Wouter Swenneker

About Wouter Swenneker

How does a shark save lives in a hospital? How do termites achieve 35% energy savings in a building? How do bees help make better decisions in an organization? The answers to these questions are all examples of sustainable innovation inspired by nature.

Wouter Swenneker is a sustainability advisor and believes that we can solve challenges with proven strategies from the natural world. There is 3.8 billion years of evolution in which constant experimentation and innovation have taken place. Functions are fulfilled sustainably that also occur in our designed world, such as energy harvesting and collaboration between different species. The database of proven strategies from nature is an endless source of inspiration for innovation in business and other organizations.

Learning from these strategies and applying them in our designed world is called biomimicry. As a biomimicry expert, Wouter has been using this positive narrative for interactive inspiration sessions for years. In these talks, he answers the questions mentioned above, among others. Through amazing examples, it becomes clear what biomimicry is and how it can be applied in every sector.

As the founder of Nature’s Right, Wouter has helped various organizations with sustainability and innovation, using nature as a compass and inspiration. He is also active as a researcher at Avans University of Applied Sciences as a biomimicry expert. In this research, they examine which growth strategies from the natural world can help green and social organizations grow faster. With these experiences, he can uniquely engage a (digital) audience in his conviction that biomimicry is the most fascinating field on – and about the earth.

Biomimicry is applicable to every issue and within every sector. To make the inspiration session even more relevant, Wouter can tailor a number of examples to a desired theme, such as collaboration, growth, or a specific sector. Wouter has previously done this for organizations such as Achmea, CBR, Tony’s Chocolonely, WeTransfer, Volvo, Het Financieele Dagblad, BNR, MVO Nederland, Erasmus University, and ABN AMRO.