Biomimicry: Inspiration, Innovation and Collaboration

Varanasi, January 27, 2010:

Biomimicry expert Emmet Brady from Berkeley, California, stressed upon the crucial need for people with knowledge of the natural world to connect with and partner with those who were leading the development of human society.

In a presentation entitled, “Biomimicry: Inspiration, Innovation, collaboration”, at Institute of Agricultural Science, Banaras Hindu University, Brady said the most urgent conundrum was how to manage the contradiction of improving the quality of life for an exploding population with the reality of dwindling resources and the residues of a consumer mentality.

The emerging science of Biomimicry is a source of inspiration, which could provide our civilization with the means to untie this evolutionary knothole, he added.

“To virtually any problem in the man-made world, we can ask the question: How would nature do that? And then examine what works to solve the problem, what is appropriate and what is sustainable. This is the methodology of Biomimicry”, he said.

Brady, a member of the Biomimicry Guild Speakers Bureau based in Montana, USA, specializes in analyzing business processes and operations, using natural systems and evolutionary biology as a template for sustainable growth. He also specializes in strategic business development, with a focus on sales, marketing, market research, training and infrastructure development.

He said that he felt quite fortunate and extremely honored to have been invited to a university with such a renowned and prestigious history as BHU. According to Brady the intellectual capital and educational system cultivated in India is well positioned to place the country as a global leader for professional advancement and economic innovation.

“The Biomimicry Guild is the only innovation company in the world to use a deep knowledge of biological adaptations to help designers, engineers, architects, and business leaders solve challenges sustainable and responsibly”, Brady added.

“Based out of Montana, USA, the Guild has been helping companies and communities find, understand and emulate life's time-tested strategies since 1998. By emulating 3.8 billion years of well-adapted technology, we help innovators design sustainable products, manufacturing processes and systems that create conditions conducive to all life,” he said.

“The most elegant description of Biomimicry is the conscious emulation of nature's genius. It is an emerging field of science designed to provide inspiration and practical applications for the built world and human systems,” he remarked.

A compelling application of the principles of Biomimicry in India can be found in the planning and construction of Lavasa, a hilltop city-of-the-future located between Mumbai and Pune.

In a pioneering collaboration with the world’s largest architecture firm – HOK Architects based in Canada – the Biomimicry Guild has designed elegant solutions to the region’s water scarcity issues.

Flooded by monsoons 3 months per year, with drought conditions in the balance, Lavasa will be a city in which water conservation is an imperative. Biomimetic designs based on the water channeling structures of the sacred banyan fig leaf, as well as the root structure of native trees, allow each building to optimized water retention.

The planners have also designed a citywide water sharing system based on the ingenious hive design of harvester ants. The implications for Lavasa and the rest of India are profound, as climate change threatens the availability of fresh water around the world.

The function was presided by Prof. R.P. Singh, Dean faculty of Agricultural Science and conducted by Prof. Rajesh Singh and coordinated by Prof. S.K. Kusheaha. A large number of students of Food Science, Agribusiness, Plant Biotechnology, Agriculture attended this function.

Photo caption: Banaras Hindu University vice-chancellor Professor DP Singh (right) presenting a memento to Biomimicry expert Emmet Brady from Berkeley, California, in Varanasi on January 27, 2010.

Top 2: Biomimicry expert Emmet Brady from Berkeley, California, delivers a leture on “Biomimicry: Inspiration, Innovation, collaboration” at IAS in BHU on January 27, 2010.

Source: PPP Cell-BHU