Named biomimetics by Otto H. Schmitt (Some Interesting and Useful Biomimetic Transforms, 1969) and developed as biomimicry by Janine M. Benyus (Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, 1997).
Restates a design problem as a function, finds living things that already perform it, and translates their mechanism into a design.
When to reach for it
When a design or engineering challenge has an analog in nature, or a team's usual repertoire of answers has run out.
How it runs
- State the challenge as a function, such as staying clean without chemicals.
- Search biology for species that perform that function.
- Work out how the species does it.
- Abstract the principle from the biology.
- Translate the principle into a design and test it.
Where it sits in SOLVE eX
Go to the source
- Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, 1997
- Some Interesting and Useful Biomimetic Transforms, Proceedings of the Third International Biophysics Congress, Boston, 1969