Morphing Matter Lab is Exploring Ways to Make Food & Packaging More Compact
Laura McQuarrie — May 6, 2021 — Lifestyle
References: morphingmatter.cs.cmu.edu & fastcompany
Inspired by the way furniture is packed flat to save space, Morphing Matter Lab created flat-pack pasta that can be packaged in a way that saves space and expanded when cooked. The flat-pack pasta relies on a "groove-based shape morphing technique" and it can be used to form a variety of different shapes using traditional pasta ingredients like semolina flour and water.
With these shapely pasta designs that transform when cooked, Morphing Matter Lab is exploring a more sustainable future for food that helps to reduce packing space during transportation and storage. As Morphing Matter Lab describes, "For 3D-shaped pasta like macaroni, more than 60% of the packaging space is used to pack air. By making flatpack pasta, we can save a large portion of the packaging space for food."
With these shapely pasta designs that transform when cooked, Morphing Matter Lab is exploring a more sustainable future for food that helps to reduce packing space during transportation and storage. As Morphing Matter Lab describes, "For 3D-shaped pasta like macaroni, more than 60% of the packaging space is used to pack air. By making flatpack pasta, we can save a large portion of the packaging space for food."
Trend Themes
1. Flat-pack Food - Developing flat-pack food products for more efficient transportation and storage offers disruptive innovation opportunities to reduce packaging waste and increase sustainability.
2. Shape-morphing - Creating shape-morphing food products using innovative techniques offers disruptive innovation opportunities to improve packaging efficiency and sustainability.
3. Sustainable Packaging - Designing sustainable packaging solutions for food products offers disruptive innovation opportunities to reduce resource consumption and waste in food transport and storage.
Industry Implications
1. Food and Beverage - Flat-pack food products and shape-morphing techniques offer disruptive innovation opportunities to improve transportation and storage efficiency, reduce waste, and enhance sustainability in the food and beverage industry.
2. Packaging - Developing sustainable packaging solutions for food products offers disruptive innovation opportunities in the packaging industry to create more efficient, eco-friendly, and cost-effective packaging options.
3. Logistics and Supply Chain - New flat-pack food products and packaging solutions offer disruptive innovation opportunities for the logistics and supply chain industry to improve transportation and storage efficiency, reduce waste, and enhance sustainability.
5.3
Score
Popularity
Activity
Freshness
