Eben Bayer grew up on a farm in Vermont, and it was there that he developed a healthy respect for nature's complexity and efficiency. He was also fascinated by technology—tractors, trains, jet engines, some of the furthest things you could find fromnature.If only there were some way to connect these disparate interests.Opportunity knocked while Bayer was studying at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. There, he took the Inventor's Studio course taught by influential engineering professor Burt Swersey. For the course's final project, Bayer and classmateGavin McIntyre were challenged to present a project that would solve a real problem. Remembering the way fungi held the soil together on his childhood farm in Vermont, Bayer with McIntyre presented a composite material made of agricultural waste and mycelium. The vision was to reduce and eventually replace waste streams of petroleum-based packaging used around the globe, a major cause of plastic buildup and pollution. Swersey was an instant and enthusiastic supporter, encouraging and even funding Bayerand McIntyre to form a company around the idea, which became Ecovative.
展开▼
