5. Tools and methods for bio-inspiration

In this ever-increasing search for innovative solutions, biomimicry acts as a complement to conventional methods of generating and formalizing new ideas. Living organisms and their incredible adaptations offer virtually unlimited potential for technologically relevant solutions.

In many examples, what differentiates fully successful biomimetic examples from less successful ones often seems to be the approach taken to their design. It is this design strategy that differentiates the "bio-inspired accident" from the biomimetic. It is for this very reason that it seems essential to address the methodological aspect of biomimetic design when dealing, in a practical way, with bio-inspiration as a research framework.