Dedicated to furthering the practice of bio-inspired design.

Welcome to the BioInspired Site!

The Bio-Inspired Design (BID) Community promotes the practical application of bio-inspired design, emphasizing the ‘challenge to biology’ approach.  The objective is to foster more effective and efficient methods for developing solutions based on natural principles.  The goal is to encourage the conscious application of principles that support and promote solutions facilitating sustainable human behavior and leading to successful products, services and systems initiatives.

Members of the community include current practitioners in the field of bio-inspired design; aspiring practitioners (the 'next wave'); facilitators; and people knowledgeable in human history, psychology and cognition.  The community will help build bridges between disciplines and act as a hub for collecting and broadcasting BID information, knowledge and expertise in three key areas:

  • motivation to apply BID by demonstrating its value in various contexts
  • development of tools, methods and approaches supporting the effective and efficient use of BID
  • expanded opportunities to apply BID through sharing successes, identifying trends and encouraging collaboration

A substantial amount of material is available to anyone but only registered website users can create and rate content or post comments.  A quarterly membership fee for individuals will support this website, the quarterly newsletter and future services.  Paid-up members have first access to newsletters and member-only content.  Sign up using the Become a Member link in the right sidebar.  The graphic on the right will be updated periodically to show progress towards our 100-member goal.

See Finding Your Way Around the Website and Website Help for information about navigating the website.

Announcing the First Issue of Zygote Quarterly

Fri, 2012/03/23 - 13:56 — nhoeller

It is with great pleasure that we announce the launch of our new digital magazine, Zygote Quarterly, a publication devoted exclusively to the nexus of science and design as they meet in the sphere of biomimicry and bio-inspired design.

We think that ZQ is in a “sweet spot” for problem-solvers interested in applying lessons of nature to design: somewhere between peer-reviewed journals and the popular mainstream press; a place that was, until now, strangely vacant.  

If you like what you see, please pass this message to others who might be interested, participate in our LinkedIn group, contact us through the website (right side of the footer) and join us on this path of discovery.

Tom McKeag       Norbert Hoeller       Marjan Eggermont

Janine Benyus Wins 2012 Design Mind Award from Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

Thu, 2012/05/17 - 04:38 — nhoeller

From http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/media/media/press-releases.html

Janine Benyus, a proponent of biomimicry in design and innovation, has won the Design Mind category of the 13th annual National Design Awards program sponsored by Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York. Benyus is the co-founder of Biomimicry 3.8, the global leader in biomimicry innovation consulting, professional training, and educational program and curricula development.

"It has been my privilege and my lifelong passion to bring nature’s wisdom to the people who design our world,” said Benyus. “Being honored by this creative community is a halleluiah moment for biomimicry—a coming of age for nature-inspired design."

Pre-Summit Workshop: Introduction to Biomimicry in Education

Thu, 2012/05/17 - 04:34 — nhoeller
Start: 
Thu, 2012/06/21
Location: 
World Forestry Center, Portland, OR
Link: 
http://edsummit.biomimicry.net/pre-summit-workshop-for-educators/

Educators of all levels, especially those who are new to biomimicry, are invited to join Biomimicry 3.8 Institute staff for a one-day introduction to biomimicry and biomimicry in education. The workshop will take place at the World Forestry Center, easily accessible from downtown Portland by light rail (MAX.)

Presentations and hands-on activities will give participants background information and practical suggestions for introducing your students to the engaging and inspiring field of biomimicry.

Summer Field Course, Biomimetic Discovery (to June 22)

Thu, 2012/05/10 - 09:26 — nhoeller
Start: 
Mon, 2012/05/21
Location: 
California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Link: 
http://www.cca.edu/academics/summer/interdisciplinary

Course Summary: This is a hands-on field course that will take you to many of the unique ecosystems of the San Francisco Bay Area, and show you how to collect lessons from nature for your own design projects. You will learn some field observation techniques, biomimetic design concepts, and produce a design logbook of inspirations from nature for use in your area of study. The purpose of this course is to provide you with techniques for observing nature that will enhance your design practice.

Submissions For NSF Bio-Inspired Design Workshop

Mon, 2012/04/23 - 19:45 — nhoeller
Start: 
Mon, 2012/05/07
Link: 
http://designengineeringlab.org/BID-workshop/Workshop_2_%40_DCC.html

To attend the workshop, we strongly encourage you to prepare a poster of your research interests or projects related to bio-inspired design.  The poster will address ONE of the following topics:

  1. Convey the state of your current BID research or, if you are not currently conducting BID research, how you think bio-inspired design may play a role in your future research directions;
  2. What BID topic you would tackle with $500,000 of funding over two-three years and how would you go about conducting the research (note, we do not have $500K to distribute :), so this is to show the attending program managers what type of activity a BID research program may generate);
  3. An interesting BID research problem that needs to be solved.

NSF Bio-Inspired Design Workshop

Mon, 2012/04/23 - 19:39 — nhoeller
Start: 
Tue, 2012/06/05
Location: 
DCC 2012, College Station, TX
Link: 
http://designengineeringlab.org/BID-workshop/Workshop_2_%40_DCC.html

In this NSF sponsored second workshop on bio-inspired design, the organizers will summarize the results from the first workshop (held on 20-March-2011 in Palo Alto, CA), engage participants in short design concept generation with current BID approaches and, based on the first two activities, identify future directions for BID research.

The key motivation for the workshop lies in identifying future research directions of BID – specifically problem focused research directions such as complex system design and sustainability. Another key motivation is the identification of the fundamental impediments to joining the engineering and biological (and related) disciplines and the associated research directions needed to overcome them. Bringing these two disciplines together is key due to i) the relevant technical knowledge in each community and ii) the cultural difference between them that has occurred through the development of engineering as a solution generating applied science and biology as a knowledge generating pure science.

M.Sc. position for Biofouling Research (St. Francis Xavier University)

Fri, 2012/04/06 - 13:57 — nhoeller

The Center [for Biofouling Research at St. Francis Xavier University] is accepting applications for a MSc student to join our group, starting May 15 2012.  This position is fully funded at $17,000 for two years, and tuition waivers are also possible. The project will entail a range of observational and experimental approaches to characterize settlement of various marine larvae on designed surfaces. 

MCAD: Systems Thinking (To December 14)

Thu, 2012/03/29 - 14:34 — nhoeller
Start: 
Mon, 2012/08/27
Location: 
Online - Asynchronous
Link: 
http://mcad.edu/continuing-education/sustainable-design/systems-thinking-fall-20...

Course Description

We are transitioning from the age of design for the part to the age of design for the whole. This course provides students with the tools required to succeed in today's dynamic market and a world of uncertainty. Systems thinking, languages of design, and product life cycles are integrated and they form the solid foundation for innovative products. Actionable theory is absorbed through market specific projects.

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