Leaps by Bayer, an investment arm of Bayer AG, and Singapore-based investment firm Temasek announced the creation of a new company that will develop new varieties of vegetables best suited to grow in vertical farms. The new company, dubbed Unfold, raised $30 million from Temasek and Bayer in its initial funding round and plans to use the money for building out R&D operations in the U.S. 

Unfold is taking a slightly different approach to the vertical farming concept. Whereas most vertical farming companies focus on developing new technologies to improve the grow process of plants (building more automation into the growing and harvesting processes or finding the perfect light “recipe” for a crop), Unfold will channel its resources into seed genetics to develop seed varieties specifically tailored to the vertical farming environment.

So far, vertical farms typically use seeds developed for other types of grow environments — greenhouses or open fields, for example. Unfold, which has entered into agreement for some rights to germplasm from Bayer’s vegetable portfolio, will breed seeds tailor-made for the vertical farming environment, which uses LEDs in place of sunlight and, typically, hydroponics or aeroponics.  

Speaking in today’s press release, Unfold CEO John Purcell said the company will combine seed genetics with ag tech methods to improve things like flavor and appearance of vertically grown greens. The company also aims to develop seeds that can mature faster and yield more edible product. To start, the company will work on lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes. 

Approaching the vertical farming process at the seed level, so to speak, is the exception rather than the rule at the moment, though Unfold isn’t quite the only company trying this. In Singapore, a company called SinGrow has developed its own breed of strawberries, which it grows on its own proprietary vertical farming racks.  

Unfold’s Purcell told CNA this week that vertical farming is “an important player in the food ecosystem.” But the model has yet to prove itself as a food-growing method that can feed millions and deliver a return on investment. Focusing on seed genetics can help farmers cultivate more varieties of vegetables that taste better and grow faster may provide more answers to the question of vertical farming’s overall scalability and its long-term role in the food system.

The detergent brand Tide has embraced digital technology to offer a personalised clothes cleaning service in your area. Tide is asking consumers and business-owners to request new locations via a microsite. The locations will include drop-box lockers inside high-rise apartment buildings, offices and retail locations such as supermarkets, vans parked on student campuses and 24-hour stand-alone stores. Customers can pre-pay for laundry through an app, drop it off in the lockers and receive a notification when it is ready for pick-up.

As explored in our macrotrend Connected Living, Tide are embracing digital applications, e-commerce and geolocation to offer consumers ultra convenience.

Macrotrend: Flexitarian diets

The EAT-Lancet Commission has just published a comprehensive report which has developed a diet to feed 10 billion people with sustainable food systems.

 Scientists have been grappling with the problem of feeding billions more people in the decades to come without causing damage to the planet.

The Flexitarian diet or "the planetary health diet" is the solution they recommend. The findings and recommendations will be presented to governments around the world.

 So, how will out diets have to change to avoid environmental disaster?

 f you consume red meat every day then the report recommends you look for alternative sources of protein such as nuts and legumes. The next big shift will be to fresh vegetables and fruit which should fill approximately half of a plate in a main meal.

 Here is the recommended daily breakdown:

1.    Nuts - 50g a day

2.    Beans, chickpeas, lentils and other legumes - 75g a day

3.    Fish - 28g a day

4.    Eggs - 13g a day (so one and a bit a week) 

5.    Meat - 14g a day of red meat and 29g a day of chicken 

6.    Carbs - whole grains like bread and rice 232g a day and 50g a day of starchy vegetables

7.    Dairy - 250g - the equivalent of one glass of milk 

8.    Vegetables -(300g) and fruit (200g) 

Why do we need a healthy, sustainable diet for 10 billion people?

According to the United Nations, the world population is projected to reach 9.8 billion in 2050, and will continue climbing.

During 2019-2050, half of the world’s population growth is expected to be concentrated in nine countries: India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, United Republic of Tanzania, United States of America (USA), Indonesia and Uganda

Why is it healthier?

The researchers say the diet will prevent about 11 million people dying each year. That number is largely down to cutting diseases related to unhealthy diets such as cancers and heart diseases.. These are now the biggest killers in developed countries. 

The plates below are examples of a planetary health diet. This is a flexitarian diet, which is largely plant-based but can optionally include modest amounts of fish, meat and dairy foods.

 Why we need to re-think farming?

 The use of land for farming and forestry accounts for around a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions. This is the same as all electricity and heating.  

 At the granular level, Meat and dairy are the major factors. Worldwide, livestock accounts for between 14.5 and 18% of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.

Methane and nitrous oxide are also major contributors to warming gases.

 From an environmental perspective, the Goal of the diet is to:

§  Reduce greenhouse gas emissions

§  preventing any species going extinct

§  having no expansion of farmland, and 

§  preserving water usage.

Next Steps

The EAT-Lancet Commission is aiming to present the findings to governments around the world to see if we can begin to shift behaviour for the better.

If you would like to engage Future-filter in future forecasting or cultural trend reports please contact:

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Natsai Audrey Chieza works at the intersection of biology and design, and wants to show how living organisms can make sustainable materials

Silk dyed as part of Project Coelicolor

Toby Coulson

Designer Natsai Audrey Chieza has an unusual creative partner: the soil-dwelling bacterium Streptomyces coelicolor. Under the right conditions, S. coelicolor produces a pigmented compound, which Chieza uses to dye fabric and garments in patterned hues of pink, purple and blue. “It dyes textiles in a colourfast manner with barely any water and no chemicals,” Chieza says. “In many ways, that's the definition of a natural dye.”

Chieza has been working with her “companion species” since 2011 and this year launched Faber Futures, a London-based biodesign lab that aims to help other researchers and companies harness the power of living organisms to develop their own sustainable materials. “Project Coelicolor is a great way to say, ‘This is what we did with this micro-organism; let us help you figure out what to do with yours,’” she says

Regardless the industry, Chieza hopes that biodesign can lead the way to more sustainable means of production, helping manufacturers to shift away from petroleum-based materials, divest from fossil fuels and reduce waste. With Faber Futures, she is also keen to develop an ethical framework for working with living organisms. “If we can engineer life, that means science has become a design space," she says.

Dream Machine

Swarovski set a brief entitled ‘smart living’ exploring future thinking in design and technology.

Building on the work of artists from the 50s and 60s like Brion Gysin, Tony Conrad, Bernard Leitner and Ugo la Pietra -- the project attempts to create an immersive crystal 'dream machine'. By generating light and sound patterns that synchronize with alpha and theta brainwaves, the machine would allow individuals to enter a state of deep relaxation or ‘artificial dreaming’. It’s tapping into the notion of creating profoundly individual experiences that can't be easily captured or converted to other media. I like the idea of it being a type of immersive 'inside out chandelier'.

Future-Forecasting Trend: Cannabis in drinks.

With young consumers shifting their behaviour towards healthier lifestyle choices,

and the softening of opinion towards the use of Cannabis in soft drinks is there an opportunity for adult soft drinks?

Coca-Cola thinks so and is reportedly in talks with a Canadian company to create a cannabis-infused health drink since Canada has recently legalised the use of recreational cannabis on the 17th October 2018.

The soft drinks giant said it is "closely watching" the expanding use of a cannabis element in drinks.

It is said to be in talks with Aurora Cannabis to create a drink infused with cannabidiol, a naturally occurring non-psychoactive compound derived from the cannabis plant.

Cannabidiol, or CBD, does not produce the high commonly associated with marijuana. It is believed by many to have anti-inflammation and pain-relieving properties and numerous CBD-infused products have emerged recently.

Aurora Elixirs is leading the way with natural ingredients infused with hemp extract and cannabinoids. Aurora Elixirs presents a brand that focuses on the transcendent experience of consuming ight doses of CBD in a safe vessel. Truly balanced, these tonics are marketed toward consumers that seek a refined and sensual experience.

Lagunitas is another player in the market. Their latest foray is a non-alcoholic, zero-calorie sparkling water infused with hops, CBD, THC, or both is called Hi-Fi Hops.

Every 12oz can has no more than 10mg of marijuana-infused goodness, with drinks featuring CBD and THC, or the “purple” version featuring just THC. THC is the compound in cannabis that creates a mild-altering buzz, while CBD is a non-psychoactive component that is thought to reduce stress, pain and inflammation.

What looks like an emerging may become big business in the next few years.

Clean Society

Society cleaning products has an interesting design strategy and a disruptive business model.

 Cleaning products are not usually display worthy in terms of graphic branding. Society is looking to change that with designs inspired by artists like Ellsworth Kelly and Josef Albers.

Society will operate through a membership model: Customers will pay a yearly fee of $99, enabling them to purchase a range of personal care and cleaning products that Society has formulated and designed.

Once you’re a member, you can begin purchasing items in the Society marketplace, which will be sold at cost. Society products will cost about half as much as other green products on the market; the average nontoxic counter spray on the market costs between $6.99 and $8.99; Society’s version will cost $4.99. Like many other marketplaces that have launched in recent years–from Brandless to Grove–Society’s products will only include natural microbes and enzymes, rather than synthetic chemicals.

UK based Technology company Kano is resisting the throw away culture of technology by teaching kids how to disasseble their technology. Each of Kano's kits first asks the user to build the hardware, then teaches them how to code on it, before celebrating the finished product – be that a game, artwork or piece of music – through the KanoWorld online community.

Lego-style ease of disassembly is so sacrosanct to the company as a design principle that, if a desirable feature were only achievable by gluing components together, that feature wouldn't make it into production.

Ikea Space 10

Spaces-on-wheels-exploring-a-driverless-future

What if a coffee bar could double up as your cab ride to your next meeting? Could a doctor’s appointment take place on the way to work? Imagine buying gifts en route to a party, or having fresh produce delivered to your door straight from the fields, or even explore virtual worlds on your way home.

Ikea’s futures lab, Space 10 has been tasked with looking at these future scenarios of driverless vehicles in the mid-future.

Spaces on Wheels looks at a very important future issue: urban transport. More specifically, how self-driving cars might change our surroundings. Starting with the very reasonable premise that ‘the day fully autonomous vehicles hit our streets is the day cars are not cars anymore,’ Space10 and f°am Studio have created seven different rolling frameworks to represent the wealth of options promised by this new technology. These consist of Flexible Workspace (a roaming shared space that is effectively an office on wheels); Coffee on the Go (a boutique rolling roastery); Healthcare (drug dispensary); Farm (a mobile farmers’ market); Play (a pod for augmented reality experiences); Hotel (a sleep station) and a shop.

Transport will be radically changed by autonomous technology and there a huge opportunities for progressive thinking companies and brands.

In our recent Healthcare report we noticed a few examples of brands offering more exotic sensory experiences. One brand that has been successful with this strategy is Nuun vitamins, which comes in effervescent tablet format in blueberry, pomegranate, tangerine and lime and ginger and lemonade. 

The brand has employed a clean modern typography to convey it's fresh approach and exotic flavours. 

Sidekicks / Let the Moment Happen

Designer: Mattheo Bandi

RCA

SIDEKICKS is a collection of fictional objects that aim to help us reduce the amount of phone usage. The objects are interventions in moments when smartphones are particularly distracting for us: a desk lamp for working, a speaker for leisure time, an alarm clock for the end of the day and a projector for watching a movie with someone. Rather than creating a new device or establishing a new behaviour to keep us away from the phone, the objects were re-designed with a particular feature: none of them has a switch on/off button; instead, they can only function whenever we physically leave our phones to them. 

More and more people everyday are willing to reduce the impact phones have on them, but it often turns out to be harder than expected. In this scenario, my goal is to reflect on the role interactive objects can play for and with us. The devices are, in fact, not only designed as tools to make us more productive or ease a process, but also as friendly companions to help us let the moment happen.

Designer Abbie: Fawcett 

University :UWE BRISTOL

Summary: AN INTUITIVE KITCHEN PRODUCT THAT TURNS WASTE FAT, OIL AND GREASE INTO NATURAL SOAP

There is currently a huge problem surrounding the disposal of cooking oils, with a lack of alternatives, many people are disposing of them by pouring them down the drain. This leads to blockages in pipes, homes flooding and the notorious fatbergs that have formed in the sewers of London. The costly measures used to prevent and remedy the damage caused by these blockages are ultimately billed to the householder. 

WOSH is an easy to use soap making machine, with intuitive features and sleek design. Aiming to prevent waste cooking fat, oil and grease from being poured down the drain by presenting the user with an incentive to up-cycle it into a desirable and useful by-product, natural soap.

It’s a quick, safe and fun way of recycling domestic waste. The design is focused on integrating into the user’s routine, the quantities required for one bar of soap can be collected within around 2-3 weeks, the soap can be made in 15 minutes and with a 4 week cure time, this total of 6-7 weeks is roughly how long it will take to use up a bar of soap. 

The waste oils are filtered to remove any food particles and turned into soap using a tailored method of traditional, natural soap making. The recipes include natural additives such as essential oils, seeds and petals, acting as a natural exfoliant and giving the soap a quality scent, lather and texture. Making natural soap whilst reducing waste has never been more simple, collect waste cooking oils, create natural soap with WOSH.

Chris Pearce

University of Brighton

BA (Hons) 3D Design + Craft

Pearce's project 'Boundaries of Control' uses a simple piece of equipment to hand blow waste plastic, celebrating the untamed and animated properties which we rarely see in everyday mass produced products. From this process, he has created a range of lighting sculptures that encourages to think about our use of plastic and the potential of what we throw away.

Sisun Lee, a Korean-American entrepreneur has created a potentially huge new product in the drinks sector. The product has already received over $8 million in backing to break the US market.

The magic ingredient is the chemical dihydromyricetin (DHM), which is extracted from the fruit of the “heotgae” or oriental raisin tree.

The reason for hangovers is when the liver struggles to break down acetaldehyde, a substance produced when digesting alcohol. Acetaldehyde amasses when the body can’t keep up with the volume or pace of consumption. A hangover remedy may help break down those acids more quickly, which is what Morning Recovery strives to do.

“We think this is a field that is very misunderstood and very understudied, and we want to close this and help people move from thinking that you just have to drink lots of water.”

Crayola and Asos have joined forces to collaborate on an inspiring beauty collaboration.

Crayola Beauty has teamed up with Asos to create is a new vegan, a cruelty-free make up line aimed at 20-somethings.

The collection uses Crayolas playful heritage. The majority of the products come in a stick formula similar to brands like Nudestix, Milk Makeup, and Nars, who all stock easy-to-use chubby pencil-inspired cosmetics.

Among the products are:

95 total shades.
24 shades of stick foundation.
five palettes (three eye, one face, and one color changing lipstick).
cheek crayons.
mascaras.
makeup brushes.

 

Sony's latest research project was exhibited at Milan 2018. Sony suggests a move away from our current phone dependency to a more poetic interaction which engage our senses.

Smart sensors gathered information from visitors’ actions to deliver a variety of awe-inspiring surprises. These included a virtual butterfly flying away as a vase was moved across the table, and a wall projection of a flower opening upon a person’s approach. 

Moving lights, changing surfaces, colourful wall projections and haptic feedback provided a glimpse of future interiors in which humans and furniture seamlessly and intuitively interact.

For a bespoke material report looking at progressive materials for your products, packaging and retail contact jon@future-filter.com

Materials are intrinsic to good design. An inspired material choice defines an object. It communicates values, provenance and even an emotion. Materials, and especially plastics have become synonymous with irresponsible design. Blue planet 2 highlighted the problems with ‘one life’, one use plastics which pollute our oceans and threaten marine life.

POLITICAL MATTER

Materials have become political, with the UK government announcing its 25-year environmental plan. The UK Prime Minister has set out the government’s strategy on plastic with plans to tax single-use plastic packaging and assist supermarkets to create plastic-free aisles.

Ekoplaza in the Netherlands is leading the way in becoming the first plastic free supermarket with one aisle completely plastic free. The company has compostable biomaterials as an alternative to plastic trays and bags.

Brands need to be aware of the changes and adapt in the coming years to offer plastic free alternatives. Brands need to look to reduce what would be considered unnecessary, to deliver the product to the consumer without sacrificing the physical experience and the perception of the brand.

AESTHETIC SHIFTS

As we assess the environmental impact of mining, shaping and discarding materials, our aesthetic perception of materials is also shifting as we re-think one-life materials, the idea of up-cycling is reaching the mainstream. Adidas has launched Adidas Parley boost made from recycled ocean plastic which has gained critical praise and demonstrated that progressive thinking can be commercially viable with the shoes proving popular with young fashionistas.

Future-Filter is the Futures + Design studio. We provide future reports and design for progressive brands. For more information on our futures and creative services contact

Jon@future-filter.com

The Bug Burger contains a patty made beetroot, parsnip, potatoes and mealworms, which are the larvae of the common darkling beetle

Ikeas research Lab, Space 10 has created a menu of five new dishes as solutions to the problem of a predicted global food shortage given the population growth over the next 10 years.

"At Space10, our research is rooted in an important principle – dishes shouldn't just be healthy or sustainable, they must be delicious too," explained Space10, which counts food designer Simon Perez and plant engineer Sebastian Dragelykke among its diverse team.

What do you want for your brand? What could your brand look like in a year or 5 years. What are the macro-trends that will shape your business. 

We can help you answer those questions: jon@future-filter.com