn 2016, he founded the Fabien Cousteau Ocean Learning Center, which has since become a powerhouse educational foundation and incubator for global cleanup efforts and conservation expeditions.
\nThe concept of living and working underwater, however, remained at the forefront of Cousteau’s agenda. In June 2014, he made that vision a reality.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Cousteau aboard the Aquarius","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"[www.fabiencousteauolc.org][54]FCStockMedia6AquariusC2A9KipEvansMission31","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/12/26010025/www.fabiencousteauolc.org54FCStockMedia6AquariusC2A9KipEvansMission31.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Cousteau and his team of aquanauts embarked on Mission 31, the longest science expedition to take place at Aquarius, the world’s only underwater marine laboratory, located nine miles off the coast of the Florida Keys, and 63 feet beneath the sea.
\nThe project was a goldmine for scientific research and development. What would have taken three years of laboratory and field time (and exponentially more capital) was performed within 31 days. 12 peer reviewed studies co-authored with institutions including Northeastern and MIT and 9,800 published articles resulted from the expedition.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Mission 31 Aquanaut Brian Helmuth setting up tripod at on a giant barrel sponge (Image: Jessica Torossian)","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Brian Helmuth setting up tripod at a giant barrel sponge_by Jessica Torossian","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/12/26010152/Brian-Helmuth-setting-up-tripod-at-a-giant-barrel-sponge_by-Jessica-Torossian.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Mission 31 was also an educational triumph. Cousteau and his team live-streamed virtual STEAM-themed (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics sessions) to over 100,000 students via Skype. Media interest in the expedition yielded 34 billion impressions.
\nCousteau’s time on Aquarius, however, was also a proof of concept for what was to come next.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"The Project","title":"Proteus and What It Can Do","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"\"For me, it’s a lot more exciting to visit Proteus than going to Mars\" -- Fabien Cousteau"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Project Proteus is Cousteau’s — and the world’s — next step toward a future where humanity can live and work underwater.
\nIt is conceived as the underwater version of the International Space Station. It will be the world’s most advanced subsurface scientific research station and habitat, capable of allowing up to twelve researchers to live on the ocean floor for extended periods of time.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOgeCfRRXJE&feature=youtu.be","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Nestled 60m deep in the waters of Curacao, Proteus will be roughly ten times the size of Aquarius and nearly four times the size of any underwater habitat — creating a setting that feels more like a space-age office and living quarters than a cramped lab. The structure will be equipped with cutting-edge wet and dry labs, a moon pool large enough for a submersible, a hydroponic garden, a production studio capable of live streaming for educational programming and content, and accommodations for twelve people.
\nHistorically, the biggest obstacle in exploring the oceans is how little time researchers can actually spend in them. Proteus, like Aquarius before it, will allow divers to spend entire days on the ocean floor, because the divers will be saturated (that is, when the bloodstream is equalized with suitable gasses at the pressure of the surrounding water).
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"An original proteus concept design","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Proteus_Model-009","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/12/26011621/Proteus_Model-009-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Mark Patterson, Professor of Marine & Environmental Sciences at Northeastern University, estimated that a seven to ten day research mission in Aquarius provided a total dive time that would have taken six months on a vessel.
\nAdditionally, more projects will become feasible. By enabling more continuous time on the ocean floor, as well as a local habitat, Proteus makes possible new, potentially revolutionary research opportunities that were previously cost-prohibitive.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"a bloomberg media report on proteus","size":"small","type":"Video","video":"https://www.youtube.com/embed/TJ9AVsdOphQ","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"New medicines can be found, experiments and tests can be run, data can be collected. Government agencies like NASA and product manufacturers will be able to access it in order to run tests and training sessions in extreme environments. And, with wet and dry labs located in Proteus itself, there is much less risk of contaminated samples and data loss, since experiments and analysis can be conducted onsite.
\nProteus is forward-looking, both in design and intent. After originally speaking with world-renounced designer Yves Behar through one of Helena’s earliest Member Meetings, Behar and his firm Fuseproject worked with Cousteau to design the initial concepts for a structure that is modular and upgradable, in order to be able to adapt to advancing technologies. This extends to its energy sources, as well.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"By enabling more continuous time on the ocean floor, as well as a local habitat, Proteus makes possible new, potentially revolutionary research opportunities that were previously cost-prohibitive.\r\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The ocean presents vast potential as a renewable energy source — the United States Energy Information Administration estimates that the theoretical annual energy potential from waves off the coasts of the United States could cover 64% of the country’s 2019 energy needs. Cousteau and his team are eyeing multiple concepts in that vein, including ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), a process that yields electricity using the difference in temperature between warm water on the surface and cold water from the deep ocean, as a way of powering the facility.
\nOne of the most rewarding aspects will be the educational opportunities. As Jacques Cousteau often said, “People protect what they love, they love what they understand, and they understand what they are taught.” Like his grandfather before him, Fabien Cousteau relishes the opportunity to connect with people, to share the ocean’s wonders and help them understand more about the world in which they live.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"“People protect what they love, they love what they understand, and they understand what they are taught.”\r\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"With Proteus, media crews and filmmakers will have unprecedented access to an underwater landscape rarely, if ever, seen before. And the live stream capabilities will enable students around the world to engage first-hand with the majesty of the deep.
\nAt the end of September 2021, Fabien Cousteau and Proteus Ocean Group successfully mapped the entire seafloor of a marine-protected area off the coast of Curacao.
\nTogether with R2Sonic, a sonar engineering company, and Map the Gaps, a nonprofit that specializes in ocean mapping, the team charted 1,462 acres of reef and 1,077 acres of inner bays in high resolution 3D. The week-long endeavor generated invaluable information both for the next steps in the development of the Proteus underwater habitat and
\nour overarching understanding of the world’s oceans.
Ocean mapping is notoriously difficult, at least when done to any kind of detail. (Radio waves cannot pass through water, so satellites are all but useless.) Technically, the entire ocean floor has been mapped, but at a resolution of 1 mile — meaning anything under a mile across is not rendered. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, only about five percent of the ocean is mapped to a useful resolution of 100 meters. (For comparison, 98% of Venus has been mapped at the same scale.)
\nThe Proteus team mounted multibeam sonars to their boats in order to get a more detailed look at the Curacao MPA floor. “The best way to describe it is, to think about a flashlight in a dark room,” Cousteau says. “When you turn on your flashlight, it emits a beam of light and it gets wider as your subject gets farther. The closer you are to the subject, the more detailed the image gets. The farther you are to the subject, the bigger the image and the less detail it gets.” They were able to render the entire floor to a resolution between 1 and 100m.
\nFor us to fully understand our world, we must fully understand our oceans. To do that, we need a map of the seafloor. Detailed, three-dimensional mapping like Cousteau accomplished in Curacao allows us to see the underwater topographical features that impact currents and weather, to understand and monitor the health of the oceanic ecosystem, and to observe the effects of climate change. “Just like on land, where we’re doing lidar scans or looking at something as simple as a hiking trail map, it gives us a much better understanding of where we need to go,” Cousteau said.
\nOnce all the data is rendered and analyzed, Cousteau and the Proteus team will be able to begin finalizing the eventual location for the Proteus station. They are targeting 2024 to begin installation.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Updates","title":"Updates","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The potential impact of Proteus is clear even to the highest levels of ocean science. On May 3, 2023, Proteus Ocean Group announced it had signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Under the CRADA, the NOAA would use “the unique capabilities” of Proteus to conduct research on a range of topics, including “climate change and climate impacts; ecosystem health and resilience; marine debris; public engagement in ocean exploration; sustainable ocean food production; natural products and biotechnology.”
\n"}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":[{"popupId":"proteus","title":"Proteus","content":"PROTEUS™ is operationalized and run by Proteus Ocean Group, Ltd. (POG), a private sector social enterprise, a sustainable for-profit business that will scale and have global impact. POG manages the coordination of and partnerships with strategic collaborators such as Northeastern, Rutgers, Gov’t bodies (Curacao), quasi-governmental bodies (CARMABI) and private sector partners. Fabien Cousteau Ocean Learning Center (a 501(c)(3)) (FCOLC) is a major stakeholder in POG and leads the educational programming.
\nDeveloping the shelf-stable, self-application microarray patch as a new infrastructure for therapeutic delivery.
\n","isRestricted":false,"featuredImage":{"node":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/16174408/Screenshot-2026-05-16-at-6.43.58%E2%80%AFPM.png","title":"Screenshot 2026-05-16 at 6.43.58 PM"}},"acfProjectDetails":{"seo":{"title":"Panther Life Sciences","metaDescription":null,"metaImage":null},"smallerProject":true,"projectIntro":{"headline":"PANTHER LIFE SCIENCES","region":"UNITED STATES","tag":"THERAPEUTIC DELIVERY, VACCINE INNOVATION, AND BIOTECHNOLOGY","profit":"profit","introBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Helena is an investor in Panther Life Sciences, a biotechnology company developing the microarray patch as a new infrastructure for vaccine and therapeutic delivery.
\n\n
The patch is small, shelf-stable, and embedded with hundreds of dissolvable microneedles that release their payload directly into the immune-rich layers of the skin.
\n\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screenshot 2026-05-05 at 5.37.06 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/05213736/Screenshot-2026-05-05-at-5.37.06-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"
The underlying insight is centuries old. In the 18th century, women in Constantinople were variolating children against smallpox through small punctures in the skin. Edward Jenner refined the practice seventy-five years later, in a Gloucestershire village, and gave it the name that endures. When the World Health Organization eradicated smallpox in 1980, the only human disease ever erased from the wild, it did so with a bifurcated needle designed to deposit vaccine into the upper layers of the dermis. For as long as vaccination has existed, the skin has been its most productive target.
\n\n
The intramuscular syringe that dominates modern medicine is a twentieth-century convenience. It displaced the older practice for reasons of manufacturing and training. Biology had little to do with it. And it came at a cost whose scale only the last five years have made visible: a global pharmaceutical system that, when a pandemic arrives, cannot deliver its own vaccines to most of the world.
\n\n
As much as a quarter to half of all vaccines fail to reach a patient, depending on the metric. More than fourteen million infants worldwide received no routine vaccination at all last year, more than half of them in fragile and conflict-affected countries. The global pharmaceutical cold chain costs more than thirty billion dollars a year in logistics, wastage, and losses.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"The fragile global pharmaceutical supply chain leaves millions of patients without life-saving care.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"image-from-rawpixel-id-4052305-original","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/05223210/image-from-rawpixel-id-4052305-original-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"A shelf-stable patch that could replace the syringe has been a recurring dream of drug delivery research since the 1970s. A succession of well-funded companies has tried to build it: Theraject, Corium, Zosano, Vaxxas, Vaxess, Micron Biomedical. None has made it commercially real, because every attempt began at the top of the therapeutic pyramid, where regulatory review is longest, capital cycles are tightest, and no revenue arrives for a decade or more.
\n\n
Panther, founded in Pittsburgh in September of 2023, is sequencing the problem differently. Its earliest products are a long-lasting hyaluronic acid patch for skin aging, targeted for market entry by the end of 2026, and a reformulated treatment for actinic keratosis, a precancerous skin condition that affects more than forty million Americans, targeted for around 2028.
\n\n
The deeper pipeline, including infectious disease vaccines and tolerance induction for allergic and autoimmune conditions, sits years behind those launches, riding on the manufacturing line, the regulatory precedent, and the revenue the consumer and dermatology products will have already built. The science is anchored in a founding collaboration between Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, and the manufacturing is housed at Pitt BioForge, the advanced biomanufacturing institute at the heart of Pittsburgh’s current biomedical reindustrialization.
\n\n
A shelf-stable patch that can be mailed and self-applied removes, in a single motion, the four hidden constraints on which modern medicine currently runs: the cold chain, the clinician, the syringe, and the intramuscular dose. If the platform holds, the downstream implications reach pandemic preparedness, vaccine equity in low- and middle-income countries, the next generation of cancer immunotherapy, and the daily management of chronic disease.
\n\n
Helena is supporting Panther because Panther is attempting to solve the part of this problem that has historically kept the field from becoming real. The science has been ready for some time. What the field has lacked is commercial sequencing, manufacturing scale, and regulatory legibility, and every previous attempt has run out of money trying to assemble those things.
\n","eyebrow":null}}]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":[{"type":"Image","text":"A vaccine is not a vial.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"getty-images-XnJj5trmoTE-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/05201920/getty-images-XnJj5trmoTE-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"It is not a molecule.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"getty-images-rcpM3Bqk2As-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/07154731/getty-images-rcpM3Bqk2As-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"It is not a discovery in a lab.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"thisisengineering-8yS04veb1TQ-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/05203623/thisisengineering-8yS04veb1TQ-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"A vaccine becomes real only when it reaches a human body.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"national-cancer-institute-fi3zHLxWrYw-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/07154852/national-cancer-institute-fi3zHLxWrYw-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"For more than a century, that has meant a glass vial, kept cold, drawn into a syringe, pushed by a clinician into muscle.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"julia-koblitz-4AsRcVTJYTw-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/07155924/julia-koblitz-4AsRcVTJYTw-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"The skin, the body's largest organ and its most immunologically active, has been bypassed.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"nsey-benajah-OGACRf1gslU-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/05205751/nsey-benajah-OGACRf1gslU-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"A shelf-stable patch the size of a bandage, mailed to a doorstep and applied like a peel-off tattoo, has been a recurring dream of drug delivery research since the 1970s. Every generation of scientists has tried to build it. None has made it commercially viable.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"MDB-news-250226-Panther-MAP","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/07160311/MDB-news-250226-Panther-MAP.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Panther Life Sciences may be the company that finally does. Helena is investing and partnering with Panther to bring their technology to scale.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"markus-kammermann-tNY53ZWc3Pw-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/05211719/markus-kammermann-tNY53ZWc3Pw-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"The Problem","title":"The Infrastructure of Modern Medicine","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In December of 2020, the first commercial doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine arrived in American cities inside what the company called thermal shippers.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"The arrival of Covid vaccines in the US depended on a complex supply chain and delivery apparatus. ","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"image-from-rawpixel-id-8735068-original","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/05232815/image-from-rawpixel-id-8735068-original-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Each was a white cardboard box the size of carry-on luggage, packed with twenty-three kilograms of dry ice and fitted with GPS sensors that fired an alarm if the internal temperature rose above minus sixty degrees Celsius. A single shipper held roughly five thousand doses. Once thawed and diluted with sterile saline, the vials had to be administered within six hours. Nurses raced clocks, and pharmacy managers chased no-shows by phone. In hospitals across the country, refrigerators designed for a different category of medicine were pressed into use. Hundreds of thousands of doses expired in syringes that had already been drawn.
\nIt was one of the great logistical feats of the twenty-first century; it was also a portrait of how fragile the infrastructure of modern medicine still is.
\nA vaccine is a scientific object, whereas vaccination is a logistical event. Over the past hundred years, the first has been transformed beyond recognition, from inactivated whole-virus preparations through recombinant subunit vaccines to mRNA. The second, however, has barely changed since the postwar polio campaigns. The vials are still glass, the needles are still steel, and the freezers still need power.
\nThis logistical feat traveled unevenly. By early 2022, high-income countries had administered roughly two hundred doses for every hundred people. Low-income countries had administered fewer than twenty. By that point, global mRNA production had begun to catch demand. The limit was the last fifty feet of delivery: the freezer at the health post, the clinic with electricity through the afternoon, the nurse who knew how to reconstitute an mRNA dose, the syringe, the sharps bin, the cold-box-equipped motorbike that would carry the next batch to the village. The pandemic revealed, in compressed and visible form, a problem that had been there the whole time.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"An uneven rollout: by early 2022, high-income countries had delivered roughly ten times more vaccine doses per capita than low-income countries.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screenshot 2026-05-05 at 8.00.42 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/06001252/Screenshot-2026-05-05-at-8.00.42-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"As much as a quarter to half of the world’s vaccines are degraded or spoiled by the time they reach a patient. This cold chain costs the U.S. healthcare system tens of billions of dollars a year in logistics, wastage, and losses. In low- and middle-income countries, the costs are less often calculated in dollars and more often in absence. More than fourteen million infants received no routine vaccination at all last year, whether that be for measles, diphtheria, tetanus, or polio.
\nEvery one of those vaccines exists, and not one of them could reach those children. Even in countries with the freezers, the last fifty feet are porous. Around three hundred and eighty-five thousand sharps injuries occur in American hospitals every year. Needle phobia is now recognized as a measurable contributor to vaccine hesitancy; in the 2023–2024 influenza season, only thirty-six percent of American adults chose to be vaccinated. Half of patients prescribed chronic-disease medications fail to take them as directed. Every one of these failures has a clinic, a syringe, and a moment of discomfort at its center.
\nThen there is the dose itself. Almost every injectable vaccine in the world is delivered into muscle. Muscle is a convenient target: it is easy to find, easy to inject, well-vascularized. Muscle, however, is not an immune organ. The antibody response a muscle can mount is the result of antigen traveling from that depot outward to the lymph nodes, where the actual immune work happens. Because the tissue is comparatively inert, we use more antigen per dose to get the response we want, often an order of magnitude more than we would need if we were delivering somewhere better.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"It is a strange historical accident that the default delivery site for the immunizations of the modern world is not an immune organ. The accident has cost us decades of supply, decades of coverage, and a pandemic's worth of inequity."},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"It is a strange historical accident that the default delivery site for the immunizations of the modern world is not an immune organ. The accident has cost us decades of supply, decades of coverage, and a pandemic’s worth of inequity. The question, which resurfaces in the scientific literature every generation and never quite finds a commercial answer, is what it would look like to aim somewhere else.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"First Principles","title":"Why the Skin Has Been the Answer All Along","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In the spring of 1717, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, the wife of the newly-appointed British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, watched Greek women in Constantinople perform a ritual that had been practiced across parts of Asia and Africa for centuries. One woman would open a nut-shell filled with pus from a smallpox lesion, dip in a needle, and prick the skin of a healthy child in four or five places, introducing a small amount of the virus under the epidermis. The child would develop a mild case of smallpox and, afterward, be immune for life.
\nLady Mary, whose own face had been scarred by the disease and whose brother had died of it, had her nearly-five-year-old son variolated in Constantinople in March of 1718. Three years later, in April of 1721, in the middle of a London smallpox outbreak, she arranged for her three-year-old daughter to be variolated in front of the royal physicians. Her daughter survived. The Princess of Wales ordered trials on condemned prisoners and orphans. On the back of this success, variolation passed into English medicine, and then into the colonies.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Lady Mary Wortley Montague introduced variolation, a pre-cursor to present day vaccination techniques, to the British Empire in 1721.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Mary_Wortley_Montagu_by_Charles_Jervas,_after_1716","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/06192828/Mary_Wortley_Montagu_by_Charles_Jervas_after_1716.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In the same summer of 1721, on the other side of the Atlantic, Boston was in the middle of its own smallpox outbreak. An enslaved West African man named Onesimus had told his enslaver, the Puritan minister Cotton Mather, that in the country of his birth it had been common practice to rub smallpox matter into a small cut in the arm. Mather, with the reluctant help of a physician named Zabdiel Boylston, began conducting variolations during the epidemic. The results were striking. Of the roughly six thousand Bostonians who contracted smallpox naturally that year, fourteen percent died. Of the two hundred and forty-seven Boylston variolated, fewer than three percent did.
\nSeventy-five years later, in the English county of Gloucestershire, a country doctor named Edward Jenner refined the practice into vaccination. On May 14th, 1796, Jenner took a bit of material from a cowpox lesion on the hand of a milkmaid named Sarah Nelmes and pressed it, through a pair of small scratches, into the arm of an eight-year-old boy named James Phipps. Six weeks later, he exposed the boy to smallpox. Nothing happened. Jenner’s technique was intradermal. So was Montagu’s. So was Onesimus’s. So were the Chinese insufflations that predated both. The modern practice of vaccination began in the skin.
\nThe same instinct guided the eradication campaign that finally ended smallpox forever. In 1961, a microbiologist at Wyeth Laboratories named Benjamin Rubin developed a small, inexpensive bifurcated needle that held a droplet of vaccine between its two prongs. In the field, vaccinators came to deliver each dose through fifteen rapid strokes into the upper layers of the skin. The bifurcated needle was the workhorse of the World Health Organization’s Smallpox Eradication Program, from its expansion in 1967 through the last naturally-occurring case in Somalia in 1977. When the WHO certified eradication in 1980, the only human disease ever erased from the wild, it was the skin that had done it.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Gallery","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":"From eighteenth-century variolation tools to Edward Jenner’s cowpox inoculations and the bifurcated needle used in the global eradication of smallpox, the history of vaccination began in the skin.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"L0015944 Drawings showing smallpox and cowpox inoculation.","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/06200229/Drawings_showing_smallpox_and_cowpox_inoculation._Wellcome_L0015944.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"L0058083 Ivory and box wood vaccinator, Europe, 1701-1800","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/06200259/Ivory_and_box_wood_vaccinator_Europe_1701-1800_Wellcome_L0058083-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"WHO Smallpox","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/15172835/WHO-Smallpox.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The reason the skin works so well is architectural. The skin is the body’s outermost immune organ, built to distinguish self from non-self at the point of contact with the outside world. The epidermis, a sliver of tissue no thicker than a human hair, is seeded with Langerhans cells. These antigen-presenting sentinels were first described in 1868 by a twenty-one-year-old German medical student named Paul Langerhans, who was trying to prove that a particular class of cells in the skin were part of the nervous system, and instead, in the process, discovered part of the immune one. Beneath them, in the thicker dermis, sits a richer and more varied population of dendritic cells. The entire family was characterized in 1973 by an immunologist at Rockefeller University named Ralph Steinman, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for the work in 2011, three days after his death from pancreatic cancer. Alongside them live resident memory T cells, macrophages, mast cells, and a lymphatic network that drains directly into the regional lymph nodes. Square centimeter for square centimeter, no other accessible tissue in the human body is more primed to answer an antigen than the dermis.
\nFor many vaccines and immune-active therapeutics, the skin is a more efficient delivery site than muscle. The intramuscular syringe came to dominate for reasons of standardization, training, and manufacturing rather than biological superiority.
\n\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A modern mass vaccination site built around the logistical assumptions of twentieth-century medicine: centralized clinics, trained staff, cold-chain storage, and intramuscular injection.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"_20220415_nid_mass_vaccination","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/07163414/20220415_nid_mass_vaccination.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"
Modern medicine has quietly rediscovered this older truth more than once. In the summer of 2022, the United States faced a severe shortage of the JYNNEOS smallpox vaccine in the middle of an MPox outbreak. The outbreak was spreading fastest through gay and bisexual communities in New York, Washington, San Francisco, and Atlanta. The Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency authorization for intradermal administration at one-fifth the standard subcutaneous dose. The clinical evidence, drawn from studies that had been on file since 2015 and from real-world data gathered through the summer, suggested that the smaller intradermal dose produced an immune response comparable to the full dose delivered below the skin. Overnight, a fixed supply became five times larger, and public health officials in the hardest-hit cities breathed a quiet sigh of relief. The announcement passed with little fanfare outside the community it served, but it was a federal admission that the ordinary way we deliver vaccines leaves a great deal of efficacy on the table.
\n\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"The announcement passed with little fanfare outside the community it served, but it was a federal admission that the ordinary way we deliver vaccines leaves a great deal of efficacy on the table."},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"
The pattern is repeating with mRNA. Research groups in the Netherlands, Thailand, and the United States have shown, through 2021 and 2022, that one-fifth doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines administered intradermally produce antibody responses at least as strong as the standard intramuscular ones. For every COVID shot the world managed to manufacture during 2021, the same antigen stockpile could have produced several times as many intradermal equivalents. Those equivalents could have traveled in ordinary envelopes.
\nThe only thing standing in the way has been the device.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"A Half-Century Dream","title":"The Commercial Graveyard of the Microneedle Patch","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The idea of delivering drugs through arrays of tiny needles is decades old. In 1976, two scientists at the Alza Corporation named Martin Gerstel and Virgil Place filed a U.S. patent, 3,964,482, for “a device for delivering a drug through skin” using “a plurality of microprojections.” The patent was, as these things go, quiet. No product resulted. The concept drifted in the scientific literature for another two decades before it returned in earnest, this time in a corner of the Georgia Institute of Technology campus, in an unassuming laboratory run by a chemical engineer named Mark Prausnitz.
\nPrausnitz began working on microneedles in 1998, when the prevailing assumption among drug delivery researchers was that anything smaller than a standard hypodermic needle would not actually pierce the skin. He and his students proved the assumption wrong. Arrays of needles on the scale of hundreds of microns could penetrate the tough outer layer of dead skin, the stratum corneum, without reaching the pain-sensitive nerves of the dermis. You could inject a drug into the skin without the patient feeling the needle go in. A first wave of papers landed; a second followed, and the field reopened.
\nFrom that moment forward, the dream was unambiguous. A disposable patch the size of a coin, carrying a dose in the tips of its dissolving needles, could be applied in a minute of skin contact and then thrown away. It could be shipped without a freezer. It could be mailed. It could be applied by anyone, anywhere, without a clinician. Global vaccine distribution could be reimagined, and the developing-world coverage could catch up with the developed world’s. Pandemics could be answered with a supply chain that looked more like Amazon than UPS.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Chemical engineer Mark Prausnitz holds a prototype microneedle patch with a microscope image of the microneedles shown in the background.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"37752_web","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/06205809/37752_web.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"For nearly thirty years, a succession of companies set out to build that patch. Theraject, Nanopass, Zosano, Vaxxas, Vaxess, Micron Biomedical. Each had excellent scientists, and each had serious venture backing. Each believed, reasonably, that the next clinical readout would be lead to success. And yet, with rare exceptions, the pattern was the same. A company would close a large round, pick an ambitious therapeutic target (a migraine drug, a parathyroid hormone for osteoporosis, an influenza vaccine), and spend the next several years pushing it through trials. The manufacturing would cost more than projected; the regulatory path would stretch longer than hoped; the revenue horizon would keep receding. Then, investors would tire. The company would miss a clinical endpoint, or run out of cash, or watch its manufacturing partner back out. Finally, the dream would defer for another five years.
\nThe clearest example is Zosano Pharma, a company founded in 2006 around a zolmitriptan microneedle patch for migraine. Zosano had good science and a real, working product. It relieved migraine within thirty minutes, faster than the best oral formulations available. But in October of 2020, the FDA issued a Complete Response Letter citing inconsistent drug exposures across the company’s clinical pharmacology studies, traceable to variability between manufacturing lots of the patches themselves. The agency wanted a repeat bioequivalence study and additional product quality data before it would consider the drug. Zosano spent the next year and a half preparing a resubmission, negotiating with the FDA, laying off staff, and burning through cash. In June of 2022, after sixteen years and more than a hundred million dollars in cumulative investment, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware. Its intradermal delivery technology was sold off in the proceedings. The patch had worked in the body; however, it couldn’t be manufactured reliably enough to pass a combination-product review, and therefore it never reached a patient.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"image (2)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/15232819/image-2.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The skin’s behavior is well understood. Hundreds of peer-reviewed studies have shown that a well-designed microneedle array does, in a patient, what its designers hoped it would do. The barrier has been somewhere else, in a place biology cannot reach: in manufacturing, regulation, and capital, interlocked in a way that has turned out to be uniquely unforgiving for a first-of-its-kind combination product.
\nManufacturing a microneedle array at clinical quality is a problem in materials science that the field consistently underestimated. The needles must be formed, loaded with a precise dose of drug, kept stable at room temperature for months, and delivered reliably to the same depth of skin in every patient. Early processes were artisanal: careful laboratory benchwork adapted for a hundred patches at a time. At Phase I scale, artisanal works; however, at commercial scale, where a single vaccine indication might require tens of millions of units a year, unit economics have historically collapsed. A patch that cost five dollars to produce when a dose of vaccine cost fifty cents was not a product.
\nRegulation compounded the problem. A microarray patch is a combination product, a drug and a device at once, and the FDA reviews each separately and together. Either pathway is long and expensive on its own. Stacked, they can demand a decade and hundreds of millions of dollars before a company ships its first commercial unit. For a pre-revenue biotech, that runway is hard to raise and harder to hold.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Regulatory hurdles have impeded momentum for microarray patch drug delivery for decades.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"7lBOLXhLmuy4cYjRJT42iXtVs","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/06212946/7lBOLXhLmuy4cYjRJT42iXtVs.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The science had been ready for a long time. What the field needed was a commercial strategy that could build the manufacturing, the regulatory precedent, the real-world data, and the supply chain without requiring a vaccine approval to pay the bills.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"The Company","title":"Panther's Inversion","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The research community that would eventually produce Panther had been assembling in Pittsburgh for more than a decade before the company existed.
\nThe University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Dermatology, under the leadership of its chair, Louis Falo, had been working on microneedle technology since the mid-2000s. Falo, an immunologist by training with a deep interest in skin-based vaccines, was particularly interested in the dermis as a site for cancer immunotherapy. By the 2010s, his laboratory had built, in collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh’s bioengineering department, a set of microneedle designs of unusual scientific depth. Emrullah Korkmaz, a young Pittsburgh bioengineer who had joined the department after his PhD, began developing manufacturing techniques for the arrays that would later become the basis of Panther’s platform. Across the street, at Carnegie Mellon, a group led by Gary Fedder at the university’s Institute for Complex Engineered Systems, and by Douglas Weber in mechanical engineering, was working on adjacent problems in microfabrication and in the neural engineering of implanted devices. Together, Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon had assembled, without much fanfare, one of the deepest microneedle research communities in the world.
\n\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Pittsburgh has quietly become home to the most concentrated pool of microneedle academic talent in the world. ","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"geoffrey-gu-js6zQPM1Wj8-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/07170409/geoffrey-gu-js6zQPM1Wj8-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"
The funding that kept the work going was primarily non-dilutive, and largely federal. The Department of Defense, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, DARPA, and the Wellcome Leap program, a global health-research organization funded by the Wellcome Trust and overseen in its first years by Ken Gabriel, all found in the Pittsburgh group a set of capabilities that matched their interests in rapid-response vaccines, biodefense countermeasures, and oncology immunotherapy. Over the decade, the research program drew more than seventy-five million dollars in support. Patents accumulated. Clinical programs reached Phase II, under partnership with academic medical centers. But it remained, in a meaningful sense, research. There was no company.
\nThe missing piece was a commercial operator who understood what kind of company this technology would actually need to be.
\nCarlos Bhola arrived in the Pittsburgh microneedle orbit in 2022. Bhola’s background was atypical for the space. He had trained in engineering at Carnegie Mellon in the 1980s, spent the early part of his career at Boston Consulting Group and Credit Suisse First Boston, and then moved through a series of operating roles that traced the arc of the early consumer internet and the rise of mobile: Eachnet, the Chinese marketplace acquired by eBay; Vonage, the voice-over-IP pioneer; Here, the digital mapping division Nokia spun out; and Celsius Capital, the technology investment firm where he served as Managing Director. He had seen, up close, how a technology platform becomes a consumer product, and how consumer revenue can build infrastructure that direct scientific investment cannot. He looked at the microneedle field and saw what nearly thirty years of investors, for understandable reasons, had failed to see. Every serious attempt at commercialization had started at the top of the therapeutic pyramid, where regulatory review was longest, capital cycles were tightest, and no revenue arrived for a decade or more. The field had been trying to launch its platform off the hardest product instead of the easiest one.
\nPanther Life Sciences was incorporated on September 25th, 2023, and turned the historical playbook on its head.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"Panther Life Sciences was incorporated on September 25th, 2023, and turned the historical playbook on its head."},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"If the microneedle patch is eventually going to transform vaccine delivery, pandemic response, oncology, and chronic disease management, as the Pittsburgh research community believes, and as Helena believes, the right place to start is at the easier end of the therapeutic pyramid: the markets where a microneedle patch is the most obviously better product available today, where the regulatory path is fastest, where the margins are highest, and where customer will pay. Those markets are cosmetics, and prior-approved dermatological therapeutics. Vaccines and novel cancer immunotherapies sit behind them, carried forward on manufacturing and regulatory infrastructure that the earlier products will have already built.
\nThe first Panther product in the clinic is a long-lasting hyaluronic acid patch for skin aging. Hyaluronic acid is the active ingredient behind one of the largest segments of the non-invasive cosmetic market, currently delivered through injections administered in dermatology offices and medical spas. A patch version is applied at home, holds the active agent in the dermis for roughly four weeks, and requires no clinician. The first-in-human study began in 2025. Panther is targeting market entry by the end of 2026 under FDA De Novo clearance. It will be the first at-home microarray cosmetic of its kind.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"image","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/15225207/image.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Behind it is a reformulation of an already-approved treatment for actinic keratosis. Actinic keratosis is a rough, precancerous lesion caused primarily by long-term sun exposure. It affects more than forty million Americans, with reported prevalence as high as eighteen percent in adult populations of temperate regions worldwide, and a substantial fraction of lesions, left untreated, progress to squamous cell carcinoma. The standard topical treatments, fluorouracil and imiquimod, are effective in the laboratory and under-used in practice; adherence rates are below fifty percent, driven by four weeks of burning, peeling, and flaking skin that most patients cannot tolerate.22 Panther’s reformulation delivers the same active agents directly into the correct skin layer, with less surrounding inflammation, materially better compliance, and the prospect of completion rates substantially higher than the current standard. Panther is targeting FDA approval and market entry around 2028.
\nBehind those near-term products sits a longer-term pipeline. The infectious disease vaccines that Panther’s research partners have been developing for years, against pandemic-class pathogens including influenza and the Nipah and Hendra viruses, sit several years out, behind the cosmetics and dermatology launches that will fund and prove the manufacturing line. Tolerance-induction work for peanut allergy and autoimmune disease sits further back still. That is the discipline.
\nThis inversion is the point. A hyaluronic acid patch sold at a pharmacy in 2026 is, on its face, a cosmetic product. Viewed over a longer horizon, it is the beginning of the infrastructure through which a pandemic vaccine will travel to a household, delivered by mail. Every sale underwrites the manufacturing line that will, in time, produce that vaccine. Every conversation with the FDA on the cosmetic device establishes precedent for the therapeutic, and eventually for platform approval. Platform approval is the regulatory status Panther is building toward, in which the microneedle patch itself is accepted as an established route of administration, onto which appropriately reformulated drugs and antigens can be loaded with streamlined for review. This is the step the field has been missing, and no one has tried to sequence the problem this way.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"How it Works","title":"The Device and the Factory","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"A Panther microarray patch is a small adhesive backing, roughly the size of an ordinary bandage, carrying an array of a few hundred dissolvable microneedles on its underside. Each needle is between two and three hundred microns long, long enough to penetrate the outer layers of the skin and short enough to stop before the pain-sensitive nerves. An applicator the size of a credit card delivers the patch with uniform pressure and depth. A patient presses it onto a prepared area of skin, typically the forearm. Within a few minutes, the needles dissolve, releasing their payload into the dermis.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A microarray patch, engineered to hold active agents in the dermis without requiring a clinician-administered injection.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"2_print","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/15170359/2_print-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The engineering achievement that makes the rest of the platform possible is shelf stability without a cold chain. A dose of active pharmaceutical ingredient is mixed into the tips of the patch. The polymer, once set, locks the drug molecules in, preventing decay. Patches manufactured in Pittsburgh in the spring of 2024 and stored at room temperature for a year retain the same immunogenicity they had the day they came off the line. This is the result the microneedle field has been chasing since Prausnitz’s first Georgia Tech papers, and it is the precondition for everything a commercial platform is meant to do. A patch that can sit in a mailbox in Phoenix in July, or in a cargo hold over Kinshasa, and still work when it reaches its patient is a different kind of object than a vaccine that requires a freezer.
\nThe design of the patch itself is a study in deceptive simplicity. Because the active ingredient sits in the tips of the needles rather than throughout the array, and because intradermal delivery produces a stronger immune response per unit of antigen than intramuscular injection, the amount of active material required per patch is a fraction of what an intramuscular dose would require. For every COVID shot the world manufactured during 2021, the same antigen stockpile would have produced an order of magnitude more microarray-delivered equivalents, and those patches could have shipped in envelopes.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_20240426-101045_print","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/15171422/IMG_20240426-101045_print-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The rest of the platform is an integrated device-and-data system. Every patch carries a unique identifier, enabling tracking through returnable packaging with built-in shipping-condition sensors. Every applicator validates correct placement, and every application streams data into a cloud layer that connects real-world usage back to the patient’s medical record. In its current form the system is designed for clinical trials; however, in its eventual form, it is designed to be the delivery endpoint of a global pharmaceutical platform: a patch that knows who it is, where it has been, and whether it worked.
\nThe intellectual property that sits around the system is among the most extensive in the field. Panther holds or has filed more than three hundred patents. The estate is the result of more than a decade of foundational research in Pittsburgh, and it covers most of the ground a credible commercial entrant in the category would need to occupy.
\nManufacturing is the piece that has broken every previous attempt, and it is the piece Panther has spent the most time solving. The production program is anchored at Pitt BioForge, the University of Pittsburgh’s advanced biomanufacturing institute. Under an automation program now in its final stages, Panther is building a fully automated line designed to take the manufacture of microarray patches out of the artisanal range that has historically priced the field out of mass-market application, and into the unit economics that a consumer cosmetic, a dermatology therapeutic, and eventually a globally-deployed vaccine each require. Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) production for clinical supply and market entry moves through a contract development and manufacturing partner. A factory built to that scale can produce a patch for less than the cost of any intramuscular alternative in the world. A supply chain that can mail that patch can reach every household on Earth.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"The University of Pittsburgh's BioForge facility in Hazelwood reflects the robust biomanufacturing ecosystem Panther is operating within.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"bioforgedrawing","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/06214022/bioforgedrawing.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}}]},{"eyebrow":"The Team","title":"Pittsburgh, DARPA, and the Vaccine Community","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Pittsburgh is not where most people expect a biotechnology company of this kind to come from. The city is better known, in the popular imagination, for its three rivers and for the steel industry that once anchored them. But the Pittsburgh of 2025 is a different city, and Panther is one of its defining companies.
\nOver the last three decades, Pittsburgh has become one of the most concentrated biomedical research ecosystems in the United States. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, or UPMC, is one of the largest health systems in the country, with forty hospitals and a research budget that rivals the Ivy League. Across Schenley Park, Carnegie Mellon runs the deepest robotics and machine-learning programs in the country and a top-ten engineering school. Between the two universities, the city houses one of the densest concentrations of bioengineering, precision manufacturing, and clinical research capacity to be found anywhere. The explicit goal of the current civic and institutional leadership, and of the federal programs that have invested in the city over the last five years, is to turn that concentration into industrial output. Pitt BioForge, the advanced biomanufacturing institute at the heart of the effort, was created for precisely that purpose. Panther is one of its earliest, and most ambitious, anchor tenants.
\nThe company’s leadership reflects that anchor. Its CEO, Carlos Bhola, is a serial entrepreneur and Carnegie Mellon engineering graduate whose operating record runs from early consumer internet through mobile and consumer goods. Its manufacturing program is run out of Pitt BioForge by Ken Gabriel, whose career is one of the rare operator arcs in American science that includes both DARPA and Google. Gabriel founded and ran DARPA’s MEMS Program in the 1990s and later served as Deputy Director of the agency. He ran Advanced Technology and Projects at Google. He was the founding Chief Operating Officer of Wellcome Leap, the global health-research organization funded by the Wellcome Trust. He holds a PhD from MIT. He is one of a small number of operators in the world who has actually scaled microsystem fabrication from prototype to production, across domains, at government and industrial scale.
\nAround him sits a deep bench of Pittsburgh-based engineers and clinicians. Douglas Weber, a Carnegie Mellon mechanical engineer and DARPA neural-engineering veteran, runs device engineering. Brian Rogers, a veteran technology leader, runs engineering and product development. Gary Fedder, the Carnegie Mellon electrical and computer engineer who is widely regarded as one of the country’s leading experts on microelectromechanical systems, sits on the scientific team. Louis Falo, the Chair of Dermatology at the University of Pittsburgh and the researcher whose laboratory produced much of the original skin-vaccine work, remains central to the scientific program. Emrullah Korkmaz, the young Pittsburgh bioengineer whose manufacturing techniques helped make the platform possible, runs the microneedle and microarray research.
\n\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Anchored by CEO Carlos Bola, the Panther team represents best-in-class expertise across microsystems engineering, advanced manufacturing, dermatology, and clinical translation.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"PN040826_CARLOS_BHOLA_01","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/15172117/PN040826_CARLOS_BHOLA_01.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"
The research reach extends beyond Pittsburgh. Christopher Broder, the Chair of Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, leads the infectious disease and pandemic vaccine work from Bethesda; his group has been central to U.S. biodefense vaccine research for more than two decades. Isaac Chiu at Harvard Medical School, whose work on neuroimmunology and allergic inflammation underpins the tolerance-induction work, and Niroshana Anandasabapathy at Weill Cornell, whose clinical research focuses on skin cancer and dermatologic immunology, round out the external scientific bench.
\nThe advisory group extends the reach into adjacent fields. Geoff Ling, the founding director of DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office and a retired U.S. Army colonel, brings the defense-research perspective that shaped a generation of pandemic preparedness thinking. Anantha Shekhar, the Senior Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh, anchors the institutional relationship with UPMC. Charbel Bouez, a former Senior Vice President of Global R&D at International Flavors & Fragrances, who spent fifteen years at L’Oréal leading regenerative beauty and skin research, anchors the commercial strategy for the cosmetics and dermatology launches. Anthony Sun, the CEO of Zentera Therapeutics and co-founder of Zentalis, and Bo Shao, the founding managing partner of Matrix Partners China and a co-founder of Eachnet, anchor the financial and commercial advisory bench.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Our Thesis","title":"A Lever on the Infrastructure of Medicine","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Helena invested in Panther because Panther is working on one of the most consequential, and most under-resourced, levers in global public health: the infrastructure through which medicine reaches the human body.
\nIn the modern era of medicine, delivery has become the bottleneck. That is the lesson of COVID-19. The vaccines themselves were one of the great scientific feats of the century. The system that was supposed to deliver them was not. It is also the lesson of MPox in 2022, of routine pediatric immunization gaps across the developing world, and of every clinical condition for which a working therapy exists but cannot reliably reach the patients who need it. We can make the medicine. We cannot, in most of the world, deliver it.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"Helena invested in Panther because Panther is working on one of the most consequential, and most under-resourced, levers in global public health: the infrastructure through which medicine reaches the human body."},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The cold chain, the syringe, the clinician, and the intramuscular dose are the four hidden assumptions on which almost every vaccine and injectable therapeutic in the world currently depends. They are the reason a COVID vaccine requires a freezer and a trained nurse. They are the reason fourteen million infants in low-income countries received no routine vaccinations last year. They are the reason the world’s pandemic response is bottlenecked on antigen supply even when the science is ready. Each of these constraints looks, on close inspection, like a choice more than a necessity. A shelf-stable microarray patch, mailed to a doorstep and self-applied, removes all four of them.
\nPanther also sits at the center of a thesis Helena has been working on for the better part of a decade. Through our Biosecurity project, we have spent several years in conversation with the experts who shape U.S. and international preparedness, including pandemic-response operators, scientists, federal officials, and members of the intelligence community, about what it would actually take to blunt the next biological catastrophe before it arrives. One of the clearest and most persistent conclusions of that work is that scientific capability has outrun delivery infrastructure. We now live in a world in which a pandemic vaccine can be designed and produced in a matter of weeks. We do not yet live in a world in which it can actually reach the people who need it. Panther is building, quietly and commercially, the physical layer of that second problem.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A Helena Biosecurity convening at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"HELENA_ 95","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/07181915/HELENA_-95.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"We are aware that this particular promise has been offered, in substantially similar form, many times before. The fact that the field has failed for thirty years is the most important single piece of information on which our investment thesis rests. It is precisely because the history is long, and littered with well-intentioned failures, that the strategic discipline Panther has shown matters. Panther’s cosmetics-first sequencing is the strategic recognition, made in advance, of which dollar of revenue will keep the company alive long enough to build the infrastructure that every previous company in the field has run out of money trying to assemble. That discipline is the difference between the company that lands this technology and the next in a long line of companies that will not.
\nWe are also aware that a platform approval for the microneedle patch, should Panther obtain one, has implications that extend well past its own pipeline. The patch becomes a general-purpose delivery route into which any appropriately reformulated small molecule, peptide, or antigen can be loaded. The economics of pandemic preparedness change. The economics of global vaccine equity change. The economics of oncology immunotherapy and the daily management of chronic disease begin to change. The set of people who have practical access to therapies that currently require a clinician, a cold chain, or an expensive intramuscular dose widens considerably.
\nHelena’s role with Panther, consistent with how we work across the our firm, is not only capital. It is the strategic and commercial relationships that speed the company’s arrival at its flagship-customer inflection. The Helena network includes many of the public-health leaders, pandemic-response operators, employers, insurers, and retailers likeliest to be among the earliest consequential buyers of a commercial microarray platform. Panther is in the Goldilocks Zone we look for: transformative technology that works, a commercial path in view, a team capable of holding the plan, and a moment just ahead of broad recognition that the technology is finally ready.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"The Future","title":"A Different Route into the Body","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"If Panther succeeds, the future looks different.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"ChatGPT Image May 7, 2026, 04_38_08 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/07203850/ChatGPT-Image-May-7-2026-04_38_08-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"A parent in rural Nigeria opens an envelope delivered by the national postal service that morning. Inside is a sheet of four shelf-stable patches, labeled for each member of the household. The child’s flu vaccine, the grandfather’s pneumococcal booster, and the family’s annual MMR. There is no clinic to walk to, and no needle to fear. The patches are applied at the kitchen table, in a few minutes, by the patients themselves.
\nA school nurse in rural Arkansas, in the middle of a bad influenza season, receives a weekly shipment of pediatric patches that she distributes to homeroom teachers. Vaccination rates in her district, stuck for a decade at under forty percent, pass seventy.
\nA public health commissioner in a small Central American country, four weeks into an outbreak of a respiratory pathogen she has never seen before, orders a hundred thousand doses of a newly-formulated patch from the country that manufactured them. They arrive in cardboard boxes a week later. She distributes them through the national postal system, and the outbreak stalls before it reaches the capital.
\nA retired construction worker in Phoenix, who has spent thirty years working under the desert sun and has had four pre-cancerous lesions removed from his face by a dermatologist, applies a course of patches at home over four weeks. The standard topical creams he gave up on the year before, after seven days of burning and peeling that he could not tolerate, have been replaced by a treatment he can complete on his own. The lesions resolve, and none becomes cancer.
\nA child with a peanut allergy is desensitized at home, over a period of eighteen months, by a monthly patch that her parents pick up at the pharmacy. She outgrows the allergy the way children once outgrew other allergies more often than they do now, slowly, gradually, safely. She eats a peanut butter sandwich on her twelfth birthday.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"McjKfDpIdGjHgh_938xAKuvO58wcrmT2Sjxx2cv7QYCMa_M1QuCzCk56u8sHJjEQoirqqzZt7a7rvWyW9EzhWHq-eFwYF2c4k8w8–RsfmxmyXwfHqBMSmxzhQH3im4n0Qcak7KZ","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/07204521/McjKfDpIdGjHgh_938xAKuvO58wcrmT2Sjxx2cv7QYCMa_M1QuCzCk56u8sHJjEQoirqqzZt7a7rvWyW9EzhWHq-eFwYF2c4k8w8-RsfmxmyXwfHqBMSmxzhQH3im4n0Qcak7KZ.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Each of these futures hinges on a single change: delivering medicine into the skin, rather than through it.
\nThat change has been on the list of civilizational upgrades humanity has been moving toward for centuries. Chinese practitioners were already inoculating against smallpox through nasal insufflation by the sixteenth century. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu sketched the practice anew in Constantinople in 1717. Onesimus and Zabdiel Boylston demonstrated it in Boston in 1721. Edward Jenner formalized it into vaccination in Gloucestershire in 1796. Benjamin Rubin’s bifurcated needle helped scale it into a global public-health campaign in 1961. The World Health Organization used it to eradicate smallpox in 1980, the first human disease eliminated from the wild. Mark Prausnitz’s laboratory reintroduced its modern plausibility in 1998. The Food and Drug Administration made it federal policy in an emergency in 2022.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A timeline of practices and innovations leading to Panther's breakthrough application","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"image (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2026/05/15225451/image-1.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Panther, in Pittsburgh, is building the last and most important piece. The patch will be manufacturable, shelf-stable, commercially durable, and capable of carrying whatever payload the world needs it to carry, to wherever in the world it needs to go.
\nWe are proud to be early investors. We are looking forward to what the next decade of this work will make possible.
\n\n"}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":[{"popupId":"variolating","title":null,"content":"
Variolation is an 18th century smallpox immunization technique in which a small amount of material from a smallpox lesion was introduced into a small skin wound, producing a controlled, generally milder infection that conferred lifelong immunity. Practiced in China, India, and parts of Africa for centuries before being introduced to Europe in the early 18th century.
\n"},{"popupId":"coldchain","title":null,"content":"The continuous temperature-controlled supply chain required to keep a temperature-sensitive medical product stable from manufacturer to patient. Most modern vaccines require unbroken refrigeration; some, such as the original Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, require ultra-cold storage at -60°C to -80°C.
\n"},{"popupId":"intradermal","title":null,"content":"Intradermal injection delivers a drug into the dermis, the immune-rich middle layer of the skin. Intramuscular injection delivers it into a deeper muscle layer. Most modern vaccines use intramuscular routes for ease of administration; intradermal routes are increasingly recognized as more efficient for many immune-active payloads.
\n"},{"popupId":"langerhans-cells","title":null,"content":"Langerhans cells are antigen-presenting immune sentinels that sit in the epidermis, named for Paul Langerhans, who described them in 1868.
\n"},{"popupId":"dendritic-cells","title":null,"content":"Dendritic cells are a broader family of antigen-presenting immune cells found throughout the body, characterized by Ralph Steinman at Rockefeller University in 1973. Together they make the skin the body’s most immunologically active accessible tissue.
\n"},{"popupId":"stratum-corneum","title":null,"content":"The outermost layer of the epidermis, composed of dead, keratin-rich cells. Acts as the body’s primary barrier against external chemicals, pathogens, and water loss. Difficult for most molecules to penetrate, which is why microneedles must mechanically pierce it.
\n"},{"popupId":"combination-product","title":null,"content":"An FDA category for products that combine two or more regulated components, typically a drug and a device. Combination products are reviewed under both regulatory pathways, which can substantially extend approval timelines and capital requirements.
\n"},{"popupId":"de-novo-clearance","title":null,"content":"A regulatory pathway by which the FDA classifies a novel medical device with no existing predicate. Once cleared, it establishes the regulatory framework for future similar devices to follow the simpler 510(k) pathway.
\n"},{"popupId":"actinic-keratosis","title":null,"content":"A rough, scaly precancerous skin lesion caused primarily by long-term ultraviolet exposure. Common in adults over forty in temperate climates. Untreated lesions can progress to squamous cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer that, while generally treatable when caught early, accounts for tens of thousands of deaths annually.
\n"},{"popupId":"cgmp","title":null,"content":"Current Good Manufacturing Practice. The FDA’s quality and process standards required for the production of pharmaceutical and biological products. cGMP compliance is a precondition for clinical supply and market entry.
\n"},{"popupId":"#shelfstable","title":null,"content":"Shelf stable refers to products that can be safely stored at room temperature for extended periods without degrading or losing effectiveness. In medicine, this eliminates the need for constant refrigeration, significantly streamlining distribution logistics.
\n"}]}}},{"id":"cG9zdDoyNTkx","databaseId":2591,"title":"Oceanix","slug":"oceanix","link":"https://www.helena.org/projects/oceanix/","date":"2021-01-27T00:52:25","excerpt":"Living sustainability and in harmony with the world’s oceans.
\n","isRestricted":false,"featuredImage":{"node":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/26181333/01_BIG_SFC_OceanixCity_Aerial_Image-by-BIG-Bjarke-Ingels-Group-1-1-scaled.jpg","title":"01_BIG_SFC_OceanixCity_Aerial_Image-by-BIG-Bjarke-Ingels-Group-1 (1)"}},"acfProjectDetails":{"seo":{"title":"Oceanix","metaDescription":"Living sustainably and in harmony with the world's oceans.","metaImage":null},"smallerProject":true,"projectIntro":{"headline":"Oceanix","region":"The World's Oceans","tag":"Ocean Cities","profit":"non-profit","introBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Helena is the Lead Strategic Partner for OCEANIX, a platform that designs and builds floating cities for humanity to live sustainably on the ocean.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/521630375/0648c36611","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"OCEANIX is currently focused on the development of OCEANIX City — poised to become the world’s first resilient and sustainable floating community. Created in collaboration with Helena Member Bjarke Ingels’s architectural firm BIG, UN-Habitat, and other key partners, the City will house 10,000 residents across 75 hectares.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"01_BIG_SFC_OceanixCity_Aerial_Image-by-BIG-Bjarke-Ingels-Group-1 (2)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/09224729/01_BIG_SFC_OceanixCity_Aerial_Image-by-BIG-Bjarke-Ingels-Group-1-2-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Completely modular and scalable, OCEANIX City is designed to grow, transform and adapt organically over time, creating a pathway to permanent and responsible human habitation on the ocean.
\n\n
Everything about OCEANIX City — from its transportation, energy, water, and food systems to its marine habitat regeneration technologies and hyperlocal approach — is calibrated to transform our responses to emerging global needs and prepare for a future in which a significant portion of the world’s population requires a new, maritime home.
\n","eyebrow":null}}]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":[{"type":"Image","text":"During the next 50 years, humanity will shift to a species that also lives on the ocean.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"conor-sexton-hRemch0ZDwI-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/27005216/conor-sexton-hRemch0ZDwI-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"In fact, this transition is already happening. As coastal cities struggle to cope with rapid population growth, many resort to land reclamation, harming the ocean and its rich ecosystems.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"usgs-2x4ceLz2yEo-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/28204001/usgs-2x4ceLz2yEo-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Unmitigated climate change and rising sea levels will only accelerate this process. Hundreds of millions of people are projected to become forcibly displaced, creating enormous pressure to find suitable and sustainable housing.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"flood","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/28032228/flood-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Video","text":"This shift towards future generations living on the ocean is inevitable. But it doesn’t have to lead to further degradation of our marine environment. ","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/27004700/OceanixUnderWater.mp4"},"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Video","text":"The technology exists for us to live in on water while nature continues to thrive underneath. Helena is supporting a trailblazing effort to turn it into a reality.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/28030356/TechOceanix.mp4"},"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"The Problem","title":"Human Habitation is Changing","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The imperative to rethink human habitation has never been more urgent than it is now. According to the UN, an estimated 90% of the world’s largest cities (housing 50% of the world’s population) are located on the ocean’s coasts — areas dangerously imperiled by volatile weather and rising sea levels due to climate change. Severe weather events accelerated by global warming cost an estimated 50 billion dollars in 2020 alone.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Makoko, Nigeria","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"nguyen-kiet-OGp18qMyq-k-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/25011216/nguyen-kiet-OGp18qMyq-k-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Compounded by explosive population growth, the UN estimates that climate change will displace roughly 200 million people each year by 2050, creating an unprecedented global housing and humanitarian crisis that will require first-principle, ground-up transformations of how we live and organize ourselves.
\nFloating cities are not a new concept.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Gallery","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":"R. Buckminster Fuller, Shoji Sadao, 1968","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"fuller_triton","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/09213547/fuller_triton.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"© Kiyonori Kikutake, 1958 - 1963","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Kiyonori-Kikutake-Marine-City-unbuilt-japan-ArchEyes-photo","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/25011815/Kiyonori-Kikutake-Marine-City-unbuilt-japan-ArchEyes-photo.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"The floating Uros Islands on Lake Titicaca","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Puno1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/17233159/Puno1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"In theory and in practice, they have occupied human imagination for centuries. Groups including the Tanka in China, the Bajau in Indonesia, the Moken in the Andaman sea, the Uros in Peru, and the Maʻdān in Iraq have lived on bodies of water for centuries. From Buckminster Fuller’s Triton City Project to the marine metropolises conceptualized by the Japanese metabolists, iterations of floating cities have addressed concerns both practical (commerce, food, transportation) and utopian (societal autonomy, egalitarianism).
\nThe ocean is a vast resource that can either be harnessed for global and ecological good or exploited to devastating consequence as the need for sustainable housing solutions becomes more pressing. Imperfect interventions in this space already exist.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Okoh_collins_photography_landscape_shots_all_over_Nigeria","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/25012158/Okoh_collins_photography_landscape_shots_all_over_Nigeria.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Precariously constructed on stilts and rafts, the stilted community of Makako in Lagos, Nigeria, epitomizes the kind of stop-gap measures improvised when adequate infrastructure and affordable housing are unavailable.
\nMassive land reclamation efforts in places like Southeast Asia are depleting finite resources and destroying marine habitats. OCEANIX is a fully realized, equitable, and wholly sustainable alternative to these models.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Who","title":"Founding Team","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"OCEANIX was founded in 2018 by Marc Collins Chen and Itai Madamombe.
\nCollins Chen was recruited from the private sector by his government to serve as Minister of Tourism for French Polynesia in 2007 and 2008. Tasked with assessing the threat of sea level rise in the South Pacific, he began to look at floating infrastructure as a potential adaptation to looming climate-related concerns. Many island communities face an existential crisis, as their homeland becomes uninhabitable.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Oceanix co-founder Marc Collins Chen","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"P1350334 (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/25012745/P1350334-1-scaled-e1616024513801.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"An engineer by training, Collins Chen spent the next decade developing a model for an ocean community in Tahiti. But according to him, there would be no OCEANIX had he not met Itai Madamombe in 2017.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Oceanix co-founder Itai Madamombe","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"P1350826","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/25012749/P1350826.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"As a senior advisor to Ban Ki-moon, then Secretary General of the United Nations, Madamobe had spent the same decade cultivating multi-stakeholder partnerships focused on innovation and entrepreneurship on a global scale. She had a unique perspective, an extensive international network, and the skill set to rally diverse actors to solve intractable, networked challenges.
\nShe was convinced floating communities were the right vehicle for complex problem-solving at scale and an ideal platform for the development of exponential and blue technologies. For Collins Chen, Madamombe’s strategy and unrelenting drive cracked the scope and ambition of OCEANIX open.
\nMadamombe proposed starting a boundary-breaking company to build full scale floating cities that are integrated and sustainable. She was hyper-cognizant of the advantage of tabula rasa– by virtue of never having been done before, expanding the built world onto the ocean presented a corollary opportunity to write the rulebook and shape the future of humanity.
\nChanneling their shared enthusiasm and complementary skills into a formal partnership seemed almost inevitable, though it would require dramatic life changes on both sides. Within the year, Collins Chen relocated from Tahiti to New York City and Madamombe left the UN to begin building OCEANIX.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Building The Team","title":"World-Class Collaborators","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The two studied historical and contemporary precedents in granular detail. They found designers of previous iterations tended to tackle one challenge at a time through a narrowly defined set of parameters. In contrast, the OCEANIX model would utilize the context of the city to address systemic, networked problems, including energy, and food systems. Such an integrated vision would require a multi-disciplinary team of world-class collaborators.
\nThe OCEANIX co-founders were determined to bring the very best of humanity to bear on this bold and ambitious undertaking. Potential collaborators needed to be boundary-breaking but also value-aligned. At the same time, they were keenly aware of feasibility issues that reduced other versions of floating cities to utopian thought experiments. In order to achieve real-world implementation, Collins Chen and Madamombe recognized they would need partners with proven technical capabilities across design, engineering, and construction.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Architect and Helena Member Bjarke Ingles","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"bjarke-ingles-1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/30051836/bjarke-ingles-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Given the criteria, Helena Member Bjarke Ingels’ architectural firm BIG was a natural fit for OCEANIX. Though major players on the world stage – to date the firm has completed 46 projects globally, with dozens under construction and many more more in various stages of development – BIG’s staff is uniformly younger than that of most firms of its stature. (In his mid-forties, Ingels himself has reached a pinnacle in his field decades earlier than most contemporaries). BIG’s youthful spirit is evident in risk-taking, forward-thinking work that includes a prototype for human habitation on Mars and a supersonic hyperloop transportation system.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"One of BIG's most iconic projects is Amager Bakke, a clean power plant with its own ski slope, the world's tallest climbing wall, even on-site hiking trails.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen Shot 2021-02-24 at 6.35.38 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/25013610/Screen-Shot-2021-02-24-at-6.35.38-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"To design OCEANIX City’s stable floating platforms, Chen and Madamombe reached out to the Center for Ocean Engineering at MIT. The training ground for US Naval architects, MIT has been pioneering ocean science and engineering for over a century. Members of its program had previously worked with Buckminster Fuller on the floating Triton City in the 1960s.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Algae Window by Olafur Eliasson (2020)","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_MDA122573_1600px","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/25021630/IMG_MDA122573_1600px.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Galvanized by the entirely new frontier floating cities represented and compelled by the integrity of OCEANIX’s approach, MIT came aboard. So did a slate of additional best-in-class partners including the leading engineering firm ARUP, Bouygues Construction, Mobility in Chain, Transsolar KlimaEngineering, Sherwood Design Engineers, HR&A, Global Coral Reef Alliance, Agritecture, and the Center for Zero Waste Design. These multifaceted perspectives position OCEANIX to set new standards and push industries forward.
\nThe project needed partners outside the realm of science, design, and technology to achieve its cultural and community-minded goals. Artist and environmentalist Olafur Eliasson and Sebastian Behmann of Studio for Other Spaces became a vital collaborators. The Explorers Club signed on to push scientific boundaries and new discoveries, infusing the undertaking with a sense of adventure.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"The United Nation's First Roundtable On Sustainable Floating Cities, Featuring Oceanix (April 3, 2019)","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"BIG_Roundtable_SFC_Oceanix-City","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/25015910/BIG_Roundtable_SFC_Oceanix-City.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"From the outset, Collins Chen and Madamombe understood that governmental support was critical to the success of OCEANIX. UN-Habitat is a key partner and brings its vast experience working with governments at all levels — regional, national, and city. As the global leader on all things urban, UN-Habitat also brings its expertise on integrated urban planning and substantive issues such as climate change, affordability, as well as alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda.
\nOCEANIX unveiled its concept design at the UN’s first ever high-level roundtable on sustainable floating cities, hosted by UN-Habitat in April 2019.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Mapping the Future","title":"Helena, Oceanix, and The Near Future","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"As lead strategic partner, Helena is supporting OCEANIX across all aspects of its operations.
\nThe Floating Cities project is crucially aligned with Helena’s mission to address intractable global problems and cuts across multiple sectors we believe are integral to creating a resilient future for humanity.
\nThese sectors, which include clean energy, ocean sciences, exploration, and sustainable food and waste systems, represent key areas of executional dexterity for Helena. In addition, Helena’s diligence on our for-profit projects to date, all of which explicitly mitigate climate change related challenges in some capacity, gives us multidimensional insight into how to create the necessary ecosystem for a thriving blue economy. Beyond this, Helena’s unique institutional model allows us to consult global leaders in diverse fields as key advisors to the project.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A BIG Group Visualization of Considerations for OCEANIX's FIRST FLOATING CITY","size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"BIG_SFC_Oceanix-City_Image-by-BIG-Bjarke-Ingels-Group_36","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/25015632/BIG_SFC_Oceanix-City_Image-by-BIG-Bjarke-Ingels-Group_36-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"OCEANIX’s Concept Design attains 1/10th the ecological footprint of cities like Paris. Not just sustainable, OCEANIX Floating Cities will actually regenerate the marine habitats on which they’re situated. Moreover, OCEANIX’s completely novel infrastructure and proximity to the ocean create unprecedented opportunities to incubate new climate technologies.
\nBeyond delivering massive environmental benefits, OCEANIX cities present one possible solution to the global affordable housing crisis. Collins Chen and Madamombe are committed to working hand and hand with governments and indigenous communities to provide for hyperlocal needs such as equitable housing. They are in discussions with multiple governments to deploy a prototype.
\nBeing first in kind will give OCEANIX the opportunity to set global precedents in ocean building code, industry best practices, and sustainability – standards that will be easier to adopt than discard by subsequent actors in this sector. Much of what OCEANIX accomplishes on water will be applicable back on land.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"The World's First Floating City","title":"Oceanix City: A Deeper Dive","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"OCEANIX City at scale will be the first living, breathing floating city for up to 10,000 residents across 75 hectares, and a preview of how millions of people will live during the rest of the 21st century.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"BIG_SFC_Oceanix-City_Image-by-BIG-Bjarke-Ingels-Group_54 (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/10205141/BIG_SFC_Oceanix-City_Image-by-BIG-Bjarke-Ingels-Group_54-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The City’s core design principle is modularity.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"An Oceanix City Neighborhood","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"BIG_SFC_Oceanix-City_Image-by-BIG-Bjarke-Ingels-Group_40","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/10204927/BIG_SFC_Oceanix-City_Image-by-BIG-Bjarke-Ingels-Group_40-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The smallest “unit” of the metropolis is its two hectare neighborhoods, which are anchored but not permanently attached to the seabed. Each neighborhood houses up to 300 residents and features mixed-use buildings that are all under seven stories in height — a design choice which optimizes for both community cohesion and extreme weather resistance.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Neighborhoods are anchored rather than permanently fused with the seabed.","size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"BIG_SFC_Oceanix-City_Image-by-BIG-Bjarke-Ingels-Group_39s","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/10204934/BIG_SFC_Oceanix-City_Image-by-BIG-Bjarke-Ingels-Group_39s-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The next unit of the City are its villages, which result from the clustering of six neighborhoods around a central harbor. Twelve hectares in size and housing 1,650 residents, the villages use their sheltered inner harbor as a social hub, where most commercial and recreational structures are located.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"BIG_SFC_Oceanix-City_Image-by-BIG-Bjarke-Ingels-Group_41","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/10205327/BIG_SFC_Oceanix-City_Image-by-BIG-Bjarke-Ingels-Group_41-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Scale out further and OCEANIX City itself is created when six villages are combined in the same hexagonal formation, creating a large central city harbor at the city center. This is the City’s nexus of cultural, artistic, sport and commercial life, where floating structures and communal transportation connect each of the six villages together.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Gallery","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":"Oceanix City from above","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"BIG_SFC_Oceanix-City_Image-by-BIG-Bjarke-Ingels-Group_42","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/10205640/BIG_SFC_Oceanix-City_Image-by-BIG-Bjarke-Ingels-Group_42-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"A highlight of Oceanix City's central harbor","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"BIG_SFC_Oceanix-City_Image-by-BIG-Bjarke-Ingels-Group_31","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/10205656/BIG_SFC_Oceanix-City_Image-by-BIG-Bjarke-Ingels-Group_31-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"Oceanix City at night","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"BIG_SFC_Oceanix-City_Image-by-BIG-Bjarke-Ingels-Group_43","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/10205702/BIG_SFC_Oceanix-City_Image-by-BIG-Bjarke-Ingels-Group_43-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":"How Oceanix scales even further, with Manhattan as a reference point","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"BIG_SFC_Oceanix-City_Image-by-BIG-Bjarke-Ingels-Group_38","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/10205707/BIG_SFC_Oceanix-City_Image-by-BIG-Bjarke-Ingels-Group_38-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}}]},{"eyebrow":"A Circular Design","title":"How Oceanix City is Built","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"OCEANIX City’s construction centers around six central principles: net-zero energy, fresh water autonomy, plant-based food, zero waste systems, shared mobility and habitat regeneration. Each harnesses existing rather than future technologies, allowing for implementation now that can be continuously iterated upon as new concepts develop.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"oceanix-net-zero-energy-172","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/10224609/oceanix-net-zero-energy-172.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Net-Zero Energy
\nThe City takes advantage of its location to harness as much energy from wave, wind, solar and other innovative sources as possible. Physical structures throughout the city utilize solar roofs, which can be topped by wind turbines. Ocean forces are converted into power by current generators and underwater wave energy converters, which are co-located with larger offshore wind turbines. Biofuels and other sustainable energy sources are produced via algae reactors connected to surface-level filtration systems.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Solar Roofs, many of which are co-located with wind turbines, dot the Oceanix City skyline.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"oceanix-net-zero-energy-174","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/10224643/oceanix-net-zero-energy-174.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"When utilizing non-fossil fuel sources for energy production, storing that energy sustainably is a major requirement. The City utilizes a variety of technologies to address this, from compressed air energy storage to concrete flywheels, which are located in underwater building components.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Examples of the Energy Systems found in a modular unit of Oceanix City.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"oceanix-net-zero-energy-175","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/10224830/oceanix-net-zero-energy-175.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Consuming energy with maximum efficiency is a central theme of the City. Buildings are structured to optimize for cross ventilation, significantly reducing the carbon-intensive usage of air conditioning systems. Windows and architectural structures are built to optimize sunlight access, reducing electricity consumption from heating and lighting.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"oceanix-net-zero-energy-169B (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/10225718/oceanix-net-zero-energy-169B-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Fresh Water Autonomy
\nOCEANIX City aims to achieve per-person water usage more than eleven-times lower than that of the average United States citizen, nearly seven times lower than the global average, and more than two times less than the average citizen of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"oceanix-fresh-water-autonomy-159","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/10230718/oceanix-fresh-water-autonomy-159.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"This is achieved through an entirely closed-loop water system, in which no wastewater or greywater is released into the ocean. OCEANIX utilizes existing technologies to collect and treat water for drinkability, ranging from roof-based rain and atmospheric water collection to renewable desalination facilities. Underground and next to the City’s energy storage technologies are water storage and treatment systems.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Examples of technologies utilized for Oceanix City's closed-loop water systems.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"oceanix-fresh-water-autonomy-162","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/10232159/oceanix-fresh-water-autonomy-162.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Plant-Based Food
\nOCEANIX City eliminates the production of animal-based food products on its own land, massively reducing the strain on soil, energy and water needs. The diet will be predominantly plant-based, combined with locally produced seafood.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Oceanix utilizes greenhouses as one of the five core sources of food production, which also serve as indoor parks and communal walkways.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"oceanix-plant-based-food-144","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/10233024/oceanix-plant-based-food-144.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The city utilizes five core systems for plant-based production: outdoor farming, indoor farming (via greenhouses), aquaponics, vertical farming, and 3D ocean farming. The result is a 1,878 gram average daily diet for residents consisting of a breakdown of 470 grams of protein, 470 grams of carbohydrates, and 939 grams of fiber and other nutrients.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"oceanix-plant-based-food-145","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/10233250/oceanix-plant-based-food-145.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Zero Waste Systems
\nOCEANIX aims for the average citizen of the City to produce nearly two and a half times less waste than the average American, with a waste footprint per-capita that up to 90% less than that of that of New York City. The waste that is produced is utilized circularly via community compost gardens, anaerobic digesters, and compost-driven community gardens.Wherever possible, single-use products are not used in the first place and replaced with cost-competitive reusable alternatives.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Gallery","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"oceanix-zero-waste-154","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/10235026/oceanix-zero-waste-154.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"oceanix-zero-waste-155","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/10235026/oceanix-zero-waste-155.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"oceanix-zero-waste-152","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/10235024/oceanix-zero-waste-152.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Shared Mobility
\nOCEANIX City’s modular, hexagonal design yields significant advantages compared to other cities when it comes to mobility and transportation of all kinds. No fossil fuel-based motorized transportation is found in the City; instead, existing methods of electric, autonomous and shared systems thrive, from electric delivery cars, boats and passenger submersibles to unnamed aerial vehicles for delivery.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"oceanix-shared-mobility-182","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/11000152/oceanix-shared-mobility-182.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"A resident of OCEANIX City might spend their average day walking or biking on up to three kilometers of city-wide paths or commuting through personal or shared boat pods, docking easily in the city harbor.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"oceanix-shared-mobility-184","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/11000717/oceanix-shared-mobility-184.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Habitat Regeneration
\nConstructing an entirely new model of a city means rethinking the basic materials used in construction.
\nBiorock, an ocean-based alternative to cement, is an example of this. Via a low-voltage electric current, the material trickles a charge throughout steel structures, preventing rusting or corrosion but allowing for the growth of beneficial solid limestone rock and regeneration of coral reefs, oysters, sea grasses, salt marshes, mangroves, fisheries, and coastal ecosystems where there is no natural recovery. It is also a major asset in extreme weather defense, capable of surviving extreme bleaching events.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Biorock is an example of the physical material profile represented in Oceanix's underwater reefs and structures. ","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"15_BIG_SFC_OceanixCity_Underwater-Night_Image-by-BIG-Bjarke-Ingels-Group-1 (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/11001646/15_BIG_SFC_OceanixCity_Underwater-Night_Image-by-BIG-Bjarke-Ingels-Group-1-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":[{"popupId":"greywater","title":"Greywater","content":"Greywater is an umbrella term used to describe all water that does not come into contact with feces. It includes water from washing machines, showers, sinks, bathtubs, and similar appliances. Dumping grey-water into natural systems like rivers and oceans can be hazardous, as its resulting nutrients can yield pollutants. But utilized appropriately, greywater can be an asset in irrigation and other similar cases as a fertilizer in addition to other applications.
\n"}]}}},{"id":"cG9zdDoyODQ3","databaseId":2847,"title":"Heliogen","slug":"heliogen","link":"https://www.helena.org/projects/heliogen/","date":"2021-02-24T22:44:00","excerpt":"Replacing fuels with sunlight.
\n","isRestricted":false,"featuredImage":{"node":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/24225959/Screen-Shot-2021-02-24-at-3.59.49-PM.png","title":"Screen Shot 2021-02-24 at 3.59.49 PM"}},"acfProjectDetails":{"seo":{"title":null,"metaDescription":null,"metaImage":null},"smallerProject":true,"projectIntro":{"headline":"Heliogen","region":"Global","tag":"Solar Technology and Thermal Energy Storage","profit":"profit","introBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Helena is an investor in Heliogen.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":"https://vimeo.com/516446577","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"CNN_article_graphic_hi (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/24230148/CNN_article_graphic_hi-1.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Heliogen has created the world’s first technology that can commercially replace fossil fuels with carbon-free, ultra-high temperature heat from the sun.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/516446577","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}}]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":[{"type":"Video","text":"What if we could capture the immense power of the sun, magnify its intensity up to 1,500°C , and reliably store that energy?","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/24222344/Heliogenwebsite1.mp4"},"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"It could change how some of the world’s largest and most carbon-intensive industries work, from cement to steel production.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"yender-fonseca–8V-GDR24bY-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/24222554/yender-fonseca-8V-GDR24bY-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/25001259/ricardo-gomez-angel-H-dmQgRNTz0-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"laptopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/25001259/ricardo-gomez-angel-H-dmQgRNTz0-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"desktopImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/25001259/ricardo-gomez-angel-H-dmQgRNTz0-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"widescreenImage":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/25001259/ricardo-gomez-angel-H-dmQgRNTz0-unsplash-scaled.jpg"}},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Video","text":"At scale and for the first time, it could commercially replace fossil fuels with carbon-free renewable energy. ","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/24223125/Heliogen2.mp4"},"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Video","text":"It’s happening right now.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/24223803/Heliogen3.mp4"},"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Video","text":"And we’re investing in it.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/24224354/Heliogenfinal.mp4"},"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"Extreme Heat","title":"The Problem","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The modern world relies heavily on fossil fuels to power our daily lives and the industries we depend on. The global fossil fuel industry generates more than $1 trillion each year, yet the consumption of fossil fuels simultaneously accounts for the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Many heavy industries that require extreme temperatures overwhelmingly get that heat from fossil fuels.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"ant-rozetsky-io7dX_1EFCg-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/24230610/ant-rozetsky-io7dX_1EFCg-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Renewable power presents a potential solution to the negative externalities associated with the supply and consumption of fossil fuels, yet suffers from a lack of consistent, predictable, and reliable power generation. In the status quo, renewable assets such as wind turbines or solar panels only produce power when the wind is blowing or the sun is shining. Put differently, when the wind calms or the sun sets, wind turbines or solar panels stop producing energy. These patterns in renewable energy production do not necessarily match the patterns of demand for consumers, resulting in mismatched supply and demand.
\nIn order to equalize supply and demand and provide a consistent, continuous supply of power, existing solutions include relying on dirty power generation assets (coal, gas, and petroleum powered generators) to make up for gaps in supply.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"An Energy Vault gravity storage system from below.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"20200914_CDU_0004_LOGO","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/01/29235200/20200914_CDU_0004_LOGO-scaled-e1614208156637.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Energy storage solutions are another major need. However, the world lacks a suite of industrially established storage technologies that provides safe, green, cost efficient, long term storage — which is partially why Helena also invested and partnered with storage solution Energy Vault.
\nThis leaves a partial dependence on fossil fuels as the only viable choice today for consistent power supply and means that the world must continue to invest in dirty power generation no matter how much wind and solar is built. Moreover, these problems with renewable power today act as a barrier to the development and commercialization of technologies, both green and futuristic, that require cheap and clean energy to be viable.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A unit from leading carbon-capture company Climeworks. Helena supported the Swiss-based technology company via the non-profit Factory in the Sky Project.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"factory-sky-29","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/12215232/factory-sky-29.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"For example, various carbon capture technologies today leverage highly energy intensive processes to capture a pure stream of CO2 from ambient air. There is existing concern around the cost of running carbon capture systems given energy use; however, there is also near consensus that carbon capture must play a role in our efforts to halt the warming of our planet.
\nCarbon capture technologies could scale up more quickly given a reliable supply of cheap renewable power. A solution, therefore, will not only directly reduce the carbon emissions associated with dirty power but also spur increased interest in other sustainable activities and leading-edge technologies.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"The proliferation of green hydrogen powered vehicles, like this Toyota concept, as a major component of the world's transportation systems requires further advances in electrolysis.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"maximalfocus-161u7xxBRI4-unsplash","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/24232446/maximalfocus-161u7xxBRI4-unsplash-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Hydrogen fuel could serve as a green alternative to fossil fuels, depending on how it is produced. Hydrogen has a high energy efficiency and can be stored safely long term, as a gas or liquid. In fact, hydrogen is roughly three to seven times as efficient as fossil fuels (by weight, for gasoline and coal, respectively). However, despite being the most abundant element in the universe, hydrogen rarely exists in nature on its own.
\nToday, hydrogen is produced using a process called electrolysis. Electrolysis of water leverages the positive and negative charges of electricity to effectively force water molecules to break into constituent elements (hydrogen and oxygen). Unfortunately, the bulk of hydrogen is produced using electrolyzers powered by fossil fuels, meaning the hydrogen is not green. As the key inputs to electrolysis are water and electricity, if we can transition away from fossil fuels and power electrolysis of water with cheap renewable energy, then the hydrogen produced could be green (and cost efficient), providing society with an entirely clean alternative fuel. However, green hydrogen requires cheap renewable energy that can be delivered consistently and predictably – something we lack today.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"The Solution","title":"Heliogen","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Heliogen seeks to leverage the sun’s power to solve many of the issues associated with renewable energy today. To do so, Heliogen develops and builds plants that generate energy from the sun and couples generation with long term thermal storage to provide a continuous supply of cheap renewable energy.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Heliogen's first system in Lancaster, California","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen Shot 2021-02-24 at 4.45.48 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/24234558/Screen-Shot-2021-02-24-at-4.45.48-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Heliogen’s plants concentrate the sun’s energy to capture solar heat to be used as power, producing extremely low cost energy. Because the plants not only generate industrial heat and power from the sun but also provide thermal storage (storing energy by heating up air and rocks), Heliogen’s sunlight refineries have a higher capacity factor than a standard solar power plant – able to rely on storage during bad weather or at night.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"ezgif-6-e6e4df12f0ff","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/25001036/ezgif-6-e6e4df12f0ff.gif"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The result is a technology that can provide significantly cost-effective renewable energy more consistently than existing solutions, and the cheap energy produced allows the running of industrial processes that would otherwise be economically inefficient – for example creating the real possibility of replacing fossil fuels with green hydrogen fuel or scaling up cost efficient carbon capture technologies.
\nHeliogen’s core technology is their Sunlight Refinery™ plant, which uses mirrors and computer-vision to hyper-accurately concentrate sunlight. An automated, AI-driven system positions mirrors, called heliostats, to track and direct the sun’s energy toward a single focal point.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"heliogen_infographic_web","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/25002416/heliogen_infographic_web.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The Refinery allows the concentrated energy to heat up air and rock for thermal storage. The Refinery can then leverage the thermal storage to offer a number of renewable solutions to customers: HelioHeat, the delivery of heat for industrial processes; HelioPower, the delivery of electricity, generated by running HelioHeat through a power block; and HelioFuel, the delivery of hydrogen fuel, generated by running a large water electrolyzer using HelioPower.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"ezgif-6-1011529fb1dc","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/25003706/ezgif-6-1011529fb1dc.gif"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Given the potential impact stemming from replacing fossil fuels, Heliogen is most focused on commercializing HelioFuel in order to develop increased interest in green hydrogen production and use. However, as mentioned in the previous section, the supply of cheap, green, consistent power is needed for more than green hydrogen production. Heliogen can help decarbonize industrial production of materials such as steel or iron (which often relies on dirty energy, producing significant emissions) by providing green HelioHeat or HelioPower.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Heliogen_Lancaster_Facility_5 with sign","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/25004450/Heliogen_Lancaster_Facility_5-with-sign-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"As such, Helena believes the potential impact of Heliogen’s technology goes far beyond the sale of green hydrogen.
\nSunlight Refineries represent a significant development when compared to other solar power generation systems. First, as compared to a standard photovoltaic system, Sunlight Refineries can provide power when solar panels otherwise could not – for example during bad weather or at night. Thus, the cost per unit of energy is lower for Heliogen when considered holistically, given a higher capacity factor (ignoring the cost to build and install).
\nSecond, Sunlight Refineries incorporate advanced technology and design principles that we believe are increasingly necessary in industrial settings. The installation and maintenance of a Sunlight Refinery can be done robotically, and the positioning of heliostats, as mentioned, is optimized using artificial intelligence sensitive to the sun’s movement.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Heliogen_Lancaster_Facility_Drone_7_300dpi","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/25004443/Heliogen_Lancaster_Facility_Drone_7_300dpi-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Moreover, Heliogen relies on a modular design with numerous small heliostats, minimizing the environmental impact or local disruption caused by the build and operating of a Sunlight Refinery. Third, and related, Heliogen invested heavily in improving the design, build, and operation of heliostats. As a result, Heliogen’s heliostats are significantly smaller and more cost-efficient to manufacture and operate than any standard heliostats on the market that Heliogen began with.
\nHeliogen solves many problems associated with renewable energy by providing a consistent supply of cheap solar energy. The technology will motivate the growth of other green technologies that require such a supply of cheap renewable energy, such as hydrogen fuel, while generally supporting the transition away from fossil fuels. Ultimately, Heliogen could play a crucial role in the necessary decarbonization of our daily lives and industries.
\n"}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":[{"popupId":"the-duck-curve","title":"The Duck Curve","content":"
A helpful way to visualize this issue is known affectionately as the “Duck Curve.”
\nIn the graph above, note the sharp decrease in demand for energy during mid-day, and the sharp increase in demand during the evening. Think about how this connects to your personal energy usage: you’re less likely to use electricity in your home around noon, when there’s an abundance of natural sunlight when and members of your household are at work or school vs. during the evenings, when the sun has set and you’re preparing dinner.
\n"},{"popupId":"capacity-factor","title":"Capacity Factor","content":"Renewable power generation assets generally suffer from a reliance on unpredictable and uncontrollable natural weather and phenomena. One key measure of a power generation asset is its capacity, or the maximum power the asset can produce (assuming running at full capacity). The capacity of the assets helps determine the cost per unit of energy and is determined by the manufacturer of the asset. However, though a wind turbine might have a large capacity, if the wind stops blowing, its capacity fails to illustrate that the turbine will not be producing power 24/7. Relying on the capacity to understand the cost of the power generated, then, would suggest an overly optimistic situation (artificially lowering costs).
\nA second measure, called capacity factor, is crucial to take into account both the theoretical capacity of an asset and the practical limits of its operation. Put simply, the capacity factor of a power generation asset measures the percentage of time that an asset produces power at its maximum theoretical capacity. Capacity factor therefore also measures the reliability of an asset. If the capacity factor of an asset is low, then that asset only produces power at maximum capacity during a small period of time each day – in other words, low capacity factor systems are highly unreliable. As expected, the capacity factors for renewable power assets are significantly lower than those of dirty power assets: about 57% and 47% for natural gas and coal, respectively, and about 35% and 25% for wind and solar, respectively (natural gas and coal assets are roughly twice as reliable as solar assets).
\nSince renewable power generation assets operate at capacity less often than dirty power generation assets, dirty power remains more reliable and cost efficient than renewable power. Until renewable power generation assets are built to operate with a high capacity factor, we will remain reliant at least partially on dirty power generation assets. Only once we raise the capacity factor of renewables will we then see the development and scaling up of other technologies that depend on reliable renewable energy (such as running electrolyzers to produce green hydrogen at low cost).
\n"},{"popupId":"negative-externalities","title":"Negative Externalities","content":"Externalities are the secondary and related outputs of activity on uninvolved parties, which in many cases are unintended. For example, the carbon emissions generated at coal power plants are not a desired output but instead a byproduct of generating power. Importantly, externalities have an impact on those not directly involved in the activity.
\nThe pollution from a coal plant harms almost everyone living nearby. Externalities can be negative, as in the case of pollution, or positive, as in the case of education (bettering society, not just the students themselves). In the absence of proper legislation and regulation, no one is directly responsible for externalities.
\nNegative externalities pose significant problems when actors do not choose to handle their externalities of their own volition. However, clever companies figure out how to profit by taking ownership over negative externalities – for example, businesses selling goods made from pollutants.
\n"}]}}},{"id":"cG9zdDoyODI2","databaseId":2826,"title":"Antarctic Odyssey","slug":"antarctic-odyssey","link":"https://www.helena.org/projects/antarctic-odyssey/","date":"2021-02-11T21:29:10","excerpt":"Robert and Barney Swan’s record breaking expedition the South Pole.
\n","isRestricted":false,"featuredImage":{"node":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/12032353/factory-1-scaled.jpg","title":"factory-1"}},"acfProjectDetails":{"seo":{"title":"Helena: Antarctic Odyssey ","metaDescription":"Robert and Barney Swan's record breaking expedition the South Pole.","metaImage":null},"smallerProject":true,"projectIntro":{"headline":"South Pole Energy Challenge","region":"Antarctica","tag":"Expedition","profit":"non-profit","introBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://vimeo.com/285277650","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"In 2017, Helena Member Robert Swan, together with his son Barney, made the 600 nautical mile expedition from the western coast of Antarctica to the South Pole using nothing but renewable energy sources. The trip was entirely carbon neutral, with all emissions offset by forestation and Climeworks-powered direct-air carbon capture.
\n","eyebrow":null}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"The Expedition","size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"antarctica_slide1 (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/15174209/antarctica_slide1-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"The expedition was the largest, most public piece of a larger, ongoing effort to raise awareness about the necessity and urgency of preserving the Antarctic continent, and of the devastation that is already occurring.
\n","eyebrow":null}}]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":[{"type":"Image","text":"In 2041, the fate of Antartica will be decided. ","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen Shot 2021-02-15 at 1.05.09 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/15200548/Screen-Shot-2021-02-15-at-1.05.09-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"The Antarctic Treaty, a global agreement protecting the continent and its resources, will come up for re-negotiation. Its preservation has monumental implications for the future of planet Earth itself.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"antarctic-treaty-nz","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/12172931/antarctic-treaty-nz.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"Helena Member Robert Swan has dedicated his life to preserving and protecting Antartica. One of the top explorers in history, Swan has used his record-breaking expeditions to address climate change on a global stage.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"robert-swan-1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/30142440/robert-swan-1.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Video","text":"In 2017, Swan and his 23-year old son Barney embarked on uncharted territory: a record breaking unassisted expedition to the South Pole using only renewable energy. ","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":{"mediaItemUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/15174039/SPECIntro.mp4"},"videoFiles":{"video":null}},{"type":"Image","text":"The expedition was a critical next step in advocating for the continued protection of the continent and its precious resources.","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"factory-sky-2","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/03035125/factory-sky-2-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null},"video":null,"videoFiles":{"video":null}}]},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"Background","title":"What's At Stake","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Ninety-nine percent of the world’s freshwater ice is contained in two places: the Greenland ice sheet in the north and the Antarctic ice sheet in the south. The Greenland ice sheet is large—1.7 million square kilometers—but it is dwarfed by the Antarctic one, which covers 14 million square kilometers and contains 30 million cubic kilometers of water.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A now-viral 2006 NASA image of a rift in Antartica's Larsen C Ice Shelf","size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"LarsenC_photo_2016315_lrg (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/12171459/LarsenC_photo_2016315_lrg-1-scaled.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Throughout world history, the size of the ice sheets have ebbed and flowed significantly—in the last Ice Age, for example, they covered roughly a third of the planet—but they have been relatively stable for much of the past few millennia. There has always been ice loss—generally on the coasts of the ice sheets, where the surrounding water slowly melts the fringes, and underneath them—but that has been replaced by snowfall, leaving total mass in a steady state.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"NASA Earth Observatory images of the devastating Antarctic warm spell between February 4 and February 13, 2020","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"eagleisland_oli_2020044","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/12171917/eagleisland_oli_2020044.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"This is no longer the case.
\nWith global temperatures increasing (Antarctica saw its warmest day on record in February of 2020, when it was warmer than it was in Los Angeles) and changes in ocean currents and wind patterns, both ice sheets are losing mass much faster than they can gain it back. Since 1992, the Antarctic ice sheet alone has lost roughly 2.7 trillion tons of ice.
\nIn 2011, a team of scientists from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched the Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise to better monitor the levels of Earth’s ice sheets. In 2019, they published a pair of alarming studies in Nature (“that showed that the rate of loss has increased fivefold in the last twenty years, now topping 450 million tons, accounting for a third of the world’s sea level rise.
\n\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"Fortunately, it is almost entirely protected. At least for now."},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"
This tracks almost precisely with the most dire scenarios envisioned by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In these scenarios, they forecast a sea level rise of 60cm by the year 2100. For context, this would submerge the homes of roughly 400 million people.
\nThe sanctity and health of the ice sheets has never been of greater importance, but climate change is not the only threat. The Antarctic region, in particular, is rich in biodiversity and natural resources, making it incredibly valuable. And since it is an autonomous territory with no indigenous population, it is ripe for colonization and exploitation.
\nFortunately, it is almost entirely protected. At least for now.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"The Antarctic Treaty of 1959","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"antarctic-treaty-nz","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/12172931/antarctic-treaty-nz.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"On December 1st, 1959, twelve nations—Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America—signed the Antarctic Treaty. The twelve nations—the only countries to have established scientific research bases on the continent—agreed, over 14 simple articles, “that it is in the interest of all mankind that Antarctica shall continue forever to be used exclusively for peaceful purposes.”
\nThe Antarctic Treaty was the first international treaty signed during the Cold War that included arms control provisions: it established that no military equipment, even that used for scientific research, would ever enter its territory, and it would never be the setting for international discord. The treaty went into effect on June 23, 1961, and was binding for 30 years.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"The Antarctic Treaty was the first international treaty signed during the Cold War that included arms control provisions."},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"As the end of the 30 year period approached, it became clear that the Treaty would have to expand. Protocols on mining and drilling were becoming increasingly necessary as nations were competing with each other for resources.
\nSo, in 1991, the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty was established.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Members deliberating in 1991 ahead of the signed Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty (Via the Secretariat of the Antarctic Treaty)","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"c1b9b9d28c76e79d22fda0f5e5618a07","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/15174524/c1b9b9d28c76e79d22fda0f5e5618a07-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"It was signed by the 26 Consultive Members of the Parties of the Protocol (to be Consultive Member, a nation must agree to the treaty and establish a research base in the territory) and, among other things, established that
\n— “The Parties commit themselves to the comprehensive protection of the Antarctic environment and dependent and associated ecosystems and hereby designate Antarctica as a natural reserve, devoted to peace and science.”
\n— “The protection of the Antarctic environment…shall be fundamental considerations in the planning and conduct of all activities in the Antarctic Treaty area.”
\n— The Parties would co-operate and share information.
\n— All proposed activities would be evaluated beforehand for their environmental impacts.
\n— All mining would be prohibited.
\n\n
The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty was put into effect in 1998. It has a term of 50 years.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Conception of the Expedition","title":"Origins","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Swan's first journey to the South Pole, 1986.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"antarctic-odyssey-2","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/03002000/antarctic-odyssey-2.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"On January 11, 1986, Sir Robert Swan, OBE, touched the South Pole. It would not be the last time. That day marked the culmination of a journey that had commenced more than two years before, on November 3rd, 1984, when he had first set off for Antarctica. The expedition was called “In the Footsteps of Scott,” because it mirrored that of Robert Falcon Scott, who, with his team, was the second person to reach the geographic South Pole in 1912. Scott did not survive the return home.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Sea conditions on the way to Swan's 1984 South Pole Expedition.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"antarctic-odyssey-4","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/15175457/antarctic-odyssey-4.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"After spending the Antarctic winter hunkered down in a self-made shelter by the Jack Hayward Base on the west coast of Ross Island, Swan and his team made the 833 nautical mile trek to the Pole. Over the course of 70 days, with no radios, no help, hauling 350lb sledges behind them through the most inhospitable conditions on Earth, they completed the longest unassisted march in recorded history.
\nThree years later, on May 14, 1989, Swan solidified his legacy as one of the greatest explorers in history. That was the day he completed a 500 nautical mile march to the geographic North Pole, becoming the first man to make both trips on foot. He was accompanied by a team of eight people from all seven continents.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Melting ice in near the North Pole during Swan's 1988-1989 expedition. ","size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"antarctic-odyssey-10-scaled","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/15175719/antarctic-odyssey-10-scaled-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"This arctic expedition was dubbed “Icewalk,” though that was a bit of a misnomer, because the most dangerous aspect of the trip was the distinct lack of ice. Slipping and sliding across ice that should not have been melting for six more months, Swan and his team nearly turned back for fear of drowning.
\nWhat Swan observed corroborated the growing consensus in the scientific community about what was happening to the planet. The discovery of the hole in the ozone layer was first published in Nature in 1985, studies were showing that ice was melting from both poles, and the IPCC was established in 1988, with their first Assessment Report released in 1990. People were starting to take notice.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"Swan's eyes were permanently altered as a result of UV exposure during his North Pole expedition, in which he and his team walked directly under an open hole in the ozone.","size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"factory-sky-1","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/03035122/factory-sky-1.jpeg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Still, the information—and, perhaps more importantly, the potential consequences—was not yet in the public eye. When Swan returned from the North Pole, “global warming” as a term had not yet been coined (or at least used publicly), and widespread acceptance of the phenomenon was being undermined and obfuscated by biased studies and inconclusive assessments funded by fossil fuel companies.
\nTo Swan, though, the evidence was clear. After all, he had nearly drowned in it. In 1991, timed in concordance with the signing of the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, the famous Jacques Cousteau, explorer, environmentalist, inventor (and grandfather of Helena Member Fabien Cousteau) issued Swan a challenge: fifty years to save Antarctica.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Doing Something About It","title":"Creating the 2041 Foundation","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"medium","type":"Video","video":"https://www.ted.com/talks/robert_swan_let_s_save_the_last_pristine_continent?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare","image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":null,"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Fifty years from 1991 is 2041. Thus, the name of the organization Robert Swan launched after speaking with Cousteau: the 2041 Foundation.
\nThe Foundation’s mission is “to engage businesses and communities on climate science, personal leadership, and the promotion of sustainable practices,” and it does so through a combination of youth programs, community outreach and expeditions, all of which are aimed to spread awareness, to educate, and to make the climate fight personal.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"\"Make the climate fight personal.\""},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Since its inception, Swan and the 2041 Foundation have engaged with hundreds of schools and given lectures in over 160 countries. Swan has spoken in front of the World Economic Forum, the United Nations, BNP Paribas, Unit 4, and Corporate Eco Forum, and his TED Talk has been viewed over a million times. The Foundation has set up “E-Bases” (Education Bases) all over the world, each one powered entirely on renewable energy.
\nThe expeditions, though, are what the 2041 Foundation is most famous for. In the last 14 years, the 2041 Foundation has put on 22 separate expeditions—most to the South Pole, but there have also been yacht trips (on a vessel, powered by renewable energies, called the 2041) and bike rides—that have allowed 3500 people to see firsthand the ongoing devastation of climate change.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"A 2041 Foundation Expedition","size":"medium","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Screen Shot 2021-02-15 at 1.05.09 PM","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/15200548/Screen-Shot-2021-02-15-at-1.05.09-PM.png"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Most of these adventures are protected and safe, a way for tourists to experience and connect with the environment without the 350lb sledge drags and frostnipped fingertips. In 2014, though, with the world’s climate forecast looking increasingly bleak, Swan decided to do something bigger, something he hadn’t done for 30 years: he decided to walk, again, to the South Pole.
\nTogether with his twenty-one-year-old son, Barney, Swan committed to the South Pole Energy Challenge (SPEC): not only would they make the trek, they would do so using only renewable energies, and the entire expedition—including air travel—would be entirely carbon neutral.
\n"}]},{"eyebrow":"Gearing Up","title":"Preparation for the South Pole Energy Challenge (SPEC)","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Preparation for the expedition took almost three years. The training was intense: the Swans had to prepare their bodies for two straight months of trekking across an ice sheet, covering 10 nautical miles per day, in temperatures that would be consistently 40 below, hauling 200lb sleds (thankfully technology had streamlined the weight down from the 350lb behemoths of Swan’s past); and they also had to prepare their minds for two straight months of endless ice, with no sunset or respite.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"The Antarctic Landscape. Wind was a central factor in the expedition.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Copy of 1L9A4750","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/15200852/Copy-of-1L9A4750-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"What was just as important was all the work surrounding the trip. The point of the expedition was not just an endurance test, the end result not just a testament to the fortitude of the human will; the point of the expedition was to demonstrate the effectiveness and viability of renewable energy systems while also giving a visible, emotionally-galvanizing image both for the importance of the fight against climate change, and for our capacity for success. For the expedition to accomplish these things, partnerships had to be made, technology acquired, and travel logistics hammered out.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"For the expedition, the 2041 Foundation partnered with Helena, along with some of the leading names in conservationism, fuel technologies, and climate change awareness, including the WWF, Shell, Toyota, and the W-Foundation. The SPEC team arranged to use NASA-designed ice melters, advanced bio-fuels, and solar-powered lithium batteries. (Their sleds were affixed with solar panels to take advantage of the 24-hour sunshine.)
\n\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":"An electric, NASA-designed ice melter for the journey.","size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"1L9A0806 (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/15201222/1L9A0806-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"
The renewable energies would only make the peripatetic leg of their trip carbon neutral. In order to make the entire trip—including travel—carbon neutral, Helena connected the 2041 Foundation with Helena Members Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher, the two founders of Climeworks, a direct-air carbon capture company based in Switzerland and the basis for Helena’s Factory in the Sky project. In order to offset some of SPEC’s emissions, Swan arranged to pay Climeworks to remove from the atmosphere twenty tons of CO2 and sequester it underground. The 2041 Foundation became the world’s first commercial customer of direct-air carbon capture.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"The 2041 Foundation became the world’s first commercial customer of direct-air carbon capture."}]},{"eyebrow":"November 2017","title":"The Expedition","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_ImagevideoContained","imagevideoContained":{"caption":null,"size":"small","type":"Image","video":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"1L9A0570","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/15201603/1L9A0570-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"On November 23rd, 2017, the SPEC team—Robert and Barney Swan, Martin Barnett, the team’s navigator, and Kyle O’Donoghue, the videographer—packed their sleds and set off from Union Glacier for the Pole. The plan was to cover the 600 nautical miles in 60 days, with a small group of six additional people—called the Last Degree team—joining the SPEC team for the final 60 miles (covering the last degree of latitude on the globe).
\nThe trip was harrowing.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Gallery","gallery":{"galleryInitials":null,"galleryItems":[{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"antarctic-odyssey-17 (1)","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/10/03002850/antarctic-odyssey-17-1-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"factory-sky-2","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2020/11/03035125/factory-sky-2-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"Copy of 1L9A0416","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/15201811/Copy-of-1L9A0416-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"IMG_9915","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/15201805/IMG_9915-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}},{"caption":null,"image":{"altText":null,"mainImageMobile":{"altText":"","title":"P1011088","sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/02/15201856/P1011088-scaled.jpg"},"tabletImage":null,"laptopImage":null,"desktopImage":null,"widescreenImage":null}}]}},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The team started off at a good clip, generally staying around 9-10 nautical miles per day, but their pace started to lag as they passed two weeks. They kept a daily blog—usually updated by Barney or Robert, but occasionally by Martin or Kyle—and the tone became bleaker. On Day 3, Robert wrote excitedly, “We skied an incredible and enthusiastic 9.1 nautical miles today.” On Day 14, he wrote, “following our impressive day of 10.1nm yesterday we exceeded our expectations and travelled 10.3nm today!”
\nBut then, on Day 17, Barney: “This place finds weakness.” On Day 25, Kyle: “The team was far more tired than we thought after the past non-stop 25 days.” And, most ominously, on Day 26, Robert: “My body has not recovered as well as I had hoped but my only concern is that I don’t slow the others down. This weighs heavy with me tonight. We must make good time and I hope I can keep pace.”
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"“This place finds weakness.”"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"The schedule was not something that could be missed; the team had rationed out the specific amount of resources that would sustain them for 60 days. To go over was not an option. Due to this constriction, Robert returned to base camp with a little over 300 miles to go. Barney, Martin, and Kyle, continued on. On day 29, they covered almost 11nm, on day 30 more than 14.
\nThis was not the end of Robert’s expedition. He had set out to make it to the Pole with his son, and that’s exactly what he intended to do. Upon returning to base camp, he elected to wait for the Last Degree group, then, with them, rejoin the SPEC team for the last 60 miles to the Pole.
\nOn January 12th, 2018, on day 51, the Last Degree and SPEC teams connected. Then, on day 56, January 17th, the combined groups successfully made it to the South Pole. Robert Swan, at 61 years old, was again at the geographic bottom of the world.
SPEC was never intended to be a one-off event. It was designed to be a catalyst, part of the larger thrust of the 2041 Foundation: a visible, publicized way to inspire climate change awareness and education, and, ideally, an image of hope and motivation for making the necessary changes to avoid climate catastrophe.
\nIts goal of publicity was clearly achieved: it has received almost 400 pieces of news coverage and reached an estimated audience of 570 million people. Barney Swan was invited to speak at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2018. Robert Swan spoke in 27 different countries in 2018-2019 alone.
\nIts goal of expansion was also clearly achieved. Barney used SPEC to help launch a sister organization: ClimateForce, which focuses on funding carbon removal efforts—usually through forestation and direct-air carbon capture. It has a goal of removing 320 gigatons of CO2 from the atmosphere by the year 2025 and offsets every ton of CO2 Barney and Robert accumulate emit on their speaking tours and expeditions.
\n"},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_PullQuote","pullQuote":"The expedition received almost 400 pieces of news coverage and reached an estimated audience of 570 million people."},{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"Neither has stopped adventuring. In the summer of 2019, both Swans led a group of scientists, business leaders, and youth climate activists through the Arctic (and the hottest summer ever recorded in the area). Then, in December of that year, Robert, on a new hip, set off again for the South Pole, as part of the Last 300 expedition. The hip did not make it, but Swan remains undeterred.
\nIn 2022, he plans to embark on Undaunted: Southpole 2022. Over the course of his career, Swan has skied 1,460 nautical miles across Antarctica. With Undaunted, a 65-year-old Swan will complete the last 97 to have traversed the entire continent.
\nThere are less than 20 years left until 2041, which will mark 50 years since the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty was signed. Through efforts like SPEC, progress has been made toward protecting the continent, but, with temperatures continuing to rise and ice sheets continuing to melt, there is much work to be done.
\n"}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":null}}},{"id":"cG9zdDozMDM1","databaseId":3035,"title":"The Consilience Project","slug":"the-consilience-project","link":"https://www.helena.org/projects/the-consilience-project/","date":"2021-03-02T19:11:04","excerpt":"Restoring the information commons.
\n","isRestricted":false,"featuredImage":{"node":{"sourceUrl":"https://cdn.helena.org/wordpress/app/uploads/2021/03/03000316/What-is-Consilience-1.png","title":"What is Consilience (1)"}},"acfProjectDetails":{"seo":{"title":"Helena: The Consilience Project | Helena Projects","metaDescription":null,"metaImage":null},"smallerProject":true,"projectIntro":{"headline":"The Consilience Project","region":"Global","tag":"Sensemaking and Media","profit":"non-profit","introBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_ProjectIntro_IntroBlocks_CopyBlock","copyBlock":{"mainCopy":"Helena is a founding partner of The Consilience Project.
\n","eyebrow":null}}]},"projectHero":{"projectHeroSlide":null},"projectDetailSections":[{"eyebrow":"Executive Summary","title":"The Consilience Project","detailBlocks":[{"fieldGroupName":"project_Acfprojectdetails_projectDetailSections_DetailBlocks_Paragraph","paragraph":"\nDemocracy depends on the institutions of public education and news for collective sensemaking. A government of, for and by the people must equip individuals with the basic ability to make sense of the issues that need government response.
\nIn recent years, these foundational capacities have been damaged to such an extent that almost every consequential topic succumbs to vehement polarization. Institutional decay, perverse incentives and the disruptive effect of new information technologies have contributed to a breakdown in sensemaking so complete that even base facts and reality are disputed. No institutions are accepted as trusted authorities across party lines. Very few people have the training and information access needed to adequately understand critical and complex issues independently. Moreover, there has been an erosion of the culture of civic virtue and good-faith dialogue with opposing ideas; the earnest, constructive conversation required to bridge the gap and find a shared path is missing.
\nOur current media environment drives polarization, misinformation and outrage. Rather than providing the education and insight that empowers people to understand the world and become capable of meaningful participation, the media has debased the capacity for generative civic engagement and participatory governance. For an open society, this trend is existential.
\nTo counter this trend, Helena is partnering with The Consilience Project, a non-profit organization aimed at restoring the integrity of the epistemic commons and catalyzing a new cultural enlightenment. The project seeks to reboot the integrity of open society by advancing collective intelligence.
\nThe Consilience Project has a publishing arm and a movement-catalyzing arm. The publishing arm provides a type of novel coverage of current events: it makes explicit the insights and techniques – or the epistemology and bias correction – it employs. It provides essential education about media literacy and complex sensemaking while offering clear assessment of critical world events. There is particular emphasis on issues that are consequential and highly polarized as well as topics that are important yet remain unaddressed in the media.
\nThe movement-catalyzing arm seeks to curate important projects within relevant disciplines such as public education, media literacy, journalism and social media. It reframes these projects as a nascent movement towards better sensemaking and healthier public culture. This arm intends to host innovation prizes to address unsolved issues and create forums to deepen important conversations through good-faith dialogue.
\nThe Consilience Project is a non-profit that commits to being funded solely through donations. Nothing will ever be behind a paywall and there will be no ads. Data will not be collected and sold. As the project is set to complete after five years, it is clear that it is not seeking a position in the power landscape.
\nIt aims instead to catalyze a decentralized movement that is already nascent but not yet self-conscious, then retire, so there is no lasting center to be captured or corrupted. In partnership with Helena, the Consilience Project seeks to improve collective sensemaking for the benefit of all.
\n"}]}],"sidePopups":{"popups":[{"popupId":"a-note","title":"A Forthcoming Project","content":"This page is an initial summary of a new, developing project. It will be continually updated as The Consilience Project launches and develops in 2021.
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