Knowledge and inspiration
Articles, videos and practical tools around Nature's Intelligence and sustainable innovation
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Short explorations in which nature inspires us towards smart, sustainable solutions.
Bullshit jobs
Are you an Image Polisher, a Flunky, a Duct Taper, a Box Ticker or the Monitor Maestro? From an early age we are encouraged to strive for success, measured in money and status. Most readers have probably by now committed to a glittering career or have started in a job that offers the right stepping stone towards it.
What we learn from the hummingbird
They can remember every flower they have ever visited, have around 940 feathers and can even fly upside down. The hummingbird family counts more than 360 brightly coloured birds and is native to both North and South America. The hummingbird may be one of the smallest birds on earth, all the more reason to take a closer look at them. What can we learn from this remarkable little bird?
Ecodorp Boekel: sustainable and affordable living
Anyone who thinks it is not possible to live sustainably and affordably is mistaken. Ecodorp Boekel in Noord-Brabant proves it. In this neighbourhood, 36 homes are being built in a sustainable and affordable way. The residents work together and take nature and their surroundings into account.
Spreading seeds through the air
Plants are masters of efficiency. They cannot move, yet they have an urgent interest: making sure their offspring end up in a place where they can survive. That calls for clever solutions for spreading seeds. Some plants rely on animals or water for this. But many species make use of something that is always present yet often remains invisible: the air itself.
Iterative working and the art of feedback loops
Nature knows no linear process. Evolution is iterative: organisms respond to signals from their surroundings, adapt and try again. The NI business model translates that into organisations, where feedback is not a judgement but the engine of continuous improvement.
Smart design without brute force: lessons from the spider
A spider’s web survives wind and rain, and that is no accident. The spider does not rely on more energy but on a refined interplay of material, form and surroundings: the thread starts out liquid and only solidifies into a strong fibre inside the spinning duct.
The NI transition architecture
Organisations reduce emissions and tighten governance, yet that rarely touches the core. The question is not how to limit negative impact within the existing model, but whether that model itself still holds. The NI transition architecture redesigns organisations along principles nature has proven over millions of years.
Repair instead of replace: lessons from nature
When something breaks, we replace it. Nature rarely takes that route: there, everything revolves around repair. From plants to micro-organisms we see systems that detect damage, adapt and rebuild themselves from within. Not the elimination of failure, but the ability to recover from it.
Nature does just fine without an MBA
Executives have more steering information than ever, and still organisations are caught out ever more often by disrupted chains, scarcity and fast-changing legislation. Perhaps the problem lies not in execution but in design. In nature, success is not about maximising but about continuing to exist.
Why nature barely wastes any energy
The energy transition revolves around producing more renewable energy. For almost four billion years nature has asked a different question: how can the energy that is already there keep creating value for as long as possible? In a forest, sunlight is passed on again and again before it finally reaches the soil.
NI-businessmodel Canvas
Create profit and value for people and nature alike with the NI-businessmodel. The model has been translated into a practical, applicable approach in the NI-businessmodel Canvas. In these videos you will get to know this canvas step by step.
Want to get started with the NI-businessmodel Canvas yourself? Then follow the NI-businessmodel module, part of the post-HBO register programme CSO.
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