Project description
Against the backdrop of intensifying global challenges and crises, industrial corporates are deploying their individual business models within globalized value creation networks of an Industry 4.0. Competitiveness as a major tenet of these networks often leads to business models framed against economic value, without fully considering missed or detrimental environmental or social risks. In the future, the capability for coping with all sorts of crises will become a key requirement for maintaining and improving competitiveness. Value creation of companies needs to shift towards a novel paradigm with an emphasis on resilience. Since millions of years, nature is developing resilient biological systems and mechanism which are capable of efficiently and effectively adapting to crises. Complex biological ecosystems can sustain themselves even though they are exposed to a high intensity of shocks. For example, forests can withstand and recover from substantial fires while cockroaches are known for successfully surviving most pest-control measures. Biomimetics can contribute to transfer these resilience mechanisms from biological systems and nature to useful applications in industrial value creation. Consequently, this project aims at investigating the application potential of biomimetic solutions for improving industrial resilience. This will include the (1) identification of biological mechanisms for resilience, and (2) conceptualization of their application potentials in the context of industrial value creation.
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