Donate to Science & Enterprise

S&E on Mastodon

S&E on LinkedIn

S&E on Flipboard

Please share Science & Enterprise

Challenge Seeks Sustainable Material Substitute for Wood

Cut logs (Okko Pyykkö/Flickr)A new challenge on Innocentive seeks materials or processes that can be used create materials with the physical properties of softwoods, but are more sustainable than natural wood. The competition has a prize of $20,000 and a deadline of 31 March 2012 for submissions.

InnoCentive in Waltham, Massachusetts is a company the conducts open-innovation crowd-sourcing competitions for corporate and organization sponsors. The sponsor of this challenge is not identified.

For this challenge, the sponsor is seeking a substitute for softwood or process to create this material suitable for mass production of low-cost educational and household products. Consumable products made of wood are increasingly non-sustainable, but current substitutes by and large lack the same physical properties, robustness, or are not suitable for machining.

Submissions require a written proposal that will be reviewed by the sponsor. To receive an award, entrants will not need to transfer exclusive intellectual property rights to the sponsor.  Instead, entrants will be asked to grant to the sponsor a non-exclusive license to practice their solutions.

Read more: $50K Challenge Seeks Higher Nutritional Value in Crop Tissue

Photo: Okko Pyykkö/Flickr

*     *     *

1 comment to Challenge Seeks Sustainable Material Substitute for Wood