Lieu: Anatomie comparée (JdP, Paris)

Résumé: Engineering design, as the science framing the practice of design through the elaboration of tools and processes, is constantly evolving towards new innovative strategies. To thrive in their extremely competitive environment, it appears that both industrial and natural worlds are highly dependent on innovation, optimization and selection. These commonalities have led designers to look to living beings for inspiration. This innovation strategy, referred to as biomimetics, isn’t a new approach but its methodological aspects are still under development. This presentation deals with biologists’ contribution that are currently highly restricted throughout the biomimetic design process. After introducing the context, we investigated the impact of possessing a background in biology during the practice of biomimetics and compared our findings with experts’ opinion. Our results underline the paradoxical situation where biologists are recognized assets for such design strategies but aren’t integrate in practice. A second part will then take us a step forward, taking as a fact the need for biologists’ integration. A broad new range of research problems then emerges: Who? When? For what? How? Our current approaches on those axes are then introduced. The final goal represented by such methodological fundamental switch is the designing of a new profession from training to market integration. The only way to actually meet that goal will be through the collaboration between engineers and biologists at an engineering design research level.