Where most of us see a ton of rice straw, a Japanese entrepreneur sees 200 kg of silica ready for use in semiconductor manufacturing. “Can you tell me more about your technology?” I ask them at the VivaTech trade show in Paris. “It’s a thermal process,” they reply—and I cannot get another word out of them.

The process converts agricultural organic waste into raw materials for industries like glass, tires, cosmetics, semiconductors, and construction. The company behind it explains that its solution produces “graphene for energy storage, biomass carbon for energy efficiency, and plant-based silica—all at reasonable prices.”

The pipeline for new bio-based materials shows no signs of drying up. On the contrary, sales could double over this decade to reach $271.8 billion (€238 billion) by 2031. Embracing a biotechnological approach is giving the chemical industry access to a far wider range of raw materials while reducing its carbon footprint and environmental impact.

In this article, you will read about:

• Fabrics made from kimchi and sugarcane
• Ingenuity: the real goldmine
• Efficient management of natural resources
• An industry reinventing itself
• The boost from AI

The startup world is pushing hard in this direction. Kimchi is a traditional South Korean fermented food that gives its name to one of the country’s most popular dishes. One key differentiator emerging in the field is the development of AI-enhanced biomaterial technologies powered by an organic antibacterial preservative derived from kimchi.

These solutions have already earned several international awards and are becoming a familiar sight at events like VivaTech. Today, kimchi-derived biomaterials are used in skincare, food and beverages, healthcare, and sustainable bio-based industries.

New bio-based synthetic fibers are also being produced from polylactic acid (PLA), a compound derived from crops like sugarcane that the textile industry historically avoided due to poor durability and color fading during manufacturing. One of its standout features is its antibacterial performance—thanks to lactic acid—which eliminates odors even after wearing the garment for more than 100 consecutive days. That won’t sound so unusual to anyone doing adventure sports, serving on defense missions, or traveling into space.

Advanced semiconductor materials require chemical compounds containing benzene rings—a colorless, flammable liquid derived from a petroleum byproduct called naphtha. This is where the circular economy comes in: these compounds can now be produced from biomass at a cost competitive with petroleum, while cutting CO2 emissions by over 60%.

This breakthrough is made possible by an ingenious optical control system for biological processes developed by Professor Moritoshi Sato at the University of Tokyo. The system targets photosensitive proteins, which act much like magnets—binding together in the light and separating in the dark. By manipulating their activity, researchers can control cellular and microbial genes. That’s where the magic happens: the possibilities are virtually endless and push far beyond the traditional boundaries of biofabrication.

Sectors like photovoltaics are searching for new materials to replace current ones, as well as shifting toward entirely new technologies. Perovskites remain the industry’s great promise, provided the challenge of their lifespan can be solved. A similar hurdle faces organic photovoltaics, an emerging technology that already accounts for around thirty patents.

Specifically, researchers aim to eliminate battery reliance in Internet of Things (IoT) devices by using organic photovoltaic technologies capable of harvesting indoor ambient light to power low-energy equipment for over a decade. The startup behind this innovation is already applying it in smart thermostats, occupancy sensors, and asset-tracking systems across retail stores, warehouses, factories, and supply chains.

This technological race can also drive far more efficient water management. Systems that convert agricultural and agro-industrial waste into strategic circular resources—such as high-value organic fertilizers and clean recycled water—are gaining traction. Equally surprising at VivaTech were solutions addressing freshwater scarcity in agriculture using organic beads—essentially polymers—that cut soil evaporation and reduce irrigation needs by up to 50%.

Amid ongoing debates across Europe over air conditioning use, one small company presented a electricity-free cooling system featured in the World Economic Forum’s “Top 10 Emerging Technologies” this year. Designed for buildings, infrastructure, and industrial plants, it leverages passive radiative cooling—a natural phenomenon where heat escapes into space as infrared radiation.

Energy leaves Earth through a wavelength band known as the “atmospheric window,” transferring into the cold vacuum of deep space at -270 °C. It is a surprisingly everyday principle—the inverse of how solar radiation warms the Earth’s surface. The technology was deployed in radiative cooling tents at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 2025, proving it could improve outdoor athletic environments and lower heatstroke risks during peak summer heat.

Even captured CO2 is becoming a feedstock for new materials. Gas fermentation offers a compelling way to remove carbon where it is emitted in high volumes, transforming it into smart carbon products like fragrances, solvents, and fuels. These solutions are already deployed globally across sectors as diverse as steelmaking, oil refining, food production, commercial aviation, fashion, and cosmetics.

Beyond startups, major corporations long ago embraced the art of sourcing materials from unexpected places. Take PDO (1,3-propanediol), a foundational chemical building block: using a bioprocess, it can be converted into polymers used in textiles, carpets, and various plastics.

Artificial intelligence is driving a major leap forward in the engineering of new materials. On one hand, it is refining predictive models in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering, helping scientists engineer microbial strains tailored for biofabrication fermentation.

On the other, AI has become an engine for the development of entirely new compounds. Tech companies in the US recently partnered with federal laboratories to develop a new material that reduces lithium content in batteries by 70%.

One line of research leverages AI models to accelerate the scientific method itself. After digitally screening more than 32 million candidate materials, AI identified over 500,000 stable options for developing a new solid-state battery electrolyte. Another project uncovered more than 2.2 million stable crystal structures, dramatically expanding the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database.

In Paris, a French software company demonstrated a third approach to AI: mathematical simulations of plant behavior. Following years of research, they built a digital twin of the plant world, giving operational and strategic teams tools to model crop and forest development and analyze growth patterns.

In the cafe car of a train to Valencia, in the  Eastern Spain, Princess of Asturias Award laureate Avelino Corma once shared a reflection that stuck with me: chemistry is the only discipline capable of creating substances that do not exist in nature. Through chemistry and human intelligence alone, we have the power to expand our physical world. Geopolitical factors today may urge us to reduce reliance on foreign raw materials, but behind that imperative lies an even stronger driver of innovation: the drive to solve complex challenges.

Sources:

• “Global Materials Perspective 2025”, McKinsey
• “The Importance of Chemical  Research to the U.S. Economy”, National Academies
• https://vivatech.com/
• “Planet Positive Chemicals”, Center for Global Commons
• “2025 Chemical Industry Outlook”, Deloitte
• “Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025”, IEA