Raising NewSpace Dollars, Killing It With AI, and Printing Subs

Welcome to the 8th edition of the Industrial Innovation Advocate. This week we highlight "NewSpace" investment, the latest on the Navy's efforts to scale up its use of 3D printing, and food for thought on how we can use AI in our marketing and communications efforts in a more impactful way.

Alpine Space Ventures Closes Fund to Grow Space Economy

TechCrunch reported this week that Alpine Space Ventures, based in Munich, closed what it says is "the largest first-time VC fund dedicated to space globally," at a $184 million (€170 million). Most of the dollars are aimed at European companies (70%), up to $5.4 million spread over 10-15 investments.

There are a lot of SpaceX ties at the firm, with Founding Partner Bulent Altan leaving the company in 2016 after serving as VP of Satellite Mission Assurance for Starlink satellites. Technical Director Catriona Chambers spent 16 years there, most recently as Director of Starship Avionics. "We are very much aligned with what SpaceX has done, and we are investing in the wake of it," Altan said in a statement.

The firm already lists five start-ups in its portfolio. These include Reflex Aerospace , which delivers customized high-performance satellites in just nine months at low cost. By combining generative design, 3D printing, sensor integration, machine learning and error correction, Reflex is able to increase the precision of satellites significantly. The satellites are free of ITAR parts, simplifying export and identifying international launch sites.

Another is Morpheus Space , which develops electronic propulsion systems for maneuvering satellites in orbit. This is important as the proliferation of satellites and debris in space increase the risk of damaging collisions.

A Different Way to Think About AI in Marketing and Communications

One of my former agency colleagues, Tim Gingrich , now a brand strategist at top-notch tech agency 万卓环球 , argued compellingly in a LinkedIn post recently that we're not thinking about AI right as we consider its applications in marketing and communications contexts.

Creative professionals need to make a shift: ???????? ?????????? ???? ???? ???????? ????????????; ???? ???????????? ???????????? ???????? ?????? ????.

In other words, if all we're doing is using AI to write something faster, design something cheaper, or do some quick research easier, those are hardly killer apps. Instead, what about employing AI to execute creative campaigns that couldn't be done any other way? One example is a campaign from Orange . Watch this.

To support women’s soccer, Orange used AI to put men’s faces on women players—challenging sexist perceptions to win over fans.

In an industrial innovation context, how can we surprise people with their assumptions about manufacturing through creative marketing? How can we help them experience new technologies like industrial augmented reality and robotics in unexpected ways? This is for the creative directors to figure out, but it takes leadership support. I believe that if we could apply just a fractional of the creative effort that we expend on car insurance or fast food towards industrial innovation marketing, we could do some amazing things in the world. Food for thought.

HP 3D Printing Collaborates With NAVSEA to Revitalize Submarine Industrial Base

HP this week announced that it is collaborating with the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) technology office to develop advanced manufacturing solutions for submarines. The collaboration is centered on HP's Metal Jet 3D printers and is focused on using new materials and designs for ship construction to shorten production timelines from months to days.

Dr. Kevin Genson, NAVSEA additive manufacturing engineering manager, said in a statement that HP's technology "has demonstrated potential towards the use of metal AM in materials such as stainless steels and superalloys for new ship construction as well as Fleet sustainment."

Last year, Navy Rear Adm. Jonathan Rucker told a hearing of the House Armed Services Subcommittee that additive manufacturing is essential of the Navy is going to get its plans back on track to produce three submarines a year. "If you look across components on the ships—forgings, castings, fittings, valves, fasteners—we cannot meet the demand to be able to support building the submarines we need, as well as supporting sustainment, without going to additive manufacturing," he told lawmakers (see Defense One ).

Executive Director of Strategic Submarines Matthew Sermon told an audience at the Additive Manufacturing Strategies conference in New York last February that this effort is his team's "Manhattan Project." The objective, he told the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space conference in April, is to go from a couple 3D printed parts to around 100 by the end of this year.

It Takes a Story

Everything in life can be a riveting drama, from selling paper in Scranton to running a media and entertainment company in New York. When you set a story in motion, people pay attention and they remember. If you're raising money, launching a product, attracting talent, or entering a new market, let's talk about the story you can tell, and where you can tell it, to draw in the people that matter to you!