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Credit: Tom Barnes for IBM/ProMare

Credit: Tom Barnes for IBM/ProMare

Credit: Tom Barnes for IBM/ProMare

Credit: Oliver Dickinson for IBM/ProMare

Credit: Oliver Dickinson for IBM/ProMare

Credit: Oliver Dickinson for IBM/ProMare

Credit: Oliver Dickinson for IBM/ProMare

Credit: Oliver Dickinson for IBM/ProMare

Credit: Oliver Dickinson for IBM/ProMare

Credit: Oliver Dickinson for IBM/ProMare

Credit: Tom Barnes for IBM/ProMare

Credit: Tom Barnes for IBM/ProMare

Credit: Tom Barnes for IBM/ProMare

(Credit Tom Dickenson for ProMare/IBM)

(Credit Tom Dickenson for ProMare/IBM)

(Credit Tom Dickenson for ProMare/IBM)

Localized data on air quality, pollen levels, humidity and temperature will be sent via IBM’s weather data API to Electrolux as a basis for smart app recommendations to help consumers make more informed decisions about when to use appliances such as clothes dryers, air purifiers and air conditioners. (Credit: Electrolux/IBM)

**COMMERCIAL IMAGE** In this photo taken by Feature Photo Service for IBM: Nine young women and men earned their associate degrees in technology from Daley College at the commencement held by the City Colleges of Chicago at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, IL on May 13, 2017. These young trailblazers are Chicago’s first early graduates of Sarah E. Goode STEM Academy, an innovative education model that launched in 2012 in partnership with Chicago Public Schools, Daley College, and IBM. The program gives students the option to complete a six-year program with both a high school diploma and an associate degree in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Some of the graduates, such as Anissa Del Rio and Marcos Montero (second and fourth from left), will finish the program in as little as four years, getting their college degrees four and a half weeks before receiving their high school diplomas. The IBM-inspired P-TECH schools are designed to open new pathways to better prepare young people for college and for “new collar” careers in some of the nation’s fast-growing fields that require sought-after skills that can be learned through innovative public education models like P-TECH, which IBM pioneered. There are currently nearly 60 P-TECH schools in six states across the US. IBM is committed to work with educators and businesses to create an additional 20 schools in the U.S. by this year’s end. (Feature Photo Service)

President Barack Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan visit a classroom at the Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) in Brooklyn, New York, Oct. 25, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

This photograph is provided by THE WHITE HOUSE as a courtesy and may be printed by the subject(s) in the photograph for personal use only. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not otherwise be reproduced, disseminated or broadcast, without the written permission of the White House Photo Office. This photograph may not be used in any commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.

Credit: Tom Barnes for IBM

Credit: Tom Barnes for IBM

Credit: Tom Barnes for IBM

Credit: Tom Barnes for IBM

Credit: Tom Barnes for IBM

This year's IBM "5 in 5" predictions focus on accelerating the discovery of new materials to enable a more sustainable future. In line with the United Nation’s global call-to-action through its Sustainable Development Goals, IBM researchers are working to speed up the discovery of new materials that will address significant worldwide problems. Specifically, we are exploring how technology can be used to reinvent the materials design process to find solutions to such challenges as fostering good health and clean energy as well as bolstering sustainability, climate action and responsible production.

In the next five years, we will be able to capture CO2 from the air and transform it from the scourge of the environment into something useful. The goal is to make CO2 capture and reuse efficient enough to scale globally so we can significantly reduce the level of the harmful CO2 in the atmosphere and, ultimately, slow climate change.

In the next five years, we will be able to capture CO2 more efficiently and transform it into something useful. IBM researchers are working on a sustainable materials development platform for harnessing CO2 as a raw material for monomers and polymers such as plastic. The instrument pictured here is used to synthesize new CO2-based materials designed with a focus towards recyclability that allows for recovery and reuse.

In the next five years, we will replicate nature’s ability to convert nitrogen in the atmosphere into nitrate-rich fertilizer, feeding the growing world while reducing the environmental impact of fertilizers. We’ll come up with an innovative solution to enable nitrogen fixation at a sustainable scale and help feed the world’s rapidly growing population.

In the next five years, we will discover new materials for safer and more environmentally-preferable batteries capable of supporting a renewable-based energy grid and more sustainable transportation. Many renewable energy sources are intermittent and require storage. The use of AI and quantum computing will result in batteries built with safer and more efficient materials for improved performance.

A battery evaluation board in the IBM Research-Almaden Battery Lab used to measure the performance of a cobalt- and nickel-free battery developed by IBM researchers. The researchers showed that the battery could have higher power density, lower flammability and much faster charging times than conventional Li-ion batteries.

A battery tester and cycler in the IBM Research-Almaden Battery Lab, where IBM researchers developed a cobalt- and nickel-free battery that relies on an iodine-based cathode. The researchers showed that the battery could have higher power density, lower flammability and much faster charging times than conventional Li-ion batteries.

In the next five years, we will advance materials manufacturing, enabling semiconductor manufacturers to improve the sustainability of their coveted products. Scientists will embrace a new approach to materials design that enables the tech industry to more quickly produce sustainable materials for the production of semiconductors and electronic devices.

The SUNY Polytechnic Institute Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering’s NanoTech Complex in Albany, NY is an example of where semiconductors are produced and photoresist materials are used. (Photo credit: Dan Corliss)

The SUNY Polytechnic Institute Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering’s NanoTech Complex in Albany, NY is an example of where semiconductors are produced and photoresist materials are used. (Photo credit: Connie Zhou)