Students from Universidad de los Andes are Winners of BDC Summit 2022
54 finalist teams presented projects bridging art, design, and biotech that ask what we want from our technologies.
New York, NY, June 30, 2022—On June 20-24, over 200 high school and university students from 18 countries presented ideas to compete for the Glass Microbe at Biodesign Challenge Summit 2022. The projects applied biotechnology to reshape architecture, food, fashion, health, materials, energy, and more.
Some fifty leading experts in academia, industry, and the arts judged the projects and awarded prizes. This year’s sponsored prizes included the Ginkgo Bioworks Prize for Biological Futures and the Science Sandbox Prize for Public Engagement.
Students from Universidad de los Andes won the Overall Prize for their project Mus(t)Go, a moss-based filtration system that provides clean drinking water to vulnerable communities. They received the Glass Microbe, a sculpture by Luke Jerram, which is passed down between winning teams each year.
"We started this project inspired by the beauty of the high Andean mountains in Colombia. There, we discovered the moss and got fascinated by this tiny, discrete plant that is fundamental to the health of the planet," said the students.
The Runner Up winner was Mosquitoes and Lemons, a project by California College of the Arts student Sahra Jajarmikhayat, which uses lemon rinds to craft biodegradable mosquito nets that are better for the environment.
Summit speakers included Jennifer Willet, artist, Professor in the School of Creative Arts at the University of Windsor, and the Director of INCUBATOR Art Lab; Ani Liu, artist and Associate Professor of Practice at the University of Pennsylvania; and Sunanda Sharma, creative biologist and interdisciplinary scientist.
“Our hope is that BDC generates fresh conversations about what we want from emerging technologies,” Daniel Grushkin, founder and Executive Director of Biodesign Challenge said.
BDC Team Raises $13 Million
This week, the winners of the first BDC in 2016, algae-based materials company AlgiKnit, raised $13 million in their Series A. The company is also opening a brand new manufacturing facility in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina to begin pilot production of their yarns and fibers.
Over the last seven years, BDC alumni have founded startups, raised $30M+, received patents, and won awards including the James Dyson Award, H&M Global Change Award, National Geographic Chasing Genius Award, LVMH Innovation Award, Prix Ars Electronica, among others. They have exhibited at museums and festivals, including the V&A, London Design Biennale, Gregg Museum, World Economic Forum, the Tech Museum, Dutch Design Week, MIT, and the United Nations.