The “Out of the Lab” competition is an annual award organized by Anima, a leading partner for nature-inspired projects. 

This award is designed to support researchers whose work draws inspiration from nature and who are preparing to move “from the lab to the market.”

Two researchers from CEA-IRIG/LCBM have developed biomaterials composed of protein nanowires to capture and convert the chemical energy from a water molecule into electrical current. When exposed to ambient humidity, these pre-activated biomaterials generate a voltage that varies with humidity. 

This sustainable and biodegradable technology is already mature for certain applications, such as:

• the building market (with real-time water leak detection),
  
• ​the Internet of Things (IoT) market (such as the monitoring and tracking of sensitive goods or merchandise that must be transported in a dry environment).

It also holds promising potential in the field of healthcare (through the monitoring of biomarkers in sweat or other biological fluids).