Richard James MacCowan
@rmaccowan.bsky.social
Founder & Biofuturist @ Biomimicry Innovation Lab
Come say hello - https://hihello.me/hi/richardjamesmaccowan-ZRKBMg
Come say hello - https://hihello.me/hi/richardjamesmaccowan-ZRKBMg
Paris and London. Cosmetics and AI.
Two industries asking me the same question... how do we know this biological strategy works?
Two industries asking me the same question... how do we know this biological strategy works?
October 22, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Paris and London. Cosmetics and AI.
Two industries asking me the same question... how do we know this biological strategy works?
Two industries asking me the same question... how do we know this biological strategy works?
The boundary layer we keep skipping
October 8, 2025 at 9:51 AM
The boundary layer we keep skipping
Turn collisions into throughput.
New Jersey Institute of Technology researchers have earned the Best Presentation award at ACM SIGGRAPH for mapping how ant swarms avoid gridlock.
The findings transfer directly to your robot fleets and factory floors.
New Jersey Institute of Technology researchers have earned the Best Presentation award at ACM SIGGRAPH for mapping how ant swarms avoid gridlock.
The findings transfer directly to your robot fleets and factory floors.
October 7, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Turn collisions into throughput.
New Jersey Institute of Technology researchers have earned the Best Presentation award at ACM SIGGRAPH for mapping how ant swarms avoid gridlock.
The findings transfer directly to your robot fleets and factory floors.
New Jersey Institute of Technology researchers have earned the Best Presentation award at ACM SIGGRAPH for mapping how ant swarms avoid gridlock.
The findings transfer directly to your robot fleets and factory floors.
Everyone celebrates biomimicry as inherently sustainable.
Almost nobody questions it.
This 2009 paper by Marshall & Lozeva keeps hitting my feed. And it exposes problems we're STILL ignoring in 2025.
Almost nobody questions it.
This 2009 paper by Marshall & Lozeva keeps hitting my feed. And it exposes problems we're STILL ignoring in 2025.
October 6, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Everyone celebrates biomimicry as inherently sustainable.
Almost nobody questions it.
This 2009 paper by Marshall & Lozeva keeps hitting my feed. And it exposes problems we're STILL ignoring in 2025.
Almost nobody questions it.
This 2009 paper by Marshall & Lozeva keeps hitting my feed. And it exposes problems we're STILL ignoring in 2025.
From reactive fixes to self regulating systems
Stop chasing faults after deployment. Build predictive behaviours, integrate feedback across scales, and validate empirically before scale-up.
Stop chasing faults after deployment. Build predictive behaviours, integrate feedback across scales, and validate empirically before scale-up.
September 24, 2025 at 12:23 PM
From reactive fixes to self regulating systems
Stop chasing faults after deployment. Build predictive behaviours, integrate feedback across scales, and validate empirically before scale-up.
Stop chasing faults after deployment. Build predictive behaviours, integrate feedback across scales, and validate empirically before scale-up.
Turn cuts into contracts.
$1.3 TRILLION in R&D spending.
Yet innovation growth just hit 2.9% - the WEAKEST since 2010.
Here's what the Global Innovation Index 2025 by the World Intellectual Property Organization reveals about the funding paradox every UK R&D team needs to understand:
$1.3 TRILLION in R&D spending.
Yet innovation growth just hit 2.9% - the WEAKEST since 2010.
Here's what the Global Innovation Index 2025 by the World Intellectual Property Organization reveals about the funding paradox every UK R&D team needs to understand:
September 22, 2025 at 10:02 AM
Turn cuts into contracts.
$1.3 TRILLION in R&D spending.
Yet innovation growth just hit 2.9% - the WEAKEST since 2010.
Here's what the Global Innovation Index 2025 by the World Intellectual Property Organization reveals about the funding paradox every UK R&D team needs to understand:
$1.3 TRILLION in R&D spending.
Yet innovation growth just hit 2.9% - the WEAKEST since 2010.
Here's what the Global Innovation Index 2025 by the World Intellectual Property Organization reveals about the funding paradox every UK R&D team needs to understand:
Turn rankings into pilots.
The Global Innovation Index 2025 just dropped.
And it reveals something SHOCKING about where innovation actually happens.
The Global Innovation Index 2025 just dropped.
And it reveals something SHOCKING about where innovation actually happens.
September 18, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Turn rankings into pilots.
The Global Innovation Index 2025 just dropped.
And it reveals something SHOCKING about where innovation actually happens.
The Global Innovation Index 2025 just dropped.
And it reveals something SHOCKING about where innovation actually happens.
Conservation just shifted from protecting ecosystems to engineering them.
Wildlife populations crashed 73% in fifty years.
Traditional protection methods can't match the pace of collapse.
ARIA's new approach abandons passive strategies for active intervention.
Wildlife populations crashed 73% in fifty years.
Traditional protection methods can't match the pace of collapse.
ARIA's new approach abandons passive strategies for active intervention.
September 9, 2025 at 10:11 AM
Conservation just shifted from protecting ecosystems to engineering them.
Wildlife populations crashed 73% in fifty years.
Traditional protection methods can't match the pace of collapse.
ARIA's new approach abandons passive strategies for active intervention.
Wildlife populations crashed 73% in fifty years.
Traditional protection methods can't match the pace of collapse.
ARIA's new approach abandons passive strategies for active intervention.
Proper problem analysis can transform biomimicry from inspiration to systematic innovation.
Most R&D teams rush into biological solutions without mapping the complete problem space first.
They burn budgets chasing ELEGANT mechanisms that solve the wrong challenges.
Most R&D teams rush into biological solutions without mapping the complete problem space first.
They burn budgets chasing ELEGANT mechanisms that solve the wrong challenges.
August 26, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Proper problem analysis can transform biomimicry from inspiration to systematic innovation.
Most R&D teams rush into biological solutions without mapping the complete problem space first.
They burn budgets chasing ELEGANT mechanisms that solve the wrong challenges.
Most R&D teams rush into biological solutions without mapping the complete problem space first.
They burn budgets chasing ELEGANT mechanisms that solve the wrong challenges.
15 years bridging nature and commerce taught me something.
I've seen the same commercialisation barriers CRUSH bio-inspired innovations across three continents.
Some patterns keep repeating, but I suspect there are obstacles I'm missing.
I've seen the same commercialisation barriers CRUSH bio-inspired innovations across three continents.
Some patterns keep repeating, but I suspect there are obstacles I'm missing.
August 22, 2025 at 8:20 AM
15 years bridging nature and commerce taught me something.
I've seen the same commercialisation barriers CRUSH bio-inspired innovations across three continents.
Some patterns keep repeating, but I suspect there are obstacles I'm missing.
I've seen the same commercialisation barriers CRUSH bio-inspired innovations across three continents.
Some patterns keep repeating, but I suspect there are obstacles I'm missing.
I've been studying Eden Materials' approach to microfluidics, and it's a fascinating case of BIOMIMETIC DESIGN.
Their integrated workflow mirrors how biological systems manage fluid transport through hierarchical vascular networks.
Their integrated workflow mirrors how biological systems manage fluid transport through hierarchical vascular networks.
August 21, 2025 at 9:06 AM
I've been studying Eden Materials' approach to microfluidics, and it's a fascinating case of BIOMIMETIC DESIGN.
Their integrated workflow mirrors how biological systems manage fluid transport through hierarchical vascular networks.
Their integrated workflow mirrors how biological systems manage fluid transport through hierarchical vascular networks.
Scientific evidence exposes how wrong biomimicry metaphors have been.
Eyeless crayfish. Blind cave spiders. Sightless fish.
These creatures reveal why MILLIONS in R&D funding fails.
Eyeless crayfish. Blind cave spiders. Sightless fish.
These creatures reveal why MILLIONS in R&D funding fails.
August 20, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Scientific evidence exposes how wrong biomimicry metaphors have been.
Eyeless crayfish. Blind cave spiders. Sightless fish.
These creatures reveal why MILLIONS in R&D funding fails.
Eyeless crayfish. Blind cave spiders. Sightless fish.
These creatures reveal why MILLIONS in R&D funding fails.
Accomplish but do not boast, accomplish without show, accomplish without arrogance, accomplish without grabbing, accomplish without forcing. -Lao Tzu
May 12, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Accomplish but do not boast, accomplish without show, accomplish without arrogance, accomplish without grabbing, accomplish without forcing. -Lao Tzu
New reports tell us cattle and sheep farming can be sustainable – don’t believe them, it’s all bull.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
New reports tell us cattle and sheep farming can be sustainable – don’t believe them, it’s all bull | George Monbiot
Feeding the world sustainably is an incredibly complex challenge, yet some people are trying to sell us a bucolic fairytale, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
www.theguardian.com
May 7, 2025 at 6:17 PM
New reports tell us cattle and sheep farming can be sustainable – don’t believe them, it’s all bull.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.
-Plato
-Plato
April 30, 2025 at 6:20 AM
Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something.
-Plato
-Plato
The Disrupt Dispatch Issue 27 - News on Nature-inspired Innovation!
🗞️ Read all about it!
Market insights, case studies, books and podcasts from the world of nature-inspired innovation.
open.substack.com/pub/disruptd...
🗞️ Read all about it!
Market insights, case studies, books and podcasts from the world of nature-inspired innovation.
open.substack.com/pub/disruptd...
The Disrupt Dispatch | Richard James MacCowan | Substack
Ideas, inspirations and thoughts useful for those working in, or interested in nature-inspired innovation. Click to read The Disrupt Dispatch, by Richard James MacCowan, a Substack publication with th...
open.substack.com
April 29, 2025 at 6:50 AM
The Disrupt Dispatch Issue 27 - News on Nature-inspired Innovation!
🗞️ Read all about it!
Market insights, case studies, books and podcasts from the world of nature-inspired innovation.
open.substack.com/pub/disruptd...
🗞️ Read all about it!
Market insights, case studies, books and podcasts from the world of nature-inspired innovation.
open.substack.com/pub/disruptd...
Engineering Persuadable Matter: A Comment on Armstrong’s “Life, Mind and Matter”, Susan Stepney
social-epistemology.com/2025/03/17/e...
social-epistemology.com/2025/03/17/e...
Engineering Persuadable Matter: A Comment on Armstrong’s “Life, Mind and Matter”, Susan Stepney
social-epistemology.com
April 9, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Engineering Persuadable Matter: A Comment on Armstrong’s “Life, Mind and Matter”, Susan Stepney
social-epistemology.com/2025/03/17/e...
social-epistemology.com/2025/03/17/e...
Reposted by Richard James MacCowan
Notice to flat-Earthers all around the globe: Please alert the authorities if tonight’s Total Lunar Eclipse looks like this:
March 13, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Notice to flat-Earthers all around the globe: Please alert the authorities if tonight’s Total Lunar Eclipse looks like this:
New study challenges circular fashion’s economic and environmental claims.
The study evaluated 20 key reports from grey literature, such as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s A New Textiles Economy (2017).
www.lboro.ac.uk/news-events/...
The study evaluated 20 key reports from grey literature, such as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s A New Textiles Economy (2017).
www.lboro.ac.uk/news-events/...
New study challenges circular fashion’s economic and environmental claims
A new study reveals that circular fashion (CF) – the practice of recycling, reselling, and renting clothing to reduce waste – might not be the green solution it claims to be.
www.lboro.ac.uk
March 9, 2025 at 8:52 AM
New study challenges circular fashion’s economic and environmental claims.
The study evaluated 20 key reports from grey literature, such as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s A New Textiles Economy (2017).
www.lboro.ac.uk/news-events/...
The study evaluated 20 key reports from grey literature, such as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s A New Textiles Economy (2017).
www.lboro.ac.uk/news-events/...
Has anyone else read “The Machine Stops” by E.M. Forster?
Why have missed this important piece of science-fiction literature?
www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/produc...
Why have missed this important piece of science-fiction literature?
www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/produc...
The Machine Stops
'"You talk as if a god had made the Machine," cried the other. "I believe that you pray to it when you are unhappy. Men made it, do not forget that."' E.M. Forster is best known for his exquisite nove...
www.worldofbooks.com
February 23, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Has anyone else read “The Machine Stops” by E.M. Forster?
Why have missed this important piece of science-fiction literature?
www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/produc...
Why have missed this important piece of science-fiction literature?
www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/produc...