B4Plastics at the Circular Innovation Week

Last week, from 14-18^th of March 2022, the B4Plastics biomaterials were represented at the innovation week of the University of Antwerp that had as this years theme “Circular”. Under the guidance of our partner Voxdale, 5 Master students of Product Development of UAntwerp, brainstormed on implementing the B4Plastics FortePlastics, RubberPlastics and TriggerPlastics in new products and applications. As part of our tagline “Reduce. Refuse. Rethink”, B4Plastics want to rethink tomorrow’s plastics. Not only by designing and developing new biomaterials in our labs, but also by actively rethinking the future of plastics. Our goal is to apply biomaterials in products with a quick access to the market, so that we can start replacing fossil-based plastics as soon as possible and enter steadily into the New Plastics Economy.

And how to better rethink the future of plastics than with the generation of the future? At the start of the innovation week, the students asked themselves different questions in order to find rapid go-to-market flows. What are the unique properties of the B4Plastics biomaterials? Where can these biomaterials offer added value on a large scale? How can circularity play the leading role here? These questions were answered during a first brainstorm session, in which a search was made for suitable sectors and circumstances in which a lot of plastics occur and where there is room for new projects. These results were poured into a mind map and various concepts were further developed on ideas with the highest potential.

On Friday 18^th of March, the students presented their work during a poster presentation together with the projects of the other companies involved in the innovation week, such as Bosch, DS Smith, Polestar, Novy, Unilin, Nestle. Three valuable product propositions were highlighted out of 10 potential applications coming out of various markets, such as sportswear, 3D printing, medical devices, protective gear, toys, agriculture and rubber industry. Definitely some ideas to look further into! So keep posted through our newsletter or follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook, to stay up to date on the progress on our bioplastics and their applications.

Finally, we want to thank the students for their innovative ideas on product design and development with our B4Plastics biomaterials and our partner Voxdale as teamcoach of this circular innovation week. See you all next year?!