Humanity’s Biggest Challenges.
Nature’s Proven Solutions.

We are the bridge between biology and design, advancing the adoption of nature-inspired strategies to help solve the most pressing problems of our time.

 
CHOOSE YOUR BIOMIMICRY PATH

Whether you are a student, parent, educator, entrepreneur, or a concerned citizen, you have found your place in advancing regenerative solutions. You can begin your journey by following one of the pathways below to connect with nature and bring biomimicry into your life.

Explore nature’s strategies and learn how to apply them to problems.

Spread nature’s wisdom through professional learning opportunities.

Change culture and business by bringing solutions to market.

The Latest from our Programs

GreenPod Labs Named 2022 Ray of Hope Prize Recipient

This India-based agricultural biotechnology startup is focused on tackling the food loss problems in developing countries. 

By learning how fruits and vegetables naturally resist pest and fungal pathogens, GreenPod Labs showcases how learning from nature can solve both climate and societal problems.

From a Meme to a Movement: 25 Years of Biomimicry

Listen to a conversation with Janine Benyus and Lex Amore as we celebrate 25 years since the seminal book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature was published. We looked at Nature as Model, Nature as Measure, and Nature as Mentor, hearing stories from Janine as a cultural commentator of the field and witnessing the last 25 years of biomimicry evolution.

Meet the Newest Young Innovators in Biomimicry

From urban flooding and stormwater management to increasing access to clean drinking water in drought-prone areas, the Biomimicry Institute’s 2021-22 Youth Design Challenge (YDC) winners have offered unique, nature-inspired ideas to solve local design challenges.

A 101 Guide for Your Community

The best way to make global change happen is to start with a local approach. This introductory guide will help you bring biomimicry into your community so you can feel empowered to spread hope and action through nature-inspired thinking.

The Nature of Fashion: Design for Decomposition

Watch a short video on designing for decomposition and how an ambitious initiative is aiming to avert some of the worst effects of the global fashion industry that produces 100 billion garments each year for a population of 7.5 billion.

30 Days of Reconnection

Through these activities, we hope to give you a greater sense of our biomimicry ethos and to learn how to tap into nature’s wisdom. How does nature create resiliency? How does nature communicate? How does nature embed sustainability in all of its systems?

Living World Intervention

The Biomimicry Institute hosts nature retreats as part of their Ray of Hope and Launchpad programs. It’s like summer camp for bio-inspired innovators. What Launchpad Program Manager Dave Hutchins came to understand while hosting our 2023 Launchpad cohort in Montana, is that these retreats are more like an intervention.

Meet the Newest Young Innovators in Biomimicry

From tackling the issues of microplastics and urban heat islands, to addressing clean energy solutions through the use of wind turbines and underwater solar panels, the Biomimicry Institute’s 2022-23 Youth Design Challenge (YDC) winners have offered unique, nature-inspired ideas to solve local design challenges. The YDC, now in its sixth year, serves as a bridge from core concepts to advanced project-focused STEM learning for middle and high school students across the world.

The Transition

The Biomimicry Institute’s Executive Director, Beth Rattner, writes about the Institute’s transition into a new Executive Director.

Biomimicry Finding Success in Deep Tech

3 Ray of Hope Prize Alumni Win Big at the Hello Tomorrow Deep Tech Global Summit.

FEATURED BIOMIMICRY RESOURCE

The Nature of Fashion

What would the fashion industry look like if it functioned as an ecosystem? By realigning ourselves with what occurs in nature, we can design a next-generation textile production model that recognizes its connections to the biosphere. This report explores the material flows that underpin natural systems and shows that the first thing we must learn from nature is how to design for decomposition. It also shows how the fashion industry, relying on advances in regenerative agriculture, cellulosic fibers, fermentation, and gasification, can work with existing technology and nature to jump-start the transition to bio-compatible fibers right now. Read the report and take the next steps to transform the system.

 
The Biomimicry Institute is looking at how nature decomposes to tackle our massive fashion waste problem. 
DONATE TO THE BIOMIMICRY INSTITUTE

Support the Next Generation
of Nature-Inspired Innovators

Imagine a world where everything we make is inspired by the natural world. By supporting the Biomimicry Institute, you:

 

  • Help bring biomimicry education to more students
  • Accelerate the growth of nature-inspired startups
  • Increase the number of biological strategies and resources on AskNature.org and across our entire organization

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Support the Next Generation
of Nature-Inspired Innovators

Imagine a world where everything we make is inspired by the natural world. By supporting the Biomimicry Institute you:

  • Help bring biomimicry education to more students and educators
  • Accelerate the growth of more nature-inspired startups and entrepreneurs
  • Increase the number of biological strategies and resources on AskNature.org and across our entire organization.

The next big idea in sustainability is probably a million years old. Join the Biomimicry Institute to discover nature’s wisdom.

'How was it grown' is an expression of a Turing test for design gone right.

Neri Oxman, MIT Media Lab architect

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