A future with fungal materials
Iris Houthoff (iris@mylium.nl), Eveline Snelders
Mylium
In ecosystems, fungi play an essential role by degrading biomass residues into simple molecules and new biomass. How can we benefit from this recycling engine in our society?
Currently, fungi are mainly cultivated for the production of food, enzymes and medicines. A new and promising addition, is the application of mycelium as material. You will be introduced to mycelium materials with characteristics ranging from hard and rigid, to soft and flexible. In pure state, all materials are both biobased and biodegradable. This is fantastic if we want to achieve a green society!
Or is it? During this talk, I would like to discuss the struggles related to finding a (well) paying target market for fungal materials. Can biodegradability be an added value for high performance materials?
