Jalila Essaïdi (born 1980) is a Dutch artist and entrepreneur based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Essaïdi is specialized in the fields of bio-based materials and biological arts (bio-art).

She is best known for her work ‘2.6g 329m/s’, also known as ‘Bulletproof Skin’, a project that achieved bioengineered bulletproof human skin. This project combined in vitro human skin with spider silk from genetically modified organisms to create a material that stops a slow-speed bullet.

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.

In 2010 Essaïdi was a recipient of the Designers & Artists 4 Genomics Award for her project ‘bulletproof skin’. In 2013 Essaïdi won the nomination by the BKKC for high potential talent. Essaïdi’s projects have been covered by Associated Press, Reuters, CNN and the BBC, among numerous others, and she has subsequently given interviews and lectures all over the world. Recent exhibitions include: Victory and Albert Museum, London; State tretyakov Gallery, Moscow; NOMA, New Orleans; Power station of Art, Shanghai.

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.

Essaïdi is the CEO of Inspidere B.V., a biotech company based in Brainport region Eindhoven. In 2011 Essaïdi founded BioArt Laboratories, a foundation that offers entrepreneurs and citizen scientists access to a biotech laboratory and the tools and knowledge of cross-sectorial collaborations between the life sciences and the creative industry.