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The San Diego Zoo's New Biomimicry Center Is Set to Cash In On Nature

The most enduring designs on our planet are in nature. Sharks have been more or less the same for millions of years; mountains endure for magnitudes longer than that. And all along those designs are refined by the pressures of nature itself. So why...

The most enduring designs on our planet are in nature. Sharks have been more or less the same for millions of years; mountains endure for magnitudes longer than that. And all along those designs are refined by the pressures of nature itself. So why not copy them? That’s the question the San Diego Zoo is sinking a whole lot of cash into with its new biomimicry incubator called the Center for Bioinspiration that is likely the first such center established at a zoo.

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The zoo is one of the best zoos on the West Coast, as I’ve been reminded every time I’ve visited, and wants use its staff of ecologists, zoologists, and botanists to turn their knowledge into innovations. Thousands of human problems have already been solved in nature, whether it’s insects with oil repellent coatings, or silk moths showing us how to preserve vaccines.

It all could prove to be pretty damn lucrative. A report commissioned by the zoo before the Center’s construction stated that:

In 15 years biomimicry could represent $300 billion annually of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) in 2010 dollars. It could provide another $50 billion in terms of mitigating the depletion of various natural resources and reducing CO2 pollution. Biomimicry could account for 1.6 million U.S. jobs by 2025. Globally, biomimicry could represent about $1.0 trillion of GDP in 15 years.

As noted by Xconomy, the zoo’s move could help combine the interests of business — and thus all-important dollars — and the environment. Perhaps business-minded folks will be more concerned about conservation if they learn that habitat destruction is making potential patent ideas go extinct. That’s rather cynical, sure, but if it means more funding to study and preserve nature’s gems, then why not?

Follow Derek Mead on Twitter: @derektmead.