Summary: The Biomimicry Institute is a nonprofit organization based in the United States, established in 2005 to promote the integration of biology into design processes. Its goal is to promote nature-inspired innovations as a pathway to a healthier, more sustainable planet. The Institute advances biomimicry through its work addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, human disconnection from nature, and unsustainable resource use.1 The Biomimicry Institute exemplifies Systemic Risk Response (SRR) criteria related to Mainstreaming, Sanctity of Nature, Complexity, Cross-Scale Application, and Multiple Ways of Knowing.
Case Study: The Biomimicry Institute
The Biomimicry Institute was founded by Janine Benyus, an American biologist, author, and consultant. Benyus helped popularize the concept of biomimicry through her 1997 book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature, which highlighted how strategies found in nature can inform sustainable innovations.2 The Institute pursues its goals through several key initiatives: AskNature, a free open-access database that translates biological strategies into inspiration for sustainable design;3 the AskNature Hive, a global online community for biomimicry practitioners;4 the Ray of Hope Accelerator, which helps startups bring their biomimicry-inspired solutions to the market through funding, mentorship, and training;5 and Design for Transformation, which applies nature’s decomposition principles to create circular material flows from textile waste.6 Education remains a central tenet of the Institute’s response as it works to equip learners of all ages with the resources needed to integrate nature-based thinking into design, engineering, and innovation.7
Highlights in Systemic Risk Response
A systemic risk response encompasses any action that mitigates, prepares for, adapts to, and transforms away from the harms of systemic risks. This example shows that intentional collaboration across scales, species, and systems can be leveraged to push forward systemic change.
Mainstreaming
Through initiatives such as AskNature, a free and open-source database of over 1,700 biological strategies,8 and the AskNature Hive, a global community of practice that fosters ongoing knowledge-sharing and collaboration among biomimicry practitioners worldwide through monthly events, webinars, and book clubs,9 the Institute makes systemic, nature-inspired knowledge publicly accessible to innovators, educators, and decision-makers.10 The recent integration of AI into AskNature further enhances this accessibility, enabling users of any age, education level, or language background to identify biological models relevant to their challenge.11
The Institute also partners with science centres, design museums, botanical gardens, and natural history institutions to co-create site-specific learning opportunities, including exhibit design, programming, and customized AskNature Collections.12 Additionally, their collaboration with PocketLab provides biomimicry-based lessons and curriculum to over 100,000 educators, significantly amplifying the reach and impact of biomimicry education in classrooms worldwide.13 This broad and intentional dissemination of tools, frameworks, and community support actively advances the mainstreaming of systemic risk awareness and response across diverse societal, cultural, and institutional contexts.
Sanctity of Nature
The Biomimicry Institute, at its core, encompasses and encourages the emulation of nature’s forms, processes, and ecosystems. It is a practice that respects living organisms not merely as resources but as teachers. This design philosophy, demonstrated by The Biomimicry Institute’s work, emphasizes learning from nature’s time-tested strategies, which are inherently efficient, cyclical, and regenerative.14 The Institute’s ethical framework further reinforces this by committing to the development of innovations that create conditions conducive to life while preserving and protecting the ecosystems from which those lessons are drawn.15 Innovations from the 2024 Ray of Hope Cohort include: biosensors inspired by insect olfactory systems, bioadhesives inspired by barnacle and spider web glue, and carbon sequestering cement inspired by shell formation. The principle of (re)connection acknowledges that humans are not separate from nature but intricately woven into Earth’s living systems.16 By encouraging people to spend time in and observe the natural world, the Institute promotes a deeper understanding of life’s interconnectedness, leading to more thoughtful and harmonious design responses.17
Complexity
The Biomimicry Institute’s work programs exemplify how responses developed for one sector — such as textiles, materials, or energy — can have far-reaching benefits or consequences across multiple systems. Their Design for Transformation initiative directly tackles the massive waste problem in the global textile industry, which not only strains waste management systems but also contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions, environmental pollution, and public health impacts by launching pilot decomposition programs using “nature’s “helpers” — bacteria, archaea, fungi, and algae — to transform textile waste into valuable, biocompatible materials that reintegrate into Earth’s natural systems.”18 Through the Ray of Hope Accelerator, the Institute supports innovative start-ups that span diverse sectors, including food security, renewable energy, and materials science, intentionally addressing not just technical problems but also the systemic interactions that connect environmental, human health, and economic resilience by scaling solutions aligned with nature and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).19 Additionally, the Institute’s strategic vision embraces the convening of a global network of organizations and thought leaders aimed at fostering a Nature Positive, regenerative future.20 By embedding biomimicry principles into a wide array of fields, they help prevent isolated responses that may inadvertently create new vulnerabilities elsewhere, therefore ensuring that spillover risks are not only acknowledged but also integrated into solution design.
Cross Scale
The Nature of Fashion initiative operates at the community level in both the Global North and South, with active projects in countries such as the Netherlands and Ghana, addressing textile waste and sustainable fashion systems in culturally and ecologically specific contexts.21 At the organizational level, the Ray of Hope Accelerator supports early-stage startups from across the globe. To date, the program has supported startups from fifteen countries, including India, Japan, Denmark, New Zealand, and the United States,22 and the Institute has begun mapping their impact to the SDGs, ensuring alignment with global priorities.23 Through Co-Labs, the Institute convenes global experts from diverse sectors and disciplines to explore breakthrough ideas, fostering international collaboration, cross-sector innovation, and feeding into the Institute’s broader strategy of developing a Nature Positive global network of biomimicry-focused organizations and thought leaders.24 By supporting localized innovation while building globally informed frameworks and partnerships, The Biomimicry Institute demonstrates its ability to bridge scales and enable action that is both context-specific and globally relevant.
Multiple Ways of Knowing
The Biomimicry Institute fosters multicultural and interdisciplinary collaboration by bringing together artists, designers, scientists, Indigenous knowledge holders, and women leaders to explore ecological challenges.25 During their 2023 Biomimicry Launchpad, a cohort of participants intentionally selected for their diverse cultural and disciplinary backgrounds examined Indigenous fire management practices and the ecological role of bison, engaging with traditional ecological knowledge to reframe wildfire not as a disaster, but as a regenerative process.26
This commitment to inclusion is also reflected in the Youth Design Challenge (YDC), which provides a free project-based STEM curriculum aligned with national education standards and revised specifically to enhance accessibility across non-traditional educational settings, encouraging participation from homeschools and legally recognized educational organizations (such as a museum, nature centre, after-school program, or youth agency). Since 2018, YDC has reached over 82,000 students from 52 countries, promoting equity in STEM learning and expanding understanding of biomimicry among global youth.27 The recent transition of the YDC to the POCACITO Network further reinforces the Institute’s commitment to embedding systemic equity and inclusive design principles in long-term program delivery.28
Key Insights and Lessons Learned
The Biomimicry Institute demonstrates Systemic Risk Response (SRR) criteria related to Mainstreaming, Sanctity of Nature, Complexity, Cross-Scale Application, and Multiple Ways of Knowing. Several key lessons can be gained from the work of The Biomimicry Institute for systemic risk response efforts:
- Look to nature as teacher and partner in risk reduction and systems transformation: Extracting knowledge from nature is not sufficient if steps are not also taken to protect and restore nature beyond the status quo. Biomimicry’s comprehensive framework for learning from nature can in turn enable functioning and thriving ecosystems.29
- Enable intergenerational engagement: Biomimicry’s YDC and extensive engagement with educators worldwide demonstrate the power of youth in engaging with and combating climate- related risks.
- Make space to support innovation: The Biomimicry Institute’s Ray of Hope Accelerator and Co-labs empower both individuals and startups to take action, amplifying The Biomimicry Institute’s mission to address climate change and biodiversity loss. This model allows the Institute’s growing portfolio of nature-inspired startups to pursue transformative change more broadly than just direct action from the Institute itself.
Tackling the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss demands collective action and innovative thinking. Our commitment to harnessing the principles of biomimicry to develop technologies, processes, and products that are not only inspired by nature but also sustainable for future generations is unwavering.
Amanda Sturgeon, CEO, The Biomimicry Institute 30
1 Janine Benyus, Strategic Plan 2035 (2024), https://biomimicry.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/TBI_Strategic_Plan_2035_10162024.pdf.
2 Janine Benyus, Biomimicry Innovation Inspired by Nature, 2nd ed. (Harper Collins, 2002).
3 “AskNature,” The Biomimicry Institute, n.d., accessed September 20, 2025, https://biomimicry.org/inspiration/asknature/.
4 “AskNature hive: A global community,” The Biomimicry Institute, n.d., accessed September 20, 2025, https://biomimicry.org/community/asknature-hive-a-global-community/.
5 “Accelerator,” The Biomimicry Institute, n.d., accessed September 20, 2025, https://biomimicry.org/innovation/accelerator/.
6 “Nature of fashion,” The Biomimicry Institute, n.d., accessed September 20, 2025,
https://biomimicry.org/innovation/nature-of-fashion/.
7 “Past programs,” The Biomimicry Institute, n.d., accessed September 20, 2025,
https://biomimicry.org/past-programs/.
8 “AskNature.”
9 “AskNature hive.”
10 “For Educators — AskNature,” accessed September 20, 2025, https://asknature.org/educators/.
11 Benyus, Strategic Plan 2035.
12 “Museum partnership,” The Biomimicry Institute, n.d., accessed September 20, 2025, https://biomimicry.org/inspiration/museum-partnership/.
13 Biomimicry Institute, 2023 Annual Report (2024), https://biomimicry.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/2023-Annual-Report-v1-07022024.pdf.
14 “What is biomimicry?,” The Biomimicry Institute, n.d., accessed September 20, 2025, https://biomimicry.org/inspiration/what-is-biomimicry/; Biomimicry Institute, 2023 Annual Report.
15 “About — AskNature,” accessed September 20, 2025, https://asknature.org/about/.
16 “About — AskNature.”
17 Benyus, Strategic Plan 2035.
18 “Lessons learned,” accessed September 20, 2025, https://d4t.biomimicry.org/lessons-learned.
19 Biomimicry Institute, “Biomimicry Institute unveils new report highlighting Ray of Hope Accelerator success,” The Biomimicry Institute, January 14, 2025, https://biomimicry.org/ray-of-hope-5-year-impact-report-press-release-2/.
20 “Hope-Driven Action,” The Biomimicry Institute, n.d., accessed September 20, 2025, https://biomimicry.org/hope-driven-action/.
21 Biomimicry Institute, “Projects — Design for transformation,” accessed September 20, 2025, https://d4t.biomimicry.org/projects.
22 “Accelerator.”
23 Institute, “Biomimicry Institute unveils new report highlighting Ray of Hope accelerator success.”
24 “Innovation Co-Labs,” The Biomimicry Institute, n.d., accessed September 20, 2025, https://biomimicry.org/innovation/innovation-co-labs/.
25 “Past programs.”
26 Biomimicry Institute, “Exploring big questions at the 2024 Launchpad Retreat,” The Biomimicry Institute, June 21, 2024, https://biomimicry.org/launchpad-2024-retreat-reflections/.
27 Biomimicry Institute, 2023 Annual Report.
28 “Past programs.”
29 Andrew S. Gallan et al., “Biomimicry for sustainability: Upframing service ecosystems,” AMS Review 15,
no. 1 (June 2025): 95–111, https://doi.org/10.1007/s