BioInspired! So What? Now What!

Our vision is to create a resilient, adaptive, and thriving economy inspired by nature’s best strategies and based on nature's best practices. Biomimicry means applying nature's wisdom as a guiding framework for a cultural shift towards sustainable living. We go beyond the mere opportunity for novel solutions. We are committed to a holistic ideation & development process that challenges and disrupts conservative approaches and successfully innovates and transforms our society sustainably.

This talk highlights the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and education.  Education is becoming increasingly specialized and organized by silos.  Biologically-inspired design (BID) can help bridge these silos.  The Center for Biologically Inspired Design (CBID) at Georgia Tech teaches BID to teams drawn from engineers, designers, mathematicians, computer specialists and at least one biologist. 

Ashok Goel of the Georgia Tech Design & Intelligence Laboratory gave a 20 minute presentation on his personal journey to make an impact on the sustainability crisis by combining his professional interest in Artificial Intelligence (AI) with bio-inspired design (BID).  BID is a powerful paradigm for addressing sustainability issues by embedding nature's principles into the design process.  The ultimate goal is a world where all of our designs are in harmony with nature.

Zygote Quarterly now has an official website, a LinkedIn group and a Facebook page.  From the first issue Editorial:

Our mission: to establish a credible platform showcasing the nexus of science, technology and creativity in the field of biologically inspired design, using case studies, news and articles that are exemplary in their impact on the field, rigorous in their methodology, and relevant to today’s reader.

What we can do: we can provide an appealing showcase for thoughtful articles about subjects we feel have significance to the field of biomimetics and our society.  Life is endlessly fascinating. At a practical level, nature can encourage and guide us to develop sustainable solutions for current problems and biologically inspired solutions have become increasingly achievable and adopted. We believe that they will, in the near future, have a significant impact in how we live with both technology and nature.

The report "Genius of the Biome describes the strategies and designs adopted by living organisms found in a worldwide region of similar climate and vegetation. It describes the biological principles and patterns common to organisms and ecosystems within a biome. This biology is then translated into design principles that can be used to inspire innovations or identify more specific criteria for place-based design."

This post will be updated when the first report is available.  There are plans to cover a total 18 biome regions.

An overview of the FIT process that "identifies the questions we need to ask of our work to achieve more sustainable outcomes."  Every projects includes the following characteristics:

This article provides an overview of biomimicry with numerous examples:

• Mark Miles, the Morpho butterfly and Qualcomm's Mirasol display
• Georges de Mestral, burrs and Velcro
• Claus Mattheck, growth of load-bearing structures and the SKO (soft kill option) design method
• Jay Harman, spirals in nature and the PAX Streamlining Principle
• the camel's nose and a saltwater-irrigated greenhouse in Qatar
• the banyan tree/harvester ants and water management in Lavasa
• Jaime Grunlan, lobster/shrimp shells and a fire-proofing polymer coating
• Shanghai Jiao Tong University, birdwing butterflies and more efficient solar technologies
• Simon Fraser University, butterfly scales and an anti-counterfeiting stamp (NOtES)
• Omni-ID, butterfly scales and more reliable RFID tags
• the Morpho butterfly and Morphotex fabrics

Thanks to Cindy Gilbert for the pointer!

Costas Loucaides has posted information on his "... investigation project based in the city of Milan, around the Naviglii area. The experimental project follows from the thesis project in the fifth year of the degree, investigating the potentials of biomimetics in urban regeneration of modern, fast moving cities."

David Sanchez-Ruano is a "PhD researcher at the Centre for the Study of Natural Design (CSND) where is currently developing new methods to facilitate nature-based experiences and behaviour change through concepts as biophilia, biomimicry and resilience. He has a background in Industrial Design and has experience as teacher in the area of Biomimicry, Holistic thinking and Ecological design."

He has maintained an extensive blog since August 2008 on a wide range of categories:

The document Better by Design - An Innovation Guide: Using Natural Design Solutions is part of a larger collection of material that includes guide sheets on a range of topics:

• Innovative Fasteners
• Power for Products
• Extending Product Life
• Chemical and Materials Selection
• Success story: Medtronic, Inc.
• Success story: General Mills
• Success story: Lead-free Solder
• Designing for the Environment: A Design Guide for Information and Technology Equipment

The article includes a link to the DfE Laboratory: University of Washington "that includes an assessment tool and curriculum description."