Bioinspire-Museum

Bioinspire-Museum supports and promotes bioinspiration across the full breadth of the French Natural History Museum’s activities.

Bioinspiration is a creative approach based on the observation of living systems, from microorganisms to ecosystems. It involves drawing on nature’s “library of ideas” to design and innovate, as well as to enrich our lives through artistic and cultural endeavours.

Natural history has a great deal to offer bioinspiration, by way of its vast collections of biological specimens, associated research and educational programmes. In turn, bioinspiration provides a new way to appreciate the value of Natural History Museums, as sources of sustainable and ethical solutions to modern day challenges.

In 2019, with funding from the French Ministry of Environment, the French Natural History Museum (MNHN) launched Bioinspire-Museum to coordinate and promote Bioinspiration across the full breadth of its activities. The Museum’s vision of Bioinspiration is presented in its Scoping Paper, published in 2020, supported by a Glossary of terms.

In 2021, the BIOMIG "Bioinspired materials open innovation generator" programme was launched, jointly led by the Centre for Studies and Expertise in Biomimicry (CEEBIOS), EuraMaterials and the MNHN. This programme aims to develop the eco-materials of tomorrow, inspired by living organisms, and reconciling technical and environmental performance.

In 2023… Bioinspire-Museum launched Bioinspire-Explore, an Open-Source biodiversity data exploration tool, designed in collaboration with CEEBIOS and funded by the French Inter-ministerial Division for Digital Technology. This tool seeks to make biological data more accessible, particularly to non-biologists involved in bioinspiration projects.

In line with the Museum's objective to promote an "enlightened bioinspiration", a scientific article Revisiting Nature's "Unifying Patterns": A Biological Appraisal (Lecointre et al., 2023) was published explaining why a sound understanding of biology is critical to the successful application of bioinspiration.

Bioinspire-Museum also hosted the first International Symposium on Palaeo-bioinspiration in September 2023 (PALBINS) stimulating discussion around this growing sub-field of bioinspiration.

During October's National Science Festival, Bioinspire-Museum set up a pop-up Bioinspiration Studio in the MNHN's Botanical Gallery. Funded by the Blue Train Project and the French Ministry of Environment, and designed by "Où sont les Dragons", the Studio sought to raise public awareness about bioinspiration, highlighting scientific, acoustic, and artistic bioinspiration projects focused on marine and terrestrial biodiversity. In the future, the Studio will be used for internal and external bioinspiration events.

Bioinspiration 360

To raise awareness about Bioinspiration and Bioinspire-Museum, a short virtual reality film has been created. Immerse yourself in Bioinspiration at the Museum and explore behind the scenes in 360° (film below).

Bioinspire (English version)

© MNHN

Nature = Future ! films

Discover examples of bioinspiration via the “Nature = Future !” films.

Contacts

For further information about Bioinspire-Museum, contact us at: bioinspire-museum [@] mnhn.fr

If you would like to sponsor bioinspiration at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, please contact our sponsorship team: mecenat [@] mnhn.fr