In 2023, the Wyss Institute and Collaborative Fund, a New York-based venture fund, formed an alliance, which is focused on new, sustainable materials to fight climate change. As part of the alliance, which was created with support from Harvard’s Office of Technology Development, Collaborative Fund will provide $15 million to create a Laboratory for Sustainable Materials Research and Innovation at the Wyss Institute to support research into transformational technologies that demonstrate strong commercial potential.
Established as a long-term strategic partnership, the alliance fosters solution-focused discovery efforts in the lab that will bolster the pursuit and growth of Wyss projects with the potential to solve important unmet environmental problems in the world – particularly projects within the areas of synthetic biology, biomanufacturing, and clean air and water.
The strategic alliance’s vision addresses two critical challenges. First, it strives to bring to life transformational, breakthrough technologies needed to reimagine the fabrication of all materials – from textiles and plastics to food and energy – without the use of fossil fuels. Second, it bridges a funding and information gap that often stymies even the most revolutionary technologies from reaching commercial scale.
The Wyss Institute has an incredible track record of producing a wide range of innovative, solutions-oriented IP. We want to help accelerate the shift from research to real-world impact. When it comes to climate change, there’s no time to waste.
Collaborative Fund has more than a decade of experience investing in climate technology and also dedicated $200M to Collab SOS, a climate fund, to fuel a more sustainable economy across materials, ingredients, energy, and supply chains. Collaborative Fund has invested in many climate tech companies, including Kula Bio which was spun out of the Wyss Institute.
Sophie Bakalar, Partner at Collaborative Fund, will collaborate with the Institute’s Technology Translation Director Angelika Fretzen, Ph.D., to help oversee the Laboratory for Sustainable Materials Research and Innovation and advance the shared vision. In addition to helping to oversee the Laboratory’s program, Bakalar will hold an appointment as a Visiting Scholar at the Wyss Institute to enhance the translation of technologies enabling new sustainable materials through community engagement and education.
This is an exciting opportunity to take a seismic step forward in the fight against climate change…We see this as a call-to-arms for our researchers and entrepreneurs working on problems in sustainability.