New Partnership to Streamline Safer Chemistry for Biomimicry Startups

Biomimicry Institute and Toxnot join forces to usher in a new phase of nature-inspired product design.

 

May 4, 2021 — When success means a healthier planet, it’s critical that the recipe use only the best ingredients. To ensure the highest level of product accountability, the Biomimicry Institute has partnered with Toxnot, a Colorado-based software company offering solutions for supply chain materials transparency and chemical hazards assessment. In addressing climate change design problems, the goal of the partnership is to guide innovators in creating products that are composed of only the safest materials. The result means that startup companies participating in the Institute’s Ray of Hope Prize® will now be able to go even deeper in their development and scaling of sustainable and innovative products.

Created in honor of Ray C. Anderson, founder of the global flooring manufacturer, Interface, Inc. and a pioneer in sustainable business transformation, the $100,000 Ray of Hope Prize helps startups cross a critical threshold to scale business growth by amplifying their stories, providing them expert training, and equity-free funding. This year, the 10 finalist startup companies (out of 301 applicants from 49 countries) will receive the perk of working with Toxnot’s platform, in addition to the 10-week program in which they’ll learn sustainable business practices, science communication, and ultimately pitch an expert judging panel for the grand prize.

“By integrating the Toxnot platform into our program, we will be able to improve our participants’ impact in reducing chemical hazards and promoting and selling safer products through access of design tools and supply chain transparency,” said Jared Yarnall-Shane, Entrepreneurship Director for the Biomimicry Institute.

Whereas finalist companies have already proven themselves to be among the top startups in the world for their application of biomimicry in design, they will now be able to easily streamline and automate their product transparency, utilizing Toxnot’s software to analyze their current material ingredient data, learn new insights on what toxic chemicals exist within their product, and discover safer ingredient alternative comparisons to incorporate in their product design.

The partnership is a new step in the Biomimicry Institute’s ongoing effort to deliver maximum value to Ray of Hope Prize finalist companies, helping them meet increasing needs for green supply chains, data collection, material disclosure, and to improve accuracy for sustainability and compliance reporting.

“Tackling today’s environmental problems requires changing our design paradigm, and The Biomimicry Institute is putting forth new and innovative views on re-thinking these design challenges,” said Pete Girard, Co-founder and CEO, Toxnot.

Ray of Hope Prize finalists are currently engaged in the 10-week virtual program and will be delivering their pitches to an expert judging panel in early June. Previous Ray of Hope Prize finalists include breakthrough innovators such as ECOncrete, Werewool, Spotless Materials, Aruga Technologies, and Nucleario.

For more information about the Ray of Hope Prize or how to support this initiative, visit biomimicry.org/rayofhopeprize.

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About the Biomimicry Institute 

The Biomimicry Institute is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization founded in 2006 that empowers people to seek nature-inspired solutions for a healthy planet. To advance the solution process, the Institute offers AskNature.org, a free online tool that contains strategies found in nature and examples of ways they are used in design. It also hosts a Biomimicry Global Design Challenge and Youth Design Challenge to support project-based education; a Biomimicry Launchpad startup accelerator program; a Ray of Hope Prize® for developing companies to bring designs to market; and a Biomimicry Global Network that connects innovators across the world.

About Toxnot

Toxnot is a software company with a mission to improve health and sustainability across the global supply chain by streamlining the chemical transparency process. Toxnot provides an efficient system for manufacturers to import chemicals data, provide insight into their hazard profiles, report on the results and create safer products. Organizations are able to automate transparency reporting and compliance, easily collect hazard information, and reduce risks across their global supply chain. Toxnot scales from small businesses to Fortune 500 enterprises, and is the only free source of searchable GreenScreen® List Translator scores. In 2017, Toxnot won the Environmental Leader Product of the Year.

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