From aircraft innovation that mimics the flight of a bird to beehive-inspired packaging, discover how biomimicry has helped build the world as we know it today.
Our guest for this week is Matt Zara, Consumer Tech Trend Forecaster & Editor at WGSN, who speaks to WGSN CEO Carla Buzasi on how the natural world has always held the keys to innovation and sustainability.
Matt says he is as much a tech sceptic as an optimist, but remains hopeful about the future of biomimicry and its applications in technology and beyond. Discover his reasons why, including the potential to tackle environmental challenges, sustainability concerns and the quest for more efficient technological solutions.
WGSN subscribers can explore more on the topic in Intelligence: Biomimicry. Alternatively, request a demo to get a glimpse into our Consumer Tech platform.
Taking inspiration from nature
“Early-stage development of batteries, way before electric cars were even a thought, was actually inspired by how electric eels generate their own power. The way that an electric eel works is still being used to determine how a battery and an electric vehicle might work today, so we could even end up at a point where we have batteries that generate their own power.”
From extractive to regenerative
“Biodiversity is our best defence against the climate crisis and without a planet you don’t have any business at all. It’s also about shifting to a regenerative approach, looking at how you can substitute harmful materials for ones that rejuvenate and regenerate nature, and have their own energy and material systems.”
A positive outlook on biomimicry
“As long as people implement it in the right way, then I am hopeful about the future of biomimicry. I think it can only really be a positive. It’s about moving from this extractive relationship to a collaborative relationship with nature and realising that we are part of nature, we can’t separate ourselves from it.”
– Matt Zara, Consumer Tech Trend Forecaster & Editor, WGSN
Head to Apple or Spotify to hear the full discussion on our Create Tomorrow podcast episode, How Electric Eels Can Teach Us to Power the Future.