Biomimicry San Diego is a regional organization working to bring the biomimicry methodology to innovation and solve human challenges.  

"Life create conditions conducive to life". - Janine Benyus.

Guided Nature Walk

We facilitate a number of guided nature walks year round in San Diego County. Each experience involves local naturalists and certified biomimicry professionals.

EDUCATIONAl WorkSHOPS

The workshops are designed for a wide audience. You will learn about the foundations of biomimicry and equip yourself to approach design challenges by drawing inspiration from the natural world.

Speakers

Our experts are outstanding and dynamic speakers and we look forward to inspiring your audience.

Consulting 

We offer a unique multidisciplinary approach to problem solving and design challenges. Our team of certified biomimicry professionals, biologist, ecologist, engineer and business consultant combines broad expertise and nature-based learning in research, design, and commercialization.

We help clients find nature-based solutions to various design and engineering challenges, using a systematic approach and well-defined commercialization process. Our consultants drive results through tailored services, and cross-disciplinary knowledge of biology, design, engineering, and business management.

WHAT DO WE OFFER

Biomimicry San Diego offers a variety of educational experiences, including presentations, hands-on workshops, design challenges, guided nature walks and specialized seminars. These services can be tailored to fit your organization’s needs and interest. Our trained staff facilitate these programs in person, and the duration of the services can vary depending on the context.

EXAMPLES OF TOPICS OFFERED

NATURAL WALKS & WORKSHOP

Biomimicry San Diego offers a number of hands-on biomimicry experiential learning experiences designed for children and adults alike. The goal of these educational programs is to re-connect the San Diego community with nature, teaching participants how to learn from our local critters and how to apply nature's genius to human design challenges. Biomimicry San Diego team is dedicated to teaching and supporting biomimicry education throughout the region. 

SCHOOL FIELD TRIP - GUIDED NATURE WALKS

Biomimicry San Diego facilitates a number of guided nature walks year around in San Diego County. Each experience involves a local naturalist and certified professional biomimicry experts and a group of "nature learners". The walks are scheduled on Saturdays and Sundays; featuring the following locations: Torrey Pine State Natural Reserve, Los Penasquitos Canyon Reserve, Cuyamaca State Park,  and Mission Trails Regional Park Foundation.

Nature guided walks lead participants to natural attractions where wildlife and scenic locations are the focus of the tour. These guides are experts in the natural sciences, biomimicry and have the ability to engage participants with their knowledge of biology, geology, and the history of the location. The goal of the biomimicry guided nature walk is to lead a small group of individuals to an often protected but scenic natural area while having little or no impact on the environment. Participants are offered insight on the environmental impact of human actions as guides attempt to foster a general appreciation of the natural habitat.

Global Design Challenge

The Biomimicry Institute and the Ray C. Anderson Foundation are issuing a challenge to look to our planet’s living systems to help solve the greatest issue of our time—climate change. The 2020-21 Biomimicry Global Design Challenge is mobilizing thousands of students and professionals worldwide to tackle climate-related challenges using biomimicry. The goal: to show how nature-inspired design can provide viable solutions to the current climate crisis.

2020-21 Global Biomimicry Design Challenge Theme

Create a nature-inspired innovation (a product, service, or system) that aligns with one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals outlined by the United Nations. These SDGs address a myriad of topics like hunger, clean water, renewable energy, resilient infrastructure, deforestation, biodiversity loss, and threats to marine life. Submission are due June 30th, 2021

Up to 10 finalist teams will be invited to participate in the Biomimicry Launchpad, a program that provides early-stage biomimicry design teams the knowledge, skills, and connections needed to turn their project into a startup. The Launchpad begins in late summer/early fall 2020 and includes a 10-week digital program that provides business training and startup coaching, access to prototyping funds, pro bono IP legal assistance, mentorship support, access to software tools, and coaching and technical consultations valued in excess of $12,000. Additionally, the Biomimicry Institute covers all costs for two (2) people per team to attend an immersive, in-person Biomimicry & Business Bootcamp. 

Biomimicry Launchpad

The Biomimicry Launchpad is an incubator program that helps early-stage entrepreneurs bring nature-inspired solutions to market.

The Biomimicry Launchpad accelerates the development and commercialization of biomimicry startup innovations and helps support the next generation of sustainability entrepreneurs. All teams have been selected as finalists from the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge.

Launchpad Details

The Launchpad consists of a virtual 10-week customer discovery and technology validation “pre-accelerator” and an in-person Biomimicry Entrepreneurship Expedition. The Launchpad will cover topics such as the biomimicry design process, team building, understanding a customer’s problem or needs, product/market fits and how to build/test minimal viable prototype.

Launchpad participants will experience: Startup training & coaching, in-person Biomimicry Entrepreneurship Expedition, mentorship & network of industry experts, and pro bono legal advice.

Biomimicry Youth Design Challenge

The Biomimicry Youth Design Challenge (YDC) is a free project-based learning experience created to introduce middle and high school students to nature-inspired design. The YDC offers tools and resources to make it easy for educators to build creative and engaging learning experiences that strengthen critical thinking skills for their students. We’re providing a clear framework that meets science standards and enables students to solve real-world and local sustainability problems. (Source: The Biomimicry Institute)

2020 Winners of the Youth Design Challenge

First Place

Team Designmatter with Project “The Moist Brick”

Orange Cube Art, La Crescenta, CA

Second Place

Team SONA with Project “A Concrete Solution”

Hopewell Valley Central High School, Pennington, NJ

Third Place

Team BayProtector with Project “The BayProtector”

Corona del Mar High School, Newport Beach, CA

Ray of Hope Prize

Created in honor of Ray C. Anderson, founder of Interface, Inc. and a business and sustainability leader, the $100,000 Ray of Hope Prize® helps startups cross a critical threshold in becoming viable businesses by amplifying their stories and providing them with equity-free funding.

The Biomimicry Institute and the Ray C. Anderson Foundation are proud to announce 2020 Ray of Hope Prize has been awarded to ECOncrete Tech LTD., an Israeli-based company that develops high-performance, environmentally-sensitive concrete products for coastal and marine infrastructure projects. ECOncrete offers products that facilitate the growth and regeneration of local marine species and strengthen structures over time through a process known as bioprotection. Inspired by beach rock formations, coral polyps, oyster shells, mangrove roots, and other marine habitats, ECOncrete embodies biomimicry’s design intention: to learn from and mimic forms and processes found in nature to create regenerative solutions. (Source: The Biomimicry Institute)

Providing best-in-class advisory practices: market research, strategy consulting, and financial analysis.

Teeming

An entertaining and accessible read with profound implications for the future, Teeming takes us on a journey through nature’s most ancient and successful R&D labs, and gives practical prescriptions for redesigning organizations to flourish far into the future. Evolutionary biologist Woolley-Barker weaves poetic vision and deep scientific expertise to illustrate how flat, agile, and adaptive societies like ants, termites, and underground fungal networks self-organize for resilience and value.

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Biomimicry San Diego

Email: info@biomimicrysd.org

"In nature everything is interdependent and interconnected". - Janine Benyus