Micro-Factories and Hyperlocal Food with Wayne McIntyre from Relocalize

In this episode of The Climate Cycle we talk with Wayne McIntyre, founder and CEO of Relocalize. Relocalize is eliminating middle mile logistics with hyper-local food production, starting with the packaged ice industry.

Transporting food produces about 3 gigatonnes of CO2 each every year. And while electrifying transport will play a huge rule in reducing those emissions, Wayne and the Relocalize team asked “What if instead of electrifying all these links in the chain, we eliminated them entirely?”.

Wayne McIntyre brings over 20 years of experience in strategy, law, and technology. He has led growth transformations, M&A, and building commercial teams in both technology startups and large corporations.

We explore: the inefficiencies and high carbon costs of our current food system, why now is the right time to challenge centralization, the difference between automation and autonomy, and his vision for a hyper-local food system.

Highlights:

• [4:28] The origins of Relocalize and mining for problems
• [7:55] The climate problem embedded in middle-mile logistics
• [12:38] Solving supply chain resiliency while decarbonizing
• [15:06] Why now is the right time for decentralized production
• [17:01] Automation vs autonomy and closing unsolved gaps
• [26:01] How to break down complex systems and identify opportunities
• [29:56] Why a diverse team is critical for disrupting traditional sectors
• [34:34] Scaling to deploy hundreds of factories a year
• [37:14] Why we need patient capital for really disruptive innovation
• [40:07] How we can get the incentives for big risks right

Episode Links:

• Relocalize
• Wayne McIntyre
• Climate Brick
• The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov

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