Biomimicry as its name suggests is a mimicking of biology for human innovation and endeavour. It is not uncommon to find intricate patterns and problem solving techniques from the natural world - after all, it has been around longer than us humans.
How can you use biomimicry in innovation?
Innovation at its core is about solving a problem that has yet to be solved, or finding a better solution to a previously solved problem. Inventors can turn to biomimicry to help push their inventions further. For example it makes a lot of sense to study the flight of birds if you are tasked with designing an aeroplane. How do the most gracious gliders of the sky use their wings? What are the proportions? Do the lines provide aerodynamic benefit? The answer is most definitely yes and this can provide your blueprint design.
Biomimicry and the Golden Ratio
Nature is the world’s best problem solver and inventor and quite often you’ll find a common theme running through nature’s attempts at perfect design: 1.61803 - the Golden Ratio. It runs throughout us humans too from our fingers to our toes, we follow the golden ratio. The most beautiful designs in nature, like the shell of a nautilus (sea mollusc), a flowering rose and some even go as far as to say the milky way galaxy itself all follow the golden ratio increasing by 1.61803 each time.
Best examples of Biomimicry in recent innovation
World renowned automotive designer Frank Stephensonhas been a life long fan of Biomimicry and you can instantly see where he has taken inspiration for some of his designs. From aerodynamic powerhouse the Cheetah to the eye of a shark, design inspiration can be found everywhere. Below are a round up of my favourite biomimicry designed innovations including the Bullet Train in Japan and China’s National Aquatic Centre, the Water Cube based off the geometry of cells. Click to follow the links.
