"Nature has already solved the problems we are trying to solve, biomimetics is the practice of learning from those solutions."
— Manufactured Ecosystems Research Project
Project Articles
Publications informing Manufactured Ecosystems
This collection brings together publications that emerge from and inform the Manufactured Ecosystems project.
These texts explore biomimetics as a research field and a practical design approach, with attention to tools,
teaching, sustainability, and the challenge of replacing or supporting ecosystem services.
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Foundations · 2014
BioM Innovation Database
Shoshanah R. Jacobs et al., Journal of Mechanical Design.
Presents a global database of 380 biomimetic cases and analyzes how closely products
actually mimic biological form, process, and interaction, revealing where practice
aligns with or diverges from rigorous biomimetics.
This paper provides a baseline for understanding current biomimetic practice and informs
later work on tools, teaching, and ecosystem-service technologies.
Kristina Wanieck et al., Bioinspired, Biomimetic and Nanobiomaterials.
Reviews more than forty tools developed to support the biomimetic process, classifying them by
process step, accessibility, and field of knowledge. The analysis shows which parts of the process
are well supported and where tools are missing.
For Manufactured Ecosystems, this paper maps the existing toolkit for translating biological insight
into design concepts.
Kristina Wanieck & Shoshanah Jacobs, Bioinspired, Biomimetic and Nanobiomaterials.
Editorial introduction to a themed issue on biomimetics teaching and practice, highlighting the need for
shared language, curated learning opportunities, and cross-disciplinary communication.
It frames biomimetics as a transdisciplinary practice and sets the stage for the teaching-focused work
represented elsewhere on this page.
Surveys biomimetics teaching and training across institutions, identifies common learning objectives, and
proposes personas to better tailor curricula to students, industry professionals, and other users.
This work helps the Manufactured Ecosystems project design teaching that enables participants to actually
perform biomimetics in practice.
Reflects on biomimetics as it develops into a teachable discipline, connecting tools, standards, and pedagogy
into a coherent curriculum that can be replicated and scaled.
It bridges conceptual work on tools and teaching with practical course design, directly informing Manufactured
Ecosystems’ educational strategy.
Extends work on biomimetic processes and international standards, emphasizing consistent terminology,
ISO 18458, and structured pathways from biological insight to technical implementation.
This paper offers a standards-aligned framework for documenting and communicating the Manufactured
Ecosystems design process.
Provides a literature overview of biomimetics linked to sustainability, analyzing terminology, research areas,
types of studies, and the biological models most frequently used in sustainable bio-inspired design.
It positions Manufactured Ecosystems within a broader research landscape that increasingly connects biomimetics
and sustainability goals.
Discusses the promises and challenges of using bio-inspired technologies to support, enhance, or replace
ecosystem services, arguing for careful, value-based development.
This call-to-action articulates the conceptual space that the Manufactured Ecosystems project occupies
between technological innovation and ecosystem stewardship.
Uses AI-assisted text analysis to classify tens of thousands of bio-inspired research articles by ecosystem
service and by whether technologies aim to support, enhance, or replace those services.
The paper reveals a strong bias toward replacement of discrete functions and highlights the risks of relying
on technological substitutes for complex ecological processes.
Building and sustaining transdisciplinary research teams for environmental justice
M. Myrie et al., Equity in Education & Society.
Analyzes the Manufactured Ecosystems pilot project as a transdisciplinary, anti-oppressive research team,
documenting how the group centered environmental justice, EDIA commitments, and meta-research on its own
practices.
This paper explains how the project is structured as a research culture, not just a set of outputs, and why
that structure matters for climate adaptation and ecosystem-service work.
