Master of Science in Bio Inspired Innovation
Utrecht University
Key Information
Campus location
Utrecht, Netherlands
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
2 years
Pace
Full time
Tuition fees
EUR 2,209 / per year *
Application deadline
Request info
Earliest start date
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* EU/EEA, Surinam or Swiss students; €20,750: International students
Scholarships
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Introduction
Learning from Nature: Where Science meets Sustainability
Bio-inspired design and science are used for innovations that support a transition to a sustainable, circular economy. The Master’s program Bio-Inspired Innovation (BII) offers a unique blend of knowledge and skill training that will support the search for and development of circular business models and bio-inspired research & innovations.
Scientist at the Design Table
We live in a society that places great trust in technology and science to solve our problems and fulfill our needs. However, science and technology alone cannot provide us with a society that nourishes rather than destroys its surroundings. We need to switch to a more circular society. We will introduce you to the grand challenges that need to be tackled to become a circular society and to the Life’s Principles that are of use in the scoping and evaluation design phases of a biomimicry design cycle.
Bio-Inspired Innovation (BII) is aimed at students with a Bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences, who are interested in research and want to innovate services, products, production systems, and design based on principles that have evolved in nature. You will be the professional that contributes to the transition to a circular economy with Bio-Inspired Innovations. As the biologist at the design table, you will address questions like 'how do plants absorb fine particles? What can we learn from blood vessel systems in relationship to crowd control and solutions for traffic jams? Or how can we make a building function as a living organism or ecosystem?
Potential Research Projects
Examples of Minor Research Projects include exploring the use of microbes to clean silver.
Acidithiobaccilus ferrooxidans is a bacterium that is commonly found in mines and can be used for bioleaching to harvest energy from metal sulfides. These bacteria can be used to clean the silver (sulfide) from the centerpiece by Wenzel Jamnitzer (1549, Rijksmuseum).
Other projects include using Azolla as next-generation cash crops. Azolla can reduce today's atmospheric concentrations of CO2, produce livestock feed, food and serve as a bio-fertilizer and biofuel. Furthermore, other projects aim to increase food production and change the set up how consumers choose their fresh attributes (the supermarket as a living organism).
Interest in Bio-Inspired Innovation
Although BII is a relatively new Master's program, it has already attracted a lot of interest. For example, the program appeared in an item on Dutch television. See the press release with the item (in Dutch). Our Master's student Brigit van Brenk won the 'Changemaker Challenge' with her research on using fungi to break down waste in wastewater. Furthermore, the fact that over the last years, several teams of BII students (2018, 2019, 2020) have made it to the finals of the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge attracted a lot of attention as well.
Curriculum
Innovation, Research, and Design
This Master’s program equips you with research, design, and collaborative skills that will make you a bio-inspired expert. BII builds on the excellent research at the Faculty of Science and links research findings to solve societal and business challenges. The first year is research-based, while the second year focuses on the use of research knowledge in innovation.
First year
The first year is research-based, you will be part of an advanced research environment that links to your area of expertise (Major Research Project). You learn to set up and execute (fundamental) research and discuss and report its outcomes. You will also learn about multidisciplinary innovation, collaborative business modeling, and joint design.
Second year
The second year focuses on the use of research knowledge in innovation. You will combine innovation and research, and will perform a minor internship (Minor Research Project), preferably outside the university. This internship is preceded by a course in Integrative Bio-Inspired Design.
Career Opportunities
This Master’s program prepares you to become a highly qualified professional, who is able to function in an academic, business, or organizational environment. You will be a change agent and resource professional for organizations that aim to be part of a sustainable society with a guaranteed food supply. We actively support your efforts to become a bio-inspired circular economy expert, innovator entrepreneur, scientist, or consultant.
This master’s program encourages you to think critically about current world views and teaches you how to view society from nature’s point of view.
Academic Careers
George Whitesides, a biochemist, indicates that bio-inspiration opens up the doors to an academic career across disciplines. This new interdisciplinary field of science is expected to result in breakthrough discoveries that are of use to business and society in the short and long term.
Professional Careers
Bio-Inspired Innovation trains you to apply and connect bio-inspired research to (non-) governmental organizations and/or businesses. Graduates will be employed by organizations ranging from the WWF to a ministry. Possible jobs include working as a circular economy consultant at Royal Haskoning or as a bio-inspired product developer and designer at Lune.