Best Practices of Bioinspired Design: Key Themes and Challenges

Area of Science:

• Bioinspired Design (BID)
• Interdisciplinary Research
• Engineering and Biology Integration

Background:

• Bioinspired design (BID) offers innovative solutions to technical challenges by integrating engineering and biology.
• Existing frameworks for BID often struggle to bridge the gap between these disciplines.
• A 2022 symposium convened educators and practitioners to advance BID practices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To consolidate best practices in teaching bioinspiration.
• To foster effective multidisciplinary teams for bioinspired design.
• To outline approaches for problem-based and solution-driven research in BID.
• To facilitate the transition of bioinspired innovations to market.

Main Methods:

• A symposium was organized at the 2022 Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology Annual Meeting.
• Discussions focused on teaching, team-building, research strategies, and commercialization in BID.
• Key themes emerging from the symposium were identified and analyzed.

Main Results:

• Three critical themes for advancing BID emerged: a usable methodology for abstracting biological principles, the use of engineering models to test biological hypotheses, and the implementation of team-science strategies for successful collaborations.
• These themes are essential for establishing BID as a truly interdisciplinary strategy.
• Accompanying articles provide diverse perspectives, research highlights, and guides for facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration in BID.

Conclusions:

• Addressing the need for a unified methodology is paramount for effective bioinspired design.
• Engaging biologists through engineering models will strengthen interdisciplinary research.
• Proven team-science strategies are vital for successful collaborations between engineers and biologists in BID.