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The State of Nature-Inspired-Innovation in the UK

Biomimicry UK on Medium - Mon, 2021/12/20 - 12:42

Systematic Insights into The State of Nature-Inspired-Innovation in the UK – New Report Launch from Biomimicry Innovation Lab in collaboration with the Nadathur Group.

You can download the entire interactive report as in ePub format here.

We need a fundamental shift in how we live on Earth, what we call the Great Transition. Achieving the Great Transition will require rapid, deep, structural change across most dimensions of human activity. – SAO PAULO DECLARATION ON PLANETARY HEALTH

Nature-inspired innovation, the practice of drawing on solutions found in nature for human innovation, hints at approaches to solving problems in a cyclic and regenerative manner. Precision growth, homeostasis systems, self-organising materials, genetic storage, fluid dynamics, over 4 billion years of evolution, nature has already crafted a vast database of how life can prosper within the balance of ecosystems. Over the past ten years, we have seen significant growth in this field with an exponential increase in the number of patents, publications and press related to nature-inspired innovations.

To harness the enormous potential that lies beneath this highly cross-disciplinary field, Biomimicry Innovation Lab, together with the Nadathur Group, has been conducting a year-long research project that deep dives into the holistic ecosystem of nature-inspired innovation from academic, industry and finance perspectives across the innovation pipelines from the research lab to the market. Through sampling 112,000 data points, establishing a 1500+ researcher network, interviewing 200+ academics and industry practitioners, coupling with advanced data analysis tools such as Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning (ML), we’ve laid a solid foundation in understanding different perspectives, the dynamics and key actors in the field within the UK and Northern Ireland.

The report looks beyond the common biological-oriented approach in nature-inspired practices and advocates for a more comprehensive problem-solving attitude when looking into nature. In addition, a rich repository of case studies will be listed to demonstrate visions and methodologies of nature-inspired technologies and current academic, industrial and funding landscapes to introduce our readers to the field.

The sooner people stop thinking about biology & start thinking about the nature of the problem, the sooner people will understand nature-inspired innovation. It’s a matter of thinking more at the system’s level. – PROF JULIAN VINCENT

The report provides insights into potential interventions based on our analysis of common patterns of opportunities and challenges from the perspective of different stakeholders, highlighting six key points of action:

Stronger links between academia and industry;

  • More effective funding policies;
  • Entrepreneurial training for academics;
  • Alignment with UK Government’s Innovation Strategies;
  • Strategically aligned network;
  • Learning from successful models.

If you would like to learn about our research capabilities, please reach out to us at [email protected].

DOWNLOAD REPORT

The State of Nature-Inspired-Innovation in the UK was originally published in Bootcamp on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Capgemini workshop

Biomimicry UK News - Thu, 2021/09/02 - 02:23

Biomimicry Innovation Lab is honoured to be part of the internal training programme at Capgemini. Alongside Frog, idean, Burge Hughes Walsh, and Zukuenfte, we developed a curriculum that introduces the Capgemini team to a series of innovative mindsets and methodologies. In particular, we are bringing the perspectives and strategies in biomimicry and biodesign that enables people to be inspired and work with nature through a series of talks and creative sessions. 


The world of biomimicry: 

As a multidisciplinary design consultancy, we’ve always been inspired by the vision that interweaves science, technology, art and design together. Combining our insights and observations in the biotech and biomimicry, we produced a four-field framework to introduce nature-inspired strategies accompanied by a series of brainstorming exercises. They are Intro to Biomimicry, via Shape, Surface and Structure, Manufacturing, Self-Assembly and Self-Organisation, and the Bio-Cyber-Physical World. 


To familiarise the participant with the process of learning from nature. We started with an exercise of observing the functionality of our own hands. It’s often quite fascinating to see how the simple anatomical structure of our hands can afford such a great diversity of functions. We believe that the first step into biomimicry innovation is to attend to every tiny natural phenomenon and be curious about its mechanisms. Following the observation, we came up with several exercise modules, including analysing the surface and structure of fruit, redesigning a household object based on previous structural observations, and digital match-making services with a co-computing species. We provided a rich repository of methods, case studies, and hands-on practices that contextualise the knowledge we shared by combining exercises and keynote lectures. The workshop spanned biomimicry from structural innovation to self-organisation to bio-computation.


If you are interested in learning more about our work, please feel free to schedule a call with us to discuss your requirements.


Richard & Yuning





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