As my first full year as CEO at the Institute comes to a close, I am reflecting on the incredible work we have done together with our partners, funders, and collaborators.
The first highlight of the year was joining our sister biomimicry organizations—Biomimicry 3.8, the ASU Center for Biomimicry, and Biomimicry for Social Innovation—at the end of a Biomimicry Professionals immersion in Baja California, Mexico. Together, we visualized a vibrant biomimicry ecosystem that could catalyze the adoption and integration of biomimicry at a new scale. This was shortly followed by a joint strategic planning session with our board and staff, held in the midst of an atmospheric river in Santa Cruz—an apt weather event for the transformational shift we were seeking to make. Seeing our board and staff interact together for the first time, it became clear that we had the momentum, commitment, and resources to envision a new future for the Institute.
Together, we aligned our future direction with our vision to create a regenerative and nature-positive world inspired by nature’s genius, and a clear purpose for our work emerged. This culminated in the release of our strategic plan at New York Climate Week, where we held two in-person gatherings to share our new direction. I couldn’t have been happier during those two evenings; our staff pulled together the most beautiful events, and many attendees referenced them as the best of the week. Perhaps it was because we generously fed everyone, but also because we have so many wonderful humans in this community who are eager to support our work.
This year, it was imperative for me to re-ground myself in life’s principles. While I have approached biomimicry from a design and architecture perspective for the last 20+ years, I participated in a week-long Biomimicry Immersion run by B3.8 in Costa Rica, alongside our board member Mary Davidge. The brilliance of the immersion facilitation, combined with the incredible natural beauty of Costa Rica—from estuary to cloud forest, rainforest, and ocean—cemented my drive to bring nature’s brilliance to everything we make and do.
I also spent a month in Europe this year, meeting stakeholders and funders and engaging in several global events. Our work over several years with the European, Ghanaian, and U.S. teams involved in the Design 4 Transformation project—piloting the process of decomposing fashion waste based on biomimicry principles—concluded its first phase in June. This project was the brilliant brainchild of my predecessor, Beth Rattner. The work she and her team accomplished with this project was nothing short of remarkable. I have some big shoes to fill as I steward the second phase, which starts in early 2025.
Additionally, I was able to join the annual nature immersion we run for our Ray of Hope cohort in the beautiful Catskill Mountains in New York State. Seeing our brilliant founders and innovation team in action was pivotal for me to understand the impact this burgeoning group of start-ups can have on transforming the way we make everything. Watch for the five-year Ray of Hope impact report in early 2025, followed by the first “demo day,” which will showcase the impact and reach of this brilliant program. I could not be more grateful to the Ray C. Anderson Foundation for supporting it. It was also a joy to attend the foundation’s annual Ray Day at Serenbe in Georgia in October, where they so generously invite the local community and their grantees to interact and learn from each other.
The release of our new online community—the AskNature Hive—in September was the first step in bringing our strategy to life. Underlying the Hive is our commitment to creating a welcoming space where a sense of belonging is fostered around curiosity and learning from nature’s genius. It is heartening to see so many of you join. Our launch webinar series has been received with such enthusiasm, and we are excited to see it grow in 2025.
The year concluded with an incredible experience at COP16 in Colombia, where Janine Benyus and I gave multiple presentations, held numerous meetings with partners, and learned about the process underlying a Biodiversity COP to understand where biomimicry can inform and support the achievement of the goals of the Global Biodiversity Framework. We had so many positive outcomes and engagements from our eight days there that will feed into our work in 2025.
I am so excited for the new year, for the opportunity to enable and connect a wider biomimicry community both online, at events around the world, and through learning, collaboration, and partnership—driven by our love for nature, its beauty, its brilliance, and its counsel.
Thank you for your support throughout 2024.
Amanda
