Important Innovations

US Congress May Ban Chinese Maker of Subway Trains for National Security Source:  CRRC Subway Cars for Boston's MBTA China's Highly Advanced Surveillance Technology China's state owned subway car maker CRRC has a new $100 million plant in Chicago and a deal to provide Chicago with 846 cars.  It has similar deals with Boston's MBTA and with Los Angeles' Metro system.  CRRC, which is the world's largest train manufacturer, hopes to win contracts from big cities across the US.  But, business for the company in the US may be coming to a screeching halt. National Security and Economic Concerns The US Congress is expected to ban the company from bidding on any more contracts.  The reason is China's highly advanced surveillance technology and the concern that the spy tech could be embedded in the subway cars to spy on Americans.  Some are calling the Chinese subway cars "Spy Trains".  The proposal has bipartisan support and is attached to a mil

Plant Based Meat Wars Source:  Impossible Burgers Big Rollouts Start On August 9th, 7200 Burger Kings in the US will have the Impossible Burger on their menus.  It's a national rollout for a plant-based burger patty created by Stanford University Professor Emeritus Pat O'Reilly Brown.  His burger was a big crowd pleaser and innovation award winner at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.  Journalists and attendees commented that "it tastes so good, who needs meat?". He's been rolling out the alternative meat burger in restaurants since 2016. Consumer concerns about the health implications of eating beef and the unrelenting slaughter of animals are accelerating growth in the alternative meat industry globally. Meat Substitute Competition There is another big contender in the faux meat arena - Beyond Meat of Los Angeles.  Founded by entrepreneur Ethan Browne, the company also produces plant based meat substitutes.  It just announced that Subway