Biology, Biomimetics and Natural Design: Innovative Technologies and Sustainable Materials (Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes)

For billions of years, nature has provided efficient solutions to complex problems, by means of natural selection, in a harsh environment that only the fittest organisms survived. Such sustainable – still ruthless – driven evolution can be explored by designers, architects, engineers and more for the development of innovative projects.

Biomimetics makes the link between Biology and Design, where features like shapes, mechanisms, colors, structures, and more can be analyzed, organized, modeled, and simulated for application in multiple creations. Therefore, such knowledge can contribute to more efficient and innovative solutions to many fields of applied science.

This project aims to highlight some of the recent technological breakthroughs in Biology, Biomimetics and Natural Design that contribute to the development of sustainable and innovative materials and projects. This work consists of contributions from some of the main international groups of Biomimetics, exhibiting exciting cases of how technological advancements are leading to improved design solutions as well as shaping our very comprehension of nature and its complex organization.

Amilton José Vieira de Arruda

Graduated in Industrial Design Product Project by UFPE, Master in Design and Bionics by IED in Milan, Ph.D in Ricerca in Disegno Industriale by University of Milan Politecnico. Postdoctoral in Design and Bionics at IADE European University UNIDCOM Lisbon, and postdoctoral in Bionics at University Luigi Vanvitelli Naples - IT. He is currently associate professor IV at the UFPE Design Course and coordinates the BioDesign Lab.

Felipe Luis Palombini

Assistant Professor in the Department of Industrial Design (DDI) and in the Graduate Program in Architecture, Urbanism, and Landscaping (PPGAUP), at the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM). Dr. Palombini received his M. Sc. and his Ph.D. in Design (PGDesign) at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). His main research topics are focused on bionics, sustainability, digital manufacturing, and materials characterization. He is associated with the Innovation and Sustainability in Design Lab (NOVA Lab) at UFSM, and with the Design and Computer Simulation Research Group (DSC), and the Plant Anatomy Laboratory (LAVeg), at UFRGS.