Growing for different ends

© 2014, Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Tissue engineering and regenerative biology are usually discussed in relation to biomedical research and applications. However, hand in hand with developments of this field in the biomedical context, other approaches and uses for non-medical ends have been explored. There is a growing interest in exploring spin off tissue engineering and regenerative biology technologies in areas such as consumer products, art and design. This paper outlines developments regarding in vitro meat and leather, actuators and bio-mechanic interfaces, speculative design and contemporary artistic practices. The authors draw on their extensive experience of using tissue engineering for non-medical ends to speculate about what lead to these applications and their possible future development and uses. Avoiding utopian and dystopian postures and using the notion of the contestable, this paper also mentions some philosophical and ethical consideration stemming from the use of non-medical approaches to tissue constructs. This article is part of a directed issue entitled: Regenerative Medicine: the challenge of translation.