The Ray of Hope Prize competition gives startups a chance to get their biomimetic innovations to market; entrepreneurs with nature-inspired design solutions for climate mitigation, carbon sequestration or the SDGs have until December 31 to apply.
The Biomimicry Institute, the non-profit organization
that empowers people to create nature-inspired solutions, is inviting biomimicry
startups that have created products, services or technologies to be considered
for the 2020 Ray of Hope
Prize®, a $100,000 prize
competition that provides participants funding to accelerate their path to
commercial success. Applications are due December 31, 2019.
Beyond eligibility for the $100,000 equity-free prize, all participants are
given pitch training, product refinement and storytelling techniques.
Participants also gain access to a growing community of biomimicry designers and
entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and potential investors. Solutions that have
already been developed past the idea stage, and are able to demonstrate some
sort of user adoption, will be most successful.
This year’s challenge is particularly geared toward solutions that address
carbon
sequestration,
climate change adaptation or mitigation, critical sustainability
challenges, or any of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development
Goals.
“Our belief is that biomimicry drastically reduces a technology’s time to
market, because the technology has already been proven to work in nature in a
cost-effective, sustainable way,” said Jared Yarnall-Schane,
Entrepreneurship Director at the Biomimicry Institute.
The 2019 Ray of Hope Prize winner, Boston-based Watchtower
Robotics, developed a patented, soft-bodied robot that
mimics elements of octopuses, jellyfish and the lateral line system in fish. The
tiny robots are capable of detecting leaks in pipes of any material and in any
structure — including pipes with small diameters — unlike current technologies
available on the market. Watchtower has completed pilots in Saudi Arabia,
the US and the UK, including two of the largest water utility companies
in the world.
Other past winners have included 2018 winner
Nucleário, a company that
offers a smarter, cheaper and faster approach for large-scale forest restoration
by reducing seedling maintenance. Inspired by winged seeds, bromeliads and
forest leaf litter, the Nucleário Planting System eliminates the need for
irrigation, herbicides, and pesticides. 2017 Ray of Hope Prize winner
NexLoop
designs products and systems to collect and integrate in situ atmospheric water
sources into sustainable and affordable urban food production, which was
inspired by spiders, ice plants and mycorrhizal fungi.
“These past prize winners demonstrate exactly why our foundation is proud to
support this program,” says John A. Lanier, Executive Director of the Ray
C. Anderson Foundation.
“When entrepreneurs turn to nature as their teacher, they remind us of life’s
brilliance and how much more we have to learn. These startups prove that
biomimicry offers a better pathway to success.”
Applications are now open to join a community of entrepreneurs around the world
in building successful biomimicry businesses, accelerating the development and
commercialization of biomimicry innovations, and becoming the next generation of
sustainability entrepreneurs. Entries will be accepted from now until December
31, 2019. Finalist teams are selected in March 2020 and will be invited to
participate in a virtual 4-week Biomimicry, Startup and Pitch Training event
beginning in April 2020.
Learn more and apply at
innovation.biomimicry.org/rayofhopeprize.
Published Dec 6, 2019 7am EST / 4am PST / 12pm GMT / 1pm CET
Sustainable Brands Staff