ACE advises: Innovation isn’t just about having a cool idea. It’s about solving a real problem for enough people to justify the time and capital required to bring it to market. The most durable innovations strengthen systems by making them more sustainable, efficient or resilient.
Sustainability: designing for long-term Impact. Sustainability-focused innovation reduces environmental harm while maintaining performance.
Viable Gear, in Portland, has developed a seaweed-based material technology, using their fibers to make twine for agriculture and aquaculture, to replace petroleum-based plastics. These products address long-term plastic pollution while remaining durable in harsh environments.
Salmonics, which is based at Brunswick Landing, advances sustainability by upcycling proteins from farmed fish into high-performance biomedical reagents and veterinary surgical products — a novel use for processing byproducts that would otherwise go to waste. Instead of discarding fish byproducts, the company transforms them into valuable scientific inputs.
If your idea reduces waste, replaces extractive materials, or lowers environmental impact without sacrificing function, it may have strong sustainability potential.
Efficiency: doing more with less. Efficiency-driven innovation simplifies processes, reduces cost, or improves speed and accuracy.
Satya Diagnostics, a Portland startup spun out of University of New England research, is commercializing a blood-based biomarker test to monitor aggressive cancers. By creating an easier way to track disease progression, the company aims to reduce reliance on more invasive methods.
Resilience: strengthening systems. Resilient systems can withstand disruption. Salmonics’s fish-derived serums, which avoid mammalian pathogens and diversify biological inputs, help reduce supply and safety risks in research and biotechnology.
When evaluating your idea, ask: Does it improve sustainability, efficiency or resilience? What will it cost to develop and test? And will enough customers pay for that improvement?
The path to market for each of these companies is long and capital-intensive. Yet each is pursuing a projected total addressable market of more than $1 billion, with a serviceable market of roughly $500 million — clearly more than just cool ideas.
ACE board member Terry Johnson of Practical Decisions manages the Maine Center for Entrepreneurs’ mentor network. To learn more on developing markets for sustainable, efficient and resilient products, register for Climate Work Maine’s 2026 Summit, March 19 at Thompson’s Point in Portland. climateworkmaine.org/summit-2026
