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Brainz.org has a very good article which gives 15 excellent examples of designs inspired by nature (biomimicry or biomimetics).

READ The 15 Coolest Cases of Biomimicry

The list includes the classic examples of Velcro (adhesion) , air-conditioning (termites) and gecko (adhesion) but also a number of new ones including:

• Insect-inspired Robots


• Friction-reducing sharkskin (e.g. for competitive swimming)


• Morphing aircraft wings which change shape

Interestingly it does not mention any examples of organizational biomimicry which is what inspired bioteams.

Check out The Bioteams Book or The Bioteaming Manifesto to find out more about how teams and networks can learn from nature.

Ken Thompson is an expert practitioner in the area of bioteaming, swarming, virtual enterprise networks, virtual professional communities, virtual teams and management simulation and has published two landmark books:

Bioteams: High Performance Teams Based on Nature's Best Designs

The Networked Enterprise: Competing for the future through Virtual Enterprise Networks

Ken writes the highly popular bioteams blog which has over 600 articles on all aspects of bioteams (aka organizational biomimicry) - in other words how human groups can learn from nature's best teams.

Ken is also founder of an exciting European technology company Swarmteams which provides unique patent-pending bioteaming technologies for all shapes and sizes of groups, social networks, business clusters, virtual/mobile communities and enterprises. Swarmteams enables groups to be more responsive and agile by fully integrating their mobile phones and the web with bioteam working techniques.

The latest Swarmteams implementation is SwarmTribes which helps social object owners (e.g. musicians/bands, sports teams, film-makers) and good cause sponsors (e.g. Volunteering, Environmental, Public Health) to form unique collaborations with their fans/supporters for mutual benefit.

Tags: biomimetics, biomimicry, bioteams

Bioteams Books Reviews

What teams can learn from wolves

May 12, 2006 | article by Ken Thompson in Book Reviews (37)

If you think that there is not much human teams can learn from nature think again! Temple Grandin in her amazing book Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior (p303-307) puts forward the incredible theory that early humans only became today’s successful homo sapiens because they learned to act and think like the wolves they co-habited with.

Buy it now from:
Amazon.Com
Amazon.Co.UK

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Click here to check all Bioteams book reviews

Related Collaboration Research & Science Articles

IBM readies workforce for an "On Demand" world

May 18, 2005 | article by Ken Thompson in Collaboration Research & Science (53)

Cross-training, identifying needed skills and boosting interdepartmental cooperation are key to IBM's responsive business strategy.

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Managing Virtual Teams: Five Triggers

December 2, 2007 | article by Ken Thompson in Collaboration Research & Science (53)

Dominic M. Thomas at Emory University suggests five key triggers which can be used to intervene with a virtual team which is heading for a problem before it is too late to do anything to fix it.

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High performing team member beliefs questionnaire

October 8, 2005 | article by Ken Thompson in Collaboration Research & Science (53)

IMPORTANT BIOTEAMING COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY

I am seeking interest from organisational team leaders who would like to collaborate with me in a unique mini research project into the beliefs of high-performing teams.

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