Biomimicry: a potential innovation enabler for organizations

More and more scientists and researchers are trying to find and develop new technologies that are inspired by nature's ingenuity. To go further, what could be the benefits of such a biomimetic approach for organizational change?

The effects of biomimicry on organization and management

Taryn L. Mead, a scholar, lecturer and researcher in innovation and creativity for sustainability and nature-inspired innovation, highlights that "biological-inspired innovation is a tool for management seeking for sustainability-oriented innovation" (ISPIM Conference – Innovation for Sustainable Economy & Society, Dublin, June 2014).

As "the private sector is increasingly beginning to recognize that sustainability can be a key driver of advantageous corporate strategy into the future" (Haanaes et al., 2011), "the use of the biomimicry concept has been growing exponentially over the last ten years within the private sector and academia" (Bhushan, 2009; The Fermanian Business and Economic Institute, 2010). Consequently, "multinational corporations are becoming active in sustainability-oriented innovation, recognizing the importance of it for brand value and organizational longevity in a world of finite resources" (Nidumolu et al., 2009; Senge and Carstedt, 2001).

That is why biologically inspired innovation has a major role to play in the management innovation process. If applicated, it will have a positive impact on several levels of innovations within the organization.

"Biological organizations are optimized as a whole. They tend to be diversified and spread out, symbiotic systems with densely interconnected parts, not resistant, and adaptable to constant changes" (Tazzi, 2017)

In their book Exploring the way life works: the science of biology (1995), Hoagland, Hauck and Dodson define sixteen life’s principles that can be use when thinking about applying biomimicry approach in management: "Life builds from the bottom up [...] assembles itself into chains [...] needs an inside and an outside [...] uses a few themes to generate many variations [...] organizes with information [...] encourages variety by recombining information [...] creates with mistakes [...] occurs in water [...] runs on sugar [...] works in cycles [...] recycles everything it uses [...] maintains itself by turnover [...] tends to optimize rather than maximize [...] is opportunistic [...] competes within a cooperative framework [...] is interconnected and interdependent".

Strategies and innovations inspired by nature have an obvious place in management and in a successful organization. Hamel (2006) underlines that the biological principles of variety, recombination and adaptability is a key for business success in changing environments. But, as management innovation is most of the time identified in retrospect (Birkinshaw et al., 2008), "it becomes difficult to distinguish between the management innovation itself and the effects the management innovation has had on other aspects of the organization such as operations, design and business models".

"People and organizations have to change the way they see the nature world. They have to consider nature not anymore as a resource base, but as a source of innovation insights" (Benyus, 1997)

This change in mentality will pave the way for sustainable and successful organization and management. Celep, Tun? and Düren, in their research paper called "Can biomimicry and managerial concepts come together?" (2017), link biomimicry with several management concepts such as leadership, innovation, strategy and organizational structure. According to them, "biomimicry is a concept that has been used for years in the field of management without being well known and considered as a real concept". Furthermore, "biomimicry could help organization to reach a kind of effectiveness and to tackle sustainable issues". Organizations and management have already implemented biomimicry even without knowing the concept. Nevertheless, as there is no commonly approved definition and usage of the concept, there are still possibilities around it, especially in the management field.

Communication is a key biomimetic principle

Communication is a "behavior that enables the sharing of information between interacting individuals" (Smith, 1977) or "the behaviors by which one member of a species conveys information to another member of the species" (Kimura, 1993). These definitions perfectly support the assumption that communication is a key principle of biomimicry.

Considering communication at the foundation of the whole concept of biomimicry is not missing the point. Indeed, communication helps every living creature to interact with its environment and ecosystem. It creates connections for living creatures that would be useful and essential to one or both of the parties.

Robert Metcalfe's network effects theory (1980) creates an echo to this. He explains that the more people use a network (within an organization, it could be people or resources that composed the network of an individual facing an organizational issue), the more it benefits to everyone. It is particularly true in a biomimetic approach.

A biomimicry organization "resists adversity and fully grasps all the opportunities around it in continuing evolution because of the diversity of its components and the formation of broad networks of connections" (Tazzi, 2017)

The exchange process of information is at the source of communication nodes and networks. "It creates connections that exponentially increase performance and simultaneously reinforce the structure itself" (Tazzi, 2017). Fausto Tazzi also adds in his book Biomimicry in Organization - Business management inspired by nature that "in a biomimetic organization, information must be able to flow like water. The distances between jobs and work teams must be reduced to create a sort of inter-organizational osmosis that pushes information along the capillaries". Moreover, in his book Bioteams: How to Create High Performance Teams and Virtual Groups Based on Nature’s Most Successful Designs (2008), Thompson highlights the importance of communication between species to build performing environment and/or team.

In a biomimicry field, the best illustration could be the communication system of ants. These ants have several communication modes, but each is highly efficient because it never loses information. The information shared will be used by other ants in an endless cycle. In that way, it will help the members of the community to achieve the fastest and in the most efficiently way possible the objective. This concept has been used to develop the GPS system and is nowadays studied by researchers, in order to find the best solution to distribute electricity or even water.

One strategic utilization of biomimicry in organizations: "biopreneuring"

Biopreneuring is a concept that directly links biomimicry to management, organization and innovation. The term was introduced by John P. Ulh?i in 2015 in his research paper called Framing biomimetics in a strategic orientation perspective (biopreneuring).

An "opportunity exploration and exploitation of bio-inspired designs to commercial applications" (Ulh?i, 2015)

The concept of biopreneuring creates the missing links in the process of exploring and exploiting biomimicry within an organization. And it could be linked to the theory of strategic orientation (Hakala, 2011). Viewing biomimicry as a strategic lever and translating it into commercials ways would create several business benefits for the organization. "Biomimicry could have an impact on strategies within organization and could help building a dynamic and innovative organization" (Ulh?i, 2015).

"The application of biomimicry models during the early stage of innovation may generate a richer, larger set of strategic ideas when compared to traditional early stage business development activities" (Richardson, 2010)

The concept of biomimicry could play a role in a firm strategic choice as the innovation has already been experienced, tested, performed and validated in nature. "Designing and developing new processes inspired by nature will be easier and will allow a natural integration in the corporate renewal" (Richardson, 2010). But, Teece, Pisano, and Shuen (1997) make a warning, saying that "the ultimate outcome of commercial translated biomimicry solutions is under the influence of the firm’s ability to integrate the new business opportunities into the existing business model and to be able to build up new strategic assets or dynamic capabilities".

Biomimicry is a highly efficient tool when dealing with tangible innovation (products, services). "Instead of tackling problems directly, nature tends to influence them and change them while solving them" (Tazzi, 2017). The concept is much more complex to leverage when it comes to intangible innovation. Yet, designing and deploying biomimetic approaches within organizations could leverage new strategic managerial and communicational models.