September 8, 2025
Meet the Ethiopian entrepreneur who is reinventing ammonia production
DMSE Assistant Professor Iwnetim Abate speaks to MIT Technology Review about the origins of his passion for energy solutions and his innovative work on sodium-ion batteries.
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Iwnetim Abate is one of MIT Technology Review’s 2025 Innovators Under 35.
Gretchen Ertl
Growing up in Ethiopia, where electricity was unreliable and homework was often done by candlelight, Assistant Professor Iwnetim Abate developed a lifelong fascination with energy. Today, he’s advancing sodium-ion batteries—an affordable alternative to lithium-ion cells—and exploring sustainable ways to produce ammonia, a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. “It was like magic,” he recalls of first learning about fuel cells in high school. “Sometimes science is magic, right?”
MIT Technology Review has named Abate one of its 2025 Innovators Under 35.
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