Tapping into Nature: The Future of Energy, Innovation & Business

By tapping into billions of years of research and development, innovative companies are abstracting strategies from the natural world and developing truly transformative technologies. Organisms have flourished on Earth for nearly 4 billion years, continuously adapting to our planet’s diverse environments and diffuse energy flows. Tapping into Nature explores how pioneering companies are leveraging these adaptations and demonstrates the vast and largely untapped market potential of bioinspired innovation.

In this paper, Terrapin explores nine cross-sector topics and selects natural strategies related to each. The biological strategies represent only a fraction of the designs found in nature. Each section then presents bioinspired products—some of which are Terrapin collaborations—that have been developed by companies using these strategies. All told, this set of strategies and products begins to convey the breadth of innovation in the natural world.

The infographic “Market Readiness of Bioinspired Innovations” on page 8 showcases over 100 examples of bioinspired technologies, ranging from early concepts to profitable commercial products. The broader economic and environmental potential of this rapidly growing field is detailed on page 16 in “Bioinspired Innovation: An Economic Engine.” By tracing the path from biology to commercialized technologies, we hope to inspire you to tap into nature at your organization.