Eben Bayer is the co-founder and CEO of Ecovative Design LLC, a bio-materials company that grows sustainable replacements for many of the toxic plastics that are poisoning our planet. Eben co-invented the MycoBond platform, a patent-pending technology that uses a growing organism to transform agricultural byproducts into strong composite materials. These materials are 100% compostable, made with a fraction of the energy of conventional plastics. Eben has spoken about this and other environmental technologies around the world, including speaking appearances at TEDGlobal, The World Economic Forum, Pop!Tech, on CNN, and at the International PICNIC conference. Eben received a dual B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Product Design at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
At Ecovative we are growing alternatives to environmentally damaging plastics. Our materials require far less energy to create, can be grown from diverse regional low-value feedstocks, and can be composted, without processing, in back yards and gardens. Our patent-pending material platform is based around a fast-growing filamentous organism, which acts as a living resin. This organism, comprised of fungal mycelium, can transform low-value agricultural waste products, such as seed husks or wood waste, into strong, cost-competitive bio-composites.