Research - The State of Nature-inspired Innovation in the UK
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Biomimicry Innovation Lab in collaboration with the Nadathur Group.
“We need a fundamental shift in how we live on Earth, what we call the Great Transition. Achieving the Great Transition will require rapid, deep, structural change across most dimensions of human activity.”
Nature-inspired innovation, the practice of drawing on solutions found in nature for human innovation, hints at approaches to solving problems in a cyclic and regenerative manner. Precision growth, homeostasis systems, self-organising materials, genetic storage, fluid dynamics, over 4 billion years of evolution, nature has already crafted a vast database of how life can prosper within the flux of ecosystems. Over the past ten years, we have seen significant growth in this field with an exponential increase in the number of patents, publications and press related to nature-inspired innovations.
To harness the enormous potential that lies beneath this highly cross-disciplinary field, Biomimicry Innovation Lab, together with the Nadathur Group, has been conducting a year-long research project that deep dives into the holistic ecosystem of nature-inspired innovation from academic, industry and finance perspectives across the innovation pipelines from the research lab to the market. Through sampling 112,000 data points, establishing a 1500+ researcher network, interviewing 200+ academics and industry practitioners, coupling with advanced data analysis tools such as Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning (ML), we’ve laid a solid foundation in understanding different perspectives, the dynamics and key actors in the field within the UK and Northern Ireland.
The report looks beyond the common biological-oriented approach in nature-inspired practices and advocates for a more comprehensive problem-solving attitude when looking into nature. In addition, a rich repository of case studies will be listed to demonstrate visions and methodologies of nature-inspired technologies and current academic, industrial, and funding landscapes to introduce our readers to the field.
“The sooner people stop thinking about biology & start thinking about the nature of the problem, the sooner people will understand nature-inspired innovation. It’s a matter of thinking more at the system’s level.”
The report provides insights into potential interventions based on our analysis of common patterns of opportunities and challenges from the perspective of different stakeholders, highlighting six key points of action:
Stronger links between academia and industry;
More effective funding policies;
Entrepreneurial training for academics;
Alignment with UK Government’s Innovation Strategies;
Strategically aligned network;
Learning from successful models.
If you would like to learn about our research capabilities, please reach out to us at work@biomimicryinnovationlab.com.