What it truly means to ‘Innovate to Scale'!

Innovations are always interesting!?

These can be born anytime, anywhere, and can come from any mind. Your IQ, experience, intellect…nothing matters as much as your will to bring change, to make an impact.

That’s why at Classplus, we ensure that our clan strives to Innovate to Scale irrespective of their position or experience.?

But realistically, many of you may think that…

Is it true though? Are these talks of innovation and bringing a revolution just words??

Well, let’s agree to disagree on this one because we have some real-life examples that’ll hit home the point: innovations are much more than fancy pleasers!

When air travel was revolutionized?

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away…!?

Sorry, wrong place

For this story, we don’t need to go that far…just around 7.6k KMs to Salisbury, England. According to the BBC, it’s here that the first ever aircraft engine running on Hydrogen is being tested.

Currently in a crude setup (without any bodywork, on a test rig with all its wiring exposed), this is a Rolls-Royce AE-2100A gas turbine that’s conventionally used in most regional aircrafts around the world. These tests are being carried out by Rolls Royce (duh!) in partnership with EasyJet.

As mentioned before, this isn’t an out-of-the-world innovation but one born out of concern for the environment. Fossil fuels continue to be the major polluters. So when it comes to cutting down emissions to prevent climate change, cleaner fuels are the 1st step to go.?

The idea behind this was simple. Conventional jet fuel contains kerosene, which is a hydrocarbon. This means it produces carbon dioxide when it burns. Hydrogen, on the other hand, doesn’t contain any carbon. This means, no CO2 when burning!

Hydrogen gives off more clean power per KG as compared to other conventional fuels. In fact, it beats even the much-renowned Battery technology. On the use of Lithium-ion batteries, David Morgan (COO, EasyJet) called them, “Too heavy to power larger planes.”

Are aircrafts ready to run on Hydrogen completely? NO

Have we figured out storage as Hydrogen takes almost 4x the space of kerosene? NO

Do we know for sure how to store liquified H (-253°C)? NO

Is the manufacturing of said fuel 100% sustainable? NO

The road to a full-fledged use of clean fuels is long…but this innovation by Rolls Royce and EasyJet holds promise. A promise that with constant improvements, this innovation will bring a tech revolution in the future.

When a shrub created history

For this one, we got to come back home but go a little more back in time!

In a significant breakthrough in 2018, a bio-jet fuel powered SpiceJet Bombardier Q-400 aircraft with 25 people onboard flew between Dehradun and Delhi.

This 43-minute flight became the first of its kind to use a blended fuel that contained 25% bio-jet fuel and 75% conventional ATF (air turbine fuel). The former was created by primarily using inedible oils from the Jatropha plant seeds. The ‘Jatropha Fuel’ had been in the making for almost 9 years, since Virgin Atlantic took its first biofuel powered test flight.

Developed by the Dehradun-based Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP), the HEFA (Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids) bio-jet fuel got patented by the American Standard for Testing in 2011. It was later tested on a Pratt and Whitney engine in Canada.

Further expanding on the usability of the Jatropha fuel, IIP Director Dr. Anjan Ray claimed that, “We have the requisite technology, which is ready to be transferred for use by oil refineries for mass scale production. 70% of the cost of the biofuel constitutes the feed cost and therefore if the production of these crops can be scaled up, the oil produced can be cost competitive.”

This fuel is also low on sulphur content, which means it’s less prone to wear and tear.

This innovation has truly stood the test of time as Jatropha fuel production hasn’t been ruled out. This flight was proof that with a more planned out and developed supply chain, this bio jet fuel can be used in flights. As Jatropha fuel has an impressively low acre productivity, scaling production won’t be harming the environment.

In fact, it could rather reduce fuel costs by 15-20%.

What it means for Classplus

As mentioned before, one of the main pillars of Classplus is the GP that calls for the clan to strive to Innovate to Scale. The best way to achieve this is to…

Plan at 1

Execute at 10?

But, Plan for 100!

Yes you may fail, or may not perform up to your potential. But what’s important is that you tried, you envisioned, and you tried.

The 2 examples discussed are not success stories, but the beginning of potential revolutions. This is what the power of innovation holds in all our lives.

So, never stop dreaming and innovating!

Classplus News ??

9 GPs: The Fuel to the Classplus Rocketship

It’s this ‘fuel’ that’s powered all of us for the last 5 years. So, as Classplus completes 100k?

Given how important these have been in building Classplus, we decided to get our first edition of the ‘Classplus Merch’ dedicated to our Greatness Principles.

Sifaarishein ??(Recommendations)

Does one of the greatest agencies in the world have any room left to innovate?

Does innovation stop after you reach a certain level?

We say NO, and that’s what this week’s recommendation is all about.

Mindhunters is a show on Netflix that traces the beginnings of the Serial Crime Unit of the FBI. At a time (70s and 80s) when America was going to war with foreign forces, there was a war that had to be fought internally too…the war with serial killers!

With these people constantly outsmarting the law and slipping under the radar, the time came for an innovation in the way the FBI functioned. Thus was born the Serial Crime Unit!

Witness the story of one of the world’s watershed innovations that saved countless lives!