Social Innovation: Apple Power

Apple is working on creating greener social innovation in its technology offerings. In fact the digital company has recently been granted patents for theoretical designs for a hydrogen fuel cell system that could power mobile devices. It submitted two documents to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office proposing to produce laptops and smartphones powered by hydrogen fuel cells that would last for weeks without needing to be refuelled. Apple states in its proposal that it would "eliminate the need for a bulky and heavy battery."

This social innovation technology has long been pushed as a potential power source for cleaner cars. Now, electronics manufacturers have also shown interest in replacing batteries that rely on toxic chemicals. Instead these cells would be hydrogen fuels, a cell that converts hydrogen and oxygen into water and electrical energy, that lasts longer and produces only water as a byproduct.  Apple believes that these hydrogen fuels cells could be smaller and lighter than batteries, yet still power mobile computers for longer.

Environmental issues and the related social innovation movement has survived the global economic downturn, proving that it is a topic that is here to stay—a trend that Apple increasingly recognises. The company believes there are a number of significant emerging opportunities and challenges for the digital industry. Apple stated in its patent filings, "Our country's continuing reliance on fossil fuels has forced our government to maintain complicated political and military relationships with unstable governments in the Middle East, and has also exposed our coastlines and our citizens to the associated hazards of offshore drilling.  These problems have led to an increasing awareness and desire on the part of consumers to promote and use renewable energy sources".

Battery technology has long been viewed as a block in the smartphone sector, leading companies to focus on developing processors with lower power consumption. Therefore,  fuel cells such as Apple proposes can change the landscape,  enabling continued operation of portable electronic devices for days or even weeks without refuelling. The two Apple social innovation patents, entitled - "Fuel Cell System to Power a Portable Computing Device" and "Fuel Cell System Coupled to a Portable Computing Device" are not the first signs that Apple is working hard to replace battery technology. This October, a further pair of patent applications detailed ways of squeezing more power from lighter hydrogen fuel cells.

It's long been assumed that hydrogen fuel cells are the future of battery technology. Unfortunately, there's no guarantee that we'll see this technology in the real world any time soon, or that it can actually be built into a working product. The challenge now is for Apple to make the battery small enough to power a mobile device. As consumers, we would certainly love to see this technology come to fruition...maybe Apple will succeed for the iPhone 7 generation!