Jakki Mohr, University of Montana – Harnessing the Power of Biomimicry for Transformative Innovation – The Academic Minute
On University of Montana Week: We have a lot to learn from nature.
Jakki Mohr, regents professor of marketing, describes one way to do so.
Dr. Jakki Mohr is the Regents Professor of Marketing and the Poe Family Distinguished Faculty Fellow at the University of Montana. Her research focuses on challenges companies face in both commercializing and adopting new innovations. Her recent research is situated at the intersection of the natural world and business. For example, she studies the innovations in the field of ecological restoration (restoring degraded landscapes), how companies use biomimicry (innovations inspired by nature, based on underlying biological mechanisms) to solve technical and engineering challenges, and business valuations of impacts and dependencies on nature.
Harnessing the Power of Biomimicry for Transformative Innovation
Why is it that train engines in the U.S. have blunt, rectangular noses when nature’s shapes are aerodynamic? Why is manufacturing so toxic, when nature can fabricate amazing materials without polluting the environment? These and other questions are the heart of biomimicry: using lessons from nature’s organisms and processes to improve human creations. Many companies use biomimicry as a protocol for innovation in both design and manufacturing, as well as a transformative mindset for rethinking business processes and values.
But, given its potential benefits, more companies could be benefitting from this approach. My research focuses on why some companies are able to successfully harness biomimicry, while others are not. It offers insights into the challenges companies face, including the ideological tensions that surface when new tools challenge existing business orthodoxy. Many companies are ill-prepared to examine those ideological tensions, and as a result, are unwilling to change. In other cases, however, companies successfully leverage biomimicry not only as an innovation protocol, but also as an opportunity to rethink existing business orthodoxy. For example, InterfaceFLOR utilized biomimicry to rethink the waste-intensive approach to industrial carpet manufacturing. Rather than producing large carpet rolls with consistent dye lots, the company, inspired by the beauty found in a forest’s random patterns, produces square carpet tiles that can be individually placed and replaced without needing to re-carpet entire areas. In addition to reducing installation and replacement waste, the company also has transformed its factories to mimic a functioning forest.
Business leaders realize that business as usual is destroying our plant, creating hardship not just for nature, but also people’s livelihoods, health, and wellbeing. Using biomimicry as a protocol for innovation and a new mindset about the role of business can help reverse that destruction.