Jalila Essaïdi is a Dutch artist and entrepreneur based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Essaïdi is specialized in the fields of modern biotechnology and biological arts (bio-art).She is known for her work ‘2.6g 329m/s’, also known as ‘Bulletproof Skin’, a project that achieved bioengineered bulletproof human skin reinforced with synthetic spider silk. This project combined in vitro human skin with spider silk from genetically modified goats to create a material that stops a slow-speed bullet. The impact of this international collaborative project was coined as a prime example of international cooperation by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs.Another well-known project is Mestic®, a method to transform cow manure into cellulose-derivatives. The project turns an enormous social and environmental problem (excess manure) into an opportunity to create a local manure-based economy, by turning excess manure into fashion and plastics. With Mestic® Essaidi won the H&M Global Change Award in 2017. In 2018 she received the Chivas Venture Award for social entrepreneurship and also won the Clim@ competition of the Green for Growth Fund initiated by the European Investment bank. In 2019 Essaïdi was finalist for the EU prize for women innovators by the European Comission.Essaïdi’s projects have been covered by Associated Press, Reuters, CNN and the BBC, among numerous others, and she has subsequently given interviews, lectures and presentations all over the world among world class speakers such as Eric Schmidt (CEO Alphabet/Google), Tim Cook (CEO Apple) and Travis Kalanick (CEO Uber). Recent exhibitions include: Victory and Albert Museum, London; State tretyakov Gallery, Moscow; NOMA, New Orleans; Power station of Art, Shanghai.Essaidi is director of Inspidere B.V., a biotech company based in Brainport region Eindhoven; director of BioArt Laboratories Foundation, the national development institute for the biological arts; advisory board member for media & arts at the Lifeboat Foundation; advisory board member at the Chamber of commerce and author of i.a. “Bulletproof Skin, Exploring Boundaries by Piercing Barriers”.http://www.jalilaessaidi.comhttp://www.bioartlab.comhttp://www.inspidere.com