PLANET HOME ANNOUNCES $1 MILLION TOUGH TECH PRIZE AT INAUGURAL GALA DURING TOUGH TECH WEEK
Planet Home to Annually Recognize the Most Innovative and Impactful Technologies from Around the World
BOSTON, Nov. 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Planet Home, a company dedicated to building, launching and scaling Tough Tech companies, has announced the debut of the $1 million Planet Home Prize – a new global award recognizing breakthrough technologies redefining how we eat, make, move and live in balance with the planet.
The prize was unveiled at the inaugural Planet Home Gala, held at the Boston Center for the Arts, which brought together leading voices from science, AI, sustainability and finance to explore technology's role in building planetary resilience. Dr. Maria Galou-Lameyer, part of two teams honored with the Nobel Prize, and Executive Director at Merck, announced the prize at the event. The Planet Home Prize will be awarded annually during Boston's Tough Tech Week to recognize breakthrough innovations advancing global sustainability and health, with entries evaluated by an esteemed international panel of expert judges. Prize submissions will begin on February 15th, 2026 with full rules to be shared on PlanetHome.eco.
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Images: Credit Denise Truscello for Planet Home
"The debut of the Planet Home Prize marks a major moment for the Tough Tech, sustainability and investor communities," said Dr. Daniel Doneson, managing partner of Planet Home. "By bringing together pioneers in AI, science, finance and philanthropy at our gala, we demonstrated what's possible when innovation is driven by purpose. The launch of the Planet Home Prize is not just about recognizing breakthrough technologies – it's about igniting a movement to build the future."
Hosted by Emmy-nominated comedian Kiran Deol, the gala paired high-level discussion with creative performances at the intersection of science, technology and the arts.
FEATURED DISCUSSIONS
- SIDS Nations Leading Sustainable Innovations: The Honorable Walter Roban, former Deputy Premier of Bermuda; and Dr. Albert Binger, UN Secretary-General of SIDS DOCK, led a conversation spotlighting island nations pioneering marine conservation, renewable energy and "Blue Prosperity" initiatives as models for global sustainability. The discussion highlighted technologies such as Seabased, the world's leading wave energy venture, as a scalable solution harnessing blue wave ocean power to advance energy independence and climate resilience across island nations.
- Will AI Be Good?: Moderated by Dr. Hilary C. Robinson, Associate Professor of Law and Sociology at Northeastern University, this explored the ethical frontiers of artificial intelligence. Panelists included Dr. Xinghui Yin, Research Scientist directing the Quantum Measurement Group at MIT, De Kai, who holds a joint appointment at HKUST's Department of Computer Science and Engineering and at Berkeley's International Computer Science Institute,and author of the critically acclaimed Raising AI (MIT Press); and Stefan Krause, Partner and CEO of Factory Network and former CFO of BMW and Deutsche Bank.
- Asked whether AI will be good, De Kai said, "We each have 100 AIs in our phones. They are like unparented feral children and the biggest influencers on Earth."
- Krause added, "Factory Berlin is an AI-powered company builder where world-class talent across tech, art, and music come together to build what actually matters. What we witnessed in Boston with Planet Home confirms it: the future belongs to communities that can turn vision into action at scale. Berlin is stepping into that role, and Factory Berlin is leading the charge."
- Moving $250B into Tough Tech: David Doneson, CEO of the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science; and Mark Veich, CEO of CobiCure and formerly Deerfield Management and Cornell-Weil, examined how philanthropy and innovation capital are mobilizing billions toward deep-tech solutions for global health and sustainability.
- Living Labs – Building a Sustainable Future: This showcased several of the most exciting ventures and their founders at the forefront of sustainable innovation with the potential to change the world.
- Valentina Videva Dufresne, President of Zehnder Group, North America, said during the panel, "Our mission is to deliver a healthy indoor climate, especially healthy air, in an aesthetic, whisper-quiet, comfortable and energy efficient way, and this requires solving hard technology hurdles. We feel a true responsibility to engineer and design for a world where human wellbeing meets sustainability - not as competing priorities, but as one integrated design principle for living better on this planet."
Brought to life in partnership with Factory Berlin and Zehnder Group North America, Planet Home's event hosted several of the companies they are building with – Seabased, Malstrom Molecules and DataEnergy – advancing innovations in wave energy, molecular plastic recycling and clean AI Data Center Infrastructure. All are in residence at The Engine, built by MIT.
- DataEnergy: DataEnergy designs and develops the next generation of AI data centers – high-performance, modular colocation sites powered entirely by renewable hydropower. Its first-principles approach to energy, physics and architecture creates infrastructure where efficiency equals profitability. By optimizing every element – from location and cooling to waste-heat reuse – they deliver more compute per megawatt and more value per molecule of energy. With a global hydropower development pipeline and a scalable modular blueprint, DataEnergy is building the world's most efficient and future-proof AI infrastructure platform, engineered to outperform and outlast legacy fossil data centers.
- Malstrom Molecules: Malstrom Molecules is a producer of circular-origin molecules to replace the use of petroleum in the production of plastics. Malstrom's proprietary kinetic conversion technology is seen as one of the most promising circular technologies in the world today, and has been selected to be a part of The Engine at MIT. Kinetic conversion can convert the entire range of end-of-life plastic waste into oil suitable as petrochemical feedstock. Malstrom's production process is self-powering, and its facilities have received ISCC-PLUS certification. It is currently accelerating its global rollout to turn the tide in the war against plastic waste – and to transform one of our most problematic pollutants into a valuable resource.
- Seabased: Seabased's patented technology is central to its mission as a Blue Energy innovator. Its wave-to-grid system harnesses the steady power of ocean waves, reinventing the idea of sustainable energy with a renewable power solution that is grid-ready, gentle on the marine environment and reef-generating. Ideal for island and coastal markets, the system's modular building blocks can custom design both small and large wave parks tailored to specific site requirements that can be built up or expanded to meet demand, enhancing flexibility and reducing risk. Following full-scale multi-generator demonstrations in Sweden and Ghana, Seabased is advancing toward full commercial rollout, with utility-scale wave parks under development for coastal and island markets beginning with the Caribbean.
Visit planethome.eco or follow @PlanetHome on social media.
About Planet Home
Planet Home bridges culture, science, engineering and investments to accelerate solutions for the planet's most pressing challenges. Through immersive events, summits, think tanks and venture partnerships, the studio connects the culture and technology worlds to drive action across how we eat, make, move and live. Co-founded by Antony Randall and Gabrielle Hull, and with Managing Partner Dr. Daniel Doneson, Planet Home's ventures are breakthrough science-backed, innovatively engineered and built to scale. Our portfolio in residence at The Engine currently includesSeabased, Malstrom Molecules and DataEnergy, as well as a broader ecosystem of the world's leading tough tech pioneers, tackling some of the planet's most pressing challenges.
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