Students at the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia presented air-purifying wallpaper. The cyanobacteria embedded in the paper convert carbon dioxide into oxygen. As an added benefit, they light up at night.
Students at the Universidad del Istmo in Guatemala created tiles out of construction waste, while a team from Arizona State University used mycelium tiles with embedded sensors that converts foot traffic to energy. Another team from the University of California-Davis developed a fully biodegradable diaper from citrus waste.
The Biodesign Challenge Summit is an annual design competition that encourages design students across the globe to work with biological materials.