Biomimicry Innovation Centre

As a further spin-off from TYF EcoSapiens' work with the Do Project, three of the team from BCI: Biomimicry for Creative Innovation spent three highly productive hours ysterday working with the Innovation and Comms teams from the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, generating ideas and opportunities to make the most of their enormous botanical knowledge and expertise through the creation of a Biomimicry Innovation Centre.

With a planned launch  in May 2010, our first steps will involve recruiting a dozen corporate clients who recognise that there are some fundamental new lessons to be learned about product design, business processes and maintaining an flexible, adaptive culture, if they're to weather the storms of price increases and resource constraints that are brewing on the horizon. Following the May launch, four businesses will be invited to 'dive deep' and explore the opportunities to increase reslience, sustainability and profitability by re-working aspects of their work, with inspiration from nature's genius.

To get a taster of the opportunities at Kew, come along to EcoBuild in London on 3 March to hear me and Michael Pawlyn speaking with Nigel Stansfield, Director of Product Innovation at Interface Flor, and ex Grimshaw architect and visionary Gerry Tate.

Drop me a line if your organisation might be interested in getting involved with the BCI / Kew project.

The Do Collective

For a month or so, there's been an idea brewing in the back of my mind - a dangerous place to be at any time - of bringing together the magical variety of people who have attended or spoken at the Do Lectures into a loose group who can work together when the need pops up and bring a touch of Do spirit to the challenges they're working on.

Ideas sometimes have to wait for a while before they're ready, like the sourdough made by 2008 speaker Andrew Wheatley. This one's ready to go into the oven. In the last 10 days, the connections to Do have been amazing and rewarding, which says this is on the rise.

I worked on Tuesday morning with Eden Project Architect Michael Pawlyn who spoke last year, and Giles Hutchins, who is coming this year, to plan a biomimicry workshop that we're running in 2010 at Kew. In the afternoon, 2009ers Dan Burgess and Victoria Brooks from Naked shared their ideas and excitement about Do in 2010

On Wednesday I partied with the good folk at Futerra in London to celebrate the launch of sizzle, and discovered to my delight that Ed Gillespie and Solitaire Townsend want to come on board as Foundation Partners.

On Thursday and Friday GMO campaigner and farmer Gerald Miles and Soil Association Head Patrick Holden, who talked in 2009 spent time with us in St Davids planning the launch of Growing Wales, a Do Programme research projet to map out a self-sufficiency plan for our country.

Saturday's rest was partly used splitting logs with one of Gabriel Branby's Gransfors-Bruks axes. They are so, so sharp and glow with bright purpose.

Next week I'm designing the Do Design Map - as an outline plan for people who want to bring a little doversity in their lives. I'll be playing with runner and stream dipper Molly Pink Boots Mackey (who has just launched her lovely new busines and website), 2009 speaker Alan Moore from SMLXL and Julian Burton, who is coming to play in 2010.

As from now, the Do Collective is live and open for business with advice, coaching, design, ideas and inspiration for sustainability. If you've been part of Do or Little Big Voice and want to join the fun, drop us a line.

It's a small, wonderful world, is Do Land