Bionics, Biomimetics, Biognosis, Biomimicry, or Bionical Creativity Engineering
“From super-advanced glue to shimmering lipstick, the simplest living things are providing the inspiration for futuristic materials“.
“There are now several buildings that have ventilation systems based on those found in termite mounds”.
“Nature has had the benefit of a pretty long R&D period (…) natural ecosystems are restorative (…) they operate in a closed loop made up quite complex webs (…) biomimetics can be applied in simpler ways too”.
Read Kate Ravilious’s article on Guardian and Borrowing from Nature on The Economist.
Most people think of bionics as prosthesis and devices enhancing or replacing a body part. In the context of this blog, the words I added to its title happen to be interchangeable as they refer to research and creative problem solving techniques leveraging biological models.
Since I have not done work in this specific field, I need to go back to the days when I was a student of industrial design in Barcelona to be able share some quick insights on how this subject can be covered from different angles.
Many of my classes involved references to Leonardo da Vinci’s inventiveness drawing from his study of nature, as well as Colani’s designs to provide a contemporary example. Nature is also a source of inspiration for artchitects, just have a look at Gaudi’s buildings and furniture designs. When studying human factors engineering, we also looked at prosthesis not only as a design subject but also as reference models for ergonomically designed products.
“Velcro is the most famous example of biomimetics. In 1948, the Swiss engineer George de Mestral was cleaning his dog of burrs picked up on a walk when he realized how the hooks of the burrs clung to the fur”.
The rationale is that nature provides a great variety of examples on what works (survival) and what doesn’t work (extinction) in changing environments. It should also be noted that from a business strategy standpoint, the reference to “ecosystems” while analyzing value chains and partnerships, and “lifecycles” in product design and management would be additional examples of concepts borrowed from nature.
José de Francisco 
Chicago, 3 October 07 
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