Nature Inspired Design

What is Biomimicry? Simply put, it is emulating nature’s genius to solve human problems.

A leader in biomimicry is Janine Benyus. For years she has been inspiring innovators to learn from natural models to design sustainable products and processes.

• Watch Janine speak about biomimicry on TED Talks
• Read Janine’s book, Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature

In her blog, The Living Enterprise, Adiel Gavish talks about using biomimicry to Create a Living Enterprise by integrating Nature’s sustainable design principles into its systems, products and services. Drawing on Janine Benyus’ work, Adiel makes a number of important points:

Secret to Thriving: If people take a closer look at the way in which the natural world makes and does things, they will discover the secrets to not only surviving, but thriving on this planet.

Innovative Design: Businesses can learn from and apply nature’s infinite reservoir of design knowledge to improve their systems, products and services.

Improving Business: By unlocking the secrets to nature’s success, businesses can not only improve their systems, but watch them adapt, grow and evolve like a living ecosystem or organism.

Below are amazing examples of biomimicry in action. The article, “The15 Coolest Cases of Biomimicry” gives details on these innovations and what in nature inspired it.

• Velcro based on burrs
• Passive Cooling based on tower-building termites
• Gecko Tape based on the hairs on gecko lizards’ feet
• Wind Turbine based on humpback whales’ flippers
• Bionic Car based on a tropical fish shape
• Friction-Reducing Coating based on shark skin

Do you have other examples of nature-inspired designs?