Why Private Innovation, Not Regulation, Is the Key to the Circular Economy

Humanity faces a series of complex, interconnected sustainability challenges (e.g., climate change, racial and socioeconomic inequities, resource depletion and degradation). Tackling these challenges and achieving sustainability are the defining issues of our era; the consequences of not achieving sustainability are certainly catastrophic. Higher education has the opportunity and the responsibility of leading efforts to address these challenges and create a sustainable future.

The announcement from SpaceX to launch a crewed flight to Mars in 2024 inspired us to ask the question, “how do we fulfill the nutritional needs of a crew of astronauts on an 80-million-mile, three-year mission to Mars, where there are no grocery stores, farms, or resupply vehicles?” We want pancakes, with maple syrup, on Mars. iGEM ULaval and iGEM Concordia are proud to have organized a panel discussion which asks, how can synthetic biology contribute to sustainable production of food in space?