Designers Turn To Nature For Inspiration

Biomimicry, design inspired by nature, is becoming a core sustainability strategy for companies looking for ways to cut their ecological footprints, Business Week reports.

Janine Benyus, who divides her time between the research nonprofit Biomimicry Institute and the for-profit innovation consultancy, the Biomimicry Guild, is the driving force behind the movement, which she defined in her 1997 book, Biomimcry: Innovation Inspired by Nature.

Here are some examples from the article:

• Ford's Volvo Division developed an anti-collision system based on the way locusts swarm without crashing into one another. Known as the Accident Avoidance System, it's now available on Volvo's high-end vehicles.

• IBM designers analyzed the way abalone shells form by melding microscopic particles of calcium carbonate chalk in a process called "self-assembly." They're now applying the same principles to the development of a series of processors.