Meet OpenCell! Inside this collection of shipping containers is a world of fascinating startups working on biotech. There’s a vegan cosmetics studio, a container making sustainable bioplastics for use in the fashion industry and another creating systems that extract nutrients and energy from wastewater. There’s also a startup that “grows” buildings out of fungi, one that helps farmers pollinate crops using swarms of flies, and another developing a material made from the potato peelings discarded by crisps brands.
The area is backed by Imperial College London and is round the corner from where Lis used to live (and is now begging to go back to). The goal is to lower the barrier to entry for biotech by hosting expensive infrastructure and creating offices, workshops and biology labs for early stage startups and designers.
Technology is absolutely not the solution to many of our problems but it also absolutely can help to develop more sustainable materials and products for things we’re not giving up or small problems that need addressing immediately.
