Human Beings, Creativity and the relationship with Biomimicry

I enjoy playing with the origin of words. Just as trees need strong roots, our language and culture also require their roots. When I think of creativity, what comes to mind is the child—light, curious, eager to experiment, willing to take risks with new movements, interested in countless "whys," and unafraid of not knowing. Who used to be like this? Better yet, who still is?

Creativity and child both derive from the Latin language, as Portuguese, my mother language,  creare, which means to create, to grow, to generate. The word child evolved from the Vulgar Latin creantia, which referred to one who is being created or nurtured. Etimologically and conceptually, child and creativity share the same root: creare. This symbolic connection is beautiful: the child as an expression of the ongoing process of creation, and creativity as the vital force that allows this process. Both evoke movement, transformation, invention, and potential. With a touch of poetic license, we could say that creative beings are also more potent beings.

Neurologically, creativity is good for us. It activates important parts of our brain. Many areas are engaged when we create, generate ideas, and select the best ones. A healthy brain is an active brain with many connections across its various regions. In short, we have a network devoted to daydreaming, imagination, and idea generation—this is the region we activate during moments of inspiration, when the mind wanders and connects seemingly unrelated ideas. Another distinct region is responsible for focus, attention control, and idea evaluation—crucial for organizing, judging, and applying creative ideas in real contexts. A third region decides which ideas deserve attention and conscious activation. Creativity emerges from the dynamic balance between free-flowing idea generation and critical evaluation and refinement.

Creativity is something that can be practiced. All living beings—and in this case, specifically humans—are creative beings. We have the structure to be creative. We are sentient beings; our senses constantly inform us about our surroundings. We are beings that feel emotions and sentiments. Our emotions, linked to the body and nervous system, are universal, fast, and instinctive—a shiver when hearing a song, a jump at a startling image, a smile at a joyful scene. Our senses inform us and move us. Our feelings are emotions interpreted by the mind—by our history, our lives. They are longer-lasting, more subjective, and conscious. They arise when we reflect on or give meaning to emotions. Art and nature awaken our emotions and feelings. In this awakened state, creativity becomes something that can be practiced. It must be stimulated; it needs space and the right conditions to emerge—because we were gifted a sophisticated system designed to keep us constantly creative.

And what about biomimicry? Over nearly 18 years of studying and practicing biomimicry, I’ve come to see its incredible potential for enhancing creativity. The quick definition of biomimicry is: innovation inspired by nature. From observing many, many creative processes using biomimicry, I’ve realized that more important than the outcome (having a new creation) is the journey itself. The creative process of drawing inspiration from nature—a vast knowledge base from 3.8 billion years of life’s innovation—is still quite new for most of us, even though we are part of nature.

Nature has its own language and way of expressing strategies for survival and reproduction. This new field of language and strategy fosters creativity through analogous scenarios. The essence of biomimicry practice lies in asking nature how it accomplishes what we want to solve. In doing so, we draw inspiration from living organisms and their strategies. The process may also begin with simply observing nature to create a solution. Regardless of the path, we move from the core of something troubling or blocking us into an analogous scenario.

Analogous scenarios enhance creativity because they help the brain make connections across different domains—an essential part of creative thinking. When you observe an analogous scenario (like a coral reef to think about resilient organizational structures), your brain steps out of its habitual thought patterns and explores possibilities that wouldn’t emerge in a conventional or restricted context. Analogous scenarios allow you to see the problem through a different lens, potentially revealing simpler or more innovative solutions. Analogies activate both the imagination and memory network and the analysis and judgment network. This promotes the kind of internal dialogue that leads to the generation and refinement of ideas. By stepping outside the direct technical domain and looking into another context (for example, comparing company culture to an ecosystem), you disable mental filters that restrict imagination. Fewer filters mean more imagination. More imagination means more freedom and stimulation for creativity.

That’s what happens with biomimicry: looking to nature helps us rethink human challenges.

Let’s play a quick example: Theme: How to create a more resilient organizational structure? Analogous scenario: A coral reef. Contribution: Inspirations like decentralization, mutualism, modularity, and functional diversity. How to translate that is the creative process of biomimicry.

In a world of constant transformation, cultivating creativity is no longer a luxury—it has become an essential skill for navigating life’s complexity. More than producing something new, being creative means keeping alive the impulse to imagine, to question, and to relate to the world in more sensitive and regenerative ways. Creativity is not the privilege of a few but a fundamental human capacity that can be nurtured with simple practices: observing nature, making space for feeling, connecting knowledge, embracing the unknown, and listening to what pulses beyond the obvious. By recognizing creativity as part of both our biology and our culture, we become more whole and better equipped to co-create futures that serve life.