The goldmine of science innovation

Last Friday, I received my order of Anew kids nail polish in the mail. A bottle of nail polish is a small thing, but it pointed to something significant. Most of today’s nail products release volatile organic compounds that, when inhaled over time, increase the risk of cancer, harm reproductive health, and affect fetal development. As a result, nail technicians are three times more likely to have children with birth defects. There are nearly 400,000 nail technicians working in approximately 60,000 salons across the US, and 80% of them are women and immigrants. Jiye, Anew’s Founder, was one of these women. A former nail technician and PhD chemist, she’s building the company on the belief that better materials start with a deep understanding of both the science and the people people it seeks to serve. Anew nail polish is now the first and only one that’s free from volatile chemicals and microplastics. Jiye is one of many exceptionally talented researchers with breakthrough innovations with the potential to dramatically transform key industries and accelerate social progress.

The Philosophy of the Opportunity

American universities are sitting on a massive goldmine of scientific innovation that is underutilized and underinvested. The world’s attention has been captured by software and novel digital technologies, but the next frontier of national competitiveness is the extraction of value in deeper sciences: materials, life, and physical sciences that can reimagine foundational industries from first principles.

The Background

A few months ago I wrote a post, What if AI was a goldmine, to help frame the massive capital investment in artificial intelligence. Today I want to suggest that science-based innovation may be an even richer goldmine, especially as we think about bridging the gap between innovation and lived experience. Software-defined solutions are hitting the ceiling of what they can solve alone. The transformations ahead in energy, health, infrastructure, and manufacturing will require science that operates at the level of atoms and molecules, not just algorithms.

The Market

The sectors I’m most excited about are ones where innovation maps directly to societal outcomes, and where the gap between what’s possible, what exists, and who it reaches is enormous.

How do we lower the cost of living? (Economic mobility—structural change from the bottom up): Think affordable housing, built environments, and innovations in materials and manufacturing that reduce the cost of essentials such as housing and transportation. This is about creating onramps for those who have been left behind. Jiye’s story is a perfect example: a breakthrough that directly improves the daily conditions and long-term health of hundreds of thousands of workers.
How do we fix health before it breaks? (Moving from reactive to proactive care): The real opportunity is in early detection and diagnostics, lower-cost therapeutics, and care delivery that reaches people earlier. The companies doing the most interesting work here are building at the intersection of biology, chemistry, and technology in ways that pure software couldn’t reach.
How do we rebuild what we’ve damaged? (Environmental resilience, energy, food and agricultural systems): The opportunity is in creative utilization of the planet to sustain ourselves without worsening imbalances that trigger negative consequences. Companies rethinking land and water usage, long duration energy storage, circular economy and materials recovery are especially interesting.

A few examples: Sublime Systems makes cement using electrochemistry instead of fossil fuels. Twelve turns CO₂ into fuels and chemicals. C16 Biosciences uses fermentation to produce oils that replace palm oil. Arbon’s humidity-swing technology captures carbon. These are companies are reimagining the invisible, critical industries whose performance determines quality of life for billions.

People Doing Great Work

I wanted to highlight a few people doing excellent work in this space. Andrew Chang and Aimee Rose are working on an exciting project. Will Zeng recently invited me to Physics tech, a showcase of Quantonation’s portfolio companies.

The Outcome

I began my career backing companies that scaled consumer access in wellness and sustainability. Over time I became convinced that real leverage was in technology that drives larger-scale socioeconomic outcomes. What I’m understanding rapidly is that while software and digital platforms hog the attention, the other STEMs just may be where deep opportunity lies.

At Fairbridge we are laser focused on unlocking underserved markets in areas of lagging social progress. Science-based innovation is increasingly central to that mission. The goldmine isn’t just code. It’s in the chemistry, the biology, the physics.

Get Involved

If you are building in this space, we want to hear from you.

1. You can learn more about Fairbridge’s mandate and sign up for our monthly newsletter

2. And you can apply for funding

If you are a strategic partner interested in learning more about our programs and to collaborate, please reach out to me. Some of our work includes:

1. Expanding our investment program by finding more exceptional mission-driven founders

2. Our community and platforms activities to catalyze formation of new ventures in the space for Progress Gaps