About 10 years ago, my first non-academic job was with a start up causing a major stir winning major awards and was profiled all over the place for their work i

About 10 years ago, my first non-academic job was with a start up causing a major stir winning major awards and was profiled all over the place for their work in food traceability. Once I started though, I realized everything was theoretical - in reality it could be used for food. But no one actually was and none of the applications they talked about were done using these systems. Then one day I was called into a meeting with an editor at Forbes. And the conversation began with the fee and moved into topics I knew we couldn't pull off.... Which our marketing guy said to me later was normal and that all the articles and awards (from Red Dot to Fortune to Barron's) were effectively paid placement. No one checks, no one verifies, no one blinks an eye. "This is how you build the market and our story is compelling" They never made a breakthrough in food because it never worked. This in spite of that Forbes profile leading to a CNN mention and eventual WEF appearance... In which no one asked to verify or reproduce our data So the author may be a good SME, and I will check him out but take anything you read in places like Forbes for what they are: likely advertorials hiding the smoke and mirrors