"The Promise of Biomimicry" : Innovation and Design Inspired by Nature
Summary
TLDRThe script explores biomimicry, a discipline that seeks sustainable solutions by emulating nature's strategies. From the efficient energy conversion in leaves to the flow control in forests, it emphasizes nature's wisdom. Pioneer Janine Benyus, who authored 'Biomimicry' in 1997, shares her insights on innovation inspired by nature. The script also covers the Biomimicry Institute's educational efforts, the Ray C. Anderson Foundation's support for entrepreneurs, and various biomimetic projects like mosquito control devices and wastewater treatment systems, illustrating how nature's principles are applied to solve real-world problems.
Takeaways
- đł Biomimicry is a design discipline that seeks sustainable solutions by emulating nature's strategies and forms.
- đŹ The concept of biomimicry was popularized in the 1990s with the publication of Janine Benyus' book, 'Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature'.
- đĄïž Nature's strategies for energy efficiency and feedback loops are highlighted as models for human innovation.
- đ± Janine Benyus and Dana Baumeister aimed to integrate biomimicry into culture and education to foster a new generation of inventors.
- đ« Biomimicry is best taught through practical design challenges, encouraging students to apply its principles.
- đĄ The Biomimicry Institute's student design challenge has been instrumental in nurturing the next generation of biomimetic innovators.
- đ The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change recognizes biomimicry as a viable approach to achieving regenerative economies.
- đ§ Examples of biomimicry in action include mosquito control devices inspired by carnivorous plants, building cooling systems inspired by cacti and termites, and wastewater treatment inspired by cow stomachs.
- đïž Biomimicry is applied across various industries, from architecture to water treatment, aiming to solve real-world problems with nature-inspired solutions.
- đ The Ray of Hope Prize, worth $100,000, is awarded to the best biomimetic innovation to help bring these ideas to market.
- đ The ultimate goal of biomimicry is to integrate its principles into mainstream design, leading to a more sustainable and nature-inspired world.
Q & A
What is the main theme of the video script?
-The main theme of the video script is biomimicry, which is innovation inspired by nature, focusing on sustainable solutions and learning from the natural world.
What does the term 'biomimetics' refer to?
-Biomimetics refers to the practice of looking to nature for design solutions and inspiration, aiming to create sustainable products, policies, and systems by emulating natural processes and structures.
When did Janine Benyus start collecting examples of biomimicry?
-Janine Benyus started collecting examples of biomimicry in 1990, which culminated in her book 'Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature' in 1997.
What is the purpose of the Biomimicry Institute's student design challenge?
-The purpose of the Biomimicry Institute's student design challenge is to teach biomimicry principles through practice and to encourage students to develop sustainable solutions inspired by nature.
How does the video script suggest we can learn from nature?
-The video script suggests that we can learn from nature by observing its strategies, forms, processes, and ecosystem-level interactions, and then applying these principles to human systems design.
What is the Ray C. Anderson Foundation's connection to biomimicry?
-The Ray C. Anderson Foundation is connected to biomimicry through its founder, Ray Anderson, who was inspired by Janine Benyus to learn from nature. The foundation supports the Biomimicry Institute's initiatives, including the student design challenge.
What is the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change's goal mentioned in the script?
-The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change's goal mentioned in the script is to transition to regenerative economies sustained by resilient communities within 10 years.
What is the 'Ray of Hope Prize' and why is it awarded?
-The 'Ray of Hope Prize' is a $100,000 award given to the best team in the biomimicry launchpad competition. It is awarded to incentivize and support the commercialization of biomimetic innovations.
How does the script describe the importance of nature's strategies in problem-solving?
-The script describes the importance of nature's strategies in problem-solving by emphasizing how nature's feedback loops and efficient use of resources can inspire sustainable solutions to human challenges.
What are some examples of biomimetic innovations mentioned in the script?
-Examples of biomimetic innovations mentioned in the script include a mosquito control device inspired by a carnivorous plant, a building cooling system inspired by cacti and termites, a wastewater treatment system inspired by a cow's digestive system, and a water pipe leak detection robot inspired by a squid.
What is the ultimate goal of biomimicry as portrayed in the video script?
-The ultimate goal of biomimicry as portrayed in the video script is to integrate biomimetic design into everyday products and practices, leading to a more sustainable and nature-inspired approach to innovation.
Outlines
đż Biomimicry: Learning from Nature
The paragraph introduces biomimicry as a discipline that seeks sustainable solutions from nature. The speaker discusses how nature's strategies, such as feedback loops, prevent excessive energy expenditure. The concept of empathy is highlighted as a means to understand the interconnectedness of human and natural activities. The speaker's journey into biomimicry began in 1990, leading to the publication of a book in 1997. Biomimicry is presented as a method of innovation inspired by nature, focusing on efficient and life-friendly designs and processes. The goal is to create sustainable products, policies, and lifestyles by emulating nature's strategies.
đ Integrating Biomimicry into Education and Culture
This section discusses the efforts to integrate biomimicry into education and culture. The speaker emphasizes the importance of teaching biomimicry through practice, such as design challenges, to encourage innovation inspired by nature. The narrative includes the story of Ray Anderson, a businessman who sought to make his company environmentally sustainable, and his connection to Janine Benyus, a biomimicry proponent. The paragraph also touches on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change's goal to transition to regenerative economies within a decade, suggesting that biomimicry can play a significant role in achieving this.
đ Global Biomimicry Solutions for Climate Change
The paragraph showcases various global teams working on biomimicry projects to address climate change. Teams from different countries are developing solutions inspired by nature, such as a mosquito control device based on a carnivorous plant, a building cooling system inspired by cacti and termites, and a wastewater treatment methodæšĄä»ż cow's digestion. Each team's project is designed to be sustainable and environmentally friendly, demonstrating the practical application of biomimicry principles.
đ Launchpad for Biomimicry Innovations
This section describes the Biomimicry Launchpad, a program that helps transform biomimicry ideas into commercial products. The program provides participants with business skills and mentorship to develop their innovations. The narrative includes the process of selecting teams for the Launchpad and the ultimate goal of awarding a $100,000 Ray of Hope Prize to the most promising project. The prize aims to incentivize the development of biomimetic innovations and attract further investment.
đ± The Future of Biomimicry
The final paragraph envisions a future where biomimicry is a standard part of good design, with nature's wisdom guiding everyday products and solutions. The speaker expresses gratitude for the progress made and eagerness to see future innovations. The paragraph concludes with a hopeful outlook on the integration of nature-inspired designs into mainstream culture and the potential for these designs to contribute to environmental conservation and sustainability.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄBiomimicry
đĄSustainability
đĄNature's Designs
đĄInnovation
đĄFeedback Loops
đĄEmpathy
đĄEcosystem
đĄRay of Hope Prize
đĄBiomimicry Institute
đĄDesign Challenge
đĄRegenerative Economies
Highlights
Life runs on information and sunlight, and nature influences movement through shape.
Nature uses feedback loops to prevent overexpenditure of energy.
Biomimicry involves collecting ideas from nature for innovation.
Biomimicry is a new way of inventing by looking to nature for inspiration.
Nature's designs are energy efficient and life-friendly.
Biomimicry aims to emulate nature's strategies for a sustainable world.
Biomimicry has spread throughout design and engineering communities in the last 20 years.
The biomimicry discipline is naturalizing in culture and building institutions.
Biomimicry tools include nature-inspired methodologies and innovation matchmaking services.
Biomimicry should be taught through practice, such as design challenges.
Ray Anderson, founder of Interface, was inspired by biomimicry for environmental sustainability.
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change sees design inspired by nature as a means to regenerative economies.
Arooga Technologies mimics the Venus flytrap to control mosquito populations.
A product is being developed to lower building temperatures using a passive system inspired by nature.
Wastewater treatment technology is inspired by the cow's stomach to operate without power.
A robotic tool inspired by squids is used to identify water pipe leaks.
Self-cleaning surfaces inspired by nature are applied to water treatment membranes.
The Biomimicry Launchpad helps turn biomimetic ideas into real products and businesses.
The Ray of Hope Prize of $100,000 incentivizes bringing biomimetic innovations to light.
Biomimicry technologies aim to bring nature to everyday people and products.
In 20 years, biomimicry will be seen as just good design, integrating nature's evolved solutions.
Transcripts
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you know what life runs on information
and sunlight
[Music]
how does nature influence movement
through shape
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how does nature redirect fluid flow
redirect that's interesting
you know how when you walk it gets
really windy and filled and then you
walk into an forest what happens
so those feedback loops are what
constantly keep nature from going
overboard on stuff or expending too much
energy so there's so many strategies but
what you have to do is get form of
empathy which is we start with what are
your lives like what are you doing and
then realize there's no separation
between what they're doing what we're
doing that's a false battery they just
do it under for doing that we're trying
to do I started collecting for
biomimicry in 1990 the book yeah I began
to see these is sort of faint signal in
the scientific literature that people
who are studying leaves for instance
we're starting to work with solar cell
manufacturers right to to say you know
how does how does a leaf gather the
sun's energy so so well and turn it into
chemistry's and when I saw that happen I
collected it that started in 1990 and it
culminated in biomimicry innovation
inspired by nature of the book in 1997
so biomimicry is innovation inspired by
nature and it's a new way of inventing
by looking to the natural world for our
inspiration how and asking before we
design anything um what would nature do
here when we're doing biomimicry is
we're looking for nature's designs you
know its structures and its forms
because they're so elegant they're so
energy efficient
we're looking at its processes its
recipes than the chemistry's that are so
life friendly and then we're also
looking at its strategies on an
ecosystem level right how do all these
organisms interact in a way that
enhances this place and by looking to
the natural world for our models and as
our mentor
what we're trying to do is emulate that
to create a more sustainable world more
sustainable products policies makes new
ways of living that will allow us to
live more gracefully on this planet and
how we're using too many materials too
much energy too many toxins how does
nature do it it's a way to seek
sustainable solutions and it still is a
fairly new it's a fairly new way of
inventing in the last 20 years it's
spread throughout the design and
engineering communities you know it's
the beginning of its jury
it's an exciting emerging discipline and
we've begun to naturalize it in the
culture
[Music]
when Dana Baumeister and I were first
starting and we realized you know when
there's an emerging discipline where do
you where do you start to naturalize it
in the culture and to build all the all
the institutions that are emerging
discipline needs and what we said was
that you know ultimately what we're
trying to do is take the ideas from the
natural world the wisdom from the
natural world and let it flow into human
systems design design of everything and
so we needed to create a flow structure
that's how nature would do it right
something that would use that would that
would easily flow from one to the other
and the most important impulse was to
get people to ask how would nature do
this and then once they asked we had to
make sure that they would have a way to
find an answer and that became tools
like ass nature methodologies about
going outside and how you look and how
you observe ways to go through the
biological literature ice I called it
there needs to be some sort of an
innovation matchmaking service right
because I realized that the people who
make our world
you know the engineers and product
designers they don't take biology in in
school it just doesn't happen so they're
creating creating a pump that's run by
an internal combustion engine but
they've never learned about the whale
heart which is an incredible pump that
pumps you know 65,000 miles of arteries
capillaries biologists know about it but
the people who make pump stuff so it's
creating this
this place where biological knowledge
and intelligence could easily be
accessed at the moment of creation that
became a snitcher
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one of the things we said was let's get
biomimicry into the educational process
and what we learned was the way that
biomimicry is best taught is through
practice so that's when we went to this
idea of a design challenge as a way of
teaching because biomimicry is not a
body of work that you download that you
read in the textbook if you have to do
it actually and then you get it so it's
starting to happen we're starting to put
that into place with with this design
challenge
[Music]
I'm John Lanier the executive director
of the RACI Anderson foundation
my grandfather was Ray Anderson ray
founded interphase the world's largest
carpet tile manufacturing company and he
spent the last 17 years of his life
trying to make his business as
environmentally sustainable as possible
along that journey that he and the
company took he was always looking for
teachers people who could help him along
the way towards sustainability Janine
Benyus was one of those teachers and
then she taught ray to learn from nature
biomimicry is such a big part of what my
grandfather's story was about and when
he passed away left his estate to this
family foundation we very strongly
believe that we need more entrepreneurs
to understand that nature really is the
best teacher it's something that that
ray understood very well when we learned
that the biomimicry Institute had been
doing a student design challenge for
some time that was the beginning of a
much bigger idea because there are so
many people who have the entrepreneurial
bug but have not yet learned how to be
expert bio-memories if we can empower
them you begin to see the makings of
systems change people begin to realize
that what nature has to teach is more
than we've ever imagined
[Music]
the UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change says we have 10 years to
transition to regenerative economies
sustained by resilient communities
design inspired by nature is inherently
regenerative inherently resilient making
it a viable means to meet those goals
now we're using too many materials too
much energy too many toxins how does
nature do it
[Music]
my name is paulina Villa Crassus I'm
from Ecuador and my name is Ana gannets
I'm similar co-leaders from India I'm
Tyrone Kumar from Bangalore India my
name is Albert Gonzalez
I'm Timmons lo my name is Joe and this
is Angela my name is Joe Pew gar I'm the
CEO and co-founder of arooga
technologies my name is AAM's
I'm an architect I'm wincing I come from
China
my name is Bruno Richmond my name is
Pedro Ho Chi Minh and from nuclear
company yeah
so we started with this problem of
climate change we identified the
population of mosquitoes were increasing
in some areas of the world so that's
where we really started with that
problem of mosquito populations we
decided to ask nature what can we do to
trap unwanted population we found that
there's this latter word or Utrecht
Eulerian Bulgari's it's a carnivorous
plant that it's under water and
basically has these hairs that are very
sensitive so when a larvae is closer to
these hairs their trap opens and it
traps the larvae and then through
photosynthesis it digests the larvae and
turns it into nutrients so inspired on
that we wanted to mimic that behavior
and so we created that you pod which is
a mosquito control device that is solar
paneled
and it has two compartments an air
chamber and a water chamber what it does
it has a pump that triggers a trapdoor
through a smart sensor that lets water
and larvae in and once the water chamber
is full their trap door closes and
basically the larvae are left with no
oxygen supply and they drown the trap
system resets
its cycle and the water and larvae are
expelled in new water in new larvae
come into the water chamber and that's
how it functions
[Music]
we're working on a product that would
help lower the lure the temperature
inside buildings being able it would be
retrofitted onto the face of the outside
exterior of a wall it would lower the
temperature inside and it's a passive
system that doesn't require the use of
electricity so actually every layer of
our project uses separate creatures to
mimic the first layers is inspired by
the cactus the wavy pattern that's on
the front of our device creates a shade
reduce heat and then we have a second
layer that is very porous allows for air
that get brought into the system to cool
it down and that one's inspired by the
termites and our final layer is a water
layer that uses the same technique that
we use as simple up the water so that
that water can then evaporate and also
pull down the surface of the wall from
the front of it to the back of it we
know it cools up to about 30 degrees we
got some tests that went a little higher
when it got hotter but like on average
is about a 30 degree difference and it's
only about 3 inches thick so it's really
right now and this is like macro scales
so we could actually build it and test
it so if we were to manufacture it would
probably be only like 1 or 2 inches
thick and hopefully would have the same
result
we work on wastewater seaweeds
treatments we direct the technology to
treat wastewater civets without using
power with that's what every we do what
we do is we've taken inspiration from
the stomach of a cow and try to
replicate that underground so what we do
is we treat the wastewater without power
or machinery using anaerobic bacteria
that is present in the cow's stomach as
well so it's a digestive system for the
wastewater what we're trying to do is
treat sewage in the more decentralized
way closer to the source without
machinery chemicals and safeguarding the
lives of operators and also the sludge
that is being created carries a lot of
pathogens in conventional STPs
unlike anaerobic systems like ours that
actually eats and digests all these
things and we've came out the solution
and we are hoping to make a difference
[Music]
our company is about helping water
utilities to fund leaks similar water
pipes save water and protect their
infrastructure
we use a robotic tool that we can use to
put into water pipes and help those
world companies identify the location of
leaks before those leaks become
catastrophic failures we all started as
traditional engineering major students
which by all traditional engineering
principles it turns out none of them
worked so we had to take a radically
different approach and that's when we
started looking at soft material robot
then we build a robot that works very
much like a squid they can squeeze
through water pipes and then measure
leaks through a suction force and this
is our inspiration from nature to solve
this particular problem we can transform
that interesting point from the nature
to the industry point that's quite
inspiring for us with
we actually look to how our own native
arteries in our own body remain so clean
from blood clot and other platelets that
would accumulate on the surface normally
so what we've actually discovered
through histology or the study of veins
and we've seen this pattern in other
places in nature such as dolphin and
shark skin or even mussels in the ocean
is that this is a self-cleaning surface
and that different animals and organisms
use this in order to keep themselves
clean in harsh adhesive environments so
separately or one of the applications
were really driving for has been in
water treatment reverse osmosis or
desalinization the hope would be to put
these self-cleaning features on
membranes used for the filtration
process and by having a self-cleaning
surface here in proving the lifetime of
these filters as well as making them
more effective we had we had done the
design challenge for several years and
the ideas were amazing but people
graduated they went on they didn't have
the business help to be able to know how
to make it into an actual business or a
service or product and and we knew that
that there was a gap there we would like
to take these amazing ideas turn them
into real products commercialize them so
the launch pad or the people out of all
of our applications these are the people
who we believe have the best chance to
make a business out of their ideas so
they are learning not just biomimicry
but they're also learning business
skills
[Music]
they're getting a mini MBA here in how
to come up with a business model how to
come up with a business plan how to
present your materials for investors we
also we're asking them to get to the
prototype stage which is a lot more than
just ideas on a CAD CAM program or on
paper both these teams the winner will
be presented with $100,000 ray of hope
prize that's at a point where investors
might say okay this looks like something
that might work
so that hundred thousand dollars should
attract other money as well and we'll
get folks to even the next level of
their work and we've seen that happen
we felt that by creating a grand prize
but we call the the ray of hope prize
$100,000 to the best team but that
creates an incentive bringing a
biomimetic innovation to light now
please help me congratulate the winners
of the 2018 ray of hope
first prize brothers Bruno and Pedro
rootin pan young Kelly of nuclei Rio in
Brazil
[Music]
now I'd like to invite all six of the
teams from the biomimicry launchpad on
stage please join me in congratulating
all of them
[Music]
anyone yeah we are super proud for sure
that the price will help help a lot in
our development in our next steps new
Clarice basil and inspired by nature and
ours our users are the trees are the
small trees the seedlings but not only
the trees but the few the workers - yeah
we are improving the food workers life
the biggest bottleneck at the forest
erosion process is the maintenance we
need a lot of Labor and those heroes
they are working every day at the fields
but we want to improve their labor
because the demand for for saturation is
huge so we will put their jobs just to
be plenty increase we are supplying them
with a new technology a new device - so
with that they can plant the faster
smarter
and cheaper to living this year business
and the biomimicry and design itself so
yeah we learn a lot of that I am mimicry
at scale this transformation coming here
it was really nice to meet a bunch of
people who also design and look for new
solutions in nature the walk on the
Blackfoot River I loved every minute of
it
it was really nice just to see like
Janine's personal take on it and how
much it meant to her and it was it just
inspiring all around and and also
learning from the other participants so
we are just kind of completing each
other's work and and it's really good to
be a part of this network but what I
think is a great opportunity and what I
are really excited about especially in
biomimicry technologies is what we're
doing is we're bringing nature now to
the everyday person and at the end of
the day there's that beautiful flow
and there's more sustainable products
there's people who know how to practice
biomimicry but even more importantly to
me there's a whole group of people who
have a heightened respect for the
natural world this way of inventing you
know in 20 years we look back and this
is just good design it's not biomimetic
design it's just good design it mimics
the amazing things that have been
evolved over 3.8 billion years at that
point we will have fulfilled this
mission right and hopefully there's a
amazing amounts of systems of solutions
all of which you can say thank you to
for the idea right and those organisms
habitats are being conserved because
we're just so grateful and we want to
see what the next genius idea is gonna
be right that's what I would love in 20
years
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