The Biomimicry 3.8 Institute is holding its 4th Annual Biomimicry Student Design Challenge. The challenge theme for this year is Water Wise: Biomimetic Solutions to Water Access and Management. During this year’s Challenge they ask you to examine how nature manages this precious resource and apply what you learn to a local or global water challenge.
There are two rounds of Challenge competition. In the first round, participating university teams must use a biomimetic design process to address a challenge related to water access and management. The challenge you address could be related to supply, acquisition, quality, treatment, sanitation, stormwater management, drought conditions, or seasonal variation in availability, for example.
At the end of the first round, Biomimicry 3.8 Institute will announce 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize winners, as well as the winner of the Autodesk Sustainability Workshop Award. All Finalists for the first round will be eligible to participate in the optional second round, which is designed to encourage students to take their designs closer to development and implementation. The winner of that round will receive the Grand Prize.
This year, teams must focus on one of two types of water challenges: local or global. In rare instances, the challenge you work on may be both local and global.
Pick an important local water issue. Consider your area’s biome, climate, and susceptibility to being affected by climate change as you address the challenge. For example, if you live in an area that receives monsoon rains your issue might be too much water, in which case you might want to address flooding or look at how to take advantage of seasonal abundances for use in later periods of water shortage. If you live in an area that is prone to fires though, the challenge you investigate might be damage to watersheds after wildfires.
Pick an important water issue that occurs in another area of the world or is a global issue. If possible, consider the area’s local biome, climate, and susceptibility to being affected by climate change. For example, you might live in an area with plenty of water, but the issue you address may be lack of access to safe drinking water in sub-Saharan Africa. In that case, your challenge might be to address how nature filters or captures water.