In the energy sector, the use of clean energy is in line with the strategies adopted by living systems.
Benefiting from four billion years of R&D and calling on a reservoir of millions of ideas: This is what bio-inspiration does. An approach that can be described as the development of innovations combining the disciplines of biology and technology, based on natural biological structures, functions, processes and systems that have been optimised by evolution.
The mechanisms of this evolution of species include natural selection, which has forced organisms to solve the problems of nutrition, movement and reproduction in ecological systems capable of surviving in dynamic environments. According to recent estimates, 90% of the 10 million eukaryotic1 species on Earth still remain to be described, despite 250 years of work on taxonomic classification and more than 1.5 million species that have already been listed. A rich reservoir that can be observed in order to find a methodology that responds to the current needs of mankind and the planet.
Drawing inspiration from the living world: an age-old and long-lasting approach
Bio-inspired design was already mentioned in our most ancient writings, and its first famous applications were illustrated in the sketches of Leonardo da Vinci. Bio-inspiration then gathered pace in the 1950s in aviation, naval and automotive engineering, as well as in cybernetics and the modelling of complex systems. In the 1980s, it was extended to the micro and nano domains, and grew quickly in the field of biotechnology. Referred to in France in 20072 as the tool of the next industrial revolution, biomimetics combines innovation and societal responsibility, because it uses the study of biological systems to create new and sustainable products, services and organisational models.
Protecting nature by studying it
In the energy sector, the use of clean energy (and in particular solar energy, through the photoproduction of hydrogen), the capture of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the use of diversified and decentralised sources match the strategies adopted by living systems. Likewise, the principles of soft chemistry are in line with biological processes: the use of a majority of abundant atomic elements, moderate conditions of temperature and pressure, biodegradability and
Kalina Raskin-Delisle Managing Director of the CEEBIOS
towards bio-inspired industry: the potential, trends and opportunities
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OPINION
1 - Single- or multi-cellular organisms, whose nucleus is separated from the cytoplasm by a membrane. 2 - How Science and Technology Contribute to Sustainable Development , volume II: Biodiversity: Another Shock or Another Opportunity? Report n°131 (2007-2008) by Pierre Laffitte and Claude Saunier, on behalf of the Parliamentary Office for the assessment of scientific and technological options. Submitted on 12 December 2007.
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