Discovering Nature’s Genius
December 9 – 14, 2014 | La Cusinga Lodge, Uvita, Costa Rica
Since 2002, Biomimicry 3.8 has been offering week-long immersion programs to introduce participants to a new way of viewing and valuing the genius that surrounds us in the natural world. This year, in cooperation with Biomimicry Institute, our program focuses on honing and developing the skills to tap into nature’s genius while inspiring new innovations. We’ve closely coupled the program experience with the Institute’s AskNature, the world’s premier digital library of nature’s adaptations, and provide the opportunity for participants to become first-hand contributors to this incredible seedbank of strategies. Through this offering, we invite designers, creators, and innovators from around the world to find inspiration from the strategies found in nature.
Are you someone passionate about nature and how her elegant solutions can and should inform sustainable designs for humanity? Are you curious about the adaptations of life on Earth to survive and thrive and the lessons we might learn? Have you been wondering how to tap into that seemingly infinite source of innovation and inspiration?
Then join us. Upon completing this immersion program, you will be able to:
- Identify sustainable innovation strategies in nature and discern the functional objectives being achieved by forms, processes, and systems in nature
- Translate biological phenomenon into relevant and applicable design principles
- Fully describe a strategy discovered while in the Costa Rican tropical rainforest using the AskNature format and suggest applications for human designs
- Assemble interdisciplinary biomimicry work teams based on the core competencies required
- Recognize Life’s Principles, the rules for the way life on Earth can survive and thrive, in natural systems and in human design
This program will empower you in the practice of biomimicry by strengthening your ability to use the biomimicry process for discovering nature’s amazing adaptations developed over 3.8 billion years of evolution. Your program leaders will guide your discovery into how life’s strategies can help humanity solve its own challenges in design, business, engineering, and beyond. This immersion experience held in the tropical rainforest ecosystem of Costa Rica will teach you how to deeply observe the natural world with the support from our experienced program leaders and translate those observations into insights that can drive innovative, biomimetic solutions to a wide range of challenges.
In addition to a life-changing experience in one of Costa Rica’s most biologically rich collection of ecosystems, immersion program participants also receive access to the Foundations of Biomimicry online course and earn credit towards the Biomimicry Specialist Certificate.
Sample Itinerary
Day 1: Meet the group in San Jose, Costa Rica, jump on a regional plane, and head to La Cusinga Lodge on the southern coast—enjoy the spectacular view of mountains and sea! Settle in at the lodge and spend the afternoon getting oriented to biological wonders of the tropical rainforest or wander down to the private beach to see what organisms are thriving there.
Day 2: Begin honing your observation skills of the Costa Rican flora and fauna and while diving into the world of biomimicry. Explore the intertidal zone and life’s resilience strategies while connecting with Life’s Principles, design guidelines from nature, a Biomimicry 3.8 tool that summarizes the rules for how life on Earth survives and thrives, and the biomimicry methodology.
Day 3: Deepen your understanding of Life’s Principles on a mangrove kayaking tour. Regroup back at the lodge and discuss the experience of abstracting Life’s Principles in the field. After dinner, put on your headlamp and head out for a whole new perspective of the rainforest on a guided night walk discovering organisms you never knew existed.
Day 4: After an early morning bird walk, assemble into small discovery teams to go deep into understanding the unique adaptations of a tropical organism of your choice using the AskNature template. Spend the afternoon getting inspired snorkeling over a nearby coral reef.
Day 5: Spend the day with your team on a continued journey of discovery into your selected tropical organism and share with the group what you’ve learned and what ideas its inspired. Dedicate some time to giving thanks to the wisdom found in the tropics and then get ready to celebrate the closing of the workshop with the group!
Day 6: After breakfast, load up your gear onto the bus and head for the Cerro Cloud Forest for an afternoon of exploring a completely different side of Costa Rica and adaptations at high altitudes—don’t forget your jacket! End the day back in San Jose and head back to the airport… or stay in Costa Rica to continue traveling—either way, the next biomimicry adventure awaits!
Program Instructors
Dr. Dayna Baumeister
Biomimicry 3.8 Co-Founder
Dr. Baumeister is a world-renowned biomimicry lecturer and consultant as well as the Director of the Biomimicry Professional Certificate Program and co-director of the Biomimicry Center at ASU. As the leader of the immersion program, she will share her 15+ years of experience bringing biological intelligence to a wide range of audiences as well as her visionary leadership for the meme.
Karen Allen
Certified Biomimicry Professional, Restoration Ecologist, Wilderness Educator
Karen is a Certified Biomimicry Professional, biologist, and educator who is passionate about sharing the secrets of the natural world to inform sustainable innovations. Her interdisciplinary science background and love of natural history help Karen serve as a Biologist at the Design Table, translating nature’s strategies for architects, engineers, and designers.
Jennifer Schill
AskNature Content Manager
Jen guides all AskNature content and manages community programs to engage scientists, innovators, educators, students, and others in AskNature. She also informs ongoing innovation and improvements to AskNature.
Chris Montero
Who should attend
This workshop is open to professional- and university-level participants from all backgrounds and levels of experience with biomimicry. The agenda is designed to give non-biologists a front door into the world of biology and how to apply its lessons. However, biologists will also find value in the workshop in learning how to make biological information accessible, relevant, and valuable to a wide range of audiences.
Credit towards Biomimicry Specialist and Biomimicry Professional credentials
Biomimicry 3.8 has modularized the learning units of the Biomimicry Specialist certification program to include online and in-person units that individuals can complete at their own pace. This immersion program counts as one of the two required in-person units in order to achieve the Biomimicry Specialist certification. Learn more about the units required for the Biomimicry Specialist certification.
For current Biomimicry Specialists interested in achieving the Biomimicry Professional certification, this immersion program will count towards eventual Biomimicry Professional Certification, although these details have not been finalized. For questions regarding the Biomimicry Professional track, please contact info@biomimicry.net.