Bioinspiration of the San Diego Zoo

Bioinspiration of the San Diego Zoo

1.

• During the development of products and services, there are a few typical steps for a problem-solving process: (1) Identify the problem/needs; (2) Brainstorming to find out possible solutions to the problem; (3) Evaluate the solutions (through prototyping, experiences, trials and errors etc.); (4) Pick a solution and implement it; (5) Evaluate the efficiency of the solution.  
• Bioinspiration is different from other sources of innovation in its approach to the brainstorming/ideation process:

• It provides problems solvers a completely new sources of information: the nature, which at first seems to be unrelated but actually can make a big impact on how firms are doing things.
• While in typical process, people try to find a solution to solve a certain problem, in bioinspiration, people observe nature – which is like a ready-made successful solution – and try to mimic it and apply it to solve the problems.
• This way of inspiring ideas not only satisfies the commercial needs’ but also contributes back to the nature and maintains the balance between the two sides’ benefits.
• It is a rather low cost approach to data collecting and ideas generating.

2.   The firms work with the San Diego Zoo for product innovation help for several reasons:

• Firms usually spend a lot of money on product innovation. However, as the time passes, it becomes harder to come up with innovative ideas. So they need help to approach new sources of information and learn new ways of thinking.
• The zoo provides firms with a huge source of information, conveyed by top specialists in various fields. These specialists were also trained to translate the characteristics of nature into different functions that firms can apply.
• By developing bioinspired solutions, the firms, at the same time learn to operate more efficiently by mimicking the way nature works. Through that process, they can not only save costs, improve productivity but contribute back to the health of nature, which means the firms achieve both of its economic and social responsibilities goals. It is a win-win situation for the firms, the zoo and nature.

3.   The current model for the Center for Bioinspiration was built around workshop, conference, philanthropy, and license fee. This is a good model, but not enough to bring out the full potential of bioinspiration:

• Bioinspiration is still a very new concept. Apart from conferences and workshops, it takes more effort to bring it to the word and have it applied in vast range.
• The way the Center of Bioinspiration is running now is focused mostly on the thinking process and brainstorming process. It does not focus much on the actual implemented innovation.

• The role of the Center within the zoo should be to build a bridge to connect potential clients, with the expert teams, so that the two sides can work together to translate the commercial needs into solutions that make good use of nature as well as preserve it.
• Several suggestions to improve the efficiency of the Center:

• Publish regular magazines or reports on the development of bioinspiration.
• Collaborate with other similar organizations in the related fields (zoos, safari, biomimicry labs etc.) to widen the network, exchange information and push to bring the various ideas to life.
• Create a team to follow up with the firms after the brainstorming process to consult, research and implement the idea into real products that can be showcased thus promote bioinspired activities.