BioInspired! So What? Now What!

The Ask Nature Website and the Biomimicry Taxonomy

Ethan Smith
Project Director, The Biomimicry Institute

Abstract
The AskNature (http://www.asknature.org) website is a free online repository that classifies biological strategies by function in a way that can help engineers, designers, architects, entrepreneurs, and other non-biologist innovators find inspiration from biological phenomena relevant to their own human-centered challenges.  The Biomimicry Taxonomy is the foundation for the AskNature site.  It is organized as a hierarchical structure of functions—accompanied by the biological strategies used to accomplish those functions.  The site and taxonomy were first released in 2008 as an initiative of the Biomimicry Institute (http://biomimicry.org/). 

This presentation—

• Discusses the history and motivation for the AskNature website
• Reviews the Biomimicry Taxonomy structure—which is the classification foundation for the site
• Provides several examples of strategies used to accomplish biological functions
• Cites examples of other types of data that are also included on the site
• Identifies potential ways to use the site via live demonstration

Biography
Ethan Smith cultivates great ideas, talented people, and symbiotic relationships to grow and develop products and services that will help make the act of asking nature's advice a normal part of everyday inventing.  He leads the Biomimicry Institute's efforts to grow and evolve AskNature.org.  His core competencies are founded on a background in industrial design, user experience design, user interface design and development, and business strategy design. Ethan holds a bachelor's degree in Industrial Design from Western Washington University, and is a certified Biomimicry Specialist.
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