Innovations Inspired by Nature – What We Can Learn From the Genius that Surrounds Us

Inspired by her backyard observations in Missoula, Montana, biologist and natural history writer, Janine Benyus, invented the word biomimicry in 1990. The publication of her book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature in 1997 introduced the world to the idea of applying natural principles to human problems. Since the book’s release, Benyus co-founded the Biomimicry Guild with Dr. Dayana Baumesiter in 1998, which morphed into Biomimicry 3.8. This B-Corporation social enterprise continues to bring innovation inspired by nature’s designs and processes—3.8 billion years worth of wisdom and brilliant, time-tested solutions—to clients, including Fortune 500 companies and federal agencies.

Watch Janine Benyus’s two-minute Biomimicry Introduction Video:

Following the establishment of Biomimicry 3.8, in 2006 Benyus co-founded the Biomimicry Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to spreading biomimicry practice and education around the world.  The Institute presents examples of solutions to global challenges, hosts an Annual Global Biomimicry Design Challenge, and provides a comprehensive biomimicry inspiration database: AskNature. This amazing educational and design resource presents a wide array of strategies organized by functions and living systems as well as a collection of inspired innovations.

Strategy: the only color pigment present in a peacock feather is brown. The vivid hues we see are achieved with structural color and transparent layers. When light reflects back to us through the layers, it creates the color blue or green or gold to your eye.

Inspired Design: Using the owl feather as a template, Ziehl-Abegg, Inc. designed a more efficient and quieter axial fan.

Inspired Idea: Growing in muddy areas, the Lotus Flower does not use detergent to stay clean. The bumpy surface of its leaves allows rainwater to form balls onto which dirt particles attach. Then the water beads teeter and pearl away. The paint company Lotusan designed an outdoor paint which has a similar bumpy structure, allowing rainwater to clean a building surface, instead of requiring sandblasting or detergents.

Today, despite biomimicry’s benefits and wider recognition, Janine still runs up against the attitude that it’s Man vs. Nature in the struggle to survive: “The assumption is that we are not nature,” she says “but we are nature, and once that separation goes away, as you start looking at these organisms as consummate chemists and inventors, it changes our relationship with the rest of the natural world. It puts us in the role of student rather than conqueror.”

Watch:

Janine’s 2009 Ted Talk

The documentary “Biomimicry” produced by Leonardo Di Caprio’s Tree Media (2015, 22 mins)

Janine’s Speech presented at the 2015 Bioneers National Conference

Janine’s Speech presented at the 2015 SWSX Eco Conference

Contribute:

Share your knowledge and explore, become a Biomimicry Institute member

Join and give to the Biomimicry Institute

Read Janine Benyus’s new book: The Secret Language of Animals: A Guide to Remarkable Behavior

Learn about more biomimicry education opportunities featured in Pure Treasures