Think Biomimicry

Methodology

Biomimicry 3.8

• Biomimicry DesignLens
• Essential Elements
• Life’s Principles
• Biomimicry Thinking
• Resource Handbook

Biomimicry Institute

• Toolbox
• Methodology
• Nature’s Unifying Patterns
• Taxonomy
• Earth’s Operating System

Innovations

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  Case Studies – Ask Nature (Biomimicry Institute). Besides biological strategies, AskNature also includes examples of biomimicry-inspired innovations (click on “products” at the bottom of the list on the page “Explore by Function”). Some of the examples provided can be out of date (companies have sometimes been bought or have failed since the original post); however, the examples can still provide an idea of how a biological design principle inspired a human design.
• Case studies – Biomimicry 3.8
• Terrapin Bright Green – Tapping Into Nature – Tapping into Nature (2015) explores how pioneering companies are leveraging these adaptations and demonstrates the vast and largely untapped market potential of bio-inspired innovation. Their list often overlaps that on AskNature.org, and they provide the commercial status (concept/ prototype/ development/ in market) of the innovation as of the report’s publication.
• Scoop.It! – Biomimicry. Curated by Miguel Prazeres, this website contains links to articles describing a range of biomimicry examples (some more biomimetic than others). 

Organizations & Networks

Biomimicry

• Arizona State University Biomimicry Center
• Bio-Inspired Design (BID) Community (affiliated with Georgia Tech)
• Biomimicry Institute
• Biomimicry Global Network (Biomimicry Institute links to local biomimicry networks around the world)
• Biomimicry Education Network (BEN) (Biomimicry Institute)
• Bionica Innovatie en Expertise Centrum (Biomimetic Innovation and Expertise Center) (University of Groningen, Netherlands)
• CEEBIOS (Centre Europeen d’Execellence en Biomimetisme de Senlis)
• Da Vinci Global Index (Fermanian Business & Economic Institute)
• European Biomimicry Alliance
• Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering (Harvard University)

Additional Organizations with Nature-based Principles

• Beyond Benign
• Buckminster Fuller Institute
• International Living Future Institute
• Ellen MacArthur Foundation
• The Natural Step

Biology

Biology Through a Biomimicry Lens

• Ask Nature (Biomimicry Institute)
• Ask Nature Nuggets
• Biomimicry Bits
• The Biomimicry Manual (Inhabitat)

Genius of place/Biome reports

• Genius of Biome: Temperate Broadleaf Forest (HOK and Biomimicry 3.8)
• Genius of Place: Nature’s Strategies for Managing Stormwater in the Willamette Valley (Biomimicry Oregon)
• Genius of Place (Open Space and Mountain Parks, City of Boulder, Colorado)
• Seedkit: Design Concepts Learned from Pacific Northwest Forests (Urban Greenprint)

Mobile App  Biology Resources

• iNaturalist (A place to where you can record what you see in nature (contributing to science data repositories), meet other nature lovers, and learn about the natural world.)
• QuestaGame (QuestaGame is a mobile game that gets players outdoors to discover and help preserve life on this planet.)
• Merlin Bird ID (Merlin offers quick identification help for beginning and intermediate bird watchers to learn about North America’s most common birds.)
• myGardenAnswers (Plant identification technology for mobile devices and a community of gardening experts who offer advice and guidance to our users)

Frameworks & Principles

Frameworks

• Living Building Challenge, The International Living Future Institute
• Living Product Challenge, The International Living Future Institute
• Living Community Challenge, The International Living Future Institute
• The Circular Economy, Ellen MacArthur Foundation – check out their Circular Economy Guide
• The Natural Step

Nature-based Principles

• Life’s Principles, Biomimicry 3.8
• Nature’s Unifying Patterns, Biomimicry Institute
• The Hanover Principles, William McDonough

Design Challenges & Prizes

Challenges

• Global Design Challenge, Biomimicry Institute
• Buckminster Fuller Challenge, Buckminster Fuller Institute

Prizes

• Living Product Prize, The International Living Future Institute in partnership with the Biomimicry Institute 
• Ray of Hope Prize, Ray C. Anderson Foundation

Open Innovation Sites

• List of open innovation sites by category
• Climate CoLab

Videos

There are several talks on the web about biomimicry, and of course some are better than others. Below are some of the highlights.

• “Biomimicry’s surprising lessons from nature’s engineers” – Janine Benyus, TED, 2005 (23 mins)
• “Biomimicry in action” – Janine Benyus, TED, 2009 (18 mins)
• “Using nature’s genius in architecture” – Michael Pawlyn, TED, 2010 (14 mins)
• “This Planet – Biomimicry” – Biomimicry Institute & TreeMedia, 2016 (27 mins)
• “Cities that Function Like Forests: Biomimicry Maps a Sustainable Future” – Janine Benyus, Geodesign Summit, including discussion with Jack Dangermond of ESRI  2014 (64 mins)
• “Biomimicry (explained with drawings & examples)” – Sustainability Illustrated, 2016 (4 min intro to biomimicry)
• “Biologically Inspired Design for Industry: An Evolving Practice” – Marsha Forthover, Senior Research Scientist, Kimberly-Clark Corporation & Michael Helms, PhD, Research Scientist, Georgia Institute of Technology, IRI Learning Center webinar, 2017 (50 mins)

Social Media

LinkedIn Groups

• Biomimicry & Innovation
• Biomimicry Education Network
• Biomimicry for Built Environments

There are many LinkedIn pages for the Biomimicry Institute’s Global Network local organizations. I recommend searching for your local network in LinkedIn.

Facebook

There are many, many pages based on biomimicry in Facebook – I recommend just searching in facebook for pages. For local Biomimicry Global Network links, please visit the Biomimicry Institute’s Global Network page.

Books, Magazines & Websites

Recommended Books

Joe Zazzera’s Biomimicry (and Everything Related) Book List, cultivated during our Biomimicry Professional Program and still updated with good reads!

Recommended Magazines/Articles

• The Biomimicry Column, GreenBiz – “Every month, we will explore how nature has inspired someone to create an innovative solution in our built world.”
• The Biomimicry Manual, Inhabitat.
• The Guardian also publishes articles on biomimicry – just do a search.
• Zygote Quarterly – A quarterly online magazine on “the nexus of science and design in the field of biologically inspired design, using case studies, news and articles.”

Recommended Websites

• Bioneers – Bioneers holds an annual conference for social and scientific innovators with practical and visionary solutions for the world’s most pressing environmental and social challenges.
• Rooted In Nature – Website for learning about Biophilic Design
• E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation – The E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation’s mission is to foster a knowing stewardship of our world through biodiversity research and education initiatives that promote and inform worldwide preservation of our biological heritage.
• The Earth Genome Project – Creating a platform to enable easy-to-use, inexpensive, scientifically credible, continuously updated global information on natural resources, coupled with the creation of powerful and relevant decision-support tools, to enable the world’s key decision makers to consistently and routinely take into account the full value of nature and the consequences of their activities on natural systems. The platform and tools will exponentially lower the cost and time to analyze data and translate it into insights that decision makers can use.
• Project Drawdown (Paul Hawken) – Project Drawdown is facilitating a broad coalition of researchers, scientists, graduate students, PhDs, post-docs, policy makers, business leaders and activists to assemble and present the best available information on climate solutions in order to describe their beneficial financial, social and environmental impact over the next thirty years.