Tailwind Futures invests in technologies that help corporations futureproof the infrastructure, workforce, and supply chain of today and tomorrow.
The Resilience Game Changers
How scientific breakthroughs can accelerate adaptation and resilience globally.
University-originated research has paved the way for advanced technologies and improvements across every industry. As climate impacts become more visible and more devastating, a growing number of academics and researchers are turning their attention to technological innovation and research that could support, enhance and accelerate climate adaptation.
Our new report highlights opportunities by identifying university-originated research that is enabling new climate resilience solutions across industries. Understanding the emerging technologies, their maturity and their potential applications enables investors, entrepreneurs and adopters to strategically monitor relevant developments and plan targeted engagement. The report includes five detailed case studies focused on platform technologies that enable material change across a range of sectors and adaptation-related needs.
The first three technologies, passive daytime radiative cooling, metal organic frameworks and genomics & gene editing, were unlocked by breakthroughs over a decade ago and have been powering spinouts for years, with ongoing R&D discovering new resilience applications.
4D printing and solvent-based desalination technologies have received more R&D attention recently, with ongoing discoveries shining light on potential resilience applications in healthcare and industry respectively. There is still much to discover in terms of both technological and financial feasibility at scale, but these could underpin potentially game changing innovations over the next decade.
This report was produced with funding and support from Quadrature Climate Foundation (QCF), a philanthropic funder focused on addressing the interconnected challenges of human security, poverty and inequality, and climate risk.
This research is part of an ongoing effort to raise awareness of A&R commercial use cases for researchers and shine the lights on interesting technologies within the VC community, including next week’s (sold out!) Climate Week NYC event From Lab to Market: Accelerating Adaptation and Resilience Technologies.
On Thursday Oct 29th at 9am Pacifc Time / 12pm Eastern Time, we’ll discuss the key findings from the report and our view of the role deep tech innovation plays in the resilience investments. Bring your questions and join an interactive webinar with the lead author of the report, Natalie Ambrosio Preudhomme.
When we first launched Tailwind in 2023, almost every conversation with climate tech investors started with: “What do you mean by adaptation? Do you have examples?” This experience and the broader need on the market for a consistent and easy-to-use framework led us to develop the original (2024) Adaptation & Resilience Taxonomy. The taxonomy has been widely used by financial institutions and policymakers globally to inform their thinking about adaptation investment needs and the range of solutions they might consider.
This updated version of the Taxonomy addresses user feedback and reflects our evolving view of the market and opportunities, with updates to key sectors and a more granular breakdown of solutions type.
The new solutions categories break away from the traditional software/hardware divide to reflect the full spectrum of innovation including physical AI, sensors, autonomous drones and robotics as its own category:
The updated Taxonomy will inform our future research publications and support our own market analysis. We hope it serves other investors, startups and funders as they explore needs and opportunities in adaptation and resilience solutions.
Capturing the Trillion-Dollar Adaptation Investment Opportunity – MSCI
The opportunity in climate resilience can be hard to define since it’s not disclosed as dedicated business lines in annual reports, but MCSCI’s latest analysis leverages a robust collection of corporate disclosures, alongside Tailwind Future’s aforementioned Taxonomy and Adaptation & Resilience Innovation Playbook to match companies’ reported products and services to their resilience applications and maturity. This helps institutional investors identify climate resilience investment opportunities that fit their time horizons, ranging from water tech which is already integrated into products of many public companies to wildfire resilience tech which is an area of rising demand but less innovation to date.
Preparing for an Uncertain Flood Future – Hohonu
Last week, the flood sensor company Hohonu hosted a webinar examining the pros and cons of AI forecasting models, the outlook for this rest of this year’s hurricane season and Hohonu’s upcoming seasonal flood prediction tool.
Dr. Rick Knabb (Hurricane Expert, The Weather Channel)
Dr. Philippe Tissot (Chair for Coastal Artificial Intelligence, Conrad Blucher Institute, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi)
Dr. Greg Dusek (Coastal Science Advisor, Hohonu)
Accelerators, Fellowships & Prizes
Halcyon is reviewing applications for its 2027 programs, looking for founders across the US, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean who are using technology to expand access to healthcare, strengthen climate adaptation and resilience, improve educational outcomes for underserved communities, and drive AI-powered solutions for the future of work.
Selected founders will receive a $6,000 equity-free stipend, participate in two in-person residencies with accommodations provided, gain access to Halcyon’s extensive network of investors, mentors and advisors, partners, and fellow entrepreneurs, and access additional resources to support growth and scale.Learn more and submit your eligibility form here.
