Creating your question(s)

Company questions posed to AIMday Sustainability will be communicated via this website to academics and researchers throughout the University of Edinburgh, allowing them to select the questions they feel they can add most value to according to their individual expertise.

When phrasing your question(s), please ensure that they are concrete and clear (with no abbreviations) and that they can be discussed openly. This style of question works best for the AIMday format.

It helps to add context and background to your question(s), so that it is clear what exactly your challenge is and how our academics could potentially help find the solution.

We also recommend that at least two company representatives are available to join the discussion of each your questions in order to have a better balance in the session. The company representatives should be well versed in the topic of the question(s) submitted and be prepared to provide further context and background.

We welcome up to three questions from each participating company or organisation.

Some examples of possible questions are listed below. You are welcome to contact us if you need help phrasing an appropriate question.

  • How can synthetic biology be used in my business to improve productivity and reduce waste?
  • How can the cell be used to sustainably produce our raw materials?
  • How can we scale up cell-based production to industrial level?
  • How can fresh produce be processed to be shelf stable while maintaining “as good as fresh” texture?
  • How can synthetic biology help speed up my product development life cycle?
  • What alternative and more durable materials that could be used in the construction of wind turbines?
  • What opportunities are there to incorporate sustainability and cost-saving into design?
  • How can Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning impact consumer demand in the energy sector?
  • Under what conditions would an energy plant utilising biomass and Carbon Capture and Storage Technology be genuinely carbon negative?
  • How can we effectively connect hydrogen generated at remote wind farms to the wider market?
  • How can we extract useful energy from low-grade heat sources in our industrial processes?
  • What new technologies for storing energy short, and long term would allow increasing use of micro-grids and reduce the strain on the national grid?