The elegance of life’s technologies—and biomimicry’s growing influence in bringing those technologies to the design world—is on full display in this wonderful new video featuring our co-founder Janine Benyus. “Design In Nature,” was shot near our headquarters in Missoula, Montana, on what turned out to be a gorgeous early spring day, and was produced by Bloomberg Businessweek Design for the publication’s one-day design conference that took place in San Francisco April 11. This design-focused video is a 4-minute introduction to Janine’s keynote at the event, where she’ll expand on the role of biomimicry in the design world. The video offers not only a glimpse of biomimicry’s design influence, but also of Janine’s backyard laboratory—including an evergreen tree that, or as Janine points out “an amazing assemblage of technologies.” Janine was joined by 24 other global design leaders, ranging from a social innovation startup leaders to costume designers. The video is part of a Bloomberg Businessweek package on biomimicry (including this...Read More >
Read More
Posted in Biomimicry in Action, Innovation Insights, Inspired by Nature on April 8, 2016 by jenna
Biomimicry 3.8 welcomed 18 new members to its biomimicry community this week, an elite multi-disciplinary group that makes up the 2016-2018 Biomimicry Professional (BPRo) certificate program cohort. In a highly competitive process, “each member was chosen because of their passion, qualifications, and dedication to biomimicry,” said Dr. Dayna Baumeister, program founder and lead instructor. “This 2016-2018 cohort undoubtedly represents another stellar group that is ready to learn what it means to lead in a world mentored by life’s genius.” Click here to view the full list of 2016 cohort members The globally renowned Biomimicry Professional (BPro) certificate program is a part-time, two-year course that integrates an accredited Master’s of Science in Biomimicry degree through Arizona State University with an in-person immersion program run by Biomimicry 3.8. The core purpose of the program is to train and mobilize an international, networked community of professional biomimics who become the leaders in this burgeoning practice. The program was created and is led by Baumeister, Biomimicry...Read More >
Read More
Posted in Biomimicry in Action, Newsworthy on March 29, 2016 by jenna
How can biomimicry help us create thriving, healthy communities that function in harmony with their ecosystems? It’s a question we ask ourselves often—and one we’ve set out to answer for clients who want their built environment projects to be inspired by nature’s genius. Built environment is a broad concept. It encompasses all human-made spaces that people use every day. That’s why it’s exciting to think about how biomimicry could help those spaces function more like nature does—in a more life-friendly way. We’re highlighting several work examples that show how we incorporated lessons from nature into built environment projects on our new Built Environment Services page. The work examples unpack the challenge for each project, then define the process and outcome of our biomimetic solutions. For example, take a look at the work we did for the Spring Mountain Visitors Gateway in Nevada: Learn more about biomimicry and Biomimicry 3.8, connect with us on Facebook, Twitter (follow @Biomimicry38) and LinkedIn.
Read More
Posted in Biomimicry in Action on March 25, 2016 by jenna
We are always excited to share inspirations from nature—biomimicry, after all, is innovation inspired by nature. We’re extra excited to share this new video that takes you to South Africa and offers a glimpse into our biomimicry immersion workshop experience. Shot last November during our Discovering Nature’s Genius workshop in Leshiba Wilderness, Limpopo province, South Africa, the video is a beautiful, exciting snapshot of the experiences people have while exploring biomimicry in the field. Biomimicry 3.8 has been putting on workshops since 2002. We’re planning to host several more in 2016. Feeling inspired? Our next workshop will take participants to the Netherlands for the first European-based Biomimicry Thinking for Social Innovation workshop. The workshop will explore the fusion between biomimicry and social innovation—inviting participants to re-imagine organizational leadership, strategy, planning, and operations with inspiration from healthy and evolving ecosystems. The workshop will be taught by our own Dayna Baumeister and Toby Herzlich, founder of Biomimicry for Social Innovation. The six-day experience...Read More >
Read More
Posted in Biomimicry in Action, Inspired by Nature on March 10, 2016 by jenna
When in comes to bringing biomimicry to the built environment, what are three approaches architects should consider? What are the best practices when it comes to adding biomimicry to the design process? Biomimicry 3.8’s Jamie Dwyer will detail and discuss three benefits of bringing biomimicry to the built environment during Verdical Group’s free Biomimicry 2016: The Road to Resiliency conference on Friday, March 11. The panel, “Scale and Best Practices for Architects” will include Chris Garvin, Managing Partner for Terrapin Bright Green. The conference takes place in Irwindale, California, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Space is still available; register here. Jamie is a Biomimicry 3.8 principal who has fused architecture and biology degrees into a career as a biologist at the design table. She’s worked on dozens of projects that have incorporated biomimicry—some of which she’ll discuss during the panel—throughout the years. What would she tell other designers anxious to incorporate biomimicry into their design work? For one, biomimicry...Read More >
Read More
Posted in Biomimicry in Action on March 4, 2016 by jenna
Of the thousands of biomimicry-inspired innovations budding throughout the world each day, a large number don’t include collaboration with a biologist. Emilie Snell-Rood pointed to this stat—fewer than 8% of the nearly 300 studies on biomimetics published in the past 3 months and indexed in the Thomson Reuters Web of Science had an author working in a biology department—in a compelling article for Nature where she argues that embracing teamwork and bringing biologists of all kinds to the collaborate on biomimicry-based projects is necessary for continued, meaningful advancement of innovation. She writes: With around 1.5 million described species, and probably some 9 million eukaryotic species in existence, researchers pursuing biomimetic approaches have barely scratched the surface of biological inspiration. Biologists from all sorts of disciplines have an extraordinary store of knowledge that could guide forays into a much richer diversity of natural systems. Such knowledge could also help to steer experimental approaches. Biomimicry 3.8 co-founder Dr. Dayna Baumeister agrees, of course. In fact,...Read More >
Read More
Posted in Biomimicry in Action, Inspired by Nature on February 16, 2016 by jenna
Biomimicry 3.8 co-founder Janine Benyus will join Project Drawdown founder Paul Hawken in conversation this week at Buildwell 2016, a two-day conference for people who are inventing a healthy, low-carbon 21st century architecture. Benyus will speak Feb. 10, highlighting the role nature’s genius can play in creating building materials and built environments that not only help eliminate and draw down carbon emissions, but provide net-positive impact. “In the past, we’ve asked (buildings) to reduce energy use, reduce how many toxins are used in building materials—to reduce impacts,” Benyus said. “In the future, I think we’ll be asking them to filter their own water, to purify air around them, and send the air downwind cleaner than it came. I think we’ll be asking them to squeeze carbon into their site using the building materials themselves.” This is something nature does every day. Native landscapes provide ecosystem services—like trapping carbon, purifying water and supporting biodiversity—that clean the air, replenish water supplies, and...Read More >
Read More
Posted in Biomimicry in Action, Featured on February 8, 2016 by jenna
GreenBiz16 will gather a set of visionaries, gurus, and business leaders near Phoenix, Arizona, February 23-25, to define the greatest trends, challenges and opportunities in sustainable business today. The annual conference is a forum to discuss big (sustainability) ideas in the world of big business. But what can nature teach us about running a thriving, sustainability-driven business? Thanks to 3.8 billion years of evolutionary R&D, nature has much to teach us about sustainable business practices. We’re excited to bring biomimicry to GreenBiz once again, and are cooking up several opportunities for attendees to learn more about the practice’s application to sustainable business and leadership practices. First off, Biomimicry 3.8 co-founder Dayna Baumeister will present “Systems Thinking: Nature inspired business lessons” on the event’s main stage at 10:55 a.m. on Thursday, February, 25, where she’ll highlight nature’s key insights that can increase a company’s resilience, drive innovation, and help regenerate our culture, economy, and planet. Dayna will also host a Greenbiz...Read More >
Read More
Posted in Biomimicry in Action, Featured on January 28, 2016 by jenna
We sent our most recent set of Certified Biomimicry Professionals out into the world not too long ago. They represented the first class of graduates to earn the BPro title and a Master’s of Science in Biomimicry from Arizona State University. As always, the cohort included an impressive mix of professionals that came together from a diverse set of backgrounds for a two-year learning journey that ended in November in Botswana. But what does it mean to be a BPro? And how do graduates incorporate into their careers? We asked a pair of BPros from two past cohorts to reflect on the inspiration they found in the program and about how biomimicry has influenced their careers: Rachel Hahs—2013-15 BPro graduate Sustainability and Innovation Consultant 10 years as a Sustainability and Environmental Consultant Why add biomimicry to your professional portfolio? I was looking for something else to move my career forward. I really felt, and still feel, that the primary focus...Read More >
Read More
Posted in Biomimicry in Action on January 6, 2016 by jenna