Selecting Models from Biology and Technical Product Development for Biomimetic Transfer

When searching for innovative solutions in technical product development, engineers increasingly search for analogies in other disciplines. Biology provides a large reservoir of solutions developed during the evolution with a high potential for technical analogies. Still, different approaches in biology and technical product development as well as a different terminology can hinder an effective transdisciplinary knowledge transfer. Models similar in biology and technical product development can serve to overcome this communication barrier. In this work, we collect and analyze models from both disciplines to select suitable models for a knowledge transfer from biologists to engineers and vice versa. The selection is based on an analysis of information needs in technical product development and biology. This is a first step for developing a “map” of models which provides paths for communication between both disciplines in transdisciplinary collaboration.