Networking with Christopher Allen AskNature.org/Biomimicry Institute
Sunday, November 16th, 2008
The design portal will be launched at the conference Green Build in Boston November 17-19. It is the basis of the Biomimicry Institute’s partnership with Encyclopedia of Life, EOL, and it is initially funded by Autodesk, world leading software developer within design and construction. ” Autodesk´s R&D department told us they are convinced that biology will be among the largest driving forces for designers during the 21st century, “says Christopher Allen, whose specialty is the management, strategy and commercialization part of sustainable development. He gave a preview of the AskNature.org content at the seminar Unfolding Value - Communicating Biodiversity October 17 at the Nobel Dynamite Factory in Stockholm, where also Prof. Tuula Teeri from Biomime gave a speech. Two days earlier, Christopher Allen attended a mini-seminar at AlbaNova University center where architectural students from the Royal School of Technology (KTH) and London Metropolitan School of Architecture in London could hear Prof. Mikael Lindström and Assoc. Prof. Harry Brumer present the research performed at Biomime. Special focus was laid on the self-assembly phenomena, and on the discussion about future biomimetic materials and design. Biomimicry is defined by the Biomimicry Institute as “the practice of developing sustainable technologies inspired by ideas from Nature”. The interest for this topic is growing very steadily, both in the US and around the world. According to Christopher Allen, the institute´s budget is going to double next year, and he believes the institute will continue to grow quite rapidly. “ We are going to see biology play a bigger and bigger role in design, and we think that the institute is going to be a major factor for that, at least in the US. Our goal is to develop international partnerships to promote bioimicry, and I see this trip to Sweden as a great networking opportunity and a way to promote our projects, and maybe form some strategic partnerships.” The Biomimicry Institute was founded two years ago by Janine Benyus, the author of Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. She first started off doing her work through the Biomimicry Guild, tells Christopher Allen, which is a full profit consultancy organization, but she soon saw the need for a non-profit education organization. “The Institute wants to create more societal value, teaching biomimicry as a way to look for solutions to sustainability challenges for the future.” The AskNature.org project started because Janine Benyus saw that there is a lot of biological data “kind of trapped in biological databases or the biologists’ minds”, and not accessible to designers. “She wanted to use the power of the web and social networking part of the web, to put design knowledge together with biology knowledge and to start creating those language bridges between the two,“ Christopher Allen explains. “The first year it will be a free registration model, just to test it out. Ask Nature’s fundamental knowledge base will always be free and open source, but we also looking at developing some premium subscription-based services as well. The Biomimicry Institute mission is “to nurture and grow a global community of people who are learning from, emulating and conserving life’s genius to create a healthier, more sustainable planet”. Their work is focused on education programs; kindergarten to high school and university programs, as well as the informal education in museums and zoos and other venues. Furthermore, the Institute runs a programme called Innovation for Conservation program, where companies that are using biomimicry to create new services and products have an opportunity to contribute to species or habitats that inspired them. A network of 25 universities provides the Institute with cutting-edge knowledge and facilitates the curriculum around biomimcry from a biology and design perspective. Christopher Allen says he would be happy to return to Sweden and attend future biomimetic events such as Unfolding Value 2009 - which most likely will focus on presenting products, prototypes and visions based on biomimetic thinking. ”Unfolding Value is a really good concept and I think there is a lot to win by developing it further”, he says.
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