#NEF The Technology of Biodesign
Clothing made of plants, which needs to be "walked", production of artificial leather made of mycelium, research on drosophila, growing plant seedlings in effective environments to improve their quality and breeding of new crops – all these incredible things were learned by participants of our event "Technology of Biodesign" on February 7.
Once again, the hall is full and we are captivated by the audience's interest in the topic of science and its practical application. The speaker of the event Dasha Tsapenko includes biology in the process of creating designer clothes made of plants. Dasha studies intersections of argo-industry, food and sustainable fashion, combining science, design and art. Dasha lived in Ukraine for 23 years and lives in Netherlands for 7 years. The "living" clothes, designed by Dasha are mycelium, sprouted on hemp material, sprouts of different plants. There is a lot of research and art, but through art, according to Dasha, we can change the perception of clothing and the meaning of fashion in the future. The inclusion of biology in fashion design is a relatively new technology today and biodesigner developing this direction.
During the event, participants also visited the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology of the Precarpathian National University of Ivano-Frankivsk, where we were invited by scientists.
We saw how the department's team works, found out which research is being conducted, and saw scientific articles that were printed and located in the department's hall with the citation count and impact factor marked and inspiring captions "Greetings!" from colleagues. The Department works with foreign colleagues-scientists, making joint projects, and receiving grants for research (for example, from the Ukrainian National Research Fond). The department's open doors for entrepreneurs to get acquainted with the work of scientists is a good and inspiring example of the interaction of these two environments – science and business. We are starting to get to know each other and introduce them to each other.
During the tour, we asked the scientists – how can business cooperate with them and how are applied research commercialized. Partly such cooperation happens, but the interest, for now, is not very impactful. One of our goals as a part of the "New economy of Ivano-Frankivsk" project is to encourage appearing of science-intensive businesses in the city and region and to create infrastructure conditions, in which such cooperation will be possible. We believe that postwar recovery in the country will also take place in the sphere of cooperation between science and business.
We would like to thank the assistant professors of the Department, Dmytro Hospodaryov and Viktor Husak for detailed information about what scientists do in the laboratory and showed us how everything works. In addition, we would like to thank the Head of the Department Maria Bailyak, who introduced us to several studies that scientists currently working on. Follow our announcements for more interesting events.
The event took place within the framework of the project "New economy of Ivano-Frankivsk (NEF)" it is a project that envisages the process of transformation of the city into a competitive innovative economic center. The project is implemented by a consortium of partners: The executive committee of Ivano-Frankivsk City Council, Promprylad.Renovation innovative center, METALAB urban laboratory, agency of economic development PPV Knowledge Networks and Teple Misto platform.
