Excerpts from my session on Bioinspired System Design at MAHE for students of MIT and MSAP.

1. BIOINSPIRED
SYSTEM DESIGN
PRINCIPLES OF
SURVIVAL, GROWTH &
INNOVATION
Tojin T. Eapen
University of Missouri | Innomantra
Feb 19, 2023 at Manipal University

2. TOJIN T. EAPEN
• Co-founder and Strategic advisor to Innomantra.
• Faculty (on leave) at the University of Missouri.
• Explores idea generation, bioinspiration, AI-enabled
creativity, and sustainable innovation.
• 17 years of professional, consulting, and research
experience.
• Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, MBA from Indian School of Business, B. Tech
from NIT Calicut.
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/tteapen/
• Blogs at innovation56k.com
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3. BIOINSPIRATION
• Inspired by Life
• Why is bioinspiration significant for innovation?
• Forthcoming book: Bioinspired System Design
• Co-authored with Daniel J. Finkenstadt.
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4. THE ERP MODEL
• The ERP Model
• Efficiency: Management of Resources
• Resilience: Management of Forces
• Prominence: Management of Observers
• The Efficiency-Resilience Tradeoff
• High and Low Prominence
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5. EFFICIENCY
STRATEGIES
• Management of Resources.
• Resting
• Reduction
• Refining
• Regularization
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6. RESILIENCE
STRATEGIES
• Management of Forces
• Reinforcement
• Reservoir
• Replacement
• Repair
• Regularization
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7. PROMINENCE
STRATEGIES
• Management of Observers.
• Balancing between high and low prominence.
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8. E-R LINKAGES
• Increase in Efficiency  Decrease in Resilience
• Extreme forces impact survival directly as well as
indirectly by damaging resources.
• Camels employ both E and R strategies.
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9. R-P LINKAGES
• Increase in Resilience  Increase in Prominence
• Parrotfish (Chlorurus sordidus) uses its transparent
mucous cocoon as protection against both forces and
predators.
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10. E-P LINKAGES
• Efficient systems are generally smaller and may be
less prominent. A smaller, more efficient business
organization may be less prominent and draw less
attention.
• Prominence can sometimes help in the conservation
of energy, as seen in the gaping strategy of the shark.
• By frightening its prey, it can avoid chasing it and
conserve energy.
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11. STARTUP
STRATEGIES
How can startups and entrepreneurial firms
learn from bioinspired principles?

12. STARTUP STRATEGIES
• Nature of growth: Lessons from nature.
• Balancing between Efficiency, Resilience, and
Prominence
• Example: How to manage prominence in startups?
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13. CEPHALAPOD
STRATEGIES
• Balancing between high and low prominence.
• High Prominence: Customers, investors
• Low Prominence: Competitors, rivals
• Startups and entrepreneurial ventures are required to
demonstrate adaptive prominence.
• Octopuses are able to demonstrate bilateral signaling.
• What are the lessons for startups?
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14. MANDARIN DUCK
• Seasonal Strategy of the Mandarin Duck
• After the breeding season, males of the Mandarin
Ducks molt the showy feathers they use to attract
mates and dress in drab attire called eclipse plumage.
• What are the lessons for startups?
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15. BIOMIMICRY & ERP
• Biomimicry is using bioinspiration for technological
innovation.
• Kingfisher-inspired Japanese Bullet Train (E)
• Hippopotamus red sweat inspires sunscreens (R)
• Cephalapods’ chromatophores inspire clothing (P)
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16. KINGFISHER
• Eiji Nakatsu, the Japan Railways Group engineer
tasked with solving the bullet train’s noise.
• Japanese engineer Eiji Nakatsu, who had a passion
for bird watching
• Used the Kingfisher’s beak as an inspiration to
improve the design of the Shinkansen.
• This is an example of an efficiency design through
bioinspiration.
• Snell-Rood, Emilie. "Interdisciplinarity: Bring biologists
into biomimetics." Nature 529, no. 7586 (2016): 277-
278.
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17. BIOINSPIRATION &
AI
How AI is enabling the design of bioinspired
products and businesses.

18. BIOINSPIRATION & AI
• Generative AI Models
• Large Language Models (GPT3)
• Generative Adversarial Networks
• Text-to-Image Models (e.g., DALL-E)
• Text-to-3D and Text-to-4D
• Text-to-Video
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19. INNOVATION56K.COM | BIOINSPIRED
DESIGN
Camelar
Camel-inspired Cars
Koafa
Koala-inspired Sofa
Hippotub
Hippo-inspired Bathtub
Spidercopter
Spider-inspired
Helicopter
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20. THANK YOU
Eapen@Innomantra.com
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