Database of Biological Patents

Commentary on June 9, 2005 Economist article, "Technology that imitates nature."
http://www.economist.com/search/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_QDPTDRP&source=login_payBarrier

In this article, Julian Vincent, the director of the Centre for Biomimetic and Natural Technologies at the University of Bath in England, and his colleagues are working on a database of "biological patents" to promote and enable the use of natural solutions to technological problems. The database in 2005 contained 2,500 patents. The term "biological patent" means that nature is the patent holder and it represents natural systems or mechanisms. The article addresses nature's superiority in designing effective solutions, "Over billions of years of trial and error, nature has devised effective solutions to all sorts of complicated real-world problems." Therefore, it is wise to take advantage of evolution by matching natural mechanisms with technological problems. Some examples of biomimetics were discussed, such as, Velcro, robotic fish, biomimtetic lens arrays from Brittlestars, gecko tape, planetary exploration vehicles with legs, shark coating for submarines, advanced plastic film from moth eyes, shape-shifting airplane wings, and humidity controlled smart fabric.

Dr. Vincent discusses the problems with the former process of biomimetics, "Engineers depend on biologists to discover interesting mechanisms for them to exploit." Engineers and biologists speak very different languages and work in different ways, which makes it harder for engineers to find natural solutions to their design problems. With this biological database available, engineers can now bypass the biologists altogether and more easily find out what natural mechanisms apply to their design problems. There are a few ways to use the database system. First, the simplest way is to search the database with keywords. Another way is to use the TRIZ (theory of inventive problem solving) technique, which is commonly used in engineering, and substitute the biological database with the normally used database of engineering patents. Also, one could use the system by characterizing an engineering problem in the form of a list of desirable and undesirable features, and then searching the database for any biological patents that meet those criteria.

I found this article and biological database very exciting to the future and progress of biomimetics. Dr. Vincent estimates that there is only a 10% overlap between biological and technological mechanisms used to solve particular problems, which helps prove how little natural mechanisms have been used to solve technological problems. This biological database, with ongoing additions of new mechanisms, could provide a multitude of solutions for engineers. Knowing that these biological mechanisms have been refined from millions of years of evolution, it makes sense to study and replicate them. I think that with the continual increase in biomimetic inventions, like the ones talked about in this article, there will be an increasing amount of biological mechanisms that could be applied. The potential for this database to grow exponentially is high, especially with the help of the online community. In conclusion, why try to slave over new designs when we could use nature as a guide?