Preparation
“Integrated prototype” that helps your MDEF Project/Fest and integrates a range of units covered.
Julia, Marina, and I grouped up for this last Micro Challenge due to all of our projects using mycelium as a central part of our design process.
Dissemination
Myke Board
Materials
The Myke Board is a mycelium-based surfboard that seeks to replace the harmful materials in modern surfboards (polyurethane and expanded polystyrene) with more sustainable materials that are not harmful to the environment or to the shaper. The base substrate is made up of agricultural waste that is then joined together through a fungal strain known for its material properties. The result is a low-dense, hydrophobic material that can be shaped like a surfboard and has a similar performance.
Audience
Surf schools, beginner surfers. People that are getting started in the sport are less picky about new materials that haven’t been thoroughly tested for performance.
Dissemination partners
The European Commission that supports innovation that tackles plastic pollution, environmentally mindful surf schools, design magazines and media.
Communication
The future of surfing is not in plastic, it’s in collaboration with the micro-organisms that surround us to create new tools to experience nature in a way that is beneficial to all stakeholders: users, micro-organisms, and the environment.
Learning Outcomes
I come from a business background and it is very clear to me how important it is to think about dissemination, licensing, and partnerships. This time, unlike my previous endeavours, I would be disseminating a physical object of my own creation rather than a service. In such cases one has to think about how to effectively scale up one's operation and just how open one would like to be with the intellectual property. These are questions whose answers are in constant evolution and will surely change radically in a year's time. Thinking about partners is also imperative from the beginning, as one can grow much faster alongside others rather than on one's own.
To find the documentation, description and reflections, as well as the open source fabrication files click here >> Repository