You only have a minute? Here are 3 key takeaways from the piece?
• Biomyc, a Bulgarian eco-design startup, has taken a transformational step by collaborating with industry giants such as KIA and Mercedes Benz.
• The company focuses on mushroom technology, additive manufacturing and simulation, leveraging these areas to introduce sustainable technologies and materials.
• Biomyc’s expertise lies in mycelium composite technology and aims to commercialize mycelium-based products now.
Automotive design has undergone significant transformations over the years, heavily influenced by technological advancements, changing consumer preferences and the growing emphasis on sustainability. So, for many, driving a car made from sustainable parts also means committing to environmental consciousness and having a forward-looking approach to technology.
In recent years, however, for mass car manufacturers, sustainability has become much more than just a shift to electric cars: it also reflects the entire design process, in which plastics are gradually replaced by more environmentally friendly solutions. durable.
The recent partnership between the South Korean giant KIA and the Bulgarian eco-design startup Biomyc is one of the examples that strongly demonstrates these developments, since KIA’s new EV3 concept car will feature in its interior the composite panel of mycelium designed by Biomyc.
The principal of Bulgarian society skill is in mushroom technology, additive manufacturing and simulation, and sustainable product design. By combining these three elements, Biomyc aims to bring sustainable technologies and materials to market now and not in 50 to 100 years.
“When KIA contacted us, they wanted to integrate composite mycelium inside the car. So we helped them get there by identifying bottlenecks, looking for ways to improve the appearance and durability of the material, and finally designing, prototyping, and helping to integrate the first mycelium composite part in a KIA concept car. From packaging to entire products, we help companies implement mycelium composite into their workflows – which, put simply, means doing the hard work of research, design, prototyping, testing and fusion with existing materials and products,” explains AtanasEnev, CEO of Biomyc.
Thus, the choice of mycelium for the interior of the car demonstrates an evolution towards biomanufacturing, a process which exploits the resistance of materials from natural sources. Mycelium, derived from mushroom roots, offers a combination of robustness and a soft, luxurious surface – one of the main reasons why KIA wants to use this material.
Furthermore, there is also a strong belief in mycelium composite as a sustainable material of the present and future: it is grown from agricultural waste, paving the way for sustainable construction, without resource depletion or environmental waste. In addition to being carbon negative, mycelium structures are lightweight and insulating, promising energy-efficient buildings with fewer emissions.
“We believe this is the best technology on the market in terms of lasting mass impact. And we chose the top-down approach to help it penetrate the mass market. Our mission is to implement composite mycelium in as many industry-leading companies as possible, because they shape the world – and what they do therefore affects what every SME around the world does. This is where the real impact lies. Our idea is to start big and, as the technology evolves, help more and more small and medium-sized businesses use it as well,” says Enev.
What Biomyc is now trying to do is to develop some products this can be both profitable and bring this concept closer to an even wider audience.
“With the support of Norwegian grants, we have developed a standardized packaging system that helps producers manufacture more efficiently and makes mycelium composite packaging as cost-effective as possible for the end consumer. This year we have protected our designs based on the standardized system and also developed proprietary software that will help companies using our designs reduce their sales costs and increase their revenue. This will be rolled out in early 2024. We are working with our first customer to implement it in their factories as soon as possible,” says Enev.
A very simple economic model, but which requires a lot of work
One of the biggest challenges for CEE startups is that they struggle to find large companies to test their solutions early on and have a proof of concept. For Biomyc, working with this type of key industry players is becoming a reality, having already worked with German giant Mercedes Benz.
This type of partnership, as well as the one that the startup now maintains with KIA, is progress that stems from the company’s main mission, which is to bring sustainable innovation to large players in the industry, but also to small and medium-sized businesses. The company’s business model is both very simple – but also requires a lot of work.
“Essentially, our business model is to tackle large, design-challenging projects, and we use our niche expertise to work with the material to make it happen quickly and provide such a sustainable, innovative and cost-effective solution. efficient as possible. . It is a very big thing that the mycelium component is implemented in a KIA concept car and the whole team is very happy to see the real car traveling the world and showcasing its many innovations. Another great outcome of the project is the information we gathered during the R&D phase. Everything we have learned about how this material responds to a multitude of coating and protection methods will also help our future customers implement mycelium composite for their products,” says Enev.
Although every project is different, there is a common understanding that the company and client are on the same page when it comes to getting it done, he adds. Additionally, one of the most important aspects of working with such big brands is to always be honest about the bottlenecks the whole process could and will have, possible problems and to offer tailor-made solutions.
“To ensure absolute success, we always include several levels of redundancy: we have plan A, B, C, etc. This is extremely important to ensure the success of innovation projects using new technologies and materials. And I think customers really like that because it’s a level of honesty that encourages them to dream bigger, to be brave and open-minded, which leads to great innovation. I think this is exactly why KIA felt confident with us helping them design and implement the mycelium composite component for their concept car. All optimization, testing and prototyping was carried out in our laboratory in Plovdiv while the design was carried out in our Sofia office,” Enev tells The Recursive.
A new approach to becoming sustainable at a reasonable cost
While the technology around the use of composite mycelium is relatively new, it can also be costly, particularly for companies in Eastern Europe. By integrating mycelium composite components with paper elements, the system eliminates the need for initial investment (ranging from one to two thousand euros) from customers for design, prototyping and testing purposes.
Instead, as the Bulgarian entrepreneur claims, Biomyc will provide the design intellectual property and software to mycelium composite producers, and then companies interested in mycelium packaging can simply use the proprietary software to customize their packaging and place an order online, streamlining the process and eliminating the hassle. need prototyping, design and testing costs.
The main objective of the project was to achieve the highest level of cost-effectiveness and versatility in order to make mycelium composite packaging more accessible to a wider range of businesses.
“With solutions like this, mycelium producers can provide efficient packaging suitable for mid-sized businesses. One of our priorities is to enable price-sensitive companies in developing markets to use sustainable mycelium composite products,” Enev told The Recursive.
According to him, when it comes to Eastern Europe specifically, companies care about sustainability, but they don’t want to achieve it at the cost of more expensive alternatives or a decrease in the effectiveness of eco-friendly products. that they buy.
“What we found is that they don’t care – it’s just that if the price isn’t right and if they can’t integrate it perfectly into their system from the start, first day, they won’t. And perhaps rightly so. Sustainability should not come at the cost of increased costs or reduced performance. This makes perfect sense to us since most companies in the region succeed in the market by making good products at a great price. Therefore, one cannot force companies to risk their market advantage in exchange for sustainability, but rather help them achieve this in an economically and functionally efficient manner,” he says.
However, even as conditions allow for wider use of mycelium composite, Biomyc remains focused on its mission of helping this material penetrate the mass market.
“Every young technology needs time to mature and if you give it 100 years, mycelium composite will compete effectively with plastic in terms of price, function and volume. It took 150 years of plastic development for a single product to take less than a second to manufacture and cost very little. This makes plastic a great choice for a capitalist market. The same thing will happen with mycelium composite technology. But until that happens and the technology matures, our company’s mission is to bring this product to market now using intelligent design and innovation,” concludes Enev.