Fungi and fungal technologies show great potential for creating sustainable solutions in various fields, including food, materials such as leather, and medicine. However, the foundational scientific knowledge and tools required for these applications are not as advanced, leading to a lack of awareness about the benefits of fungi.
But Open Fung, a new initiative dedicated to advancing fungi, has officially launched with a mission to build collective resources to facilitate innovative ways of working with these creatures that are not plants or animals.
“We envision a future where humans engage with fungi so life and the planet may flourish,” says the future non-profit on its newly launched website.
Co-founded by Philip Ross, the co-founder of the mycelium leather innovator MycoWorks, the new organization aims to create and deploy “mycological utilities” essential to the global circular bioeconomy through collaborative research and networking for technologies, materials, and the arts.
By providing foundational tools and developing better mushrooms for emerging mycelium bio-industries, Open Fung seeks to make fungal technologies more accessible and widely utilized.
Fungi through the arts
In addition to its scientific research efforts, Open Fung is committed to fostering engagement with fungi through the arts. By bringing artists into the center of its research and scientific work, the organization aims to create meaningful connections and build understanding among a broad audience interested in the planet’s future.
Open Fung has partnered with Stanford University, specifically the Department of Bioengineering and the Drew Endy Lab, to further its research program. According to Ross, the organization is working on obtaining non-profit status and welcomes anyone interested in collaborating or supporting its work.
Ross shared on social media: “The success of MycoWorks is the result of hundreds of different people coming together around a goal, each bringing their talents and wisdom into coordinated activities supporting the growth of fungal materials.
“From this experience I see that there is much work that needs to be done to bring people into a deeper engagement with fungi. Part of this will be technological, but technology is a human idea as much as it is any specific thing or process. For this reason, I continue to follow my instincts, and Open Fung will advance science and art as a shared language to achieve this greater engagement.”
