$350 MILLION POWER PLANT DEAL
Bangladesh is racing to massively boost its power-generation capacity, with a goal to reach 24,000 megawatts by 2021. GE already has 37 turbines in the country — and has now said it would develop a new 600-megawatt combined-cycle power plant near Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital.
Advanced turbines: The power station will use GE Power’s 9HA gas turbine as well as a steam turbine and a generator to produce electricity. The 9HA turbines are considered the most advanced gas turbines in GE’s portfolio. They are already powering the world’s most efficient combined-cycle power plants. When the plant comes online in 2021, it will generate enough electricity to supply the equivalent of 700,000 local homes. The plant-development deal is valued at $350 million.
Read more about the future power plant in Bangladesh here.
MATCHMAKING FOR MANUFACTURING
The Maryland-based company Xometry built a software platform that connects businesses with a network of 2,500 manufacturers. It allows smaller machine shops to grow their customer base by logging onto Xometry’s website and submitting bids for new projects. For companies on the other side of the equation — there are 10,000 members seeking manufacturing capacity — instant access to thousands of producers can be a lifesaver.
Nuts and bolts: “Xometry functions as our sales-and-marketing arm, making it easy for us to take on work without the cost and hassle of quoting jobs,” said chief technology officer Nick Aydelotte of the small Austin-based manufacturing services company Billet Studio. Xometry's customers include BMW, NASA and GE. Last year, the company doubled its annual revenue to roughly $40 million. GE Ventures and BMW are also investors in Xometry.
Read more about Xometry here.
PARALYZED MAN WALKS AGAIN (WITH HELP)
Researchers at Mayo Clinic and the University of California, Los Angeles have helped a man who was paralyzed since 2013 to walk with assistance. Starting in 2016, the man went through 22 weeks of physical therapy. Next, the team implanted an electrode below the man’s spinal cord injury, “enabling neurons to receive the signal that he wanted to stand or step,” according to a news release. Today, he is able to stand and walk with help when the stimulator is turned on.
""What this is teaching us is that those networks of neurons below a spinal cord injury still can function after paralysis,"" Kendall Lee, co-principal investigator, neurosurgeon and director of Mayo Clinic's Neural Engineering Laboratories said in a press release.
""Now I think the real challenge starts, and that's understanding how this happened, why it happened, and which patients will respond,” added Lee’s colleague Kristin Zhao, co-principal investigator and director of Mayo Clinic's Assistive and Restorative Technology Laboratory.
Read more about the man’s journey to walk again here.
— VIDEO OF THE WEEK —
— QUOTE OF THE DAY —
“Our platform doesn’t only ensure that manufacturers get work, but that they get the right work.”
— Randy Altschuler, Xometry CEO
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